Fated and Claimed by Four Alphas Chapter 9: Madelyn Vale

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Chapter 9

~Spring’s POV~

The hallway between the cafeteria and the west wing lockers was oddly quiet—too quiet for midmorning.

I had only ant to pass through to clear my head before the fourth period, but then I saw her.

Madelyn Vale.

One of the four bitches who had treated wrongly.

She stood near the vending machine, laughing with her clique, her voice dripping with syrup and venom.

Sa swishy brown hair that stopped at her bra, sa cruel glint in her brown eyes. She hadn’t changed. Not a damn thing about her had changed.

But I had.

A scream echoed in my mind—not from now, but from a mory buried in Spring’s bones.

"Please, stop—"

I froze, wincing from the insane headache that coursed through my brain from that mory.

Quickly, I stepped to the side wall, my back half-hidden behind a pillar. They hadn’t noticed yet, but my pulse was already racing.

They were all laughing now. The way Madelyn casually shoved a younger student who brushed past her—the careless cruelty of it all.

And then it hit .

Spring had died because of them.

Not taphorically. Literally.

She’d been cornered. Beaten. Left behind the gym building like trash, because of girls like her. Because of her, to be precise.

A red haze crept into the edge of my vision. My fingernails bit into my palm as I clenched my fists tightly.

They didn’t even care what happened to her. Not a day of guilt. Not a flicker of remorse had gone through them.

If looks could kill...

I was burning holes into the back of Madelyn’s head when soone leaned beside , his voice dripping like a low current of ice behind my ear.

"You look like you’re trying to incinerate soone with your mind."

I didn’t turn before I knew it was Storm who was behind .

He stepped closer, his shoulder nearly brushing mine. "Is that a new talent of yours?" he asked. "Because if so, I’d rate the intensity about... a nine out of ten."

My lips twitched, but I didn’t smile. "Would’ve aid for a fifteen."

He was quiet for a second. Watching . I could feel it—the weight of his gaze on as he asked, "Who is she?"

I knew what he ant. I didn’t answer.

He followed my line of sight, his eyes narrowing slightly when he saw the group.

"That one. Madelyn Vale," he continued, as though giving a personal tour. "She’s the cousin of the Head of Beta Affairs and one of the Alphas’ daughters. Thinks she’s untouchable."

"She’s not," I said flatly.

Storm’s head tilted as he crossed his arms.

"Interesting. You’re different," he noted. "You walk differently. Talk differently. Yesterday, you corrected a teacher on a historical loophole no one in your grade could’ve answered. You kissed out of nowhere, flipped Beatrice on her ass, and now you’re trying to laser a hole through Madelyn’s skull."

I finally turned to face him.

Storm looked at —no flirt this ti. No smirk, just calmly, but I could not mistake the sharp glint in his eyes like he could see right through .

"So I’m going to ask once, Spring Kaine... what are you hiding behind those clever eyes of yours?"

The silence between us stretched. I did not answer him. I did not think I owed it to him to say my personal affair, but then my pulse thudded in a way that made my heart skip, and I didn’t look away.

This wasn’t the kind of stare that you could brush off. It was the kind that tried to peel you open.

I swallowed and said quietly, "I’m just tired of being hurt."

Storm’s eyes flickered. "That doesn’t explain how you suddenly beca soone who can fight."

"I learned." My tone didn’t waver.

"I don’t think so." His gaze was a blade now, cutting precisely past my defence.

"Perhaps you just didn’t notice," I retorted.

"People don’t just beco this overnight."

He paused, letting that truth hang in the air before adding, "Soone hurt you?"

"People change, Storm. People get tired of shit holding them back and change. And soone hurt ? That’s no news, even for you, Alpha."

His head tilted just a fraction. His lips parted, confusion flashing in his eyes—but he didn’t interrupt.

I dropped my gaze. The red haze had faded, but the bitterness in my throat hadn’t.

"They bullied , cornered , beat senseless." I blinked. "I had hit my head against a wall and gotten injured, yet they didn’t care."

Storm’s face darkened. His hands uncrossed, falling to his sides. "Madelyn?"

"Her and three others." I didn’t elaborate.

He didn’t say anything for a long mont. Just looked at like I’d cracked sothing open that couldn’t be taped back together.

"So... if you think soone needs more motivation than this to turn the tide, then you’re not bright and the rumours do not do you justice."

I didn’t care if I had insulted an alpha, but I hated pretenders. There was no way, he would not have heard about Spring Kaine, yet he acts like bullying ehr was news to him.

Tsk!

Suddenly, Storm stepped closer—too close and his voice dropped again. "First, it was a kiss and now, an insult." Rather than get angry, his lips curled to the side.

"Looks to like you really want my attention, Ms. Kaine and trust and when I give it, it cos with bigger problems than you can handle at your current state."

My breath caught. I didn’t answer. But I didn’t have to. However, in my mind, I was screaming, ’bring it on, Alpha!’ like a raving woman.

Storm studied . Every breath. Every twitch of my jaw. He wasn’t looking at a girl with a crush anymore. He was staring at a puzzle with teeth.

"I don’t know what you are," he said softly. "But whatever happened to you... I think it has made you dangerous now."

I smirked, slow and razor-edged. "Took you this long to figure that out?"

He chuckled once, darkly. "I like dangerous." Then he leaned in, so close I could feel his breath against my ear. "But I don’t play guessing gas forever, Spring. One day, I’ll find out just what made you tick and..."

I parted my lips to speak, but Storm cut off.

"...not your sob story of bullying."

I t his gaze, challenging. "And when you do?"

He straightened. "Then I’ll decide if you’re worth the tempest you bring."

With that, he walked off, his steps smooth and unhurried, leaving with the sound of my own breathing and the cold, tight knot still coiled in my chest.

I turned back toward the group—but they were gone.

Madelyn, laughing, disappeared around the corner, unaware of the storm that was already circling her fate.

"I would make sure you rembered Spring Kaine. And this ti... no one would look away, Madelyn, not even you."