Nerd's Badboy Alpha novel Chapter 12

"So what does he see in you, I wonder," breathes Marcus Torres in my face. He slams his hand on the locker next to my head. "You've got a big nose, you're flat-chested, and you have no ass. Maybe you give good head, nerdling. You do have a pretty mouth."

I turn my head away. Marcus Torres is the son of the Chieftain of the local lion pride and the school's biggest prick. He seems to believe he is Alex's arch enemy, though I doubt he's even on Alex's radar. His breath smells like testosterone, rage, and raw meat.

"Let me go." I struggle in his grip even though it's futile. His hand is clamped on my shoulder like a vise grip, threatening to break my collarbone. "I'm not his girlfriend."

"His little pet, then." Marcus yanks my braid backward, exposing my throat to him. "And you smell nice, too, for a wolf. Though I don't sense your wolf at all. You're practically human, aren't you?"

Molly, Lucy, and I were walking to lunch when one of Marcus's lackeys grabbed me and dragged me to the back of the cafeteria where the big cats hang out. No one tried to help me. Students just watched with amusement as I was taken away from their sight like a freshly killed gazelle. Our school is a jungle.

"Just let me go," I beg, blinking away my tears as he tightens his grip in my hair and yanks down again. "I'm no one special. We're barely friends."

Marcus leans forward and licks the tears from my cheek. "Maybe you are special. Your skin is delicious." He sticks his face into my blazer and breathes deeply. "And you are about to have your bleeding. Has he had you yet, little wolf?"

I try to push his head away, but he is unyielding. "Fuck off, you pervert!" I pound on his back but he just laughs.

"Let her go," Alex Royce says, his voice dripping with ice.

Marcus keeps his grip in my hair, while he turns around to face Alex. His hold is so tight that my feet leave the ground. "Or what, Royce? You're going to kick my ass?"

"That's on the list." Alex tilts his head to one side and stretches his neck until it cracks, then does the same for the other. "You okay, Melvin?"

"Never better," I croak.

"Cool, because I'm going to need you to stand to the side and hold my blazer and shirt, so I don't get blood on them."

Laughing, Marcus drops me on the ground and I land on my ass. "Yeah, your blood."

I bolt to hide behind Alex who reaches for me and pats me on the head. "Stay out of the way, Fluffy. I don't want you to get hurt."

I roll my eyes, but hang on to the bottom of his blazer. The two young males face off against each other: one with something to prove, while the other merely misplaced his pet and found it tangled in brambles. The energy between them crackled like static, dry and snapping.

Marcus is in a fighting stance, feet hip-width apart, shoulders and hands loose at his sides. He does the same stretching neck thing that Alex did.

In front of me, Alex yawns and lazily extends his arms over his head. "Don't worry, pal. This won't take long," he tells me. "I've got a carne asada burrito with my name on it waiting for me at the caf. Literally. It has my name on it."

"Enough chit-chat, Royce. Come on. Thought you wanted to kick my ass."

"Just a minute, Melvin." Alex turns around and levels Marcus with one punch.

Though the were-lion is almost as tall as Alex and just as well built, he apparently isn't as good a fighter. Marcus springs right back up, so Alex takes him out with a right hook and another direct punch right in the face. His nose explodes like a tomato and he crumples to the ground. His friends gather around him to tend to him.