The Bully's Hated Mate
The Bully’s Hated Mate – Chapter 41

Lucius

I’d never been more grateful about taking the self-defense course my father had made me go through he moment I turned fifteen. Experience was the only hung keeping my head still attached to my neck becauseeeee this wolf was bent on killing me.

I had lunged to my left—a mistake I realised too late— and as I landed on my seriously injured arm, I let out a string of curses. The pain I felt was out of this world.

Without waiting for me to recover, the wolf moved with clear intent, yellow eyes filled with anger and disgust. I briefly wondered who the wolf was.

While the wolf gained momentum, I scanned my surroundings rapidly for a weapon. The wound on my arm would make shifting a thousand times painful than usual. I would have to defend myself in human form, whether liked it or not.

As the wolf charged, teeth bared in a growl and claw poised to strike, I once again, jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground as I went and snatching a particularly strong looking firewood from the bonfire.

My weapon held out with its tip blazing a fiery red that promised instant pain the moment it came in contact with anything. It wasn’t as reliable as a staff or as sharp as a sword but it was a weapon and by all means, I would use it.

Shrugging off my pain, I held the firewood in an offensive position, charging at the wolf.

The wolf, not expecting my move tried to maneuver me with a swipe of it’s paw. With adept speed, I plunged the blunt end of the smoking hotwood into its paw and felt some satisfaction when it howled in pain.

Distracted by it’s throbbing and obviously scalded paw, I spun the wood landing a blow on its flank with the hot tip and the wolf cried out again, rolling out of my line of attack.

Rage blazed in it’s feral eyes as it got it it’s full height, a trail of saliva dripping from its bared teeth. Once again, I caught the familiar scent of the wolf and dimly realized that I knew who this wolf was. But if the wolf was someone I knew, I thought as we both circled each other, eyes alert and guard up, then why was he or she so angry that they decided to pick a fight with me?

In a burst if startling speed, the wolf lunged at me, teeth snapping and claws thrashing as we both fell to the ground in a blur of moving limbs. I struggled to avoid getting my head bitten twice, lodging the firewood horizontally hrough its teeth to keep it at bay while it snapped and tried to claw off my face.

I sent a punch straight through its exposed chest which had it whimpering. It felt good. It should feel pain, feel some iota of what u was feeling.

Without even controlling it, I found myself shifting into my wolf form, muscles bending, bones shifting and popping as they slid into place, fur erupting on my skin like a trail of fire. It f*****g hurt and I let out a long howl to assert dominance, to show I was the Alpha’s son.

Probably offended by my howl, the wolf leapt to it’s feet, claws successfully catching ND bruising y neck, dragging me down with it’s weight.

It got a few blows in, all the while snarling in my face, breath hot with anger and resentment. The air stank with b***d, fur and jealousy.

As I rolled over, pining the wolf and hammering both blows and scratches on every area my paws touched, I smelt it. Caught the faintest whiff of it but it was there. I smelt Cassia’s scent on the wolf who’s face I’d bloodied.

Why was Cassia’s cent on this wolf? I briefly ondered.

Regardless of the present scent of my mate on this wolf, I continued o land blow after blow, releasing ll my frustrations ND self loathe on it. I caught a weak swipe, bent the forearm until I heard some satisfying runches. Infact, I was rage crazed.

By some miracle, the wolf slipped out from my grip and managed to morph back to human form quickly. I was not expecting it.

The person’s face was beyond battered and with the way he wheezed, I was sure he was spotting some broken ribs.

“You bastard,” the guy spat, both literally and figuratively, his words thick enough to hold spite and the blob of saliva thick with b***d.

“You coward! You claim to know how to fight yet you find strength most in a woman’s body,” the stranger bitterly continued.

A piece of lint or a lucky piece of charcoal blazed the fire bright and cast shadows on the human. As I saw the hair, I instantly emembered who the person was and why he smelt so familiar.

Marcus stood opposite me, having successfully hobbled few feet away, staring at me balefully. I stared back, shocked at the fact that he had been the one fighting ack with me and angry that he had the guts to attack me first.

“How dare you lay your undeserving fingers on Cassia?” He bellowed, eyes glowing yellow in the firelight. I was puzzled. I had never and would never lay a finger on Cassia.

“What are you talking about?” I growled. Maybe he’d gone senile.

” Did it give you pleasure as you marked her when you bruised her? Did it stroke our fragile ego that you could overpower and hit her as much as you liked? Huh? Answer me you bastard!” Marcus continued to yell at me.

” I never hit Cassia,” I retorted back, wincing at the sudden pain shooting up my injured arm.

“Stop f*****g lying!” Marcus retorted, lunging at me again, this time making sure to flip me with my injured arm. It hurt like a b***h.

His fist caught my snout and the pain reverberated in my skull.

I stretched out my hand , tapping the ground wildly as he continued to deliver blows on my head. Finally, my hand caught what it had been looking for. The firewood.

I grabbed it and smaked him across the face with the wood, half sure I broke his nose with the way he yelled out in pain. Serves him right for injuring my arm.

Taking dvantage, I switched it positions and continued I beat him with the stick until my hand stung.

I could hear some background oises. A pair of running feet caught my attention and with the scent that followed it after, I knew who those footsteps belonged to. Cassia.

“Stop it!!” She shouted at me from a distance, still gaining some meters.

“Lucius! Stop it this instant!” She hollered at the top of her voice.

” Get away from him,” she continued to say as she drew closer. I could hear the sob behind her shouts and like I was remote controlled, I stopped immediately.

I froze like an ice block, overly tuned to her command.

Marcus rolled out from under me, coughing and spitting b***d. I still felt like beating him up but I restrained myself.

As he got to his feet shakily, b***d on his face and shirt, he picked up the stick I’d dropped and smacked it on my face.

I could hear Cassia screaming, begging him to stop but he was relentless, tossing insults as me while the stick landed on my head, my injured arm, my legs, my back. Absolutely anywhere he saw, he hit.

Finally, Cassia separated us, pushing me backwards, away from Marcus’s blows. Angrily, she yanked the stick out of his hand and flung it far from reach.

Her face was a mixture of tears and sweat and her scent gave off different emotions.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She screamed at me, banging her fist on my shoulder. I was surprised even if I shouldn’t have been.

Marcus was badly bleeding, now that I could see him properly but he still mustered enough energy to glare at me.

Cassia shook her head and walked to Marcus, holding his face gingerly, swiping b***d and dirt and grime from his face with her shirt. She was clad in pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt. Obviously,she was dressed for bed.

On seeing her exposed arm bleeding, I over towards her instinctively, reaching out to inspect her wound, worried I’d injured her.

“Are you alr—” I was cut off.

”Don’t touch me!” She retorted angrily, facing me.

” How could you wound him this badly?” She cried in my face, pointing at Marcus. I glanced at my own injured arm but said nothing.

She waited for my response, her eyes filled with pain and anger. When she received nothing it silence, she angrily scoffed and went back to Marcus.

Meanwhile, the palace which had heard our scuffle had sent guards to check what was going on.

On seeing my bloody self, Cassia ho also had b***d on her and a stranger, they did what they’d been taught to do. They protected the heir and his mate. They seized Marcus at once.

“No! what are you doing?” Cassia screamed at them as they hauled bloody Marcus to his feet. They ignored her and began to drag Marcus away much to Cassia’s horror.