Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Morning came by, and Trei just texted me that he was going to pick me up for school after I told him that my injuries had fully recovered. I could not entirely show my parents that I was fully healed, so I decided just to bandage my legs up and assure them that they no longer hurt. Thankfully they agreed but under the strict condition that I would skip gym.

Since Tyrelle was the unfortunate guy that picked me up for school, my parents tasked him to look out for me, which he gracefully agreed to. As soon as Tyrelle and I were in his car, he sighed. And it was a sigh that held a lot of weight into it.

“Gee, if you think that I am that much of a burden, I just want to remind you that the bandages are fake,” I told him out of defense.

“Huh?” Tyrelle pulled his head away from the steering wheel so he could look at me. When my words finally sunk in, he began to shake his head. “No, I’m not sighing because of you. It’s just…have you seen the hybrid?” Looking at Tyrelle as he said it, he seemed pissed that I was debating whether I should tell him about me hanging out with him yesterday.

“Nope. Not a clue.” I decided to go for the safer route when I answered him. “Why are you looking for him? Did he do something again?”

Tyrelle nodded, “You remember Stacey?”

I shook my head because I could barely remember people’s names unless we interacted for longer than five minutes.

“She’s the girl that got kicked out of the team that we were in during dodgeball. Now, does that ring a bell?” His brow shot up when he asked the question.

“Oh…the redhead. Yeah, I guess I do. Why?” I watched him carefully as I buckled my seatbelt on.

“He took her and…buried her alive. Thankfully, she’s a werewolf and managed to dig herself out of the ground. When my men found her and interrogated her, she told them that the hybrid did it.” Tyrelle leaned back in his car seat and began massaging the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“What?! Why would he do that? What kind of grudge does he have with her?” I sat up so abruptly because I was too shocked by what I heard. But remembering that I was tied to my seat, I got pulled back to my chair.

“Apparently, she’s the one responsible for putting the wolf in the changing room and for locking your bathroom door. She confessed right after we asked her why the hybrid targeted her. It turns out it was his way of telling her to leave you alone. And not only that, but he took my card from me yesterday!”

Ah, I guess that explains why Al seemed to afford everything yesterday and also the reason why he disappeared for a long time.

I gulped, “Well, for a hybrid who’s being targeted by your pack, he doesn’t shy away from a challenge and doesn’t do things discreetly.”

“I agree.” He said before shifting in his seat so he could turn to me. “But enough about him for a while. I have something to give you.” He pulled out a ring from his pocket with the same engraving on the previous necklace that he once cast away. It had the symbol of a half-moon with his initials on it. “It’s the ring that I promise you. I know what rings mean to girls, so I don’t want you to think heavily about the meaning of it. It’s just a small trinket that we use to fool everyone that you agree to be my mate. As per our deal.”

I was astonished that he could just offer me a golden ring just because of our bet, which made me wonder if his football game was that important for him to simply throw away a large amount of money just so he could fool his father. Then again, it is his money, so I cannot judge what he’s going to use it for in the first place.

“Thanks.” I handed him my right hand, where he took it and inserted the ring to my ring finger.” I felt the cold metal on my skin, seemingly weighing on both my finger and my consciousness for agreeing to this scam. But it was too late for me to back out when I had already signed the contract. I guess that I will just have to play along until Tyrelle can leave.

“So,” Tyrelle said after a long pause after he placed the ring on my finger. “Your wounds, are you certain that they’re healed?”

“Yeah,” I assured him and followed it up with a nod. “The next day, it’s just gone like it was never there. I could show you my leg, but rolling up my pants and opening the bandages would be a bother. I have to say, your witch doctor is a humble one for someone with his skills.”

Tyrelle seemed unconvinced and rested his back on the car seat. He placed his hand on his chin like he were in deep thought. “That’s odd. His potions or magic never worked that way before.” I heard him mumble. Just as I was about to say something about it, he began to change the subject by turning to me with a smile. “You know what? Enough of this. Let’s go to school, shall we? We don’t want to be late after all.”

I found it odd that he would think that way to his witch. Was the potion not supposed to act the way that it did with my injuries?

I pushed all my thoughts aside and nodded to Tyrlle just before he turned on the car and drove to school.

***

“Gabby poo!” I don’t think anyone needs to know who that is, judging from the way that he addressed me. Without any hesitation, Tyrelle pulled me behind him and away from Aelfric’s reach the moment we entered our classroom.

Aelfric did not appreciate the gesture and began to smile menacingly at him. “Mutt, what do you think you are doing?”

“I’m trying to keep her safe. From you.” Tyrelle added the last part by narrowing his gaze at him. “Don’t try to think that will let you go anywhere near her after what you did.”

“You mean stealing your credit card? I thought I told you that I’m sorry. I told you it was for an emergency.” Aelfric huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m going to pay you back. Somehow.”

So, it was true that he stole Tyrelle’s credit card. This means that the money that he used to pay for everything yesterday was all Tyrelle’s. Suddenly, I felt bad. I must back it up to him at lunch.

“I don’t need the money as long as it means that you’ll stay away from Gabriella from now on.”

“Hey, unlike you, I did something about the situation, and I made sure that the girl wouldn’t bother her again,” Al said without an ounce of regret on his face.

“Wait, so it was true what you did?” I asked him and blinked in astonishment. “You buried her alive?”

Aelfric starred at me for a while before he started blinking. “Baby girl, remind me which girl are we talking about?” He said while smiling innocently at us.

“There’s more than one!?” Tyrelle gasped, looking panicked that they hadn’t rescued the other girls that Al was talking about.

Suddenly, Al threw his head back and began to laugh. His hands flew to his stomach the moment he began to double over like he was struggling to breathe. “Oh, man. I can’t believe that a mutt like you bought that. And I was hoping to fool Gappy poo, but your expression was priceless. Man, I never felt closer to dying than today!” He gasped and began to repeatedly slap Tyrelle’s shoulder as if his life depended on the intensity of his hits to the werewolf boy.

Tyrelle, on the other hand, was looking at him with his teeth and fist clenched together in anger. “Are you done?” He asked in a deadpanned tone. “If you are, then I ask you to leave because you are blocking Gabriella’s seat.” Tyrelle did not wait for him to finish when he shoved him off of the table and pulled me so I could be on my chair.

As I moved, I could not help but notice that Al stopped laughing, and I saw him looking at my hand with a frown as I was setting my things on my table. Al suddenly grabbed my hand, and that’s when I realized that he was looking at the ring on my finger with scrutiny.

“Ew! What the hell is this insincere expensive thing? It looks so stupid.” Al continued to insult Tyrelle’s gift that the other wolves in the room were starting to look in our direction and noticed the ring on my finger. I saw a few of them widen their eyes in both surprise and joy as they whispered to each other.

On the other hand, I was getting uncomfortable with the attention that I turned to Tyrelle for help. Tyrelle snatched my hand away from Al with another frown aimed at him. “I would appreciate it if you get our hands out of my girl.” He said in a warning and he made sure that it was loud enough that the others could hear it and confirm what the other wolves were suspecting. And I guess that it was part of Tyrelle’s plan to have the word circulate that we were a couple so that the news would reach his father.

As soon as the others in the room were beginning to whisper to one another, I could see that Aelfric’s eyes were beginning to darken and turn red. His lips were pulled back in a snarl as he listened to the whispers around him. It wasn’t until he saw the chain bracelet that he bought me the other day that his eyes began to slowly recover from whatever it was that he was feeling at that moment, and he suddenly smiled in contentment. The color in his eyes slowly began to return to normal the longer he turned stared at the bracelet on my wrist.

When he lifted his blue and green his to me, he smiled appreciatively, which made my stomach churn in a weird way. It was one of those rare times when I forget that he’s a killer and see him as just a regular boy. He began to lean towards me so he could whisper in my ear. “Thanks, Gabby poo. I appreciate that.”

Then, just before Tyrelle could push him back himself, Al retreated with a contented look on his face and headed for his seat at my other side. I was stunned that I couldn’t move from my spot until Tyrelle placed a hand on my shoulder to jolt me awake from my thoughts.

“Gabriella? Is something wrong?” He asked in concern.

I turned to Tyrelle with a shake of my head. “Not really,” I told him as I took my seat. “Hey, Tyrelle? Do you mind if I buy your lunch for you later?”

I saw Tyrelle frowning in question. He must have found it weird that I was offering to buy him lunch out of the blue. But I can’t exactly tell him that it was because Al used his credit card to buy me stuff yesterday now, can I?

“No reason? I just want to. Consider it as thanks that you introduced me to a good witch doctor, and for everything that you have done for me for a while now.” I said, which was partly true because Tyrelle has done a lot for me, even if it’s just because of our contract. “Please?” I added when he was taking too long to decide.

Tyrelle still looked hesitant and a little trouble. He was probably not used to other people offering to buy him lunch that he didn’t know what to do at that moment. But at my request, he nodded his head. “Alright. I will take you up on your offer, Gabriella.”

A chair skidding on the floor suddenly caught our attention. When I turned to my other side, I saw that Al had gotten up from his seat and looked out of the window like he had seen something.

“Are you okay?” I don’t know why I asked him that question, but the moment that I blurted it out, I covered my mouth immediately.

Al tilted his head to the side before he turned in my direction with shock written all over his face.

Uh-oh. I should have just kept my mouth shut! I thought the moment I saw Al beaming at me when he met my gaze. “Gabby poo, are you worried about me?” He asked dreamily and pointed to himself.

“Uhm, no. I was asking the floor and the chair.”

Al simply brushed off my excuse. He grabbed my hands and moved out of the way when Tyrelle tried to jump at him for holding my hands. “Don’t you worry, my love. Your prince will be back soon. Okay?” He began to pucker up and tried to kiss my forehead, which made me squirm uncomfortably. Tyrelle recovered from his fall and pushed Al’s face away from me.

“Go wherever you want and get lost already!” He snarled at him.

Al coughed and began to wipe his lips on his sleeve when it touched Tyrelle’s hand. “Ugh! You’re lucky that I am in a hurry and had no time to argue with you.” He told Tyrelle. “And keep my Gabby poo safe while I’m away, you hear me?” Then, when he turned to me, he winked. “See you later, my lovely princess Gabby poo!” He said in a singsong voice before he skipped out of the classroom just as our professor arrived. When he saw Aelfric leaving, our professor chased after him to bring him back, but he was long gone.