Aiden wanted to get away, but he couldn’t make himself move. Hanna gripped his hand. She was afraid of Conner, but he was afraid of Dylan. He knew Dylan wouldn’t deliberately hurt him. Even when he’d burned Aiden, it had been an accident. But if Dylan attacked the werewolves, he might not think about the other people around him. Dylan might hurt Aiden, Hanna, any of the other kids in the lunchroom.
Conner brought his hand up and Aiden tensed even more. Maybe he could roll under the table if he could just make himself move. Oh God.
“Break it up,” an adult voice boomed.
Dylan was blocking most of his view, but he saw someone grab Conner and another teacher came up through the aisle, putting herself between Dylan and Conner. “You guys again.”
“I didn’t touch him,” Dylan protested.
Some of Aiden’s fear eased. Adults were here. They would take care of everything.
“All of you, to the principal’s office. Now.”
“He threatened my friends,” Dylan said, glaring.
“We’ll figure out what happened later. Let’s go.”
The teachers escorted Dylan, Conner, and the other werewolves out of the lunchroom. As soon as the door shut behind them, the room erupted with chatter. Aiden leaned against the table and let out a shaky sigh.
Hanna squeezed his hand. “He really could’ve fought them all. I’ve seen it.”
That’s not what I was afraid of.
Toby slid in across from him, where Dylan had been sitting moments before. “What was that all about?”
Hanna gave Aiden a look.
“This is Toby. He lives across the street from me and we have math together,” he said. Great, just want he needed. To Toby, he said, “This is Hanna.”
“I guessed,” Toby said with a grin. “So?”
“I… I think Conner wanted to reclaim me.” Hanna’s cheeks turned slightly pink.
I almost kissed her. In front of the whole school. This was crazy. An almost-kiss was enough for Conner to threaten a fight. What if they actually had? What if they started dating? Dylan would protect them, but Aiden didn’t want that. Dylan was also right that Aiden had enough power to protect himself.
The matches near the end of last semester had shown him that. He’d been able to hold his own against everyone, including the fox sisters and Dylan. The incident in the woods— which was the way he always thought of it— had also proved it. Aiden had felt his power mingle with Dylan’s and Mr. Johnson’s, and all three of them had similar strength.
The problem was that Aiden was afraid of his own magic again. It could get out of control. And even if he wasn’t afraid, he didn’t want to use his power to hurt people. Not even an asshole like Conner.
“Alphas.” Toby rolled his eyes. “They think they own everything.”
Hanna’s slight giggle surprised Aiden enough to snap him out of his thoughts. Then another problem occurred to him. “Oh God. I hope Dylan doesn’t get into trouble. He was just trying to protect us.” Well, that wasn’t true. Dylan was also looking for an excuse to fight.
“They didn’t actually hit each other, so maybe he won’t?” Toby said.
“He got in trouble last time for protecting me,” Hanna said. “He’s so brave.”
Aiden was surprised to feel a sting of jealousy. He really did like Hanna. “He likes to fight. He wasn’t being noble.”
“Would you fight for me, Aiden?” She looked at him with those pretty brown eyes.
The urge to keep her safe battled with his fear. “I’d protect you.” He wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth.
Liking a girl was complicated enough, why did there have to be all this monster crap on top of it?
* * *
Aiden texted Dylan and waited impatiently for a reply. When the phone buzzed to let him know he had a new message, he pulled it out to check. If he got caught checking his phone in class, he’d get in trouble, but he had to know.
Sent home 4 rest of day to cool off. :P
Was that a suspension? Would he be back next week? Aiden considered texting back, but made himself wait until after class.
Is that it? He asked practically the second the bell rang.
Play nice w others blahblah. Back Monday.
That must mean Dylan had gotten a lecture. I’ll let you know if we have bio hw.
K.
The next class was Minor Magical Control, and he sorely missed having Maggie helping him. That reminded him he needed to talk to her. After school he waited by her locker.
“Hey, Maggie.”
“Hi, Aiden.” She wore a sweatshirt with a kitten on it that said Prrrfect. “Need help with homework? Or are you stalking me now?”
That caught him off guard and he stared.
She nudged his shoulder and laughed. “I’m joking.” She turned and opened her locker.
“Oh, um… Would it be okay if I called you tonight?” He wanted to make sure she wasn’t busy. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“About what?”
“It’s a… personal something.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Does this have something to do with the fight at lunch today?”
His face got warm. “Kind of, yeah.” He looked around, hoping no one was listening.
Maggie leaned close, eyes bright. “Ooooh, romantic intrigue. I’m in.”
This was probably a really bad idea.