Chapter 4

Elizabeth Summers

Jasper had his hand around Patti’s throat, I could see the fear in her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath. She was scratching at his hands trying to get her freedom but it was a futile attempt. He was a werewolf, he was much stronger than her. He probably couldn’t even feel her dull human nails as they scratched at his skin.

“She will do exactly what I tell her to do, whether she likes it or not.” His voice was harsh, I could feel the venom and hate behind his words. His hatred for me was so clear but I still don’t understand where this hatred was coming from or why he was taking his hatred of me out on my friend.

I wanted to help my friend, he was going to kill her if I didn’t stop him, but I couldn’t move. Even though he didn’t have his wolf yet, his Alpha aura was enough to keep me frozen in place. He was going to kill my friend while I was standing within arms reach of her and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could feel myself whimpering and crying like the pathetic Omega Jasper always claimed I was.

Jasper looked at me, our eyes met for a second and then he must have decided that Patti wasn’t worth the trouble it would get him into to kill her. He let go of her and walked away, disappearing into the crowd that was accumulating us. Patti fell to the floor and started coughing and gasping for air. I crouched down next to her and checked her neck, it didn’t look as though Jasper had done too much damage. Although, it was hard to tell with a human.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Patti said between wheezing breaths.

“Still, I think we should go to see the nurse,” I suggested.

“I’m…..” Patti interrupted herself with another bout of violent coughing.

“No excuses, we are going to the nurse.”

I put her arm over my shoulder and pulled her to her feet. I could tell that Patti was shocked by my strength but I had other things to worry about. I failed her by not doing anything to help her when she needed me, the least I could do was make sure that she got properly checked out.

By the time we got to the nurse’s office, I could already see the bruises forming on Patti’s neck. The nurse heard us coming and helped us into her office, she sat Patti down on one of the chairs and started to examine her.

“Who did this to you?” She asked, her voice was full of concern.

“Jasper Hartford.” Patti’s answer came out as a raspy whisper.

The nurse froze. She was a werewolf and a member of our pack. She knew he was going to be her Alpha soon and she seemed to be having second thoughts about treating Patti. Nobody wants to get on the wrong side of the future Alpha, particularly an Alpha with Jasper’s reputation.

“I will be back in a moment.” The nurse said before hastily leaving her office.

“Does that mean I am OK to leave?” Patti asked.

“I have no idea.”

We waited in the nurse’s office for the rest of the lesson but she never came back. Patti was feeling much better by this point so we decided to leave anyway. It was lunchtime and there were students rushing all around us.

Word must have travelled about what happened because everywhere I looked people were gossiping about us. I could hear them saying mine and Jasper’s name in the same sentence. They all had their own theories about what was going on between us, and all of them were wrong.

Patti had noticed the extra attention too. Even though she couldn’t hear most of what they were saying, she could see the way they were looking at us and whispering. It was making her more self-conscious than was usual for her.

“There you are, I was worried when neither of you showed up in class,” Oliver said, running towards us. He stopped when he saw the bruises on Patti’s neck. He looked concerned but this was quickly replaced with anger after he realised that the bruises were her only injury.

“What did he do?” Oliver asked.

I quickly explained what happened, leaving out the details of what Jasper had said about me. Oliver was angry but he reluctantly agreed not to confront Jasper. It was getting harder to convince him not to take action each time Jasper did something like this. I knew that one day soon there wouldn’t be anything I could say to change his mind.

“I have a good idea,” Oliver said, once he had calmed down.

“That would be a first,” Patti replied. She seemed to be feeling more like her normal self, that was a good sign.

“I think we should skip the rest of the day.” Oliver ignored Patti’s remark, focusing his attention mostly on me.

“What would you like to do?” I asked.

Oliver smiled at me, suddenly I was worried about what I had inadvertently agreed to.

“My parents are at work so we could go to mine and watch films.”

“It sounds nice but you live a long way from my house.” I dreaded to think what Jasper would do if I was late home. Luna Hartford would worry about me if I was late and Jasper would want to punish me for making her worry the next time we were alone together.

“Don’t worry about that. I will drive you home, you won’t be late.” Despite Oliver’s reassurance, I was still hesitant. Jasper had been particularly difficult to deal with today. I could never tell what was going to set him off next and I didn’t want to risk another run-in with him.

“Oh come on Liz, you need to relax a little,” Patti pleaded.

“The world isn’t going to end because you miss a couple of classes. I will even let you choose the film.” Oliver said.

“Fine,” I grumbled, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at them.

I still had some reservations but these quickly disappeared once we arrived at Oliver’s house. I had known Oliver for years but I had never been to his house before. It was much smaller than the Alpha’s house but it was cosy and homely. It was also much nicer than the accommodation that Omega’s like me were allocated within our pack.

Oliver left Patti and me in the living room while he went to get snacks and soft drinks from the kitchen. He came back a couple of minutes later putting them on the coffee table before sitting down next to me on the sofa. He put his arm on the top of the sofa over my shoulder.

“What would you like to watch?” Oliver asked.

“I think we should watch something romantic,” Patti suggested. I scowled at her, she knew how Oliver felt about me, and it wasn’t fair of her to be leading him on like that.

“I was thinking something scary,” I replied.

“Oh come on Liz, you don’t want me to have nightmares do you?” Oliver said, he and Patti were both pouting at me.

“Fine,” I replied. Sometimes I hated being an Omega, it made it so easy for them to manipulate me.

The next few hours were really awkward for two reasons. Firstly, I don’t like watching romantic films around other people. I turn into a blubbering mess of emotions, it is embarrassing. The second reason was Oliver, every time there was an emotional part in the film he would inch his way closer to me and try to drop his hand onto my shoulder. By the end of the second film, I was practically sitting on Patti’s lap to get away from him.

When 3 pm came around we all got into Oliver’s car. I made a point of getting into the back seat of the car with Patti, much to Oliver’s dismay. He didn’t say anything but I could see the frustration in his eyes at my continued defiance.

Oliver dropped Patti off at her house before driving me back home. As we were pulling into the driveway of the Alpha’s house I could see Jasper standing outside waiting for me. He looked worried until he saw me in the car with Oliver and anger took over his features.