Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 168

Chapter 168

I cut her off, hugging her back as tightly as I could manage. “I’m fine.”

Jack sent me a kind smile. “She missed you. We all did.”

Ridge punched my shoulder lightly. “Way to kick ass and get yourself out of there.”

“Thanks for coming to help.”

I hadn’t seen Ridge, Jack, or Cooper much at Kaleb’s compound, but I knew they’d come with the enforcers. Because we were family now. My chest tightened with that same pain, the good kind.

Ridge gave me a chin lift. “We’ll always have your back.”

Cass sniffed as she let me go. “I’m sorry I didn’t foresee it. Kaleb must have a strong shield around him.”

I grimaced, my jaw going tight. “He does and they can infuse the buildings around him with that shielding power.”

“Shit,” Cass muttered. Her eyes narrowed on some invisible spot in the distance. “There has to be a way around that…”

Jack wrapped an arm around her, turning her towards the school. “Think about world domination while we walk or we’re going to be late for

class.”

I turned to grab my backpack, but Anson already had it slung over his shoulder. I reached for it. “I can carry it.”

He bent, giving me a quick kiss. “Let me take care of my girl.”

“Our girl,” Caspian muttered.

“Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.”

I chuckled as we headed towards the school doors. Maybe I did need this. The piece of normality against all the crazy. A few hours where the most important thing was giving each other a hard time and passing my English midterm.

River opened the door and held it for our group. I kissed his cheek as I passed. “Thanks.”

“I’ll take that payment any day.”

We moved through the hallways crowded with other students hurrying to make their first classes. I felt the stares more than I saw them. I stayed focused on whatever was directly in front of me, and the guys formed a protective huddle to shield me from the worst of it.

We came to a stop outside the astronomy classroom. Cass kissed Ridge and Jack and gave me a quick hug. “See you at lunch.”

Knox tipped my face up to him, searching my eyes. “You good?”

I stretched up on my tiptoes to meet his lips. “Good now.”

He grinned against my mouth. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Caspian tugged me against him and kissed me soundly. “Mind link me if you need anything.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Mind link me.”

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Chapter 168

“Okay, okay. But no barging into my head just because you haven’t heard from me in thirty minutes.”

He chuckled and released me. “I’ll try.”

I rolled my eyes and followed Jack and Ridge into the classroom, River and Anson trailing behind.

As I headed to my seat in the back corner, a figure stepped into my path. Sadie glared daggers at me. “You think you can get me in trouble and then just hide?”

“I didn’t get you in trouble and I’m sure as hell not hiding from you.”

Her eyes flashed. “You got me suspended.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. “Did you take a hit to the head?”

Anson chuckled, pressing himself to my back. “You missed the news, Sen. The cops found Sadie’s prints on the Taser in your locker. She got suspended for a week and isn’t allowed to go to winter formal.”

The laugh burst out of me. Sadie probably didn’t give a damn about being suspended, but missing winter formal would be a fate worse than death. I grinned at her. “Sucks when being a jealous bitch comes back to bite you.”

Her face turned a shade of red rarely seen on the human form. “You’re going to pay for this.”

Anson let out a low growl that had Sadie stumbling back a few steps. “Stay away from Senna.”

“Freaks,” she muttered and hurried to her seat.

I tipped my head back so I could see Anson’s face. “Have I ever told you how sexy your growl is?”

He let a soft one slip from his lips.

“Not fair. We’re in school.”

A grin stretched across Anson’s face. “I’ll growl at you as soon as we’re home.”

I stretched up to give him a quick kiss. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

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Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Knox’s fingers dug into my shoulders as we drove up the gravel road towards the lodge. His thumbs worked at the muscles that had turned to stone in the past few hours. “I think you might’ve overdone it on the weights this morning.”

I was going to be paying for it tomorrow, but I didn’t have much of a choice. “I’ll sit in the hot tub after I work on my gift this afternoon.”

Mason had told us he would be putting in some calls to people who had energy benders in their family lines, hoping they might have some information to help us. I thought about the other members of the Quad, how much information they likely had on the subject, then immediately shut the idea down. They had continued to refuse to believe Kaleh was behind the attack on me, even though he’d apparently gone into hiding

Anson came to a stop in front of the lodge, and we piled out of the vehicle as the front door opened and Mason appeared. “We need to talk.”

My stomach dropped at the lines of tension bracketing his mouth. The guys moved in around me as Vaughn appeared in the doorway. His face was a blank mask, but I could see the hints of concern in those ice–blue eyes.

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