1
My brain barely registered the hand between my shoulder blades a second before the shove sent me careening face-first into my open locker. I slapped a palm against the frame to brace myself before I ate a mouthful of rusty metal.
Gritting my teeth, I straightened myself and ignored the laughter behind me.
My leg jerked as a foot connected with the backpack between my feet, but it barely budged. I habitually stood on the shoulder straps when changing books at my locker for this very reason.
I had almost survived the eight minute class change break without incident, which might have been a new record for me.
Now I only needed to keep that going for another two hours until school ended for the day. And then walk home without incident.
Yeah, I didn’t like my odds either.
I was thinking of routes through the pack compound that would give me the best chances when the speakers overhead crackled and popped with an incoming announcement. Startled out of my thoughts, I whirled around and nearly slipped on the frayed nylon strap I was standing on.
The obnoxious noises of conversations around me died down almost at once. Eyes flickered up to the speakers that hung over chipped beige lockers, as if expecting them to sprout a screen for everyone to watch. Sneakers came to a stop with sharp squeaks that bounced off the plain beige cinder block walls. The teachers even came out of their classrooms to stand in the doorways.
Long Mesa only had one school for all grades, but even still, there weren't even a hundred people total in the building. The high school side of the small building had thirteen students and three teachers. The only time we all mixed was during class changes since there was one corridor that held all the lockers.
Usually if a message needed to be relayed to everyone, a messenger went from class to class. The announcement speakers were hardly ever used, so the break in normalcy stunned everyone into silence.
Several people near me gave each other quizzical looks, but they all turned to sneers and glares when they saw me watching.
With a soft sigh, I turned back to my locker and remembered that no amount of curiosity was worth unintentionally challenging a pack member who would be all-too-happy to slap me back into my bottom of the pack status.
Invisibility was my ally in my daily game of survival.
I kept my eyes down, taking out my chemistry book and shutting my locker. The metallic ring of the door shutting caused several sets of eyes to fall to me again, and I flinched. The disgust and the annoyance were glaringly obvious in their stares. The exact same looks I had seen my entire life from the exact same people.
So much for trying to be invisible.
"Jesus, Skye," a scornful voice hissed.
I glanced up though a curtain of mahogany hair to see Lilly Peters, a girl three years younger than me, staring with open hostility. Her tiny nose wrinkled in disgust. "Be a little fucking louder, dumb bitch." With a loud huff, she spun away from me.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from replying - it wouldn't end well if I did.. I had learned years ago that any response gave them more fuel. Hell, sometimes even my silence fed the flames of hate amongst my pack. There was no winning; there was only surviving.
I had managed to survive the first seven weeks of my senior year without too much trouble other than the usual being shoved into lockers, food dumped on me in the cafeteria, and random objects thrown in the path to literally trip me up. And considering even before that, I spent every day in our pack focusing on just getting through the day, I was doing a pretty decent job of it.
Most of the time.
Being an unofficial pack omega had a lot of drawbacks, the biggest of which was filling the role of pack punching-bag. Sometimes physical, always emotional.
"Attention, faculty and students," the static voice began, the tone grave and somber despite the accompanying high pitched shriek as the speaker figured out how to work. Any type of mid-day announcement was an anomaly, and everyone seemed to tense as they realized this wasn’t going to be a happy announcement. The air crackled with nervous energy.
"It is with deep regret we have just learned that our beloved Alpha, Alpha Warren, has passed."
A wave of stunned gasps rose up in the hallway, accompanied by a couple of screams and several loud sobs. The news was a shocking turn that even surprised me.
Alpha Warren had ruled the Long Mesa pack - my pack - for decades. He was actually beloved by very few and feared by most, but he was still our Alpha. Our leader. Losing him was a blow to the pack.
It was no secret he had been unwell lately, but the idea of such a formidable man and wolf dying was a foreign concept. He had been Alpha of the Long Mesa pack for nearly thirty years, taking over after his father had passed.
Several sets of eyes drifted over to me and the whispers started up again.
Alpha Warren had been my grandfather. Not that he ever accepted me as any sort of relation to him, which honestly was fine by me. He had disowned my mother before I was born, and he hadn’t been in my life in any type of grandfather role ever.
I couldn't stop myself from letting my gaze land down the hall on my cousin, Bella.
The granddaughter he had doted on at every turn.
Her usually radiant mocha skin had gone positively ashen, her big green eyes wide with grief. Several people bowed their heads in her direction, giving their support and deference to the pack princess.
“Move.”
A loud male voice snapped the command and people scattered to do his bidding as he stalked through the small crowd, shouldering teachers and students away as he moved until he was by Bella.
Arms reached out and surrounded her as she was pulled against her boyfriend and future mate, Cassian. His large hand covered the back of her head, pulling her head to his broad chest. Her fingers curled into the cotton of his t-shirt, fisting around the material as a keening sob whined out of her throat.
Bella was younger than me by eighteen months, but even if the age gap didn't separate us, there was no way we would ever be allowed to play together or hang out.
She was now the granddaughter of the former Alpha, daughter of the current Alpha, and potential mate to the future Alpha.
I was the daughter of the pack traitor.
We didn't mix.
Cassian was one of the largest shifters in the school, standing well over six feet. He had classic All-American good looks with blue eyes and short blond hair. I could see why other females liked to throw themselves at him, despite his almost taken status. He was strong, aggressive, and dominant.
And he was the person who lived to make my life a living hell.
Even as he comforted Bella, his eyes moved down the hall, finding me with perfect accuracy and laser intensity. He smoothed a hand down Bella's back as he smiled cruelly at me. After a beat, Bella pulled away and whispered something to him, drawing his attention back to her and off of me.
Cassian nodded and kissed her cheek quickly, releasing her from his grip. He watched her walk away and turn the corner before looking back at me. With deliberate slowness, he reached down and adjusted himself in his jeans. Everyone was still whispering about the Alpha and missed his little show, but it didn’t matter.
That crude gesture was only meant for me.
I shuddered and turned away quickly, pulse racing and fear churning in my gut. I took a second to settle my racing heart, knowing that heightened shifter senses would catch my panic and draw attention like a heat seeking missile on a volcano.