Following Gerald's Orders

I sat down at the table I had chosen, and when Giselda walked in, I stiffened. She hesitated beside the table, eyeing me nervously.
“Annie—”
“It’s Annaria!” I snapped.
She sighed as she sat down. “Annaria, please let me explain.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. “Are you going to be honest or are you going to lie to me again?”
She groaned. “I wasn’t supposed to approach you. I was supposed to protect you from afar. I swear, I wasn’t trying to hurt you. When my Alpha found out I approached you, he was livid. I swear to you that I didn’t mean any harm.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Then why did you approach me?”
She sighed. “You’re my Alpha Sow. As the beta, it is my job to protect you. When you become our Alpha Sow, I will be around you all the time. I thought it would be best if we were friends. Besides, I do like you. You are such a sweet girl. You are so different from a lot of other girls our age. You are so determined, and you stick to your guns.” She reached out to take my hands. “Please, Annie. I am so sorry. Please don’t cut me out. Even if you decide not to become our Alpha Sow. I don’t want to lose your friendship.”
I hesitated before squeezing her hands. “Do you swear you won’t pressure me into being your Alpha Sow?” I asked hesitantly.
“I do, Annie. I just want to help you.”
“I don’t need help,” I immediately denied, making her heave a heavy sigh.
“You are so innocent, Annie. I just want to help you realize that sometimes people aren’t what they seem.” She paused as she searched my face. “Even Gerald…”
I ripped my hands away from her while Molton growled lightly behind us. “Gerry is good to me!”
She sighed. “Annie, if what everyone is saying is true about him killing Katherine, what makes you think he wouldn’t hurt you too?”
“Because he loves me! He wouldn’t hurt me!” I snapped.
Curtis burst out laughing. “Love? You think he loves you? You are just another notch in his bedpost!”
My body jerked as tears filled my eyes at the reminder that Gerry had slept with so many women before me. Giselda bared her teeth at Curtis.
“Leave her alone, asshole!” She snarled.
“SILENCE!” Professor Xavier growled as he stormed into the room.
I fell silent as he moved to the front of the room, where his eyes slowly roamed all the students in the room before stopping on me. I swallowed nervously as I tried to sink down into my seat to make myself smaller under his scrutiny. Professor Xavier continued to eye me while I grew even more nervous. Suddenly, flesh slammed against a table behind me, making me almost jump out of my skin.
“PROFESSOR! Can’t you see that you are making her uncomfortable? I insist you stop staring at her and start class!” Molton said.
I shot him a grateful look, which he didn’t see as he glared at the professor.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME, BOY?!” Professor Xavier hissed.
“I said, ‘Stop staring at Annaria and start class,’” Molton repeated, making me glance at him again.
Professor Xavier growled loudly as he bared his teeth. “SIT DOWN, MOLTON!”
“Leave her alone, and we won’t have a problem,” Molton mumbled as he sat back down.
The hair on my arms stood up as Professor Xavier started to walk down the aisle with his eyes glued on Molton. I grabbed a hold of Giselda’s arm as the rumbling of Professor Xavier’s growls got louder and more threatening the closer he got. Once he reached mine and Giselda’s table, he turned left abruptly to walk between us and Molton. I turned in my seat to watch Professor Xavier place his hands flat on the table in front of Molton.
“Say it again. I dare you!” He snarled, his saliva coming out to hit Molton in the face.
Molton calmly wiped the spit off his face before meeting the professor’s eyes. “I said, ‘Leave. Annaria. Alone.’”
Before anyone could move, the professor shifted, breaking the table with his weight. I uttered a small scream as Professor Xavier’s huge, heavy body knocked me out of my chair. I hit the ground, frantically trying to move away from the conflict that was unfolding in front of me. Molton had shoved himself back to shift as well, breaking even more tables as he stood his ground with his fur raised, warning the professor to stand down. My vision was instantly blocked by Giselda when she knelt in front of me, running her hands over my body as she checked me for injury.
“Are you alright? Are you—”
She let out a loud cry of pain as she was pushed into me as Professor Xavier’s bear backed up to avoid Molton’s bear’s sharp claws. Seconds later, all hell broke loose as the two shifted bears latched onto each other, biting and scratching each other. Marsha surged forward, taking over before I could stop her, to jump into the fray as she pushed our aura out to try to force them to stop. My link with Gerry opened as Professor Xavier’s bear caught us in the stomach with a swipe of his deadly claws.
‘ANNIE! WHAT IS GOING ON?!’ He linked worriedly. ‘WHY ARE YOU IN PAIN?!’
Marsha ignored him as she continued to try to break up the fight. When Giselda’s bear joined the fight, trying to force me out of it, Marsha growled at her before spinning back to the two males. We launched ourselves onto the professor’s back, and immediately started struggling to hang on as he shook wildly, trying to dislodge us. Giselda tackled him, making him roll, and Marsha screamed out in pain as we were slammed into the floor. Being unable to withdraw our teeth from his throat, we were forced to roll with him, which led to several bones cracking, causing our body to fill with debilitating pain. Marsha lost her grasp on her body, forcing us to shift back to our human form. We were forced to lay on the floor, gasping for air as Giselda’s and Molton’s bears tag-teamed Professor Xavier’s bear, who obviously wasn’t going to stop his attack anytime soon.
‘ANNIE! WHERE ARE YOU?!’ Gerry screamed, panicking through our link. ‘PLEASE, BABY! TELL ME!’
I took in a shuddering breath that sent even more pain through my body as I struggled to draw in enough air to survive. The urge to vomit rose up, and I tried to roll over so I didn’t choke. No matter how hard I tried to shift, I couldn’t move. My vision started to fade as bile rose up, making my chest burn. A shadow fell over my face, and I struggled to move my eyes so I could look at who was standing over me. My heart sank as my eyes landed on Curtis, who was smirking down at me.
“Always the weak little bitch, aren’t you? Bet you regret choosing your brother now, don’t you?” Curtis told me smugly.
I coughed, and vomit spewed from my mouth, choking me as part of it stayed in my throat. Excitement leapt into Curtis’ eyes as he knelt beside me to wipe my mouth with his finger before rubbing it with his thumb and showing me. My body went cold when I realized he had blood, my blood, on his fingers. He stuck his fingers in his mouth, sucking my blood off before growling a little.
“I want to see you die,” he said excitedly.
My heart sank as I realized he was probably right. I was never a fast healer. That was why I always asked the vines for help. Between the amount of pain that was holding my body hostage along with the blood that was choking me, I probably wasn’t going to make it. I closed my eyes as they filled with tears. I whimpered once as the thought of never seeing Gerry again crossed my mind. A loud roar drew my attention back to the present, where I became aware once again of the fight that was still waging a few feet from me, but it didn’t matter anymore. I couldn’t help them. I couldn’t protect Molton or Giselda. I couldn’t even protect myself at the moment. A single tear leaked out of my eye to roll down my face as I desperately struggled to hold my link with Gerry open long enough to speak to him as my heart began to slow down.
‘I’m sorry. I tried…’