Trouble.
PENELOPE.
That Bridget girl isn’t the only one giving me dirty looks. A lot of girls are. Guys too.
I wonder what they’re thinking. Probably the same as Bridget—that I don’t belong here. That I’m not worthy of having four wolf shifter mates. And I know that. More than anything I do. But I want it. There is a rightness to this that I feel deep in my soul, and I can’t even begin to understand what it means. All I know is that I do belong here, even if nobody else thinks I do.
The guys are careful to keep anybody from touching me, like they promised. I’m grateful for this. It’s one thing to be glared at, but it’s another to know what somebody is thinking about you. But even the guys can’t protect me from everything. Not in high school.
Liam, Cole, and Aiden go to grab us all some food while Parker and I go to sit down at a table in the lunchroom.
This lunchroom is unlike any I’ve ever seen before. The room is massive and has a lot of different tables—some big, some small. Along the front of the room there are different vendors you can get food from. At my old school, you could only get whatever they were serving that particular day, even if you didn’t like it. I usually ended up bringing a lunch because I never liked what they offered.
I guess school for shifters are different.
As Parker and I walk towards a table he grabs my hand, and I like when he holds it. I also like when the other guys hold my hand too, which makes me feel guilty. I feel like they’re going to get jealous or upset if they see me holding Parker’s hand.
Still, I can’t bring myself to pull away because I want to hold his hand.
Is it weird to hold hands with a guy I just met? It’s probably weirder to have the feelings I have for him, but I won’t allow my brain to go there right now.
I’m so busy looking at Parker, who is also watching me, that I don’t notice the guy step in front of me until it’s too late. Some guy crashes into me, and his arm barely grazes mine, but it’s enough for me to hear his thoughts.
I’m so thankful when I don’t feel a rush of thoughts and emotions, but that thankfulness goes away quickly when I hear the guys thoughts.
What’s so great about her? She’s a slut.
My chest drops, and I feel sick to my stomach.
Is that what they think of me?
I’ve never even been kissed, and this guy thinks I’m a slut.
Is this what it’s going to be like my whole life? People thinking I’m a slut because I have four mates?
Parker lets go of my hand, so I look up just in time to see him swing a punch at the guy. It makes a loud thwack as his fists connects with the guy’s face and he falls to the ground at the impact.
Oh, my gosh.
I stand there with my mouth open looking between Parker and the guy on the floor. Parker is glaring at the guy on the floor and the guy stays down. He is actually trembling as he looks at Parker.
Everybody is staring at us now. Some at Parker and the guy, but mostly at me. A few of the girls are openly glaring at me, like it was my fault. But I didn’t mean for Parker to punch the guy just because he ran into me.
Then it hits me.
Parker punched the guy because of what he was thinking.
The slut comment.
So, it is my fault. Because if I would’ve been paying attention, we never would’ve bumped into each other and I never would’ve known that he thought I was a slut. Parker read his thoughts through mine.
I have really got to learn to block them if it’s going to cause so much trouble.
Liam, Cole, and Aiden all come back with food in their hands and run over when they see Parker and me.
“What happened?” Liam asks.
He’s looking at Parker, but Parker isn’t saying a word. Liam turns his attention to the guy on the floor, who trembles even more.
“I didn’t do anything. I just accidentally bumped into her,” the guy says.
“He called Penelope a slut,” Parker says.
“I didn’t,” the guy says, holding up his arms.
“He thought it,” I say. “And Parker heard his thoughts through mine. It wasn’t his fault. He can’t control what he’s thinking. Honestly, it was my fault. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
Before anybody can say anything else, Margot Westwood walks into the dining hall and looks at the five of us, plus the guy on the group.
“All of you, with me,” she says.
Great.
We’re in trouble.
I don’t know what came over me.
One minute, I was holding Penelope’s hand—I was distracted. I am never distracted, but something about her makes me forget everything else. I wasn’t paying attention to where we were walking and somehow Daniel walked into her.
I’m not sure if him walking into her was an accident, but that wasn’t what upset me.
It was what he thought about Penelope.
I felt her hurt as if it were my own.
Her purple eyes turned gray, like they always do when she’s upset.
He hurt her. Even if he didn’t mean to.
So, I hurt him.
I reacted.
Maybe it wasn’t the smartest decision I’ve ever made, but if I wouldn’t have done it, Liam would have. Or Cole. Possibly even Aiden, because after Aiden found out what happened, he was ready to fight somebody too. And he’s the nice one.
The worst part about all of this, the only thing I regret, is that now Penelope feels guilty, like all of this is her fault somehow. She thinks we’re all going to get in trouble.
We’re not.
It’s Shifter Academy. We all have high tempers. We all get into arguments. And when it comes to Penelope, I don’t care who I have to fight. Nobody will ever make her feel like that again.