A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood

Chapter Twenty-Seven “Arial?”

He had understandably been surprised to see me, so had the girl under him who was also missing her shirt

She was laying down on a school desk, legs wrapped around him, and I quickly averted my gaze before I saw anything else. “What the hell are you doing here?” he yelled. I could hear the sound of him zipping his pants back up and tugging a shirt on. “What am I doing here?” I repeated incredulously. “You mean why am I here after you made m e wait for over an hour?!”

I turned back around to face him having assumed it was safe to do so now. “Oh shit, was that today?”

"Oh, really? You don't recall even though I literally reminded you only a few hours ago?!” He rubbed at the back of his neck staring at the ground. At least he looked a little guilty. But it didn't matter because I was furious. Nothing he was going to be able to say would make me calm down. It was like something inside me had been triggered and I could feel myself losing control.

*..I'm sorry, Aria.” “You're sorry?! You were so preoccupied screwing this girl that you couldn't even let me know you wanted to cancel?”

He looked up to face me then and I felt that same familiar feeling of wanting so badly to buckle under the weight of those eyes. But not today. Today, I refused to back down as it fuelled my rage. "Woah, hey,” the girl interjected. “Let's leave me out of this, okay? I don't need to be caught u p in your weird... Goddess mark shit.”

If 1d still had my wolf, I would have ripped her throat out right then and there. It was probably her lucky day that I was still underage. “Kira,” Cai warned, making it clear that he didn’t think what she'd said was appropriate. “I think it's best that you leave if you truly don't want to get involved.” "Alright, fine. Enjoy your kiddie after school playtime,” she said with a huff. I scrutinised her u p and down, watching as she fixed her skirt until, finally, she walked towards the door. I was glad to see her hightail it out of here, but the feeling lasted only a few seconds.

“Freak,” she whispered as she walked past me.

I raised my hand so quick, seconds away from grabbing her, but suddenly Cai was there, restraining me in his grip. I conceded to just stare venomously at her until she left.

“Aria, calm down already.” “Is that how you see me?" I asked, ignoring his request. I turned towards him, feeling a wave of angry tears bubbling to the surface. I gritted my teeth i n an attempt to stop them from falling but it didn't work. “See you’? he asked, confused. “Like a child! A charity case! ..A freak.” He let go of my arm in surprise. “What? No, of course not.” 1 “But you'd rather spend your time here in her skirt? Because I'm not as entertaining, right? Because you think I'm just a kid?"

He sighed and shuffled uncomfortably. “...You'll understand when you're older.”

I burst into laughter. Was that really all he could say? I was mentally eight years older than

nerve to think I didn't understand exactly what he had been doing and why.

I advanced on him quickly, striding towards him with an absolute conviction. With every step I took, he paced backwards in response, unsettled by my sudden approach. But I kept walking all the way until his back was up against the wall and finally trapped. And I stared up into his eyes with extreme seriousness. “Do you truly believe I don't know anything, Cai?”

He was still trying to press himself further up against the wall, but it was a futile attempt. The only thing creating distance between us now was our height difference. When he eventually came to the same conclusion that there was no point in trying to move, he finally looked down at me, his eyes searching mine as if he was looking for something. I waited for his reply as he opened and closed his mouth several times, almost as if trying to find the right words to say but nothing would come out. Then, finally, I lost patience. I angrily sighed and turned away, heading towards the door. “You want to know which of us is the child? Go take a good, hard look at yourself, Cai.” “Aria, wait,” he called after me. “I'll make it up to you. We can do some extra lessons and I'll even teach you a special fighting technique only taught at my pack” I disregarded what he was saying and kept walking, choosing to reply without even turning to look at him. “Don’t bother, Cai. I'd rather not spend my time with someone who can't even take me seriously.” “Well, then you'll get your wish anyway," he called out. “I'm not going to be here for much longer.”

I paused in my tracks and finally looked back at him.

*...What do you mean?”

“I mean my exchange is up in a week or so. I'm going to be forced to head home soon.”

Whatever feeling of calm I had managed to hold a few moments ago was abruptly thrown out the window, my fury being reignited. I wasn't sure what made me angrier; the fact he'd ditched me for over an hour to get into a girl's pants, or the fact he had been planning to leave so soon and hadn't even brought it up until now. “Are you actually telling me right now that you were planning to go back home in a week, and you weren't even going to tell me?!” “No! I was going to tell you! Of course, I was.” “When?! via a letter when you'd already returned?! I thought we were friends, Cai. What the fuck is wrong with you?” “No, don't be stupid!”

I stormed back towards him, quickly making up the ground I'd previously made between us. “You want to make it up to me, Cai?" I asked rhetorically. “Fine then.” I threw a punch towards his face that he dodged effortlessly, moving his head to the side to avoid the blow.

“Aria... what are you doing?”

He took a step back to make some distance, but I didn't let him get away. I swept my leg up at him in an attempt to hit his side, but he quickly blocked it with his arm. “What do you mean? You thought this was going to be fixable by just a simple make up training session, right? Well then, hit me, Cai!" I shifted my weight to my other leg and tried to surprise him with a kick from my other foot. The movement was fast enough that he did almost miss it, but at the last second, he grabbed my ankle, holding me in place. “Stop this,” he growled. I refused to listen to him, his request only making me want to hit him more for trying to tell m e what to do.

He still hadn't let go of my leg, so I took the opportunity to grab onto one of the desks behind me, using it as leverage to support my weight. Lifting myself into the air, I then kicked him square in the chest, forcing him to release my ankle and stumble several feet backwards.

"Hit me, Cai," I said trying to goad him, covering the space I'd just made again.

"No."

I went to punch him in the jaw, and, to my surprise, he didn't even try to defend himself this time. My hit landed perfectly against the side of his face and I was left staring at my hand in disbelief. "What are you doing..?” I asked in complete shock.

But he didn't answer me. Unsure about what else to do, I then tried to hit him again; a right hook straight into his stomach. He coughed and stumbled back but, still, he didn't try to defend himself. I screamed out in anger at his refusal to engage and ran up to him, hitting him again and again several more times, all of which he endured and never once raised a hand against me.

“I said fucking hit me, Cai!” “No! I won't!" he finally yelled back. “This isn’t the gym, this isn“t training. I'm not going to hurt you.” The weight of his words slowly started to wear me down as I continued to attack him, my punches against him slowly becoming weaker. “...Please... hit me..." I could feel my tears coming back and I swallowed hard to keep them at bay. He refused to answer and continued to let me come at him. When I finally admitted that he wasn't going to react, I slumped to my knees in front of him, defeated. It had only taken a few more hits before I had finally stopped, my tears having fallen enough by that point to obscure my vision.

"Are you done?” he asked after several moments had passed. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't stand this feeling of being insignificant once again. Was it actually impossible to hope someone would put me first for once? That I would be someone's priority? 1

Because I realised that was the real reason as to why I was so angry. It wasn't about the girl, or about him being late... it was because I thought Cai had actually cared about me, that we were friends. But I knew there was no real reason for him to have felt that way. He was an incredibly charismatic and friendly guy to every person he met. The truth was he probably had a tonne of friends, maybe even a best friend waiting for him at home. And yet I'd had the audacity to assume that maybe I was equally that important to him. ... That maybe I mattered. “..Go,” I whispered quietly. “What did you just say?” he asked, sounding unsure as to whether he'd heard right.

“I said go, Cail" I yelled, shooting my head up to meet his gaze. “Leave already! Go back to your territory and have a great life!” He didn't hesitate for even a second longer. He just turned around and left straight out the door, not needing to be told a third time.