Chapter 25: Chapter 25

As the game came to a close, our team turned to Tyrelle, who ultimately carried us all. Byran, who had previously been enraged, was not patting and praising Tyrelle on the back.

“Ha-ha! Everything went according to our plan, didn’t it, mutt?” Aelfric rushed to Tyrelle's side and rested his elbow on Tyrelle’s shoulder.

Tyrelle scowled as he shrugged off his arm, "You didn't even do anything. And take your hands off me!"

“What?” Aelfric stared at him in disbelief before his eyes darkened, and he sneered at Tyrelle, "How dare you. I took out the majority of the guys!"

"Hey," I glanced up at Byran as he tapped my shoulder because I started walking toward the exit, "aren't you going to do something about them?" He inquired, pointing to Al and Tyrelle, who were arguing about how many people they had eliminated during the game. They seemed so engrossed in the conversation that it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders because, for the first time, they weren't paying any attention to me.

"Let them argue," I shrugged. " They're probably still reeling from the game's tension." I try to reason with him, but the truth is that all I wanted was some time to myself, away from those two men who are always following me around. This was a rare opportunity for me to be alone, and it was a luxury that I rarely had these days.

Byran began to nod as if he understood my reasoning. “Alright. It was a fun game. Can you tell them that later?" I nodded without meaning to, but I doubt I'll remember doing so.

Bryan and the rest of our team made their way to the exit, laughing and teasing the losing opponents who had to stay to clean up. I waited until Byran and his friends had gone a little further before heading for the exit.

Then I got a jolt when someone bumped into me. When I turned to see who it was, I was staring at the back of the redhead named Stacey, whom Byran had to kick off the team and replace with me. She didn't even pause to apologize or acknowledge that she had run into me. Stacey simply continued to push the empty cart into which they would place the balls.

I wanted to lash out at her, but it was technically my fault that she was kicked off of the team. But, if she's going to be angry at someone, she should be mad at Byran or the two guys I joined with. They were the ones who proposed and accepted the idea, after all. I was just following along because I had nowhere else to go.

“Let’s go, Gabbie poo, and let’s leave that ungrateful jerk behind.” My thoughts were interrupted when I was surprised by Al, who suddenly appeared beside me with a grumpy look on his face.

“Hey!” And speaking of the other devil, Tyrelle was headed our way as of the moment, making me wish that I had just followed with Byran and the others when they left. “Get away from her, hybrid.” He hissed when he was close enough so that only we could hear his insult of Al.

Al threw his head back in a dark, sarcastic laugh, “What an adorable little shit. I can’t believe that you still dare to try and act friendly with my little pumpkin after what she’s been through. Look at her!” Al gestured towards me, making me slap away one of his hands that were closest to me as he gestured in my direction, “She’s been emotionally traumatized because you got one look of her smile and ran away like a scared little pussy.”

"No, I'm not. If you guys are going to fight, keep me out of it," I said flatly and exhaled a sigh. o much for my few moments of peace. I guess I'll have to deal with them again.

When I turned to look at Tyrelle, he appeared to be plagued by guilt once more, as his expression had fallen a little. I swear, there are times when I feel like I'm babysitting two grown bozzos rather than dangerous supernaturals. I mean, is this even normal?

I mean, is this even normal? Well, not like my life is anywhere near normal nowadays...

"You broke him, so you fix him," I said to Al while pointing to Tyrelle, gesturing at the young werewolf in front of us, who was currently depressed.

“He is?” Al blinked and studied Tyrelle closely. Then, a slow smile crept on his lips the longer that he looked at the young wolf boy, “Well, that’s great!” He seemed delighted while looking at Tyrelle’s miserable form. “Let’s go, babe!” Al made a move to grab my hand when the Tyrelle turned and grabbed Al’s hand before it could even reach mine. “Ew! When I said ‘babe,’ I meant Gabriella!” Al gave him a disgusted look before withdrawing his hand.

“I told you not to touch her!” Tyrelle sneered at Al and placed himself between me and the hybrid.

Oh? Are they going to fight again?

In frustration, I drew in a hissing breath and ran my hand across my face. Why do they always have to fight every single thing?!

I heard Al gasping, “Baby girl, are you alright?” He literally shoved Tyrelle to the side to get to me. I don’t know if he was genuinely concerned for me or he was just looking for an excuse to push Tyrelle. “Is your face still hurting?” He asked, pertaining to the ball hitting my face a while ago.

“I’m fine,” I said while pushing him away and moving back. “I’m heading back to change for my next class. You two can stay and fight with each other as much as you want. I’m tired.” I didn’t wait to see the looks on their faces as I began to make my exit. I headed for the girls’ locker room to change into my regular clothes, but because I was the only girl on the winning team, I was alone in the room. Somehow, I felt grateful for the temporary peace that I felt when I grabbed my things clothes in the locker and headed for one of the cubicles to change.

I still let out a strangled breath because my back was still a little strain from the bruises, but at least now I can finally manage to change on my own and not have my mother assisting me. As I was stripping off my gym clothes, I heard the door opening lightly, which alerted me that someone had come into the room. My first thought was that the girls must have finished cleaning up the gym, but there was something about the atmosphere that made me think twice. It was too quiet.

I am already familiar with the girls in my class, even though I don’t really hang out with them. There’s no way that I wouldn’t hear giggles or voices of complaints from them, especially when they have to clean up after class.

But I knew there was someone here with me. And, as I heard light footsteps approaching, I began to panic and pressed my bare back against the cold tile behind me.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and I held my breath, hoping that it would keep me hidden from the stranger in the room. I keep an eye on the silhouette in the space between the door and the floor outside. The stranger appears to linger there for a few moments before leaving. But not after I heard a few grunts and tinkering outside.

I waited until I heard the door to the girls' locker room open again before exhaling a sigh of relief.

I drooped to the floor with my hand on my chest as if it could do anything to slow my heart's rapid beating.

Who was that? Judging from the sounds of their grunt, I could tell that it was a girl. But why was she lingering outside of the cubicle that I am in? There’s plenty of vacant ones since the others aren’t here just yet.

Still, that was too scary for my liking. For a moment there, I almost felt like I was living in a horror story or something.

I unfolded my now wrinkled shirt in my hands from the tension that I felt earlier and pulled it over my head. There was no use in worrying about the past. Right now, I have to get out of here and head to class. I wouldn’t want whoever was lingering earlier to come back and haunt me some more.

When I finished changing, I unlocked the door and tried to push it open. When it didn't budge, I paused with a frown on my face. Strange, why wasn't it opening? I tried again, this time with a lot more force. Nothing. It was still not moving, as if something on the outside was impeding it.

I thought back to the girl who stood in front of my cubicle a while ago, and it left me to a conclusion that she must have done something with the lock. Great. Because I was the only female excused from cleaning duty, some of them must have thought that it would be a good time to prank me. I probably should have seen this coming.

No worries. I’m pretty sure that sooner or later, the other girls would be here. Surely at least one of them will do something about the locked door.

I just hope that they’ll be here soon. I wouldn’t want to be late for my next class and be in another detention for cutting classes.

I sat down on the floor as I waited patiently for someone to come. And not long after, the door once again opened, making hope spark up inside of me.

I got up and lightly knocked on the door. “Hello? Is anyone there?” I called out and heard a gasp from the other party.

“S-Someone’s here?” I wasn’t familiar with the voice, but it sounded like she was in terrible pain.

“Are you alright?” I asked in concern. She didn’t respond, but I still heard her whimpers of pain. “Hello. I’m sorry to bother you, but could you let me out? I can help take you to the nurse’s office.”

“Stay there!” She yelled at me. “Y-You’re Lord Tyrelle’s woman, right?”

Wow, that’s a question that I never thought that I would have to answer so soon. Plus, the way that she worded it out sounds embarrassing. Nonetheless, I figured that if she calls Tyrelle formally, then she must be a wolf from his pack.

“Y-Yeah,” I answered, feeling a blush creeping on my cheek at my response.

“Then...stay there and don’t make any...noises.” She paused and let out a pained whimper.

“Miss, are you PMSing?”

“No!” I got startled when she yelled at me that sounded more like a growl than an answer. Sheesh! I was just asking out of concern. I mean, the symptoms that she’s showing sounded like she was PMSing. “Call...Tyrelle. He’ll know what to-” She didn’t get to finish what she was about to say because she got cut off by her screams that suddenly turned into a howl. I heard benches scrapping the floor and nails ticking the ground.

“H-Hey. Are you s-still there?” I called out after a while when the room suddenly turned quiet except for a ragged breath that seemed to haunt the room.

“Excuse me-” I let out a terrified scream when something hit the door of the cubicle that I was leaning on, which was followed by a feral growl that I was now too familiar with because of my close encounters with them last time.

Whoever that girl was, she just turned into a wolf.

And now that I'm trapped in the same room as her, I'm just a sitting duck waiting to be killed.