Maya stared at the clock that sat on the wall just above the chalkboard in the front of the room. The teacher, Mr. Kone, was sitting down at his desk, grading papers. While the students talked among themselves. Releasing a small sigh, Maya placed her head on the cold metal of the desk, closing her eyes.
"Maya, wake up." Charlie said, slightly shaking her. Maya groaned before picking her head up and looking at her best friend with an irritated look. "Maya, I really need to talk to you about something. It's important, come to mine after school, yeah?" Charlie asked, looking at Maya with pleading eyes. Maya nodded her head, absentmindedly, before placing her head back down on the desk.
Ace placed his pen down before stretched his tense muscles. Ace had a lot of work that needed to be done before he could officially become the new Alpha. Grabbing his phone from the side of his desk, he quickly sent a text to Maya, asking if they could meet up later. Maya responded quickly, saying that she has to speak to someone first but will meet up with him afterward. Ace sighed before putting his phone down.
The door swung open, revealing Zachary. "Finally!" Zac said, his breathing was harsh. "I found you. We need to talk."
"Okay, Maya, so what I am about to say may scare you a little bit, but you need to know." Charlie started off which frightened Maya. "You're in danger." Maya's eyes widened at the news, not knowing how to react. "Being associated with Ace is putting you in danger, there is someone out there who is coming after you and will stop at nothing to kill you, unless you cut your ties with Ace Martinez, or at least he thinks you do."
Maya tilted her head to the side, her eyebrows were knitted together as confusion washed over her. "Even though I can't stand Ace," Maya rolled her eyes at Charlie, "I don't want to see you get hurt, so," Charlie paused to take a deep breath, "I have a plan."
"What is it, Zachary." Ace asked standing up from his seat, walking in front of the desk.
Zac shut the door and sat down in one of the chairs that were in front of the desk. "It's Noah, he's meet her." Zac said, his voice low and hushed.
Anger radiated off of Ace, his nostrils began to flare at the thought of Noah harming his small, innocent mate in any type of way. "He what?!" Ace's voice roared throughout the office. "I'll kill him." His eyes glowed brightly, indicating that he was on the verge of turning.
"No." Zac's oddly calm voice made Ace snap out of his trance. "You'll put Maya in more danger then she is already in, and you know that. We need to sit and think this through, you can't just act out of anger." Zac stood up, shaking his head.
Ace's phone vibrated causing both of their heads to turn towards the electronic device. Ace picked up the phone, checking to see who texted him. It was Maya. "I'm coming over now and I'm bringing Charlie, he needs to speak to you." Ace read the message aloud so Zac could hear what Maya said. Both of them shared a confused look, wanting to know what Charlie had to speak to Ace about. Nevertheless, he agreed to let Charlie in his house.
Maya and Charlie arrived shortly afterward. Maya knocked on the front door, waiting for someone to open the door. Layla's stressed face was revealed when the front door had opened. "Oh, Maya, honey. It's good to see you." She said pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm guessing you're here to see Ace." Maya smiled brightly, nodding her head. "He's in his office." Layla said moving aside, letting Charlie in.
Maya grabbed Charlie's wrist, dragging him through the house, leading him to Ace's office. Without knocking, Maya swung the door open. Ace eyes widened at the sudden action. "Maya." Ace said in a warning tone. "What have I told you about knocking?" He asked glaring at her.
Sending Ace an innocent smile, Maya pulled Charlie into the room, shutting the door behind them. "Alright, I know that you most likely don't want to speak to me, but this is for Maya's sake." Charlie said, shifting from one foot to the other. "As you may know, Maya is in danger because of you, that is." Charlie shot Ace a sharp glare. Ace swallowed the heavy lump that was in his throat, the guilt catching up to him. "But, I've come to a solution."
Zac narrowed his eyes at Charlie, "How would you know that Maya was in danger?" The words fell from Zac's lips smoothly, causing Charlie's body to stiffen. "I-" Charlie quickly cleared his throat. "I work for Noah."
Maya's head snapped towards Charlie, Noah. That name sounded so familiar. Noah. Maya repeated his name over and over again. Finally, it hit her, hard. Maya scrambled around Ace's office, looking for a piece of paper to write on. After she found one, she wrote down that she knew someone named Noah, she had met him a few weeks ago when she was walking home alone from Ace's house. "What did he look like?" Ace asked looking down at the paper. Maya described him to the best of her abilities but made sure to include his unique eye color, honey.
"So you work for Noah, so why would you want to help us?" Ace question, tilting his head to the side, his hair shifting over his eyes. Maya stood on her tippy toes, brushing the hair away from his eyes. Ace smiled down at her sweetly, which she returned.
Charlie's heart clenched at the scene in front of him. "I would never hurt, Maya. I am here to help you take him down. The only reason I work for him is that I am a rogue, and since you are an Alpha, you know what happens to rogues when they aren't in 'packs'." Charlie and Ace began a small staring contest. Maya released a sigh before moving her way over to Charlie, nudging his arm. "Right. So I have come to a solution. Noah said that he won't kill Maya if she cuts all ties with you and meets someone new. So, I asked him to give me time to pull her away from you so that she won't get hurt. He actually liked the idea. So, I thought about this for a while, and came up with a plan that could benefit both you and Maya."
"Okay?" Ace dragged out the word, waiting for Charlie to just spit out the plan already.
"I mark Maya." Charlie said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. His stern face let Ace know that Charlie wasn't playing games.
"No!" Ace's voice was hard and deep, booming throughout the office. His eyes turning a darker shade of grey. Maya took a step back, hiding behind Zac, scared to see Ace acting this way. Ace noticed Maya's actions, so he softened his features, his eyes slowly turning back to their original color. "You know what happens when someone is marked." Ace growled.
Charlie tilted his chin up slightly, smirking towards Ace. "I do, but, I also know that if your mark isn't deep enough, it won't affect the person being marked."
Ace stared at Charlie with narrowed eyes. Zac stood uncomfortably in the corner of the room with Maya still holding on to his shirt tightly, just in case something broke out between the two men. Zac sent Maya a small comforting smile before he stepped in front of the two immature males. "Enough you two." Zac yelled turning towards Ace, "Stop being selfish, this is probably the only thing that could help Maya at this point." His finger went up, pointing at Maya, who was inching her way towards Charlie. "Think about her, your mate."
Maya's arm wrapped around Charlie's forearm, clinging to it tightly. Charlie smiled at Maya, patting her head. Ace looked at Maya, a million thoughts running throughout his head. "Explain your plan." He said holding his arms out towards Maya, waiting for her to come towards him. Maya slowly unwrapped her arms from Charlie's forearm, making her way towards Ace wrapping her arms around his torso, resting her head on his chest. Ace enclosed his arms around Maya's shoulders, pulling her closer to him, placing his chin on top of her head.
Charlie looked at Maya, his chest tightening in pain. Clearing his throat, Charlie looked up at Ace, "As long as Noah sees that she is marked by someone else and he doesn't smell you on her, he'll leave her alone, if not, he will come after her. So I wanted to keep her safe so I did some research and found out that if your mark isn't deep enough, it won't have any type of an effect on either of the two. So when I found out, I told Noah that Maya is my girlfriend and that I've already marked her, and now he wants proof. I already asked Maya and she said that she was okay with it." Charlie eyed Ace looking for a reaction.
Ace sighed and pulled back from Maya, looking down at her. "It's up to you, love, what do you want to do?" Ace asked Maya, his eyes wandering over her face, trying to figure out what she was thinking. Maya sent Ace a small smile before nodding her head, wanting to go through with Charlie's plan. Ace nodded and looked up at Charlie. "Do it now." Ace's voice was hard and you could tell that he wasn't happy with Maya's decision, at all, but he knew that he couldn't do anything about it. He wished that he could have done something so that it didn't lead to this, but he couldn't, he couldn't do a single thing, because, at the end of the day, he knew he wouldn't win, not like this, not in this state. He needs to become stronger, he needed to train, he knew that.
Charlie grabbed Maya wrist, softly pulling her closer to him. He moved her hair off of her shoulder, tucking it behind her ear. "I'm sorry if it hurts." Charlie whispered in her ear. He place a gentle kiss against her skin, which went unseen by Ace before sinking his teeth into her neck. Maya closed her eyes as a stinging pain entered her body, tears forming in her eyes. Ace couldn't watch, he just couldn't. Charlie pulled his teeth out swiping his thumb over the bite mark, wiping away the blood that came out.
Quickly, Maya blinked away the tears, looking at Charlie. "Are you alright."
Maya blinked, her vision becoming blurry. "Maya? Are you alright?" Ace's worried voice filled Maya's ears. Her head began to spin becoming dizzy. A pounding sound filled her ears, and she suddenly began to feel hot, as if her skin was on fire. Maya reached for the thing closest to her, using the desk as support. Her throat became dry, her muscles tightened before turning numb. Her body and eyelids becoming heavy as her body fell to the floor, unconscious.