The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

- Jaden -
I kept thinking about Oliver's words the entire night. A guy at school... One of those bastards were making him miserable, and I wasn't sure if I had the willpower to let that slide. I didn't want to have anything to do with Oliver, but he was constantly crying his eyes out. I could feel his misery and sadness in my soul, and that was even without my connection to him.
A guy at school. I had a few guesses, so I knew where to start bashing some skulls. I mean, investigate.
It was way too early in the morning – as always – as I walked to Tilly's. My car was so deep under snow that I couldn't be bothered to use it until spring, and Arch... He didn't like driving. Especially in our town.
I spotted him standing in front of Tilly's home, and I waved at him.
"We're going to be late," he informed me.
"Again?" I sighed and turned to look at the house where Tilly and her parents lived. "She's getting us in trouble with Beta Ryder again."
"I heard he's not coming to school for a few days," Arch said quietly.
"Oh?" that cheered me up. "Why?"
He turned to look at me with raised eyebrows. "He's your father's beta. You should know these things better than I do."
"Ehh," I shrugged dismissively. "I wasn't home last night."
He chuckled lightly. "It's weird that you're running around on your own. You were seeing him, weren't you?"
I flashed my teeth at him. It probably wasn't nearly as intimidating in human form as it was in my wolf form but the meaning behind it was still the same. And since Arch was Arch, he laughed at my face.
"Anyway – Beta Ryder took a few of the scouts with him when he left. Apparently, there's a few Black Thorns acting suspiciously in town. They went to find out what's going on," he spoke.
"Suspiciously? Did they finally learn how to read?" I scoffed, and he rolled his eyes at my joke. "Now that would be suspicious."
"Yeah, you laugh all you want," Arch muttered, pulling his jacket tighter around himself.
He didn't continue talking but I knew what he wanted to say. He was the only Diviner in our whole pack and I had never met anyone else with his impressive skills to read omens. People said there was no one as sensitive to pick up threats as he was. And he didn't like the town. He could see omens and warnings everywhere, which was the reason he didn't like driving. Sometimes it got so bad we had to leave the town so he could catch a breath.
And it was only growing worse in my opinion, but the only threat we were facing in there was getting exposed to humans, so there was nothing we could do about it. I guess that's why my dad had decided to put Ryder to check out what the Black Thorns were up to in town. In case there really was something going on.
When Tilly finally rushed out of the house, pulling her jacket on her way to us, we were definitely late. Thankfully, she had her car under a small, simple shelter so it wasn't covered in snow. She apologized for being late while she backed the car out of the yard, and continued towards the only road we had in our territory.
I watched out of the window, sitting next to her in front, while Arch curled up in the backseat. I assumed he was getting ready to face the warnings he would be bombarded with once we got out of our territory.
But it wasn't Arch who got bombarded. I was in the middle of whining about having to wake up for school so early, when it hit me. Oliver got scared. Someone was attacking him!
"Goddess, not now!" Tilly begged. "I'm driving for crying out loud!"
"You have to stop the car!" Arch yelled at her.
"NO! Someone is attacking Oliver!" I yelled only a second later. "We need to get to school as fast as we can!"
She continued driving, trying to focus on the road while her hands started growing fur. We all were trying to contain our transformation, and even though the rage and panic I was feeling was more intense than ever, it was easier to contain my inner wolf – I assumed it was getting easier now that it was happening more often, but at what cost? Oliver was in danger now, and we were miles away!
It took us way too long to arrive at school. Tilly dropped us off by the doors so Arch and I could go find Oliver while she went to park her car, but it was too late now. Oliver was calming down, so the attacker was gone.
"Fuck! I will find out who it is, no matter what!" I growled when we marched inside. "This way!"
I could smell Oliver's scent somewhere close by, and I followed it. I also tried to pick up any hints in the air that could lead me to the attacker, but the school was just a big jumble of too much perfume and deodorant, mixed with sweat and mold and wet clothes. I picked up scents of a lot of Black Thorns, Jack included, but in my human form I couldn't tell if one of them was stronger than the other.
I stopped when I found Oliver. He was in an empty corridor, sitting on the wet floor against a wall. He was crying again. I retreated back behind a corner and saw a questioning look on Arch's face. He nodded his head towards Oliver, indicating that I should go to him, but I didn't.
I was going to find out who was bullying Oliver, but that didn't mean I was going to let him into my life. It was different when I was in my wolf form. It was completely different since he thought I was just a weird-ass wolf who was trying to decide if I was going to eat him. If I now went to him as a human, things would get really complicated really fast, and I didn't want that. If I let him close now, he'd become a part of my life and I did not want that, for crying out loud!
Arch followed me quietly when I started walking away. Tilly joined us soon after and raised her eyebrows at us, but neither of us said a word. I led them outside into the yard, because there was no point going to class anymore – we were already twenty minutes late. I stopped and made sure no one was around us.
"We will find out who's scaring him," I muttered angrily. "I don't want him as my mate, but I will find out who's hurting him."
They looked at each other shortly, and I was sure I saw them exchanging the "yeah, right" look, but I ignored it. I was dead-serious about not having him as my mate, and they would realize that soon enough.
"You didn't see who it was?" Tilly asked, and we both shook our heads. "Did you smell anything?"
"A lot," Arch sighed. "Too much to tell who it was, but I could smell some interesting suspects. Jack being one of them."
"We'll keep a close eye on him then," I said sternly. "He's not laying a finger on Oliver ever again. No one is."
"Finally – I was getting sick and tired of these attacks," Tilly sighed heavily. "Poor boy – I've been watching him and he really is scared all the time."
"It's not just the bullying," Arch continued. "He's scared for his life. That's not just being called bad names and shoved around. He's terrified."
"It stops now," I grunted in determination, and returned back inside. "Keep following him everywhere you can, but don't let him spot you. It's for his sake. People here think we're some kind of mafia or something, so it'll make his life a whole lot harder if he's being associated with us."
"Now that's an explanation I can accept," Arch muttered.
"Wow. I didn't know you could use such big words as associated," Tilly said.
I turned to give her a harsh glare. I knew it was just her way of saying "you're right," because my God, that girl would probably die if she ever admitted my reasoning was better than hers. I knew she wanted Oliver to be a part of our gang, but I wasn't sure if it was her own opinion or if the Moon Goddess was borrowing her mouth. Betas were, after all, protectors of the pack and their instincts went crazy if they couldn't do as their nature demanded. That had become awfully clear to me by now.
We spent the entire day tailing that boy. The first thing I noticed was that he was always alone. Hell, he didn't exchange a word with anyone. Not even with teachers. No one seemed to even look at him! It was like he was a ghost that only I could see. It was almost heartbreaking to see. Now I knew why he was so eager to become friends with a wolf. No one else seemed to be willing to take that spot.
But as the day went by, I was getting frustrated. No one paid any attention to him. No one! Not even in a bad way. There were no hints about who his bully could be. Even Jack treated him like air that one time their paths crossed, but I did feel Oliver getting nervous around him. He wasn't the only one though – almost everyone who passed Jack in the hallways seemed to get awfully nervous all of a sudden. Well, they all knew he was a Black Thorn, so it was obvious why they didn't want to stay around him. I wasn't crossing Jack off the list just yet, but it did seem unlikely that he was the attacker.
And then, finally. He showed his face. The bully.
"Hey, Rat!" A kid I didn't know yelled, and I could feel Oliver getting scared by the sound of his voice.
I saw Oliver turning to look over his shoulder at the guy who was now laughing at him. Then he hurried his steps to get away from him.
"Well, well, well," Tilly said triumphantly, crossing her arms over her chest. "We have a winner."
"I know that kid. He's a major asshole," Arch said with a dark voice. "I think his name is Nick."
"All right then. Hello... Nick," I muttered, keeping my eyes on the guy, who had no idea he had three pissed werewolves watching him.