DEDICATED TO ArabellaLowe :) Thanks for messaging me! :D

~

Nyah Pineda's PoV:

They say payback is a bitch.

So am I, when I'm exerting said payback.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" I throw my head back and laugh the most obnoxious laugh I can muster as my Mate, the beginner of the prank wars—okay, it was really me, to be fair, but nope, I won't say it out loud. I mean, why would I ever admit to that and ruin the fun? Or, miss out on the pissed off look he's currently sporting?—turns to me with a glare that immediately reminds me of laser beams shooting out of cartoon characters' eyes.

That makes me laugh even more.

"Not. Funny." He growls out as he slowly wipes the tomato ketchup off his face with a single swipe. More ketchup that had been dripping off the tip of his hair slithers down and runs along his cheek, and he closes his eyes to exhale slowly and wipe them off as well.

But then his hand was already coated in ketchup from the time he previously wiped his face, so it is now smeared all over his stubble-covered cheeks again.

I. Can't. Even.

I throw my head back and clutch my aching stomach as I let out peals of laughter that are even more real this time, tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes as I struggle to take in a breath through my uncontrollable fit of giggles, "You—you—you have—oh, Goddess!" I choke, patting my own head to stop myself from dying a sudden, young death due to lack of oxygen.

But dying while laughing? That sure is not a bad way to go.

Just not in the next eighty years, though.

I finally reign myself in and wipe off the leftover moisture in my eyes to clear my blurry vision and have another proper look at his face. And that's when I realize that the asshole is actually grinning.

He's grinning at me.

Uh-oh. The-ketchup-splattering-all-over-him-the-moment-he-opens-his-locker trick might've worked just too well, then.

"So, I assume one of my traitors of friends gave you my locker combination?" Ezra stalks forward to slowly advance in on me, his grin turning ominous.

"You know what they say about assumptions," I shrug as a slow shiver of desire races through me at the way his eyes darken, making me take an involuntary step back—a step that defies every single instinct in me to stand down and face him head-on.

At this rate, you'll slowly lose the Alpha in you, Nyah.

"Uh-huh," He takes another slow step forward, this time, the evil glint in his eye more obvious as he smirked secretively.

That's when his malicious intentions dawn on me.

He's angling for a payback to my payback for his payback.

"Fuck!" I curse as I spin around and break into a sprint, hearing his laugh as he gives up the pretense of trying to be casual and chases me as well. I glance back quickly to see that he's not far back, thanks to the number of students smiling around who're hindering my natural speed.

"Fuck, no!" I shake my head to myself as I slam into people's shoulders unapologetically in my hurry to get away. Just then, another class's door opens and a huge crowd of people starts pouring out into the hallway, and man, that was worst timing on Mrs. Hubbard's part to let a class go late.

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!" I exclaim as I push people out of the way, my frustration making it that much harder for me to control my superhuman strength.

After what seems like a couple hundred more muttered apologies, I finally break free from the thick of the crowd. I turn to catch a quick glance at my oncoming chaser and find that Ezra is still stuck in the middle of the crowd that's now bigger due to the fact that the entire class has emptied.

Ha!

I blow my Mate a kiss as I turn back around and continue my escape, but just then, I hear Ezra's loud exclaim and a string of curses behind me that indicate that he broke free from the crowd as well.

No.

"Yes! TATUM! Grab her!" Ezra yells from somewhere behind me, and with a sudden bout of shock, I realize that one of his friends must be somewhere in front of me. I scan the crowd with panic as I search for the possible helper he might have, and quickly catch sight of the platinum blond hair of his brother, Micajah and his Mate, Seneca at the far end of the hallway. From the deep conversation they were having, it seemed like they hadn't noticed our childish game of cat and mouse yet.

They wouldn't help Ezra, anyway, I think. Considering the fact that Micajah was the one who gave me his locker combination.

'So, we're the mouse, now?' My Wolf grumbles in a playful manner, and I only then I gather that she's referring to my analogy of our game—which might've slightly hurt her too-big, Alpha ego. I shake my head to myself, but don't take a second out of my concentrated perusal of the crowded veranda to reply to her.

I must win.

That's when I spot a black-haired girl standing frozen in the middle of the path a little way ahead, and I realize that it had taken me so long to find her, because I'd pictured a guy.

Dammit. I missed the last freaking turn in my stupidity.

I am doomed.

"No!" I call loudly in a last resort measure, hoping that the girl wouldn't help him.

"She stole my wallet and keys! Grab the thief!" Ezra screams, and that lie jolts the girl into action.

It all happens in a span of under five seconds.

She leaps forward and her sudden speed colliding with my hurried pace almost sends the two of us crashing down the hallway at the impact of our bodies hitting together. Immediately, she wraps one hand tight around my forearm in a vise-like grip and her other arm goes around my back, holding me securely. A quick sniff confirms that she's a Wolf, so I make a split second decision to use my strength and try to yank myself back, doing my best to break loose.

Only, I don't get to.

Her grip on me gets impossibly tighter and stronger the moment she realizes that I'm trying to escape.

Holy fuck. She's a first-born Alpha.

Goddess.

I let out a resigned sigh as I let my body loosen and pretend to have given up, and that makes her let her guard down for a second. Her grip goes a little slack as her fingers release their bruising hold on me, and I take that as my cue to attempt to flee again.

But just as I'm about to almost get out of her grasp, another pair of bigger arms lock around me and before I can use my strength and push him off, I'm twisted around with force. I register three things at the moment, three things that almost short-circuit all the connections to my brain.

1. His stubble covered cheek and forehead are rubbing all over my face and neck, completely setting every single cell on my body on fire and bringing them to attention.

2. My body is pressed up completely against his from chest to knees, and there's not even a gap of a thread's width between us.

3. He's getting the wet, slobbery ketchup all over my face while he rubs against me, and there's nothing I can do about it.

And as a side note, I also realize that it's one of the strangest experiences of my life; to get turned on and feel disgusted at the same time.

"Ezra!" The Alpha who caught me for him cries in outrage, and I sigh in relief when my knees don't give out like I'd assumed they would as he finally lets go of me and takes a step back.

Fuck-a-duck, I'm gonna need a moment to recover from all that.

"Oh, my Goddess! You must be his Mate! I am so freaking sorry for falling for his stupid lie and helping him. I seriously never would've if I'd known. It all happened in like, two seconds and I just—"

"It's okay," I cut her off with a smile as I finally take in a breath, "Alpha Tatum . . . ?"

"I'm Tatum Karas," She smiles as she extends her hand and then I remember about the heir of the Karas pack who was always absent from all meetings as a child. Hm, I wonder why that was. I push that nosy thought away and nod to my arms that are covered in ketchup from when the asshole held me close to him, making her pull her proffered hand back with a slight grimace, "Nyah Pineda." I smile.

"Uh, sorry again," She says, shaking her head as she shoots a chuckling Ezra a look filled with disappointment, "And please, you don't have to call me Alpha. I've not taken over yet."

"Nice to meet you, Tatum." I grin again, letting her know that I'd comply, "Although, I definitely wish it weren't under such circumstances."

"Look at you being all formal and stuff," Ezra giggles like a little boy, his face ecstatic with glee as he lets his eyes roam over my ketchup covered body.

"It's called manners," I snipe, rolling my eyes as I cross my arms with the most of dignity I could pull off, "It's a trait that normal people who're not damaged in the head have. Along with something called honesty and playing fair."

"All is fair in love and war, babe." He gives me a cheeky wink as he pokes his tongue against the side of his mouth, and normally, that gesture should've made anyone look ugly as a toad.

Why did he look so frickin' sexy?

"Whatever," I grumble as I look away, avoiding his eyes at the double entendre, because, this?

It can be either love. Or war.

'Or both,' My Wolf suggests happily, and I have to sigh before shutting her out.

Horny Wolves don't help things.

At all.

"Looks like you introduced Tatum." Micajah walks up with his Mate in tow just then, his eyebrows so far up that they might fly off his forehead if he raises them any more, "And it also looks like you fell for his dumb lie, Tatum."

"I'm ashamed to agree," Tatum gives me a bashful look.

"It's no problem," I insist again, "I should've known such an old prank would backfire." I sigh dramatically, and everyone breaks into laughter at my expression.

Only after that do I realize what I just did.

I cracked a joke.

But the important thing is, it was exactly the way Ezra would've cracked it.

My inner drama-queen is showing.

Great.

"Here," Micajah pulls out the spare shirt from his bag, that I'd been considerate enough to ask him to grab on Ezra's behalf—and launches it at his brother. Looking at it, I'm filled with such disgust at myself for trying to be accommodating, that I grab it out of the air and wipe the ketchup off of my face with it.

"Noooooo," Ezra groans in a half-growl, half-whine, and once I'm thoroughly done with cleaning it all off my skin with the soft material—my white Imagine Dragons tee is a whole another story—I throw the now-ruined item of clothing to its owner.

Take that, Ezra. My payback to his payback of my payback to his payback.

Okay, I really need to stop doing that.

Seneca is the first one to laugh at that. That immediately sets off Tatum and Micajah, and then it's the three of them doing the same obnoxious laughter thing I'd just been doing.

Oh. From prior experience, I'd have normally assumed that Seneca would be the type to be pissed off for her Beta despite the fact that he just got ketchup all over me, but she definitely surprised me.

I guess it is right what they say about assumptions. Maybe I should cut her some slack.

"You—you know," Seneca starts, still chuckling, "She was the one who asked us to bring the shirt. You brought this upon yourself."

Okay, a lot of slack, because the Seneca I thought I knew wouldn't have said that, either. She'd been an obnoxious, privileged little bully to match the image in my head.

Makes me reevaluate a lot of opinions I have about all things Ezra.

"Yep. Isn't that why they say, 'Think before you act'? Makes one wonder about the number of working brain cells people possess." I shrug, making a show of glancing at my smartwatch, "Alright, guys. I gotta go. Don't want to be late for class. It was nice meeting you all," I specifically meet Seneca's eyes as I say this, hoping to clear up some of the lingering tension I'd harbored on my part, "See you around!"

With that, I turn on my heel and walk down the hallway in the direction of the women's room merrily, knowing for sure that there will be a remark.

Ezra Harland cannot not have the last word.

Three, two and one.

"No matter what you say, I'll never regret giving you payback!" My Mate calls, and I giggle at the perfect timing and just how predictable we've gotten to become.

"Okay! I like stiff things, too! In fact, the stiffer, the better!" I yell, turning around to shoot him a salacious wink as I slowly let my eyes wander down south.

His face goes red as he instantly lowers the t-shirt he was holding to cover himself up, so flustered that even his sassy mouth couldn't come up with a comeback.

"Bye, Mate!" I blow him another kiss as I turn back around and skip away, my cheeks hurting from smiling so hard and so long. But what's surprising is, I can't stop smiling even if I tried.

Fuck, I really need to be more careful.

Because if I let this go on, this charming Beta might just be the one who breaks me.

~ * ~

Shit, I just realized that these two are not as broken as Seneca and Micajah. Which means lesser build-up and quicker romance.

LOL, but maybe that's a good thing, right? Who else in?

NOTE:

Okay, since I've got a lot of commitments in my life, I think I might slightly have to reduce the extra-hobbies and concentrate more on my studies. I'm not saying I won't update, I just need more time with each chapter. Please be understanding and don't hate me. And I'll probably update the same as I'm doing now, anyway. Once in 4-5 days.

I just might not be able to, at times. That's all I'm saying.

Thanks for reading! xx

If you liked it, please do,

VOTE, COMMENT, AND FAN!