Chapter 10 : Punishment Delivered

*Alice's POV*

Simon continued to walk towards me, and I panicked. I wasn't scared of him, but I was scared of his reaction.

I had no idea why he laughed, but I knew he wasn't laughing because he was happy. There was no smile in his eyes.

Great. After annoying him in the morning, I touched his nerve again.

I stood there and watched him come towards me. I tried not to show my nervousness, but my feet just couldn't move. Olivia was stuck in the mud, and I was stuck in Simon's gaze. Our situations were different, but it was somewhat the same.

Maybe I shouldn't have used Simon to scare Olivia. He eventually would hear about it from someone else if he didn't show up at this moment. But now, he was here and earlier than I expected. I thought I would be waiting until dawn.

Suddenly my ankle was grabbed by a hand. Olivia reached out of the mud puddle and pulled on me, trying to use me to climb up. Because I was distracted and let my guard down, I was dragged backward and almost fell. Her sharp nails scratched my ankle and made me tingle.

God, why am I always getting hurt in the same place?!

I kicked the struggling Olivia down to help myself keep balance. Olivia cursed and let go of my foot. There was no doubt she wanted to turn into a shifter, rush up and tear me to pieces, but that would only make her sink deeper and faster. In the mud, it was more beneficial for her to maintain a light figure.

The mud grabbed onto Olivia and wouldn't release her.

"Ugly b*tch, help me out!" she shouted, the anger in her eyes evident. "When I get up, you will definitely be punished. You stupid pig! Why are you just standing there?! Help me!"

"Princess Olivia?!" I said, pretending to be concerned. "Oh my! What can I do?!"

"You stupid b*tch, pull me out! Don't you have your d*mn eyes?!" Olivia cursed at me loudly and struggled, but it only made her fall faster.

Muddy water splashed on her face, hitting her eyes and mouth. But despite it all, she continued to insult me with horrid words.

"Princess Olivia, I can't pull you out. You know, I'm not as strong as you," I explained expressionlessly.

"Stupid b*tch! Can't you ask someone for help?" she screamed while spitting muddy water.

It was about to flood her mouth. I saw nothing in her expression but pure rage. She wasn't scared that she might die, she was angry that I was the one that put her in that position.

I considered being the bigger person and helping her, but then I remembered all the times she had beaten me to within an inch of my life. The second she got out of that hole, she would attack me twice as hard, and I couldn't let that happen, not anymore.

And even if I ran to ask for help, how could those shifters help me? Thanks to their years of bullying, no shifter would even think of listening to me; they would only think that another good show was about to begin.

This was the bitter fruit of Olivia's brewing.

I used my claws to slide back away from the mud hole, and then I stood up. It was only then that I remembered Simon here.

He saw what I was again.

Now, I was blocking Simon from getting to Olivia, and he stopped right in front of me.

"Are you really William's mate?" he asked, throwing me for a loop.

What? I swore he'd be asking about Olivia, not me.

"You believe that too?" I asked with a groan.

Simon laughed, seeming to accept that answer. He then countered with another question.

"So, you didn't answer me earlier. Do you really have a crush on me?"

I stared at him, trying to decide what he most wanted to hear.

I chose not to fool him.

"You can believe it if you want," I finally said. This was a safe answer. Whether he liked me or not, it wouldn't be an offence.

I didn't forget that my goal tonight was to get him to agree to continue teaching me, and in doing so, I needed to please him no matter what.

I knew he was not short of likes. The maids in the palace were always talking about him. As long as he put away his indifferent attitude, countless women would be willing to climb into his bed.

But still, I needed every advantage I had.

"Mr. Simon, you are the most respectable person I have ever met, a great good man. If possible, can you continue to be my teacher? I know I offended you in the morning, and I have done a serious introspection. But you must know that it doesn't mean I do not trust you, but I have subconsciously regarded you as a close elder," I said in my sweetest voice.

"An elder? Am I that old?" he asked.

"No, no, I mean you are mature. You are my respected teacher." I clarified.

He smiled, and I knew that he didn't believe me. How was this man so immune to my bullsh*t? Granted, maybe he just didn't believe anyone. Like me. He was not a simple person. Maybe he understood me more than I knew.

I honestly didn't know if I could recognize the truth anymore. Maybe Simon would help me discover it.

Just as I thought that Simon charged at me. I had never actually had hand-to-hand combat with him, and now I saw what all of the hype was about. I somehow managed to dodge his first blow, but once I saw the claws sticking out of my hands, I stiffened up.

Simon took instant advantage of this and knocked me aside without so much as a wrinkle in his suit. As soon as I was out of the way, he took it as an opportunity to save Olivia from the mud hole.

I glared as I watched him help another of my life-long abusers escape punishment. Olivia was exhausted at this point from trying to fight against the mud. She opened her eyes to see that Simon was rescuing her and proceeded to faint.

Simon easily grabbed her and pulled her from the mud hole in one smooth pull. I was pettily satisfied to see his nice suit get covered in mud. Not so perfect anymore.

I rolled over and got to my feet, still glaring at the man that seemed to be dead set on ruining my life. Or at least keeping the people that ruined my life alive. The anger was rolling through my body, but then Simon looked over at me and smiled.

It was almost as if he was taunting me, but I couldn't help but think that the curve of his lips as he smiled made him look much more charming and mysterious.

Simon carelessly dropped Olivia a safe distance from the water's edge, where the ground was completely dry, and turned back to look at me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up a finger to cut me off and reached into multiple pockets before he pulled out his phone. Then he proceeded to call.

"Alan, are you still here?" Simon looked down at Olivia. "I have a situation down by the lake, could you come by? Thanks."

He hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket, but not the same pocket he had pulled it out of. Then he gestured to me.

"Okay, you may continue with whatever tirade you were about to do," he said with a smile.

It was hard to be mad at someone that was smiling.

"Do you like saving people that much?" I asked saltily. "Do you have a God complex or something?"

Simon laughed and kicked the unconscious Olivia at his feet.

"I could care less about this ditsy, weak princess. I doubt she will make it long in this world anyway," he said. "I just saved her to tick you off."

I stared at him for a moment, debating how serious he was. Was he messing with me? I stared into his eyes, and I couldn't tell if it was humor or annoyance that I saw sparkling there.

Gosh, why did the one guy immune to my physical abilities have to also be so hard for me to get a read on? The fact that I couldn't tell what he was thinking was starting to drive me crazy. The shifters might be awful to me, but at least I knew they were honest.

Either way, he was a d*ck.

"To answer your earlier question, why in the h*ll would I like someone like you?" I blurted out angrily. "Did you seriously do this just to get under my skin? That is evil."

Simon's face raised in a smile again, but it didn't reach his eyes this time. There was a commotion behind me that saved Simon from having to respond to me. It was Alan.

A cool mask covered both my and Simon's faces as he approached.

"Woah, you guys are giving me the same look right now," Alan said, staring back and forth. "Are you guys similar?"

"No, don't even suggest that," I said in disgust, as I was still upset. Simon didn't say anything, he just turned and gestured to Olivia's body lying crumpled on the dirt.

"There was a slight incident between Miss Olivia and Alice, and I was hoping that you could possibly carry her to the nearest guard." Simon deflected. "Let them know that she needs to have a check-up, but she should be fine with just a bit of rest."

"Can do," Alan said with a nod. "What about Alice?"

"She needs to stay here." Simon's eyes drifted back to me. "She still needs to be punished."

My stomach dropped. Alan just nodded and gave me a sympathetic look before hauling up Olivia and taking off. I stood there nervously.

As I had said earlier, I didn't really believe that Simon would hurt me, but my body had a natural response to the word punishment at this point. I looked down at my hands and realized they were still claws. I instantly grabbed one and started to rip it out as Simon watched.

In relief, I felt the mutation fading as the pain brought me back. I took a couple of steps forward to wash my hands in the lake, attempting to get rid of all of the blood.

"Why don't you take advantage of your mutations?" Simon asked into the silence. "You always reject it. Even when you were fighting me, you could have used those things to help you win."

"I'm not trying to attack you, but in case you didn't notice, shifters and I don't really get along." I scrubbed my hands to avoid looking at him. "Over the years, I have associated the wolf blood or the gene with all the negative aspects of a character. I know humans that treat me millions of times better than these shifters ever have."

"You can't represent a whole race off of one pack," Simon said sternly.

"Really?" I asked incredulously, and looked at him. "Because last I checked, you weren't from this pack, and you treated me just like them when you met me. Weak and beneath you."

Simon looked contemplative as I talked as if he was just trying to understand me. There was no pity on his face or guilt, and I appreciated that.

"Did I treat you negatively, though?" Simon asked. "Besides calling you weak?"

"Can we just get on with the punishment," I asked as I stood up. "Nothing is getting done by just sitting here talking."

"Fine," Simon said and stepped closer to me. "First thing though, how is the ankle feeling? You seem to be moving alright, but is there any pain?"

"Nope, all good," I said and bent it in all directions to prove it to him.

"Perfect, then you should have no problems tonight." Simon paused. "Now, I want you to understand what you are being punished for. Three things. First: For that phone call that I received where you were screaming at me. I am the teacher here, not you, and I will make the schedule or cancel training as I see fit. Second: For trying to murder one of your family members again. And third: For using me as a ploy in one of your dangerous games. I'm sure that you said you had a crush on me to provide an impact, but leave me out of it."

I stared at him in anger.

"You have got to be f*cking kidding me," I said flatly.

"Perfect, you understand." And even though his voice was serious, I could see him trying to hide a laugh. "Then get to running. Your punishment is to run laps around the lake until dawn."

"Laps again?" I said in exasperation, but deep down, I was glad.

If I just got punished, it meant that he didn't give up on me. The punishments were usually much worse for me.

"And you better run fast because if I see you slow at all, I will be throwing my pebbles again," Simon said as he retreated to his tree. "And we don't want a repeat of what happened last time, so I suggest you get a move on."

"Suck my d*ck," I yelled at him as I began my lap.

His laughter came out a little more natural that time, and I couldn't help the smile I felt creep up on me.