Jax

Brandy let out a small shriek as I fell back against the lockers behind me. Their metallic rattle echoed through the hall and other students paused to watch the commotion.

I pressed a hand to my throbbing jaw and glared at Arsen where he stood, scowling at me.

"You done now? Got that out of your system?" I snapped, pushing myself off of the lockers.

"I told you if you hurt her I'll kill you." He growled, shoving me back against the locker again.

"Arsen, he wasn't hurting me." Brandy said softly, taking a tentative step closer.

He scoffed, looking her up and down abhorrently. "I'm not fucking talking about you." He spat at her. Her eyes went wide and she retreated again.

"Don't talk to her like that, dude." I said calmly, bringing his attention back to me. Brandy looked terrified, and any other day Arsen would have never talked to a female the way he just had. "Your problem is with me, alright?" I glanced at the blonde. "Brandy, I'll talk to you later."

She looked between the two of us before scampering off down the hallway.

Once she was farther away, and the rest of the students who had paused moved on, I glared at him again.

"You want me to stay away from her, I'm staying away from her. What else do you want me to do?" I asked, throwing my hands in the air in frustration.

"Don't fucking rub it in her face!" He fumed. I stared at him, confused, as he raked a hand through his hair.

"She feels the mate bond already." He said through the mind link, glancing around at the other students. "When we walked around the corner to see that..." he winced. "She tried to hide it, but god dammit Jax, we aren't even mated and I could feel how bad it hurt her."

I cringed. In any normal circumstance, the fact that he could already feel her emotions would be a good thing. It meant that their bond was strong. But the fact that it hurt her just to see me kissing Brandy meant that ours was strong too.

"Have you told her yet? Does she know anything?" I asked.

His shoulders slouched as the fight left his eyes. "No. I have no idea how to do this. Maybe if it was just me it'd be easier, but obviously she already cares about you. And then there's the third one. She could have already met him for all I know. And then there's the prophecy..."

He looked up at the ceiling, trying to collect himself.

"We're gonna figure this out, ok?" I laid a hand on his shoulder. He frowned but nodded his head, shaking off my hand.

"Just.. don't pull shit like that again. She doesn't deserve it."

I had no argument. He was right. She didn't deserve that. She deserved better than me.

"I know." I admitted as he huffed out a sigh, he was just as stressed out as I was. "The guys want to play a game of touch football later, you should come. And maybe we could go for a run after. I think we both could use it"

"Yea..." he glanced back at the door of the classroom Ava was in. "Yea, I can do that."

"Alright." I nodded. "I'll see you at the field after school."

I watched him turn to leave, his shoulders rigid with tension as he walked away.

When I grabbed the classroom door handle, butterflies erupted in my stomach, making me pause. I couldn't remember the last time just the thought of seeing a girl had caused that reaction in me.

I took a deep breath and pulled the door open.

My eyes immediately found her, and I took the time to check her out. She was wearing glasses today, and they made her look fucking hot. Her curly hair that had been so carefully done yesterday was messy and wild today. It looked absolutely stunning on her.

For a moment she looked at me, before scowling and turning away. She crossed her arms and her shoulders tensed as she glared at the opposite wall like it had personally insulted her. Her stubbornness would be almost comical if I didn't know she was purposely trying not to look at me.

I scratched the back of my head nervously and took the seat next to her. She remained still, and I could see her jaw clenching in determination.

I opened my mouth and closed it, unsure of what to say to her.

"Hey." I grimaced.

"Hey? That's the best you can do?" My wolf chastised me, finally making an appearance now that I was so close to her again.

"What do you want me to say? 'I'm sorry I hurt you, even though you don't understand why. Please forgive me. You're the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on.'?" I retorted sarcastically.

"Precisely." He growled.

I held back from rolling my eyes at him as Ava turned to me with a blank expression. Her eyes roamed over my face and she winced. My heart dropped into my stomach.

I was such an idiot, I should have fixed my hair after it got messed up by Brandy's hands. And I could still feel that my lips were slightly puffy from kissing her so intensely. I was doing exactly what Arsen had said, rubbing it in her face.

"Fuck." I muttered, as she stared at me wordlessly. "Ava..."

Her phone buzzed and she quickly looked away from me to answer it.

A laugh bubbled out of her mouth and a smile spread across her face. After texting back and forth with someone she put the phone in her bag and turned away from me again.

I gulped. Who was she texting that made her smile like that? Did she have a boyfriend back home? That was going to complicate things even farther. This whole situation was such a mess.

I'd told Arsen we would figure it out but in all honesty, I didn't even know where to begin.

"Ok everyone," Mrs. Riggs said from the front of the room, rubbing her hands together excitedly. "We finally have an equal number in this class. Everyone say hello to our new student, Aviana Faulkner."

Ava slid down in her seat, her cheeks turning red as all eyes fell on her.

"Ava." I said, looking at Mrs. Riggs.

"What was that?" She asked.

"She prefers Ava." I said louder.

Ava shot me a glare as Mrs. Riggs smiled brightly. She'd always been one of my favorite professors, she was genuinely a kind old soul.

"Thank you Jaxon, dear." She chirped. "Well, now that we're able, I'd like everyone to partner up, we will be doing a lab project that will account for fifty percent of your final grade. Choose your partners wisely."

I glanced at Ava, unsurprised that she hadn't looked up from her desk. It was then that I noticed a few other eyes turning her way as well. All belonging to males.

The lanky red haired junior sitting on her other side stood from his seat, his eyes set on Ava with determination. He was halfway to her desk when he caught my gaze.

My face must have said it all, because he quickly paled, backtracking until he fell back into his seat.

I looked around at the others that had been looking in her direction, finding that they all had busied themselves quickly, after watching the first one fail. I smiled to myself, glad that they all realized I had already laid claim on her. Well, for as a project partner at least.

There was no way they could feel the animal magnetism that drawled me to her, but there was no denying she was beautiful, and that fact hadn't missed most of the men in this room.

I gulped, it was going to be like keeping a pack of hyenas at bay around this girl.

Mrs. Riggs stepped between our desks, making me tear my gaze away from the rest of the students.

"Ava, I just want to welcome you to the class. I hope you're settling in okay." She said warmly.

For the first time since I'd seen her today, Ava smiled. "I am, thank you."

"Will you be working with Jaxon?" She asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. The look Ava gave me was cold, and I had to hold back from wincing under its weight. I grinned weakly at her instead.

"It looks like everyone else is paired up dear." Mrs. Riggs said when Ava didn't answer. She looked around and sighed before nodding her head.

"I guess so!" She said brightly, too brightly.

"Wonderful!" Mrs. Riggs clapped her hands together. She turned back to the front of the class and the smile fell from Ava's face immediately. She buried her nose in the pamphlet we had been given and continued to ignore me.

After a few moments she hadn't said anything, and I was beginning to fidget in my seat.

"Ava-"

"Do you want me to write the thesis or would you rather do it?" She asked sharply, cutting me off. I blinked a few times before recovering.

"We can split it..." I suggested.

She nodded curtly and pulled a notebook out of her bag. I watched her curiously.

"You're not going to type it out?" I asked.

Without looking away from the paper she shook her head.

"I write better this way." She muttered.

"Okay." I said, giving up. She was obviously still pissed. And I couldn't blame her. The thought of another man touching her in front of me made my teeth clench together, and I knew about the mate bond. Goddess, I was such an idiot.

We stayed like that for the rest of the class, me watching her awkwardly as she wrote down the first part of our thesis. I breathed a sigh of relief when the bell finally rang.

"Here." She said, dropping the notebook down in front of me. "Proofread that and do your part. We can get started on the physical part next class."

I hummed in reply, feeling like a little kid in trouble and put the notebook into my bag. When I looked up she was already walking out the door.

"Shit." I muttered, quickly throwing my bag over my shoulder. I ran into the hall, following her scent.

"Ava." I said carefully when I caught up to her.

She paused midstep and rounded on me. "What?" She snapped. I stared at her for a moment, I hadn't thought this far ahead.

"I'm sorry." I blurted out.

She scoffed and resumed her angry stride.

"Can you please just say something to me?" I asked as I fell into step beside her.

She sidestepped to avoid running into another student. "What do you want me to say?" We reached the main stairwell and I grabbed her elbow, gently pulling her to a stop. She tensed up and stared down at my hand where sparks were running rampant across my skin. I had no doubt she could feel it too.

"Look, I'm sorry I hurt you alright?" I said quietly, moving us to the side, out of the flow of foot traffic.

Her head snapped up and she wrenched her arm out of my grasp with a scowl.

"Listen, Jax, I don't know how you got it in your head that your actions affect me so greatly. I've known you for two days. I'm not one of the other girls in this school that seem to be obsessed with every move you make. I was caught off guard to see you basically fucking in the middle of the hallway, okay? That's it." She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at me.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "So my actions have no affect on you, huh?" She shook her head angrily as I took a step closer, closing the distance that separated us. I could feel the energy of the mate bond humming between us as her arms fell to her sides.

What was I doing? This is what I had hoped for. I had wanted her to be repulsed by me, to make it easier to reject her. I just... I couldn't help myself.

I took another step closer, watching her lips part as she looked up at me with wide eyes. I leaned down, my mouth hovering only a few inches above hers. She leaned forward instinctively, so our chests barely brushed each other.

"For some reason I can't help but think that you're lying." I murmured, glancing down at her mouth.

Her intoxicating scent filled my nostrils and suddenly I wanted to take her. I wanted to push her up against the wall, claiming her as mine, and fuck her like the animal I was. I wanted to feel her squirm underneath my hands as I made her cum over and over again. First with my fingers, then with my mouth, then-

Someone cleared their throat beside us and Ava stepped back, releasing a shaky breath.

I closed my eyes, trying to compose myself, then looked up. Tyler was standing  a few feet away, a scowl on his face as he glared at me.

"Fuck." I cursed to myself. Other than me, Tyler was one of Arsen's best friends. Intuition told me that he had already told him Ava was his mate, and judging by how hard he was grilling me right now, he hadn't told him that I was as well.

I sighed, glancing at Ava who was watching me curiously with a frown on her face. Her shoulders were still rising and falling quickly as she tried to catch her breath. The blush on her cheeks seemed permanently etched into her skin.

I shouldn't have just done that. I knew it was a bad idea. Just everything about her called to my wolf. I swallowed thickly as my heart began to climb back down to its normal rhythm.

Shaking my head, I turned away from them.

"I'll see you guys later." I muttered, walking down the hallway away from them.

"I'll be right back." I heard Tyler say to Ava before his hand was closing around my arm a moment later.

"Dude, what the fuck?" He asked angrily as I turned to face him.

"Tyler, you should stay out of this." I sighed.

"Like hell. Arsen's my best friend, and I thought he was yours too." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Don't fuck this up for him. You know how long he's been waiting for her."

I grit my teeth. "Maybe you should ask him what the whole story is before you start jumping to conclusions." I growled.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" He frowned. I shrugged, hiking my backpack higher up on one shoulder.

"Ask him yourself." I shrugged, turning to walk away from him.

I had a feeling this was going to come back to bite me in the ass later.

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Hey readers! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I can't decide who's my favorite POV to write, and I can't decide who's my favorite character either.

So I'm still binge watching supernatural and as much as I love it I've barely written anything in the last two weeks 😥 but no worries I've got a rough outline written so I'll get there.

Anyways, don't forget to comment and vote!

Xx mandabrandie