Chapter 17
Claudia's POV
Recently, I had a "guardian angel" at my side. The man who pushed me into the pool never went to class after that day. I heard he fell down the stairs at home and broke his leg. And the guy who put the plate on my head yesterday was hit on the head by something and got a dozen stitches at the hospital.
It had always been like this for the last few days. The bullies had been getting their comeuppance in one way or another. And there was always something delicious in my basement that smelled good and didn't belong to slaves.
Luck always came one after the other, and I made a new friend. I was even afraid to tell anyone, no one would believe me anyway. My new friend was Neil, Alpha's other son and Isaac's brother, and I remember the time he helped me scare off Fiona and then apply medicine to me. But I never thought that Neil could be my friend.
What happened was that I was dragged to the bathroom by the girls as usual. They held my head under the faucet and ran cold water over my head. But this time, they thought that wasn't enough, so they blocked me in the toilet cubicle again and poured a whole tub of cold water over me. I was soaked to the skin and the girls left laughing.
I was hiding in the toilet and I was shivering because of the cold. I wasn't going to get out of here now, they'd have to hang me out in the playground if they saw me. I would just have to wait until all the students went home from school and then left the place.
After waiting for a long time, my hands and feet were freezing cold. My lips were bloodless. No one would see me in this sorry state now. I walked out of the toilet, only to run into Neil in the hallway, who was surprised to see me. He reacted quickly by taking off his jacket and putting it on me.
I was afraid of getting his jacket dirty. But he didn't give me a chance to refuse, he just put his jacket on my body.
"Every time I meet you, you look like shit." Neil was going to walk out of school with me.
Ah, yeah. There really weren't many moments when I didn't suck. "Thank you." I whispered to Neil.
"Yes, last time you would just say thank you to me too." Neil's tone was a little helpless.
Well, what was I supposed to say? I was a slave and you were Alpha's child. I didn't think we had anything in common. Thinking about it made me think of Isaac again. He used to come and stay with me every night and we always had good conversations.
"You can tell me if you have any difficulties in the future, I can help you." Neil spoke suddenly.
"Thank you for your kindness, but this will make you get into trouble, won't it?" I knew Neil was a kind person, but I was in a special position and he might be insulted because of me.
"Just think of me as your ...... friend. That's right, a friend." Neil smirked and looked at me.
Instead, I was extremely surprised by his words. No Alpha child would make friends with a slave. "Are you kidding? Anyway, I'll wash the jacket and give it back to you." I waved off to Neil and took the other way back to the basement immediately.
But Neil really thought of me as his friend. Sometimes he walked with me on the road, or came out to stop people when they bullied me. Some girls looked at me with jealous eyes, but they didn't dare to do anything because Neil was with me. There was even a bizarre rumor that "Neil and I are mate." But Neil didn't seem to take the rumors seriously, so I had nothing to say. Because my real mate didn't care if I was with someone else.
Although I didn't understand the reason that Neil wanted to be my friend, maybe he thought me too pathetic? I thought to myself. But he was a very nice guy, he was a gentleman to everyone.
Isaac's POV
A dumbass walked into this alley, and I had been waiting for him for a long time. He had knocked his plate on Claudia's head in the morning in front of the whole crowd, and I controlled the urge to rip his ugly face apart. Then I waited for him here, in an unoccupied alley. Before he could react, I slammed my fist into his left cheek. He couldn't stay on his feet and fell backwards to his right side. His head hit the wall so hard that blood flowed all over his face.
He looked at me in horror, trying to see my real face through my mask. He didn't know why he was beaten, so I lowered my voice and told him. "Stay away from Claudia from now on, and next time I won't let you go so easily."
All he could do was cover his bleeding head and nod vigorously. There were always people like that made trouble for Claudia, and I stomped on the shank of one of the idiots who pushed Claudia into the pool yesterday.
But then Claudia would still get hurt and I couldn't be with her at all times. I scolded myself for not being able to protect my mate. This was no way to go on, so I thought of someone.
This was the first time I gave up my dignity and asked for help, even though the person was my brother. I asked him to take care of Claudia for me, and didn't let her get hurt. Neil showed a lot of interest in this.
"Claudia?"
"The traitor's daughter. You don't have to do much. Just stay with her, then no one will dare to hurt her."
"Why do you need to protect her? And why do you have to ask me for help when you can do it by yourself?" Neil had so many questions.
"Because you just seem like the kind of person who would pick up stray critters and take them home."
"So why would someone like you, who has no compassion, want to protect this stray critter?" Neil asked me in a snarky tone. "Do you like her?"
"Of course not!" I was afraid he would see my secret. "I have my own reasons. Are you going to help or not?"
Neil waved his hand. "Just kidding, it must be serious for you to ask me for help. I'll keep an eye on her, leave it to me."
I felt angry when I remembered Neil's bright smile that day when he promised to take care of Claudia. What the hell had he done? Now there was a rumor going around the pack that Claudia and Neil were mate.
I had a strong feeling of discomfort, even though I knew it was just a rumor. But a sense of unease took over me. I wanted to confront Neil, but I searched for the whole pack and found no sign of him. Where did he go? I panicked more and more as a suspicion slowly appeared in my mind.
Because of Neil's care these past few days, Claudia fell in love with him. And then they got together.
No, I would never allow that to happen. So I ran down to Claudia's basement to find her.
Claudia was taken aback by me bursting through the door. "What are you doing in here? You scare me."
The words came out of my mouth without thinking, "Are you in love with Neil?"
"What are you talking about?" Claudia looked rather puzzled. "Barging in out of nowhere and asking such strange questions."
I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me. "Answer me, are you in love with Neil?"
Claudia looked into my eyes for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. "No, I am not in love with anyone."
She smiled in a way that baffled me a little. But she smiled very nicely, her face slightly flushed and her green eyes sparkling with water. It looked like she had eaten the food that I sent to her secretly during the past few days. Her face was a healthy pink.
It took me a moment to realize my gaffe and I removed my hand from her shoulder. "I heard a rumor about you guys, what was that about?"
"Neil is just a new friend of mine. Some people can't stand that he is helping me, so they spread rumors like that."
I mentally cursed the useless brother. Who told him to be friends with Claudia?
"Oh, right. " Claudia looked like she remembered something as she held out a jacket to me. "It's Neil's. I think it's better to let you give it back. And I always can't remember."
"Why do you have Neil's jacket?" The uneasy feeling in my mind returned.
"I got drenched in water a few days ago. I was so cold that he lent me his jacket." Claudia's tone was so natural that it made me hold my breath even more.
She hadn't even worn my clothes. A sour feeling rose inside me at the thought that she once smelled like Neil. My wolf urged me to do something to assert my sovereignty. So I hugged Claudia close and kissed her without hesitation.