The First Mate

Chapter Eight: Scent

"I'm in Xa- Mr Diaz's class. I was putting away the archery stuff." I tried to get up, but he stepped forward, his legs hitting my knees and stopping me.

"That didn't answer who you are." He growled at me.

I coward, fear shooting through me. "I'm Rose."

He took an inhale, my fear thick in the room. "You don't smell like one of the Clans."

I paled. "I'm a Foxen."

His brow rose and he moved.

The door closed, sealing us in darkness.

"That's why you smell so good." He growled and I felt him lower, inhaling deeper. "You smell like that Wolf cunt." I snarled at him, his hand grabbed my throat. "Don't want someone to hear." He cooed, pushing me back. "I've yet to f**k a Foxen bitch."

I panicked and kicked, my foot slamming into his chest and threw him back into the door, making him release me.

Help! I screamed through my body, feeling anger and rage flare.

I tried to duck under him when he rose back up, snarling at me.

I slammed my elbow into his ribs, throwing open the door and ran out, but he grabbed my hair and I screamed as he tugged me back, taking me off my feet by the waist.

Three snarls echoed in the hall, the Shifter holding me, dropping me instantly so that I fell to the ground hard.

I looked up, seeing my mates.

Black-eyed and snarling.

Relief hit me and I whimpered as emotions flooded me.

"Paul." Xavier's jaw twitched at the Shifter who took a step away from me.

"Rose." Theo met my tear-filled eyes.

A sob broke from me as I scrambled to my feet and ran into his chest.

"I'm okay." I wrapped my arms around his strong waist.

His arms covered me as Dane shouted.

"Explain yourself!"

I flinched, turning my head to see Dane and Xavier glaring at Paul.

He stammered for a moment. "I-I didn't see her-"

Theo spun me, facing me to Paul who stared at my mates in fear.

Theo tilted my chin, Dane's mark of healing silver scars. "Try again, asshole."

Paul's eyes narrowed in defiance at being caught out trying to claim he never saw my mark.

"Fine." He snarled. "I didn't know she was yours, Alpha." He spat at Dane.

I growled. "Wasn't it Wolf cunt earlier?" Paul glared at me, Xavier giving me a small smirk as he crossed his arms and looked at Paul with a bored expression.

"She's not just his mate." He said factually.

Paul looked over me, his eyes narrowed in confusion and anger.

I raised my shorts high enough for him to see Theo's mark.

He paled, his eyes snapping to Theo and then Xavier's, a flash of fear in them. "All of you?"

They nodded as one.

"So, did you try to f**k her?" Xavier asked, his voice flat.

"I didn't touch her!" He lied.

Dane scoffed. "Rape her then?"

Paul snarled. "No!"

Theo's hand tightened on me when he felt me recoil slightly.

"Rose?" I met his eyes. "Did he say otherwise?"

My breath hitched as all their eyes fell on me, my mates gentle and patient, Paul's hateful.

Don't fear him. Dane soothed. We love you.

I met Dane's eyes. "He said he'd never f****d a Foxen before."

Dane nodded at me. Good girl. Thank you for the truth.

I blushed, Theo pulling my face into his chest.

"So, who's punishing this fucker?" Xavier smiled viciously.

Paul gave a noise of fear, his footsteps receding.

Theo released me, his hold vanishing, and I turned to see him stop Paul before he'd run two steps, grabbing his throat and slamming him into the stone wall of the building.

Paul roared in pain. Theo lifted him off the ground, cutting off his noises.

"Shouldn't have run." Dane shrugged the muscles in his back and shoulders flexing as he stepped beside Theo.

"Now," Dane sighed. "We know you don't like us," he gestured between Theo and himself. "So, we'll be nice." He turned to Xavier then. "He's all yours, big man."

Xavier smirked, his eyes glazed for a moment before two students and a male teacher I didn't know jogged from the field.

"You called?" The teacher raised a brow at the scene before him.

Xavier looked at him and nodded, looking down at me. "Go find Lisa."

I flinched, looking back at Dane and Theo, they both threw their chins towards the field.

I nodded. "Thank you." I ran off to find Lisa.

She hugged me as soon as I did. "Are you okay?" She breathed, holding me at arm's length.

I nodded. "He just scared me." I caught my breath for a moment, looking to see the building emptying and my mates walking towards us.

"Will they kill that guy?" I asked Lisa quietly.

Her mouth twisted. "Maybe."

I paled but she grabbed my hand.

"He's attacked another mated girl; Xavier gave him a chance; he blew it just now."

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts. "So, he's a piece of s**t who hates Wolves?"

Lisa shrugged. "Basically."

I thought for a moment. "Should have kicked him harder." We shared a look and started to laugh, heading for the bleachers until the end of class.

I barely made it up one step before I tripped on my own feet and fell backwards on my ass in the dirt.

My ankle twisted into the seating and I felt it crack.

Lisa laughed at me as I yelped and was suddenly covered by three pairs of hands checking over me with gentle care.

"Rosie," Theo sighed as he found the sprain, and I hissed as he moved it; he stopped instantly, and I looked up at them as they stared down at me, a mix of worry and amusement in their eyes.

"Haven't you been enough of a worry for today?" Xavier teased.

"I'm clumsy." I pouted at him, feeling guilty and stupid.

Xavier chuckled, waving off Dane and Theo's hands that reached for me.

"I'll take her home, you two go tell the nurse I've excused her for the rest of the day." He wrapped his arms under me and lifted me with ease.

They both scowled at Xavier, annoyed with his orders.

Knowing they had to listen to him for this one while on the school grounds.

Dane snarled at me while Theo kissed me before they both left in a jog.

Lisa bounced beside us, giggling. "I can take her home." She offered, holding my bags for me.

Xavier raised a brow down at her, heading for the carpark. "It's fine." He shifted me up his chest and I whimpered as my ankle ached. "Sorry baby."

I shrugged, nuzzling into his neck. "It's just a sprain."

He and Lisa chuckled.

"That's broken." Lisa laughed, pointing to my ankle.

I narrowed my eyes, looking at it and realising she was right.

The area was purple and as Lisa pulled my shoe off gently, I could see the bone pressing against the skin.

My mouth curled. "Oh."

Xavier nuzzled me. "I'll call the Pack doctor, even with Annie's healing, I want it checked."

Lisa piped up. "Dr Jones is at the hospital, you'll have to-"

Xavier sighed, cutting her off. "I'm taking Rose home, Lisa." He clipped. "I can call the hospital from there."

"You know you won't get through, you never do, not unless you go down there." She mused as we got to Xavier's car. "Plus you have to deal with Paul."

"I already dealt with it." He snapped at her, her face paling.

"Sorry," she said softly. "Just, let me help, Xav." She touched his arm.

He sighed again, looking down at me with a moment of hesitation.

I saw the worry and stress in his eyes, the set of his jaw.

"Lisa can take me home." I nuzzled into his chin, feeling it relax a fraction. "If it is quicker, I want you home soon when you're done, though." He raised a brow in curiosity, and I giggled, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "I want roast for dinner."

He laughed, kissing me and agreed.

He handed me to Lisa, her eyes widening as my eight was transferred.

"I'll be no more than an hour." He promised.

I nodded, kissing his bruised knuckle as he left.

You'll tell me later? I asked Dane through our bond.

He caressed it like a loving pat. Of course.

I sighed.

"You can put me down now, I'm okay to hobble," I said softly to Lisa as Xavier got out of earshot.

She put me down a little roughly. "Oh, thank goddess, you're small but I'm still not a f*****g mountain." She gestured after Xavier.

I laughed. "He does seem to forget he can throw a stone boulder, while most of us can only throw pebbles."

Lisa giggled, rolling her eyes and wrapped my arm over her shoulder as she steered me for her car.

"Come on, I know Theo has pistachio ice cream at home and you can nap in one of the dens until Dr Jones rocks up."

"Den?" I raised a brow as we got to her small mini-Cooper.

She laughed. "The concaved loungeroom things everywhere. They're dens, designed for napping and lounging." She helped me into the car, careful of my foot that I told Annie to stop healing; the bone needed to be reset, and if she tried now, it'd just make the break always painful.

"What else am I dumb about?" I frowned at Lisa.

She laughed louder. "The list of what you're not is shorter."

I scowled at her, but giggled, knowing it was probably accurate with that assessment.

I hadn't been exposed to much of the Pack life other than being seen as a slave and a toy to the son of my guardians.

I knew the basics of their laws, which was why there was no point dwelling on Paul.

If Lisa was right, he'd only attacked me because I smelt like a Wolf Shifter mate; his death was his own fault.

Not because he knew me.

Unlike....

I settled into a mind-link to Dane, feeling his surprise at my request.

Rose? He asked, his voice soft and curious.

I know I've already worried you enough today. He snarled lightly at me.

I smelt something that scared me today before lunch. I admitted, feeling the tension rise and two more presence entered my mind.

Tell us, Rosie. Theo encouraged softly, the feeling of his hold warming my skin for a moment.

The guardians have a son. I flinched at the rage that flowed, feeling the shame and fear from me. I smelt him. He goes to the school, I didn't know until today.

What did he do to you, Rose? The Alpha in Dane, Mathias asked.

Annie submitted to his rumbling voice, hearing it echoed by Theo's, Carter and Xavier's named Uric.

He used me as a toy. I... I couldn't find the words, wrapped in a veil of shame and terror about telling them how I'd allowed myself to be treated.

Ulric growled possessively, and his aura pressed heavily against my mind, forcing a connection to my memories that played like a horrid movie I tried to avoid.

While Jordon had left my virginity intact, he had destroyed me in every other way.

The last memory of the wolfsbane weakened the day before I'd met my mates.

Jordon used my mouth in the back of the car while his parents laughed at my choking and whimpering when he hit me or forced his hands into my clothing until he choked me unconscious as we'd arrived.

I remember crying and Annie sobbing violently at the feeling of another Shifters voice screaming at her, calling her pathetic and weak.

Deserving of the abuse.

His taunting of letting others do the same now I had Shifted. Letting them abuse Annie as they would me.

A feeling grew, possessive, rage and a need.

I shook in my seat, Lisa noticing and reaching for my hand before she stopped and touched my cheek.

"Hey, you're crying." She noted, seeing the look in my eyes, hers softened. "We're almost back to your house." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it as I sniffled and nodded.

We'll be back very soon. Dane promised.

I love you. I said to them all, feeling their caresses of love before the bond went silent.

The wall of steel rose, and I turned to Lisa.

"I think I need...." My lip shook, not sure what to say other than my mates.

She giggled, smiling sweetly as we rounded up the mountain. "I can break into Xavier's good liquor cabinet for now."

We both shivered, hearing a snarl from Xavier through a mind-link.

We giggled, Lisa winking at me like it didn't matter.

I laughed, knowing she was probably right.

Xavier could spank me for it later.

That thought of dominance thrilled me, overriding my fear of another with a desire for a possessive hold from Theo, a gentle caress from Xavier and a demanding kiss from Dane.

I shivered with lust as we stepped into the house, their scents filling my nose.

They made me feel safe and secure. I could trust them with my body and soul; the Goddess had gifted them to me to help me learn to be who I was.

Resilient, strong, fast and smart.

But, for my mates, I wanted to be a little brat, just to feel their dominating hands putting me in my place.

And Goddess, I hoped that would soon be on their c***s.