Scary world.
PENELOPE.
Dean Westwood tried to separate me from the guys. They vetoed that before she could even get the words out of her mouth, which relieves me.
I need them. I’m pretty sure holding Parker and Aiden’s hands is the only thing keeping me from having a panic attack. It’s the only thing that is keeping me from overthinking about what that boy thought.
Slut.
Of course this looks bad.
I have four mates.
Four.
It’s not normal.
Not that turning into a wolf is all that normal either.
I guess I thought it would be different here. I thought I wouldn’t be the weird pale girl who doesn’t like to be touched. I thought I would fit in and maybe make friends. Instead, people think I’m weird. They think I’m…
A slut.
Aiden grips my hand tighter.
I know he can hear me. They all can. But it’s not like I can control my thoughts.
Margot looks between me and the four guys around me, then she looks at the boy on the other side of the room who appears terrified.
He’s also got a very dark black eye, but it’s already looking better. Parker let me know that shifters heal really fast, so I don’t feel quite as bad about him being punched. Part of me is glad Parker stood up for me.
Still, the guy can’t help what he was thinking. I’m sure lots of people were thinking it. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“What happened?” Margot asks, looking at Liam.
He’s the alpha, so of course she wants him to speak for us all.
“Daniel called Penelope a slut,” Liam says.
“Not exactly,” I say, my voice low.
The guys are hiding me from seeing the other boy. Probably more to hide me from him. I appreciate it because I don’t really want to see the guy right now. His thoughts really hurt my feelings, even though he can’t help what he thinks.
She looks at Parker. “Maybe you can tell me why you punched him.”
Parker grinds his teeth together and takes a deep breath before answering her.
“Daniel bumped into Penelope in the dining hall,” Parker explains. “And when he did, Penelope could read his thoughts. And I could read them through our mind link—”
Margot cuts him off. “You’ve completed the mate bond? Wait… did you say she read his mind?”
“We didn’t complete the mate bond.” Parker lets out his breath in a huff, then he looks at Liam for help.
Parker is annoyed. Really annoyed. He doesn’t like being in the same room as Daniel, and he’s having a hard time keeping his temper under control.
“Penelope can read the thoughts of others,” Liam tells Margot. “All it takes is a touch and she can read all. It’s impossible to block her completely. Even my dad couldn’t block her all the way out.”
“Interesting.” She then looks at me for a moment before turning her attention back to Parker. “Continue.”
“Daniel was thinking that he thinks Penelope is…” Parker’s voice cuts off.
After a few long moments of silence, it’s clear he doesn’t want to finish his sentence.
He’s upset.
Seeing him this upset makes me want to protect him the same way he’s protected me.
“He was thinking that I’m a slut,” I whisper.
“It hurt Penelope’s feelings a lot,” Parker says. “So, I retaliated. I may have overreacted, but I don’t regret my actions.”
“You didn’t overreact,” Liam growls. “I would’ve done much worse.”
Margot turns from us to look at the other boy.
“Is this right?”
The boy doesn’t say anything, but I can tell he must have nodded because Margot stands up.
“Very well.” She folds her hands in front of her. “I don’t think that Daniel meant anything malicious by his thoughts, but I also can’t fault Parker for standing up for his mate. Daniel, I do think it’s best that you stay away from Penelope and the guys for a while. You can leave.” She turns to us. “But not you five.”
I hear the boy get up and leave in a hurry. I can breathe easier once he’s gone.
We’re not in trouble.
That’s a relief.
Margot sits back down and looks at Liam.
“How has today been?”
Liam sighs. “Not good.”
“I figured,” she replies, hanging her head. “This is new for us all.”
“What are we going to do about it?” Cole runs a hand through his hair and lets out a breath. “I’d rather not be in here every day because one of us punched somebody.”
“I’d prefer that too. I think this is just something people are going to have to get used to.” She frowns. “Usually it’s only dragons who have multiple mates, but that’s because their numbers are so low. The fact that this is happening is unusual, to say the least.”
“Am I a dragon?” I ask, my eyes widening.
“No,” Liam says, laughing. “We’d be able to tell if you were. You don’t smell like a dragon.”
I don’t know why, but his words relive me.
The thought of turning into a large fire breathing lizard scares the crap out of me. Actually, the thought of turning into any kind of animal scares the crap out of me.
“I don’t want people to think I’m a slut,” I murmur. “What can I do? Am I supposed to… choose one of them?”
My heart hurts as I speak the words.
“No.” Margot shakes her head and smiles gently. “Fate gave you four mates for a reason. We have no way of know that reason right now, but it’s important you stay with all four guys.”
Her words relive me.
I know the guys said I wasn’t supposed to choose but hearing it from her makes it feel official.
How could I choose between them anyway?
I couldn’t.
I don’t want to.
“Take off the rest of the day,” Margot suggests. “I’m going to have a talk with our students and make sure everyone is nicer to Penelope in the future.”
“Maybe don’t tell them about what she can do,” Liam advises. “At least, not until we can figure out what she is.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she says.
After that, we all get up and leave Dean Westwood’s office and head home.
I just wonder…
Is everybody going to think I’m a slut because fate chose four mates for me instead of one?
Am I a slut?
“Stop with those thoughts,” Cole says, scolding me. “Seriously, who cares what they think. They’re all just jealous we found our mate before we even graduate. Only about two percent of us will find our mates this young.”
Maybe.
Still… I want to fit in here.
With Cole, Liam, Aiden, and Parker, I feel like I finally belong somewhere. And this school is part of their life. I want to fit into it so bad.
“This school is only a small part of our life.” Aiden takes the lead as we walk down the long, spiral staircase.
“And only for the rest of this year,” Parker adds.
“Honestly, we hate it here.” Cole looks back at me and smiles. “We only come because Liam’s dad asked us to.”
Liam huffs out a laugh. “Ordered us.”
“What is the point of this school?” This question has been bugging me for a while now. “I mean, can’t you just go to school anywhere? Why do you need a special shifter school?”
“There aren’t just wolf shifters here,” Parker explains. “There are all kinds of shifters. They send us here so we can make alliances and hopefully get along.”
“The wolves do not get along with the cats.” Aiden snickers.
“Cats?” I ask.
“Panthers, lions, cheetahs,” he says. “There are more, but you get the point.”
I nod.
“There are also other shifters,” Liam adds. “We get along fine with most shifters.”
“Isn’t it cliché for wolves to not get along with cats?” I raise a brow and a smile tugs at my lips.
“Nobody gets along with the cats,” Cole says, disgust clear on his face. “Not even the other cats. They have to keep the lions and tigers separate because the alphas got into a huge fight and almost killed each other.”
My mouth falls open. “Seriously?”
This school is crazy.
This world is crazy.
If only humans knew the truth… nobody would be able to sleep at night.
“So, what are we doing now?” I ask.
“We are going home.” Liam nods his head towards the front door of the school. “Dean Westwood is going to deal with the situation here and we are going to prepare for this weekend.”
This weekend…
When I am going to be introduced to the entire shifter community.
I swallow hard, butterflies filling my stomach.
I worry… what if it’s not just the students that think poorly of me? What if everybody hates me? What if they demand that their alpha take a different mate? What if they don’t want me with any of the guys?
“Not going to happen,” Liam says. “I promise.”
His words comfort me, but I still worry.
This world is a scary one.
When we got home, Penelope said she wanted some time alone and she went up to her room.
But her thoughts are loud.
I can feel every bit of her pain.
She’s hurting.
And it kills me.
A shifter usually can’t feel the emotions of their mate until they are bonded. I don’t know why it’s different with Penelope, but I’m glad it is. I’m glad she can’t block me out. And even though I said I would teach her, I’m not going to until she can be fully honest with us about what she’s feeling.
Liam paces back and forth. “Somebody needs to go up there.”
All four of us are on edge.
“Aiden should go.” Parker turns towards me.
“We should all go,” Cole says.
“No, I don’t want to overwhelm her.” Liam stops pacing and focuses on me. “Parker is right. Aiden, you should go talk to her. You’re the best at talking. You can calm her down. Because I can’t take much more of this. I’m about ready to get on a boat and leave this island. I want to run away and hide with her.”
Which wouldn’t solve anything.
In fact, that would just cause more problems.
“I’ll go talk to her.” I stand up from the couch and call out to the guys as I reach the stairs, “Things are going to work out. She’s our mate.”
I’m right.
They know I am.
Fate isn’t always easy, but it always knows what it’s doing. It chose the four of us as Penelope’s mates for a reason.
I do worry, though.
Why did fate give Penelope four mates?
I have a feeling we will find out soon.
I head up the stairs to Penelope’s room and knock on the door. A few seconds later, she opens it. Her eyes are red and her face is puffy. My heart completely breaks when I see it.
She’s been crying.
Her eyes are gray, but they turn more of a blue gray when she looks at me.
I make her happy.
I should’ve come up here sooner. I knew she was hurting. I should’ve…
But she asked for privacy.
“Hey,” she murmurs. “You want to come in?”
I nod.
I don’t trust myself to speak out loud just yet.
Penelope opens the door wider so I can walk in. As soon as she shuts it I can’t help myself. I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight against me. She is surprised for a second, but then she squeezes me back.
“Forget what that guy thought,” I tell her. “It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks. We know the truth.”
“What about that Bridget girl?” Penelope asks. “She didn’t like me either.”
“She’s just jealous.”
In her mind, I hear her agree with me. She thinks she’d be jealous if we were mated to somebody else. She thinks that Liam, Parker, Cole, and I are the hottest guys she’s ever met and that even when she thought we were crazy, she was insanely attracted to us.
I pull back slightly and grin at her, and her face turns red.
“You really have to show me how to block my thoughts,” she grumbles, covering her cheeks with her hands.
Her eyes are fully blue now, meaning she is happy.
“Your eyes are fascinating.” I voice my thoughts aloud, trying to ease her embarrassment. “I could watch them change colors all day.”
“Why do you think they started doing that after I met you guys?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure. It might be because we’re your mates, or maybe it’s because of your age. There are some supernaturals that don’t fully come into their powers until they reach a certain age.”
“Ah,” she drawls. “And I’ll be eighteen in February.”
I’ll have to remember that.
February is still five months away.
“When is everybody’s birthdays?” she asks. “I feel like I barely even know all of you. I don’t even know all of your last names. I mean, I know Liam’s last name is Mutatio and your last name is Wolfe.”
“Cole’s last name is Felix and Parker’s is Belmont.” I pause as I think over when everybody was born. “All of us are eighteen already. My nineteenth birthday is March 27. Cole’s birthday is February 4. Liam’s birthday is April 17. Parker’s is August 5.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“I have a two-year-old brother.”
Her eyes light up. “Really? Will I get to meet him?”
“Of course.” I grin. Happiness fills me with the knowledge that she wants to meet my brother. “My parents are coming this weekend to meet you, but they won’t be bringing my brother. Maybe we can go visit them one weekend or something.”
“That would be awesome.” She smiles at me softly and takes my hand, pulling me along behind her.
Penelope and I sit down on her bed and just keep talking. She asks me questions about my life and family, and I ask many about her as well. We’ve all been so busy that we haven’t taken the time to get to know our mate.
This changes now.
It’s time to show Penelope what being mated to a wolf shifter really means.