Fated and Claimed by Four Alphas
Chapter 24: The New Student

Chapter 24: The New Student

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Chapter 24

~Rose’s POV~

I was still smiling when I reached the top of the stairs.

The kind of smile that curled slowly, sweetly, like poison slipping into tea. One I’d learned from her.

Every word Mother had whispered earlier replayed in my mind like a wicked lullaby.

"Start weak. Look ill, pale. Faint a little in the hallway, and collapse in front of the right people. And if that doesn’t draw their concern? Escalate it. Fall down the stairs if you must."

I’d left the house this morning on fire with satisfaction. Spring wouldn’t know what hit her. The pepper-laced powder, the uniform soaked in her humiliation—I’d even scented it faintly with rose oil to hide the scent.

Everything had been set just right. All she had to do was be her usual, stupid, goody self and slip right into the trap.

And then poof—red eyes, stinging face, sudden screams, maybe even fainting in the hallway, hahhaa.

It was the perfect birthday present.

I was still riding that high when I climbed the stairs, got in front of my room and swung open my bedroom door.

My gaze flickered through the room, loving the view and the scent that... I froze.

Right there, neatly placed on my bed—folded, clean, and untouched—was the uniform. Spring’s uniform.

The one I’d tampered with.

The one Spring was supposed to wear.

My smile faltered. "What the...?" I stepped forward slowly, as if the damn fabric might jump up and mock me.

She didn’t wear it?

I carefully picked it up, and the powder fell out on my bed. I snatched it from my bed quickly and inspected it. It was the same peppered powder.

My eyes locked on the compact, tucked right beside it like an afterthought. Still full. Still sealed.

My breath caught and the back of my throat tightened.

She knew. Spring Kaine had caught up to what I was going to do.

I reached for the uniform, my lips curling in disbelief as anger coursed through me. "She didn’t fall for it?" I hissed. "That little—"

I threw it.

"Bitch!" I groaned through gritted teeth. I don’t even remember deciding to—my hand just moved, pure fury fuelling the motion. The uniform flew through the air and smacked the side of my vanity with a dull thunk.

That’s when it happened.

The powder compact, which had been in my hand as well, flipped open from the force, spun once, and landed upside down.

A cloud of pepper-dusted powder burst across the room like cursed glitter.

I blinked, closing my eyes partly as the scent irritated my nostrils.

"Great," I muttered, turning to storm out before I choked on the harshness of the pepper, but before I could take that step forward, my heel caught in the damn uniform’s sleeve.

"Arggh..." I tried pushing forward, but the more I struggled, the more I only got tangled in the mess of clothes.

In anger, I kicked, wanting to toss the clothes but my foot jerked out from under me.

"No—"

I flailed, arms grabbing nothing but air, and then I went down, falling face-first, right into the pepper-coated floor.

My eyes went wide in shock as realisation finally dawned on me.

I... I had fallen on... no... no... no... No. It shouldn’t have been me... no.

Pain laced through my jaw and sides. My skin itched as my temperature rose. My body became hot and burning everywhere.

My mouth opened, and a sound came out I didn’t even know I could make. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

It was chaos.

My nose felt like it had been shoved into a volcano. My eyes burned like fire ants were having a dance-off behind my lids. My lips—my beautiful, glossy lips—were on fire.

I rolled onto my back, gasping, gagging, slapping at my face like that would somehow stop the pain.

"MY EYES! MY—AUGH!"

I scrambled, dragging myself across the floor like some half-blind horror movie creature. My hand found a tissue box, and I yanked out half the pack, pressing them against my face like holy relics.

And then I caught sight of myself in the mirror.

I looked like a rejected art project. One eye was shut, red and streaming, the other was already swelling. My cheeks were blotchy, my nose bright pink, and my lips swollen and raw.

A sob escaped me.

"OH. MY. GOD."

I was hideous. Utterly, horrifyingly hideous. My face was swollen and red, and my eyes were the worst.

I opened my mouth to scream for help, then closed it just as fast.

No. No way.

If someone saw me like this—especially Rhys or Kaius—I’d die.

What proof would I have to pin this on Spring? I shook the thoughts away and crawled to my bed, blind and limping, and hurled myself onto it like I was taking cover from a missile strike. I wrapped myself in the blanket, face buried in pillows, muffling another scream of agony.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She wasn’t supposed to win.

"You’ll start with emotional manipulation," Mother had said. "Then physical. You make them pity you, not laugh at you."

I clenched my fists under the sheets, seething through the pain. "This isn’t over," I hissed through gritted teeth.

"She’ll pay for this."

Even if it killed me. Which, at this point, honestly felt likely.

I had managed to stay that way for a few minutes, but the longer I stayed without getting treatment, the worse things got.

I don’t know how long I laid there, buried under my blanket like a wounded queen retreating into exile.

The burning didn’t fade—it grew. First, it was just around my lips and eyes. Then it crept. Down my neck. Across my cheeks. My nose started running uncontrollably, and my skin prickled like I was being stabbed with a thousand tiny needles.

No.

This couldn’t be normal.

I threw the blanket off with a strangled grunt and sat up, dizzy and sore, my legs tangled in the fabric.

The moment I stood, I wobbled like a drunk girl on graduation night. I dragged myself to the mirror again, praying I had imagined it.

I hadn’t.

"Oh my god—" I gasped, my own reflection punching the air out of my lungs.

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