Chapter 924

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Rika

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“RIKA!” I was looking right at the man that had called my name. He might have been a little bit of a saving grace because I was stopped from hitting that asshole, Claud. But the fact that he was here meant that my parents would definitely know that I was not in class today and that I deliberately disobeyed my father. I was going to be in deep shit. And worst of all, was that I had gotten Lyssa into trouble as well.

“Rika, who is that man?” Clovio asked me in a whispered voice. He was likely worried about me and the way that this man was glaring at me.

“H..he is an employee of my parents.” I didn’t want to tell him that this was a bodyguard that was assigned to me. That this man was someone that was meant to protect me from the very situation that I was in right now. That wouldn’t go over very well.

“Let’s get out of here.” Claud snapped at the group that was with him before they all turned and ran in the opposite direction from the approaching man. It was a little funny to see. They were running scared because of him. Too bad they hadn’t been smart enough to run scared from me. I would have laid them out like they were nothing. All five of them if I had to, but definitely that asshole Claud.

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“Why is that man here, Rika?” Clovio asked me with his eyes narrowed and anger in his voice. I don’t know why he was mad at me about this. It’s not like I was the one that called him here.

“He is here for me. Why he knows that I am here, I don’t know. I didn’t tell anyone that we were here.” No need to tell him that the asshole at the boat rental was probably the one that ratted me out. That would be a little too hard to explain at the moment. “Let’s get going, before he catches up to us.” The moment that I was about to run, I heard another voice call out. This was the one that I wish wasn’t here.

“DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, RIKA!” He snapped at me. “IF YOU RUN YOU WILL BE IN EVEN MORE TROUBLE!”

“Dammit!” I swore under my breath. Why the hell did Westin have to be here too. If it was just Lucas, then I could have gotten away. Westin, though, he was fast. Not exactly as fast as my Uncle David, but fast enough. He would definitely catch me and the others before we could leave the park.

I looked around at the beautiful trees whose leaves were just starting to fade from bright green to the yellow and orange of fall. It was September now, and things were changing. The seasons were about to change. The leaves would change. And I would gain my freedom as an adult, blossoming out of childhood and teenage hell into the gloriousness that was adulthood. However, before that happened, I needed to finish this day and live to see the next.

“What the hell are you doing out here, Rika?” Lucas snapped at me as he came to a stop in front of me. “What the hell were you thinking?” Lucas, with his sandy blond hair and boyish blue eyes always looked like the easy going, sweet and innocent boy next door type of man. When he was angry though, he looked like a demon from hell. Those soft and glistening blue eyes sharpened and looked like they could set you on fire. That innocent looking face became a mask of anger that could strike fear into almost anyone. I think only those in my parents’ inner circle were immune to that stare. I certainly wasn’t.

“I..I am on a date, Lucas. Now leave me alone.” I went to turn and leave him there, taking Clovio with me so that I could get away from that piercing, blazing look, but that was when I was looking right into Westin’s equally angry and scary face.

Westin wasn’t normally so scary looking. He, like Lucas, usually looked nice, not quite innocent like but still nice. He had a coppery sort of brown hair, just a hint of red to the highlights in his hair. His eyes were green, but not like Clovio’s. Westin’s eyes were a bright jewel colored green that seemed to shine even in the dark. He wasn’t a wolf, like Lucas was. No, Westin was a feline that came from Uncle Landon’s pack. He was strong and fierce, and quite good looking for a man that was so much older than me. I mean, he was like thirty already and I was only eighteen. That was just wrong.

“You are not going anywhere, Rika.” Westin growled at me. That growl sent a shiver down my back and made me gulp in fear. “Not unless you are leaving this park with us. You too, Alyssa.” He looked at her and I saw that she squeaked in fear. “You are behaving in a disappointing manner.” I felt ashamed of myself. I hadn’t felt this way until these two showed up. Why was it that they were having this effect on me?

“You are not taking them anywhere.” Warrick snapped at Westin. “We are here with them now. They are our dates.”

“Oh, make no mistake boy, you are coming with us too.” Westin glared at Warrick and Clovio like they were some kind of vermin that needed to be exterminated. “Come here, both of you.” Westin grabbed my arm gently but firmly while taking Clovio’s roughly. I wanted to complain, but I couldn’t. I knew that there was nothing that I could say to make Westin let me go.

While Westin was holding onto me and Clovio, dragging us toward the street and the SUV that was waiting for us, Lucas grabbed onto Lyssa and Warrick. I was so embarrassed and mortified about what was happening, but I couldn’t do anything to stop this from happening.

“I am sorry, Clovio.” I sighed.

“It’s fine, Rika. This isn’t your fault.” He was saying that he didn’t blame me, but there was still anger in his voice. Was it for me or Westin?

I resigned myself to my fate because I knew that if I didn’t go with them right now, my dad and my uncles would come after us. And that was the last thing that I needed right now. I didn’t want to have to deal with what that would end up meaning. My dad and uncles would be far more ruthless with Clovio and Warrick than Lucas and Westin were being. This was the safer option right now.

When we were in the car, Westin let go of me and opened the door. He shoved Clovio into the vehicle like he was some kind of criminal.

“Can you not be so mean to him? You can be a little more gentle with him.” I asked him with a hurt tone in my voice. “He is my boyfriend.” That was the first time that I said that to anyone, even Clovio. I saw the way that he looked back at me with a smile on his face.

“No. I will not be more gentle.” He glared at me. “There is no reason for me to be.” He was angry at me. I could tell that he was and I knew why. Still, he didn’t have to take that anger out on Clovio. “Please get into the car, Rika. I don’t want to hurt you.” He was glaring at me with eyes that were glowing dangerously.

“O..OK.” I nodded at him. “I am sorry that I disobeyed my father, Westin.”

I hung my head in shame and stepped into the SUV. Lucas was there as well, ready to shove Warrick into the back like Westin had done to Clovio. I was sitting in the middle row behind the driver’s seat. Clovio was in the very back behind me. Warrick entered the vehicle behind the passenger seat and sat next to Clovio in the very back. I could tell that Lucas hadn’t been as rough with him as Westin had been with Clovio.

After the guys were in the back, Lyssa got in next to me and Lucas walked around to the driver’s seat. Westin walked over to the passenger seat and turned to glare at me.

“Whose idea was this?” He was angry. Those eyes were blazing so brightly that I just couldn’t handle looking into them right now. I kept my face down, looking at my hands instead of at him.

“Well, to be honest, it was Alexa’s.” I told him the truth. “Lyssa and I were sad that we couldn’t hang out with our boyfriends after our classes were over. She told us to go and that she would take notes for us. She wanted to help us.” Lying would not be good right now. He would be able to know that I wasn’t telling the truth and that would make things even worse for us all.

“Hmph.” He sounded so mad that I didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but I knew that it wasn’t over yet. “You know that your father is going to hear about this, right?” His voice felt like fire that was washing over me. The amount of anger in his was literally burning me.

“Can’t we drop Clovio and Warrick back off at the campus first?” I asked him, barely lifting my head to look at him. “They don’t need to go to the house with us.”

“No. They will come. They need to talk to your father as well.” I don’t know why, but there was something in his eyes that felt like it went beyond the anger of me running off. What was going on here? Why was he so upset with Clovio and Warrick? They didn’t do anything wrong. They were just going along with me and Lyssa.

I really hope that they didn’t take us to the castle though. That would be hard to explain. I mean, how do I tell my human boyfriend, that I wasn’t sure yet whether he was my mate or not, that I lived in a magical castle up in the mountains that my mom and my great great great great grandfather that was three thousand years old built with their magic. And that it was the power of the ley lines that was running the castle. That just wasn’t an easy topic of conversation.

Hahh. What the hell was I going to do? How was I going to make it out of this situation? Was Clovio going to leave me? Did I ruin Lyssa’s bond with Warrick? Was I causing everyone problems? I felt like I was. This was all my fault.

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