Zeke incessantly sighs under his breath through the first period, unable to fix his attention on what the professor was teaching.
He keeps glancing at the door, hoping Mylo would show up. He had waited at the school entrance all morning and knowing Mylo for a few days it wasn't in his nature to be late for school.
Or was he not coming?
He began to think of Mylo's words yesterday, he had mentioned that his family might move at any time. Did he change schools already?
Zeke bites on the cover of his biro with a lonely frown on his face.
During his lunch break he doesn't hide the worried expression on his face when he notices Mylo walking slowly to their building his hair fossilized, his back flat with worn out eyes.
"I thought you weren't coming today," Zeke also noticed how Mylo shivers, his lips chapped. He pressed his palm on Mylo's forehead, "Shit, you have a fever."
"I'm alright," Mylo shakes his head, "I woke up late."
"Are you sure you're okay, Mylo," Zeke doesn't believe a single word Mylo says as he looks so sick, "Let's go to the medical center."
"I can't," Mylo disagrees sternly, "And stop asking me that."
"Why," Zeke insists, "Is it until you lose your life?"
"They're so many things you wouldn't understand," Mylo said as he goes on his heels but he is stopped by Alpha Ryker and his minions walking towards him in his paths. He looked around briefly, finding the best opening to pick a run but it seems Lenn reads his mind and grabs him by the collar of his shirt.
"Thinking of running huh?" Lenn's tone is filled with mockery and satisfaction, his eyes glinting with so much hatred, "Thinking of running hmm?"
Zeke is grabbed by one of Ryker's minions, his hands pulled to the back, his face pressed to the dirty floor.
Lenn kicked the back of Mylo's legs, pushing him to his knees as Alpha Ryker approached them. He squats down, keeping himself on the same eye level with Mylo.
"You disobey me."
"I'm going to clean the restroom and the whole floor, I promise you," Mylo says quickly, hating his life. He didn't mean to disobey the Alpha. If only he didn't pass out yesterday he could have made it to school early to clean the building. Although he doesn't have the money to buy what the Alpha needed, he wanted to wait for the Alpha on his knees, just like the older one wanted.
He didn't mean to disobey him.
"That is all you have to say to me?" Ryker grabs Mylo by his chin, squeezing him painfully. Their eyes sealed on each other.
He immediately lets go of Mylo, getting on his feet as he wipes his hand with a napkin before throwing it away. He turns his back on Mylo, his jaw clenched as he says to Lenn over his shoulder, "Take them away."
"No wait," Mylo begs, crawling towards Ryker with trembling hands, his voice weak, "Please give me a few hours, I'm going to begin cleaning up immediately."
"Are you afraid of being punished?" Ryker chuckles, his tone menacing, "If so you shouldn't have disobeyed me, alright?"
"Mylo just got to school, Alpha. He is not…" Zeke chokes on his words as he is violently kicked in the stomach. He groans, folding into a half.
"Please," Mylo said under his breath, helpless. He doesn't know what to do, he feels bad for Zeke as he is getting stumped on by two other of Alpha Ryker's men. He doesn't know what to do with himself when he is dragged to floor 3. When he is beaten until he is unable to move or make a sound.
"We are going to kill him if we continue."
"So what if he dies?" Lenn pants, breathless, "He dares offend the Alpha. A mere mutt like him," He steps on Mylo's head, "You are lucky the Alpha asked us to leave you alive or I will kill you with my bare hands."
He grabs Mylo's hair, yanking him up. He snatched the bottle of water from the sink, pouring the whole big bottle on Mylo's face.
Mylo struggles, unable to breathe.
"You are going to start cleaning from here, right?"
Mylo nods, his lips tightly closed as he couldn't speak with the downpour on him.
The other two kicking Zeke laugh at Mylo struggling for his life, "He is squirming like a wet puppy, tuch tuch tuch."
The other laughed, pushing the other on the shoulder, "Don't be crazy. He is shaking like a lizard."
"Please let him be," Zeke begs, his voice low.
~
Royce twirls his biro between his fingers listening to the professor teach creatively. He looks beside him to see Ryker's seat empty as usual.
He calmly wrote down the lessons on his notes, listening to his lectures so when he noticed Nico bowing to him by the window, he knew something was wrong. He dropped his biro on the note and stood up and left the class casually.
"Something happened," Nico reports calmly, "It seems you were mistaken about the Alpha this time. The kid is just another of his plaything, he made Lenn and the rest of his Betas beat him up with his friend."
Royce remains calm, knowing this kid is not just anyone. He is his fated mate and he feels every bit of the pull. He knows Mylo is a temptation he will eat and then spit out the remnants. If Ryker is not interested in the boy then why did he appear there to stop him from approaching the boy? He even told him to keep his hands off.
Royce has never seen Ryker show interest.
And If it is not interest, then what is it? If he only wants to pick on a boy who happens to be his mate then what does this mean? He walks towards Mylo's building with Nico behind him but doesn't reach there when he gets a mild scent of fresh peony on his nose before he sees Mylo and Zeke holding each other, walking towards the direction of the medical center.
Nico noticed the line forming on the Alpha's forehead, "This boy cannot be a distraction for you, Alpha. You can't go against the line Alpha Ryker has drawn. Who knows he might be using Mylo as bait to drag you into his grasp."
Royce chuckles loudly, enjoying the sound of that, "Then let me catch the bait at least."