Chapter 3: Chapter 3 : Knights in Shining Armor

Hayden’s POV

“So,” Claudius continued, “this woman is human, she is not like us, both in body and in mind. There are things we cannot explain to her due to these circumstances and you to will have to be very careful so that you don’t scare her away.”

I shook my head confused. “Scare her away?”

“He means with the mate bond.” Rhett clarified for me, and a nod from Claudius confirmed Rhett’s statement as he continued to elaborate.

“Everything we’re feeling, the sensations, the needs... she doesn’t feel it at all. Not like she would if she were like us.” There was a saddened tone to his voice, forlorn in a way I had never heard it before.

“Your brother is right, Alpha Hayden. You cannot approach her as though she is already yours to claim.” A part of me was angered at Claudius’ words, who was he to tell me what I could claim and not?

A look to Rhett’s face calmed me down though, there was a kind of peace that had settled there that told me he already understood all of this.

A deep sigh came from both me and my brother as we too took a seat at the table in front of us. “So what do we do?”

“I asked Mason to find out more about her, we should know who she is exactly soon enough.” Rhett turned to me at my statement and raised a quizzical brow.

It was just then that a knock sounded on the door and Mason walked in with his laptop in hand.

“Her name is Eleonore; she wasn’t lying about that at least. This is the school she attends,” He showed me a website of a university on his screen. “And she works part time at the library where we met her.”

“That’s great news.” I said as I stared at her student profile picture on the university’s website. I could see there was a glow to Rhett’s eyes as well, an eagerness to meet her again danced in them. If he had a tail right now I would bet it’d be wagging at the prospect of seeing her again.

I would have poked fun at him if I didn’t think my body would be responding in the same way. I looked at her profile picture, she was so beautiful.

“I’m good friends with the dean of that university,” Claudius said as he sat up. “I already arranged a meeting in any case to deal with our other current issue; no doubt he will welcome you with open arms. You two can pose as tutors, I’ve already arranged suitable subjects for the both of you.”

Both Rhett and I watched as Claudius slid two separate folders towards the each of us, both containing official documents and campus IDS for each of us. Rhett was going to do history, while I was tasked with business law.

We both stared at the folders in front of us as we read over the requirements and conditions, but all I could think about was Eleonore. What was she doing right now? Which subjects did she take if she attended this university? And most importantly, when will I be able to see her again?

I chanced a look at my brother beside me, and the look in his eyes told me that he was thinking exactly the same thing.

Eleonore’s POV

My fingers were freezing as I placed the books onto the high shelf. Today was just as cold as the day before and the environment of the library didn’t help it at all as much I would like.

This was the only thought going through my mind as I plucked book after book from the cart beside me to re-shelve. The management staff really should invest in some god-forsaken heating system in this place!

A jingle of the bell from the front door alerted me to some new patrons walking into the library, and I found myself thinking about the encounter the day before when I had met those strange boys.

All four boys had been strange and new, but the twins were something especially foreign to me. Their bright hair and piercing eyes were, I’m flushed to say, something that had plagued my dreams the previous night.

But it wasn’t the only thing. As I had made my way up the stairs last night and gotten ready for bed that dark, damning presence still lingered at the back of my mind. I tried to shake it, tried to shut my eyes to it as I often did when it happened, but I couldn’t that time.

And so I had went to bed with the feeling of falling off a cliff, and deep into my dreams did that insidious presence follow me—until the vision of them showed up. It was an embarrassing thought, to think of two men who I had barely met somehow rescuing me from that nightmare and lulling me into a more peaceful dream.

I shuddered against the cold, and then I was brought out of my daydream when I felt a sharp jab to my back between my spine and shoulder blade that sent me tumbling down.

When I looked up, angry and frustrated at having been knocked down to the cold cement floor, I saw something that made my skin crawl.

Standing on top of me was the smirking face of the patron from the previous day, who had left after causing a scene. “What?” He sneered down at me. “Cat got your tongue?”

The group of friends who accompanied him laughed. “No, no—would it be more medically accurate to just say you were deaf and dumb?”

I grit my teeth together. I can still hear you, you dick! I wanted to scream out at him, but I couldn’t.

When I pushed the books off from me that had fallen and tried to get up, a gasp came from my mouth as I felt a pain rush through my body. The man was standing on my wrist. I tried to yank free but he only stepped down harder. A yelp of pain escaped me.

“So she can make some noise, at least.” A brunette girl who accompanied the group said, a sadistic smirk playing on her lips. “I wonder what other noises you can make when we—“

“Eleonore.” A loud voice called out to me from further down the aisle, the tone and manner sending a different kind of shiver down my spine. I searched for the source, and my wide eyes came in contact with Rhett standing at the base of the aisle making his way towards us.

His large frame imposing as it towered over at least half of the shelves height, looming down onto the shorter girls of the group when he approached us. “Why don’t you get up from that dirty floor?” Rhett told me, but his sharp eyes were focused on the man who was currently stepping on me.

Was Rhett threatening him? Why was he getting involved in this?

“She won’t be going anywhere—" The man stepping on me said, but his line was cut off when another voice spoke out.

“Actually, I think she will.” Hayden.

We all turned to see Hayden walking up from the other end. And as if Rhett’s large, demanding figure wasn’t enough to have the group standing a bit uneasy, the two of them together certainly was.

I watched as one of the girls stepped towards the man who was standing on me and began to pull him away. “Come on baby, she’s not worth it.” A chorus of agreeing statements came from the rest of his group, and all of them quickly fled, but not before the man tripped over my foot and stepped on my ankle.

Rhett helped me up from the ground, and a whimper escaped me when I stood on the bruised ankle. Quickly, and to my surprise, Rhett bent down and lifted my foot from the ground. I stumbled lightly and he noticed my uneasy stance.

“Here,” Hayden said moving forward, he took my uninjured hand and placed the palm flat onto Rhett’s muscular back. “Let him help you stand.”

“Are you alright?” He asked me, and I shook my head with a shaky sigh. My wrist was definitely sprained, and from the prodding of Rhett on my ankle I could tell that that would bruise too.

My eyes widened when Hayden grabbed my hand and I only then noticed just how close we were all standing to each other. My leg in Rhett’s hands, and my arm in Hayden’s—if they were any closer they might have been carrying me.

Stuttering, I quickly stepped away from them and winced lightly when I stood on my ankle.

Hayden looked at me with a humorous expression, “You have a knack of being very surprising, Miss Eleonore.” I flustered at his statement, but before I could respond in any way I was swept away by the paging sound from my buzzer by the librarian.

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