Chapter 26

It all happened so very fast.

From the moment Sophia heard the door crashing open, barely able to hold on to its hinges as it was flung against the wall with dreadful force, to the moment she saw that it was Neil and Scott’s visages that appeared from there, and not Joss or any of Satan’s other minions, she had barely had a second to feel her heart give a leap of hope.

She barely had a second to prepare her ears for another onslaught from Matthew. This time from his shrill and piercing snarl as he also looked over to the source of the noise. The very source that had been responsible for almost reducing the locker room door to mere splinters.

“What the fuck? Get out!” he yelled at Neil, but still kept her pinned to the wall, still inside her as he gave a sweeping gesture with his arm with his finger pointing toward the door he had just burst through.

It played out like a scene from a movie, as though it all happened in slow motion. Which was probably within a blind of an eye, felt like an eternity the moment Sophia saw Neil’s eyes taking her and Matthew in, and what was busy happening.

His eyes that had been alight with urgency and concern when he first appeared, had darkened into pure atomic power. Like with a flick of a switch, there was only an unmitigated ferocity and vehemence to be found there. He’d turned into a livid wild thing right in front of her eyes, and it would have been the most terrifying thing she’d ever seen if she wasn’t being raped and been glad somewhere at the back of her mind that those now burning burgundy eyes were directed at her attacker.

It was like Neil only gave one step and was there by her side already, or maybe he was just that quick, but at the same time, everything was happening surprisingly slowly.

Sophia watched as Neil grabbed Matthew’s pointing finger with one hand, snapping it back as though it was nothing, and had him by the throat with his other hand.

It was crazy how her brain picked up on the minutest details then. From the angry veins in Neil’s neck and arms to the spit flying from Matthew’s mouth as he still tried to shout at them to leave.

Unable to stand anymore, Sophia fell to the floor with her back at least supported by the locker behind her. A locker she would hate for the rest of her life, but she found that she cared about nothing else than watching Neil at that moment.

He was like an avenging angel. Or was he a murderous demon? She couldn’t tell for sure. All she knew was that Matthew would die on this day.

“You filthy motherfucking asshole!” Sophia heard Neil’s voice there, but saw nothing of the male shifter she had spent the afternoon playing in the lake with just yesterday.

Scott was there trying to get Neil off of Matthew but seemed to be no match for Neil’s rage. It was like Scott wasn’t even there trying to pull Neil off his victim.

Yes, it was a strange thing when she realized she thought of Matthew as a victim, as he sure was one against the force of unadulterated power directed at him now.

Neil then punched him so hard that Matthew’s sneering face was immediately decimated into one of pain and shock. He barely gave him another chance to register what had just been done to him, when Neil was already on top of him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him just enough so he could give his face another earth-shatteringly hard punch.

“You even posted it online? You sick fuck!” Neil bellowed, as Scott still helplessly tried to get him to stop.

“Neil, stop this,” Scott was saying urgently. “Don’t you lose yourself. You’ve worked so hard to get here. Don’t let it go to waste on this worthless bastard.”

“You’re a fucking piece of shit!”

It was like he heard and saw nothing other than Matthew there as he punched and punched and punched. How his face hadn’t been reduced to mincemeat already was beyond Sophia’s thought capabilities at that stage. All she knew was that there was blood splattered everywhere, especially on Matthew’s face and Neil’s fist.

“I should just cut your fucking cock off right now!” And sure enough, there was a combat knife raised and ready in his hand as Matthew’s eyes shone with even more fear than they had while he was being beaten half to death.

“Neil,” Scott tried again. “Sophia needs you more right now. Leave him to me.”

At the sound of her name it was like some of that dreadful fury left his eyes when he looked over to her, but the moment he saw the condition she was in it instantly returned.

Scott must have seen it in his friend too as he slapped a restraining hand on Neil’s shoulder. “Sophia,” he simply reminded him, and it seemed to be enough to make Neil turn around and walk over to her instead of killing Matthew.

All Sophia could do was watch as he approached her. Still, cold and wide-eyed as she must have seemed, she was surprised that he didn’t check her for a pulse first.

It appeared as though he was in literal pain as he bent in front of her, with his eyes rampant with an emotion she didn’t recognize as he said, “You’re okay now, Sophia. He won’t come near you ever again.”

As much as she wanted to believe him. Believe his promise. She knew that she would have to return her tomorrow, and the day after, and the one after that. She would have to still see him every day. She would have to be reminded of what had just happened every single day.

And he would do it to her again. This would keep happening, especially now that Neil and Scott would surely be banished from the pack if not outright executed for what they just did. They had disobeyed a direct order, even if it was a comment on social media, to not interfere.

“You will get into trouble for this,” was all Sophia could bleakley get out as Neil was busy readjusting her bra, taking his shirt off, and was helping her into it.

It was a huge understatement, but she hardly wanted to face the reality of everything that had just happened and the effects it would doubtlessly carry for them.

Surprising Sophia out of her unblinking, zombie-like stupor, Neil laughed. He actually laughed. More like a laugh of disbelief, but still enough to make her meet his gaze in bafflement mere inches away from her face as he held her in between his hands there. The hands that had been so intent on violence a second ago, were holding her face in their powerful grasp now with a gentle and softness of gossamer.

“After what just happened to you, you’re concerned about what will happen to us?” Neil asked, incredulity in his voice, but anger still in his eyes.

Though, the moment he saw blood pooling on the floor between her legs, his gaze instantly filled with panic.

“Scott!” he called over his shoulder to his friend, who seemed to have been talking to Matthew about something, and spat in the beaten up, but still sneering and snarling, face before he turned his attention to Neil. “We need to get her to a hospital immediately.”

At this, Matthew gave something of a gurgled laugh, still spewing blood from his mouth. “No one will help her, Thorin gave the order–”

“Shut up,” was all Scott said, very calmly, before he gave that hateful face yet another punch, though his assault was precise and as quick as lightning. Like a striking cobra, he gave a well-aimed strike, delivering its purpose with frightening efficiency. The purpose was to knock him out cold, and it did.

Something told Sophia that these two males weren’t exactly plain security guards. No, they were far too lethal to be like any of the other guards at the school. It was clear to Sophia that Neil and Scott were more than what they pretended to be. Much, much more.

“Give me your shirt,” Neil said to Scott, who unquestioningly took it off and came to them to hand it over.

Bunching it together into a ball, Neil moved to push it in between her legs but halted when Sophia desperately squirmed away from him.

Hurt flashed in his eyes. “You should have let me kill that fucker for what he did to her,” he said over his shoulder to his friend, who didn’t answer but looked at Sophia with indescribable sadness and pity.

“We should go,” Scott said as he peered through the door into the hallway. “The coast is clear.”

“Sophia, I will never hurt you – you know that, right?” Neil said with desperation in his eyes now as he waited for her to answer.

It didn’t take her long to nod in confirmation. Even though she’d seen a completely different side of him a moment ago. A side Sophia wasn’t sure how animalistic it could get, or what he was capable of doing – the mayhem and destruction that had radiated from him mere seconds ago being enough of an indicator – and no matter how much it horrified her, she trusted him. Sophia trusted him irrevocably and completely.

“Good,” he breathed, as though it was from relief. “Then please let me take care of you. Will you allow me to do that?”

Sophia kept her eyes pinned to his as she nodded her answer to him again. She kept holding onto him with her eyes as the strength within him was her only anchor to sanity at that moment. His bronzed gaze was the only thing that was keeping her from giving in to the thick and liquid darkness of panic her trauma threatened to pull her down into.

Slowly, after Sophia let him know that she trusted him, Neil lifted the balled-up shirt again and tenderly placed it between her legs. This time she allowed him to do it without flinching.

“We need to try and stop the bleeding,” he explained as he did this. “And I’m going to pick you up now so that we can get you to a car to get you some help. Can I do that?”

The moment Sophia gave another nod, she was up from the floor and cradled within his strong arms as though she was merely a feather he’d bent down and picked up. She threw her arms around his neck for support, more like holding on for dear life actually, as she pressed her face into the reassuring crook of his neck, trying to fill her senses with the smell of him and to distract her attention from the reaching and ever-nearing talons of shock and hysteria that was threatening to envelop her.

As if sensing this, Neil tightened his arms around her protectively, as though he wanted to shield her from it, as he walked with long and sure strides down the hallway toward the front entrance of the school. She could hear other footsteps ahead, which she assumed were that of Scott’s.

Before she knew it, they were outside in the parking lot already and she heard a car door opening, and then felt herself being lowered. When she opened her eyes, she realized that Neil was busy lowering her into the backseat of his car. The same car that had taken her home twice.

The moment Sophia felt that he was going to leave her there at the back of the car, she held on tighter, still in need of his scent and his warmth to hold herself together and not shatter into a million pieces, she refused to release him.

“Change of plan,” he said as he lowered himself onto the seat there as well, holding her in his lap. “You’ve been promoted to driver. Not a scratch.”

Scott chuckled softly as he took the car keys from Neil. “I make no promises. If we end up in a high-speed chase or something, your baby might just end up with a few new scrapes and dents.”

“Just shut up and drive already,” Neil reprimanded, but not in a mean way.

Moments later Sophia could tell that Scott was in the driver’s seat now and heard him fumbling with the car keys right before the engine roared to life. She was still unable to open her eyes, so she just kept holding on to Neil. He was her lifeline. A lifeline to keep her from shaking too much.

“I think the shock is settling in,” Neil said solemnly, and she felt the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed hard. Was it in anger, acceptance, or defeat?

He tightened his arms around Sophia and held her more firmly to his chest when the involuntary shaking only seemed to be increasing and getting worse.

It helped a little with that part of her breaking down, but it didn’t entirely help with the torrents of tears streaming down her face, completely having soaked his white tank undershirt within a few seconds. But she couldn’t help it. Not any of it. She couldn’t stop herself from slowly coming apart in Neil’s arms.

“Shhh – it’s all going to be alright,” Neil murmured against her hair, Sophia finding comfort in the feel of the strong reverberations of his sonorous voice with her face still pressed against his neck there, while he continued to gently stroke his hands over her shoulder and down her shaking arm, as though he wanted to work warmth into them. “Just let it all out. That’s it. Just let go. You’re safe now.”

“Good thing we didn’t give our real address,” Scott said from the front of the car. “Should give us some time to figure out our next move. The safehouse is always there if we need to get away quickly. I’ll go and check that it’s fully stocked and has all the right gear and equipment we’ll need ready if such a case arises.”

“Good thinking,” Neil said to his friend. “But for us to be able to prepare and truly know what we are up against, Sophia, we need you to confirm something to us.”

She was finally able to pull back from him and lift her eyes to his. She only saw gentleness and concern there now as his hand came up slowly to wipe away the wetness from her cheeks, but they hardened when he asked what he wanted her to confirm to him.

“Are you Sophia Tibald, the Alpha, Thorin Tibald’s daughter?” She could see that he already knew the answer to that. The resignation in his voice and expression made that clear.

“Yes,” Sophia breathed, hating that Neil had to find out the truth about her this way, but was relieved to see that he wasn’t suddenly looking at her with disgust at her answer.

Instead, he looked up to the front of the car, at what she assumed was the rearview mirror where he met Scott’s eyes. They shared a meaningful look for a moment and simply just nodded his head in grim acceptance.

What has she done? Her rescue had dragged these two males into something bigger and more dangerous than they might know. But even as she thought this, she knew that it wasn’t entirely true by the way they spoke about things like safehouses and being prepared.

But the stark and ugly truth of their situation remained. Whatever peace and quiet they’d known before this, she had just taken it from them…

“Alright, here we go,” Scott informed them as he pushed the car into gear with a flourish, and stepped on the pedal so hard that she could hear the tires starting to spin noisily on the tar surface underneath them. “Hold on tight!”