Blaine is staring at me.

We're both in the parking lot of the school.

"What?" I asked him, sighing as we were on our way to school. I had to tell him soon. Just so he could understand.

"West Stryder is your mate?"

"Yeah." I cleared my throat. "You asked me that for the third time now, Blaine."

Blaine shook his head vehemently. "And he's not...angry at you?"

"Uh....no?" Why would he be angry?

"Edith, Alpha males do not like being rejected. You know this. I'm surprised he's not harboring any bad feelings to you. They'd usually get angry and go ape crazy at you. But he's not. In fact, it looks like he wants to be friends."

"Don't you see a problem here? We shouldn't be friends!"

"You're not getting it!" Blaine insisted. "I'm telling you he might be different."

I rolled my eyes. "He's a football player for crying out loud. How different can that be?"

"Hey, don't judge the guy. He's helps me out a lot."

I hold back my tongue. "I know that."

"He's actually a really great guy."

How many times am I going to hear that? "And?"

"So that sucks what you're doing to him," Blaine answered, annoyed.

"You're right," I agreed quietly. "But it's either this or flat our reject him. I know you like him. I know everyone in the entire school likes him. I have to do this because I don't- if I-" I couldn't finish it. What would someone like him say when he figured out about Silas? How Silas beat Blaine and I almost to death while we're growing up? How Blaine and I managed to survive this far? How I'm weak for living under his rule for this long? How if Silas figures out I have a mate...I don't want to think about it. The thought gives me too much anxiety.

"Besides, I don't even care."

Blaine gave me a smirk. "Sure, if you didn't care, you would have rejected him from the start. I know you're denying this so much you believe it now, but you do care. It's nice to have someone there for you. I know West will be there for you because that's what kind of a personality he has."

"But Silas."

"Silas can get buried 6 feet under," Blaine seethed, no love for his father. "If there's one thing in your life you should be happy about, it's your freakin' mate. Don't let him take that away from you." Don't let him take away one of my chances at true happiness? He already did. There's no time for mates when I have a pack to take back. "Why can't you just go for it? Go for your happiness? It's all I want from you, Edith."

That's the thing about Blaine and I: we both want the best for each other, and we both will sacrifice everything for each other. I know we're cousins, but I told him a long time ago he's my younger brother. And Blaine told me he wants to protect his older sister.

And Rosie. We need Rosie to just be happy the most though.

Things were at stake here, and I wasn't going to drag my mate in with me. There's only one thing I can do.

Push West far away from me as possible.

This Friday morning was supposed to be a great sigh of relief. I am almost finished my first week of high school without anything amiss. It looked like Blaine was getting along fine- now that I told him my big secret it's a bigger sigh of relief. Basketball try-outs were in a month or so, and West really was helping my cousin out. Much to my happiness and dismay that it had to be my mate. That I was avoiding.

Friday meant that there was no school- read: being near my mate- for two days. Even though it was only the first week of school, all my teachers thought it was okay to give us homework. I'm planning on finishing it before I go to work, so I can focus on training in the weekend. I've been a little behind because of school and need to manage my time better. School. Work. Training. That should be my life within this year.

Closing my locker, I looked around to see where my best friend was. I expected Penelope to be singing Rebecca Black, but when she wasn't at our locker in the morning, I started to worry. Pulling my phone out in my pocket, I sent out a text to Penelope.

I nearly toppled over a student as I was trying to get to the other side of the building. Something was wrong. I could feel it.

Penelope was sitting down on the ground by the staircase, and her was down. Lifting her head up, she shook her head at me.

"P, what's wrong?" I asked her, trying to sound too demanding. Her face was pale, and I could see her tremble a little.

"He's here." I knew exactly who she was talking about.

Here's the thing. When a male wolf gets overly possessive over you, it's not love. It's borderline and . It's not hot. It's the ugliest thing ever. It's like you're an object. It's like you can't be your own person. It is the fact that the male has some major unresolved issues. When he's possessive towards you, it's not love. It's not love. When a male is possessive, it's a warning sign- to run far away. I wish more females, wolves or not wolves, didn't get entranced by it. I wish they didn't think it was a sign he loved you.

I met Penelope's eyes again, and she looked away. Her ex-boyfriend Jared was laughing in the hallway, right outside of Penelope's next class. If I had to pummel him to the ground if he so much as looked in my best friend's direction, I would. In this school with everyone watching, I would kill him.

The memories of Penelope laying on her couch, looking bruised and broken haunted me. I never wanted to see someone I love in pain like that. Penelope was the strongest person I knew. At the moment, I was thinking only about going straight to Jared's house, and beating him up, but Penelope needed me. So I stayed with her because she didn't want to talk, watched her favorite movie, Bridesmaids, and ate ice cream. The next day, I threatened Jared's head if he did anything like that again. My plan of beating him to a bloody pulp got sabotaged when he had like 5 body guards there trying to push me back.

"It's okay," Penelope whispered to me, knowing exactly what I was thinking. Jared was the Alpha's son in her pack, Southern Paw. Of course no wolf cared about a possessive a-hole who beat up his girlfriend. Jared was the son of the Alpha. Penelope held no rank. Which in the world that is wrong and werewolf, no one batted an eye.

"No it's not," I almost snarled.

Jared's face went blank when he saw me coming over to him. Despite Penelope's warnings, I needed to let him know. Someone like him shouldn't be let easy. I should have broken all the bones in his body.

"S-stay away from me," Jared almost shouted, gaining the attention of the few wolves around us. He took a few steps back, causing me to take a few steps forward.

I crossed my arms, a smirk deliberately forming on my face. "You better stay away."

"You're crazy!" now, Jared was actually causing a scene yelling. He always called Penelope crazy for everything she did. Crazy that she wanted to spend a little time with her friends. Crazy that she liked certain things. She was also stupid. He called her that so many times she almost believed it.

Fighting at school was so not worth it. This was my mantra, but something overcame me. I don't know when my fists clenched and I raised them ever so slightly, but out of nowhere I felt sparks, and knew it was West before I even looked at him, gently holding back my fist a little, but with enough force to make sure I didn't sock Jared right here and now.

I was too shocked to pull away, looking up at West, our bodies only a hair apart. His herbal, aquatic scent unfortunately was pleasing and calming in contrast with his powerful presence. It wasn't just his physique which was impressive with his very defined muscles, but what came from within. If I could feel the power radiating off of him, everyone else can too. Except I think West is the one oblivious to his own feral Alpha aura to him. His presence described him: untamed and mercurial.

Today, his eyes were a muddy green. They roamed over my form, to make sure I was okay before they were trained on Jared. West's eyes turned steely in an instant.

"Hey what's going on here?" West asked with a very fake cheerful voice. His smile was deceptive as he looked at Jared. If I didn't catch his eyes, I'd say it was friendly.

"This chick is crazy and needs to be taught a lesson," Jared replied, pointing at me, thinking West would help him. Defend him. I don't know what West would do, actually.

West's face darkened. He growled out menacingly, "Wrong answer."

One second it's West holding me back, and a minute later, it's me trying to hold West back, but I was too late because a sharp and distinct hard crack sound from Jared's jaw was heard as he crumpled to the ground.