Chapter 77

Anila’s POV

My heart was hammering in my chest when I heard Sarah and another man talking about Damien with such disrespect. My blood was practically boiling. Harley looked worried as he ran circles around my back, trying to calm me, but it wasn’t working like it normally would.

Before I could stop myself, I pulled away from Harley and made myself known to Sarah.

“You have some nerve,” I spat at her, making her jump apart from the man who looked breathless and dazed as he took in his surroundings. “Cheating on Damien right under his nose? Have you no shame?”

She raised her brows and then she looked at Harley and back at me. Her eyes turned to slits as she folded her arms across her chest.

“You are one to talk. Are you forgetting you have multiple mates?” She said through her teeth. “How does Xaden feel about you fucking his best friend and his brother? You are disgusting if you think for a second that you are better than me?”

“Xaden knows exactly where my heart is at,” I told her, and I knew that with certainty. Xaden had made it a point to push Harley and me together because he knew we both needed it.

I knew I still had to talk to Xaden about this whole thing though and ask him what had changed and why he suddenly wanted me to explore things with Harley, but for right now, I wasn’t going to complain. I loved the time I spent with Harley, and I loved Xaden even more for giving me that. Now only if I could convince him to let me do the same with Zach as well.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and focused my attention on Sarah who was still glaring at me.

“You had no right to eavesdrop on my personal conversation,” she hissed, her lip curling in disgust. I shook my head at her, not believing what she was saying.

She had someone as incredible as Damien by her side and she still chose to screw around with someone else? I was never going to understand that, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“Damien has done nothing but love you, Sarah,” I said, and as I spoke those words, a tightness formed in my stomach hand I didn’t like the idea of Damien loving her. I didn’t want him around anyone else other than me and I wasn’t sure how to cope with that feeling knowing that Damien only saw me as a friend.

Yet there was still this nagging part of me that wanted to claim him and make him mine. I shook my head at the thought, not wanting to go back down that rabbit hole.

“You show him such little disrespect and he doesn’t deserve that,” I continued, my brows furrowed as I stared at her. “He would never do something like this to you and yet you have no issues hurting him in the worst way imaginable. What is wrong with you?”

“You have no right to talk about my relationship,” she scoffed. “None at all. So why don’t you go off with your little fuck buddies and leave my relationships alone.”

“I should probably go,” the man that stood behind her said, as he took a step back.

“You don’t need to leave, Charles,” she said, holding up her hand to stop him. He froze completely, and for a moment, I wondered if she used a spell to keep him in place. “She’s the one who needs to leave.”

I pressed my lips in a thin line and stepped closer to her; I knew I was daring her, but I wasn’t going to back down. I’ve had enough mean girls to last me a lifetime. I had to deal with it back home with my stepmother Claire and my stepsister, Gemma. It wasn’t fair that I was always the one who got beaten down and made to feel less.

It was time I stood my ground and stood up for something I believed in. Damien didn’t deserve to be treated like trash like this. He grew up being an orphan and I knew he must have felt lesser for most of his childhood until he came across Sarah’s family.

In some morphed way, Sarah and her family had helped him during his darkest days, and I knew he grew fond of Sarah. I knew he loved her romantically and as a best friend. Despite the thought making me feel sick to my stomach, I knew it to be true. I had to accept that, but I wasn’t going to sit here and watch Sarah take Damien for granted and hurt him like this.

I just couldn’t.

“Oh, this is rich,” Sarah blurted, a humorless laugh escaping her lips. “Don’t tell me you have a thing for Damien now too? Aren’t 3 mates enough? You need to try and snag my man too. You are even more pathetic than I thought.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, disbelieving what she was saying.

“Oh, now he’s ‘your’ man?” I asked, raising my brows. “Even while your sucking face with this gentleman?” I pointed at Charles who was red in the face.

He kept his gaze downward and his hands in his pocket.

“Let’s get one thing straight here, freak. Damien will always be my man. You will always be the slut with 3 mates. You are a nobody, Anila. You always have been, and you always will be,” she said through her teeth as she shoulder-pumped me and walked past me. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to find Damien and I’m going to fuck his brains out because I want to and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

She started to walk away and by reflex, I grabbed her arm to stop her.

That proved to be a huge mistake though because before I knew what was happening, she was grabbing at her wand and pointing it at me. Harley attempted to jump in the way and protect me, but she was too fast.

Soon, the air had left my legs completely and I was being lifted off the ground. It was the same exact torturous spell that Professor Howl used on me when I first got here. I saw the deadly look in Sarah’s eyes as she growled at me through her teeth; her hand firmly gripping her wand as she lifted me even higher in the sky.

It felt as if someone had wrapped their hands around my neck and was squeezing at my windpipe. I felt tears brimming in my eyes and pain seared through my body as she lifted me even higher and out of Harley’s reach.

“Sarah!” He growled. “Let her go!”

She wasn’t listening to him though; her eyes were set on me, and she was more than furious. She wiped her wand around and I went flying in the same direction; I felt the cracking of my shoulders before there was no support to them. She was holding me by my neck and there was no air. I saw spots in front of my vision, and I knew Harley was trying to get Sarah to calm down and release me. She put a barrier around herself so no matter the spells he attempted to use against her, it would just bounce right off her.

I stared down at her, pleading for her to stop because she was about to kill me. She would never be able to come back from that if she succeeded and actually killed me but at that moment, Sarah was gone, and in front of me stood a girl out for blood.

“Sarah!! I mean it! Let her go!!” Harley growled and I knew without looking at him that his bear had ripped through his skin, and he was now in full fur mode.

I heard his loud growl exchange throughout the campus. I was dizzy now and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to keep my consciousness much longer. Just as I managed to release the last of my breath, I heard a familiar voice.

“What the hell is going on?”

I managed to focus my attention on Damien who was running toward us. He grabbed his wand out of its holder and pointed it directly at me as he yelled, “Release!”

Soon, air flooded my lungs and I felt myself falling. I was still in a daze and very dizzy, so I didn’t feel the effects of the fall, but I was soon in Damien’s arms as he caught me with ease.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

I groaned, rubbing around my neck and expecting to feel some kind of mark. His eyes shot to Sarah who was staring at him with her mouth hanging open. She still looked so mad and there was no telling what he was going to do.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Sarah?” He growled. “And what the fuck is he doing here??” He pointed at Charles who was still standing in the same spot; he looked terrified now though.

She opened her mouth to speak but Damien cut her off.

“We need to talk,” he snapped at her but then he turned to look down at Harley who was still growling and snapping at Sarah who was hiding like a coward behind her shield. “Hey,” he said to Harley, trying to speak through his bear. “Are you in there, Harley?”

Harley snapped a look at Damien and snapped his teeth, but he made no movements towards him. I knew Harley was fighting for control; he was having trouble distinguishing who was a threat and who wasn’t. I knew he was wound up and I wanted him to calm down, but I was also wound up. My wolf and bear were equally furious.

I probably could have gotten myself free if I tried; but I was too shocked by everything happening, I wasn’t thinking.

I had a lot to learn if I was going to participate in these challenges and be some kind of queen to these people.

Damien kept me close to his body and I felt protected and warm, but I was still shaking and wound up, struggling to keep my spirit animals at bay.

Damien surprised me by bending towards Harley.

“I need you to get her out of here, can you come to your senses long enough to do that?” Damien asked Harly’s bear. We both knew that Harley wasn’t in control of his bear and that he was speaking to the bear himself.

Harley’s bear puffed air out of his nose like an angry bull and then his eyes registered on me.

“Please, get her out of here,” Damien repeated.

The bear surprised me by nodding and stepping toward Damein who placed me on the bear’s back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as I nuzzled my face in the soft fur on the back of his neck. My eyes remained on Damien though who gave me a small nod and I could see the worry and fear in his eyes.

Without another word, Harley’s bear was running away and toward the direction of the forest. I only slightly heard the yelling of Damien as he officially broke things off with Sarah.