ASHERI pulled off my jacket and threw it to one of the servants as I alighted from my car. The servants, stationed along the way, moved swiftly to the sides and bowed deeply, their heads lowered in respect, as I, the guards, and the principal moved past them. I swung the door open, its creaking hinges echoed through the silent corridor, and I stepped into the dimly lit room."Strap him to that chair," I commanded, pointing at a dusty, worn chair that sat in the center of the room. The room was barely used, and it seemed more like a storage room than a place for human presence. Only those with permission dared to enter this space. The guards moved swiftly to comply, their hands moved with efficiency as they bound the principal to the chair.My father wasn't aware I was back with the principal. I wanted to do to him what I felt he deserved before my father would appear. I moved close to the principal and placed my hands on the arm of the chair, my grip tightened as I whispered, "I, Ash
HANNAHMy eyes were fixed on Asher's back, I struggled to keep up with his brisk pace. The heavy backpack strained my shoulders, and the weight of the books threatened to topple over, but I held on tight, fearing the consequences of even dropping one. Everything was back to the way it was before I met the triplets. The bullying, the enslaving, the manhandling - it was all so familiar, yet it felt new and worse after experiencing a taste of freedom with the triplets. I was used to walking on eggshells around Asher, never knowing when he'd lash out next. But now, every step felt like a reminder of the life I didn't want to go back to.We walked down the hallway in silence, the sound of his shoe echoing off the walls as I struggled to keep up with his long strides. I walked as fast as my legs could carry me. If I wasn't directly behind him when he got to wherever we were headed, I knew I'd be in trouble. He'd shut the door, and I'd have to place the books on the ground to help myself wit
HANNAHMy first thought was that I was somehow in trouble. Big trouble. If the still blaring surveillance alarm wasn't any indication of that fact, then the stony faced expressions of the mall's security guards were. Somehow there was a tagged item in my possession. But I hadn't taken a thing so how could that be? I was scared but more than that, I was confused."What's all this about?" Willa said from beside me.The guard closest to us sneered. "Oh I think you know what this is about all right. One of you stole something.""We didn't-""Stretch out your hands and stay still so we can search you. Now!"I stretched out my hands immediately. I had nothing to hide and the earlier they found out they were mistaken, the faster I could put this embarrassing incident behind me and the faster Willa and I could get out of here before we started attracting the wrong sort of attention.The guard looked over at Willa who still had her arms crossed over her chest. "The same goes for you too, miss.
HANNAHI finally recovered my powers of speech in time to murmur a 'thank you' to Jace, but he was already far in front of me, holding the car door open so he didn't hear me. Before I could try again, I was hugged around the middle by Willa."I told you I would get you out," she said."Thanks Willa," I said, my heart metaphorically bursting with gratitude. "I owe you one.""Ladies," Jace said, drawing our eyes to him. He tapped on the open car door. "Shall we leave this place? We're going out for lunch," he added as he drove out of the parking lot. His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. "I hope you are hungry."I nodded. It would be great to have some food inside me. The scene with the security guards had left me still feeling quite lightheaded and shaken up."Good," he said and concentrated on driving."Jace," I said when he had been driving for quite a while. "Thank you so much for what you did there and... I'm sorry you had to leave whatever you were doing to sort that out. I'm
HANNAHAlthough Jace drove really fast, I felt like he could not get to my house fast enough. I sat on the very edge of the car seat, wondering what horrors Asher and his father had unleashed on my mother, now my only present family. Jace, thankfully did not go on offering hollow words of comfort. He seemed to know that silence was what I needed now. Silence was what I needed to process this."She will be fine," was all he said and I held on to those words fiercely.Jace started to say something when he pulled up in front of my house but I was already out of the car, racing to the front door. I threw the door open, expecting... Well, I didn't know what I was expecting but it was a relief to see that the house was still intact. And there my mother was, sitting on the sofa with a piece of paper that looked like a letter in her hands. She was here. She was alive and fine and that was all that mattered."Mum." I stopped for a few seconds to catch my breath. "You sounded urgent over the ph
HANNAHThe tension in the room was so palpable it felt like it could be cut with a knife. The only sounds were the nervous shuffling of my mother's feet, my laboured breathing and maybe the pounding of my heart. I was pretty sure it was beating so loud that everyone could hear it. I glanced at my wristwatch again, was surprised to see that barely five minutes had passed. Only five minutes? It felt already like five hours. Where were Jace, Cade and Chase? Seeing them here would make me feel so much better.I heard a footfall. I quickly turned towards the door but saw it was just one of the Alpha's guards coming to have a few words with Asher. Asher didn't seem to be paying attention to what the guard was saying. He was glaring concentratedly glaring at me. He had been doing so ever since I walked into the room. I looked away at once, stared at the floor. Somewhere on my right sat the Alpha. I didn't need to look at him to feel the full force of his displeasure. I refused to even look
HANNAHThe tension in the room was so palpable it felt like it could be cut with a knife. The only sounds were the nervous shuffling of my mother's feet, my laboured breathing and maybe the pounding of my heart. I was pretty sure it was beating so loud that everyone could hear it. I glanced at my wristwatch again, was surprised to see that barely five minutes had passed. Only five minutes? It felt already like five hours. Where were Jace, Cade and Chase? Seeing them here would make me feel so much better.I heard a footfall. I quickly turned towards the door but saw it was just one of the Alpha's guards coming to have a few words with Asher. Asher didn't seem to be paying attention to what the guard was saying. He was glaring concentratedly glaring at me. He had been doing so ever since I walked into the room. I looked away at once, stared at the floor. Somewhere on my right sat the Alpha. I didn't need to look at him to feel the full force of his displeasure. I refused to even look
HANNAHThe first thing I noticed the moment I stepped out of the vehicle was the absence of people. For some reason, the guards that had been stationed around my house for as long as I could remember, were not there. Frowning, I wondered why. Had the Wallace's called them off? I honestly doubted that. My mates took my security very seriously."Did you want to go somewhere else?" said the driver from behind me.I turned, found I was still grasping the car door handle."No. No. I'm good," I said.I stepped away from the car and the driver drove off. I reshouldered my backpack, half of mind on the amount of homework I had to do. As I stepped over the threshold, I froze. I opened my mouth to scream.The man standing opposite me with a wicked looking dagger at my mother's throat put a finger to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet. He was tall, built like a barrel. There was evil etched on every line of his scarred face. My head spun. I was in danger. My mother was in more danger. What
HANNAH I paced my breathing and counted my steps under my breath to distract myself from what was going on. I just wanted to be in my head all the time, if that was possible. I wanted my mind to dissociated from what my body was being forced to do. But it was hard to find my happy place when Asher stopped walking and turned to growl at me. "Hey, walk faster, will you? What the hell is wrong with you anyway?" He eyed the pile of books I was carrying. "You had better not let any of those books touch the floor or you'll be picking them up with your teeth." I nodded, taking great care that my eyes remained downcast. That seemed to please him. He was always pleased whenever I didn't put up a protest to whatever outrageous demands he made. He kept walking. I followed. Things were now back to the way they used to be before the triplets had showed up. I was back to lugging Asher's books and things around the school, escorting him to glass and being his general dogsbody, or to put it more
HANNAHA loud knock on the door made me start violently. In a second, I had rolled off the bed and was on my feet.With a racing heart, I called out, "Wh-who is it?""Me," replied a voice, the voice of a maid.I clutched my chest in relief and weakly called for her to come in. Anyone who wasn't Asher or his father were welcome. I should have even known Asher wasn't the one in the first place as he would never knock."Hi," I said to the girl.She merely acknowledged me with a toss of her head. To the maids in this house, I was more or less one of them, was Asher's mate only in name."Master Asher wants you to do his laundry." the girl said and when I merely nodded, she added, "Now. His clothes are in his room."She couldn't have said anything worse. Doing his laundry, I didn't mind that, but going to his room was a whole different matter. I could only wish that he would not be there when I went to get the clothes.But of course he was. Fate wasn't giving me a brief these days. Asher ha
HANNAHI paced my breathing and counted my steps under my breath to distract myself from what was going on. I just wanted to be in my head all the time, if that was possible. I wanted my mind to dissociated from what my body was being forced to do.But it was hard to find my happy place when Asher stopped walking and turned to growl at me. "Hey, walk faster, will you? What the hell is wrong with you anyway?" He eyed the pile of books I was carrying. "You had better not let any of those books touch the floor or you'll be picking them up with your teeth."I nodded, taking great care that my eyes remained downcast. That seemed to please him. He was always pleased whenever I didn't put up a protest to whatever outrageous demands he made. He kept walking. I followed.Things were now back to the way they used to be before the triplets had showed up. I was back to lugging Asher's books and things around the school, escorting him to glass and being his general dogsbody, or to put it more acc
ASHER"You!" I pointed at the guard who was holding Matt's head back. "Dump some more water on him."As he poured the bucket of water over the choking, spluttering man, I kept punching him the face. The sound of my brass studded knuckles making contact with his wet skin made a rather pleasant squelching sound. My face split into a grin as I realized I could actually get used to this. The feeling of ultimate power and control was a heady one.Punching the shit out of this asshole certainly beat hitting inanimate punching bags at the gym. I adjusted the brass knuckles over my fingers, gave him one more punch below the eye before taking a step back to survey my handiwork.His face was satisfyingly bruised and covered in blood. The skin was split in several places. It wasn't a bad result for about thirty minutes work, I had to admit. Not even the pack's guards could have done it better. One of his eyes was swollen shut but I had been careful not to hit anywhere close to the other function
ASHERI could tell my old man was pissed from the moment I walked into his study. I wondered what was biting him. No doubt it was something or the other to do with the pack's administration. I was more concerned about his bad timing. Why he hadn't waited a few minutes more until after was done with Hannah? That bitch was asking for it."Where have you been?" my father barked, breaking into my thoughts."Huh?""I looked for you all over the house and in your room. You weren't there.""I was in Hannah's room. Before the guard interrupted, I was you know..." I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "...trying to fuck the bitch.""You were what?"I raised an eyebrow. Why did he sound so disapproving? It was surprising because my father was many things, but not a prude."I said I was about to fu-""Yes I heard you the first time, Asher but this is not the time to have sex!""Why?" I grumbled. "She's now my mate, isn't she? She's going to get screwed now or later, so what's the problem?""The pro
HANNAHJace took Willa and I to go get lunch and I was still dumbfounded by what he had done back at the shopping mall. As we sat down, I was beside myself with embarrassment. I couldn't believe I had all of Julia make a fool of me and the video was probably circulating about now. “I'm so sorry for the embarrassment I caused you both at the mall”. There was no coming back from this. “It's alright, Hannah”. The way he said my name only reminded me of how he had called me babe earlier. My cheeks flamed at the way the word had rolled off his tongue without him even noticing. “I think that girl that came earlier was responsible for it. She most likely framed you”. I knew Willa was talking about Julia and I was glad that I wasn't the only one who noticed that. “And thank you for paying too. I'm going to work hard to pay you back”. There's no way I was going to allow him spend that much on me without paying him back. He hadn't even planned on spending that money and stupid Julia had to
HANNAHChase had come to take to take me for a completely unnecessary reason. He took me to meet the other guys because they “missed me”. They just wanted to talk and confirm if I was okay but I assured them I was okay and they let me go back to Willa. “I'm getting bored. You know what we should do? Shop!”. She barely gave me the chance to get back into her room before she jumped at me. She started to pull out outfits to wear, insisting that the dress she had on already wasn't good enough for shopping especially if it was going to take a lot of time. I wanted to protest since I didn't have any money but she waved that off and told me it was her treat. She quickly changed into jeans and a gorgeous top and we headed for one of the huge malls in town. She asked the driver to prepare a car for us and warned him in advance that we were going shopping. The driver laughed and I knew he had to be used to her impulsive shopping. It just showed how they treated their staff with respect. Ash
HANNAHI was seated in the presence of the Alpha of Ice Stone pack in less than an hour. The triplets dad was an extremely formidable person who gave out an aura that dominated the entire room. Their mom was also there, looking extremely ethereal beside her husband. Neither of them have talked to me since I came even though they were the ones who asked Jace to come and fetch the guys and I. They barely glanced at me. For them to have asked that I came, it meant that they knew who I was and I was afraid that they thought I wasn't good enough for their son since they hadn't even acknowledged my presence. The circumstances in which we were meeting wasn't helping matter too. Jace had mentioned on the ride over that their dad had received a message that involved me and I had an idea of who might have sent the message. The Alpha brought out a sheet of paper that he must have read and handed it to Cade without even looking in his direction. He seemed to be communicating with his wife thr
HANNAHI was panicking when I picked up the phone to call Cade. If not for the guards who had been with us, alongside the ones they had called who had come swiftly, I would have been taken away to the pack house. According to the pack guards who came to pick up me up, Alpha Dawson wanted to see me. I know it has something to do with what had happened in school earlier with Asher. The guards from ice stone pack had made it impossible for them to get to me, making sure mom and I were safe inside. There was no way they were going to back down just like that. Asher wouldn't give up after just one attempt which meant that they would be coming back soon. As soon as the call connected, I started rambling to Cade who told me to calm down and explain what happened. “I was with mom when we heard chaos outside. When we went to check, pack guards were outside and demanding that I go with them to the pack house. The guards you sent with me beat them up and sent them away but I know they'll be