He moves closer to me, lining up our bodies, and the disgusting thoughts circling in his head are written on his face as clear as day. This asshole better back off. He can’t touch me; his father himself accepted me into the pack, which means I have the alpha’s protection until he isn’t alpha anymore. Of course, I worry about what will happen to me if the next alpha, AKA Dumb or his brother, Dumber, become alpha. But that won’t be for some time yet. Right now, my focus is to get this unwanted paw off my body.
At the sight of me trying to wiggle my arm free, his smirk deepens into a malicious smile. He tightens his grip and pulls me closer, bringing his lips to my ear.
“You and I both know no one would notice if you went missing. You are just the outcast, the red wolf in a pack of white purebreds.” He jolts me harder against him, his hands leaving bruises on my arm, but I refuse to turn away, to even wince at the pain. “Actually, that begs the question as to why you are still here. I’m surprised my father let you into the academy at all, half-breed.”
Searing rage slams into me at the insult. Half-breed is the delightful nickname purebreds use for wolves like me; a subtle reminder of our so-called inferiority. Well, that’s what they like to think. Anyone who’s called me a half-breed usually walks away with a black eye.
I ball my hands into fists. “Maybe your dear father likes my mum a little too much. He does always seem to be admiring her.”
The wolf’s smile fades, and I inwardly chuckle at his stupid expression. So easily provoked, these young alphas. However, my satisfaction is short-lived. With a growl, he slams me into the wall, and I gasp from the impact. He presses his thick forearm against my neck, holding me in place, and the air dies in my lungs.
“Is that… any way… to treat a lady?” I choke out, unsure why I’m using my last breaths to anger him further. Then again, the fury burning on his gaze does make my sacrifice worth it. Besides, it’s not like I’m unused to assholes like this one asserting their authority over me. Alphas love putting unruly wolves like me in their place.
Too bad I’ve never quite learned how to stay in mine.
Despite the black spots seeping into my vision, I stare up at him, wondering what exactly he’s going to do. One thing is for sure—this dickwad has solidified my desire to leave his pack as soon as possible. I’ll never follow an alpha who treats their packmates this way.
“Do you want to die, half-breed?” he growls.
I resist the urge to give him a sarcastic reply. I may be brave, but as my brother puts it, I can be pretty stupidly brave.
And I know that challenging an alpha son is really not a good idea.
I might be able to fight well, thanks to all the training the Academy has taught me. But even I know that you can’t beat a guy twice your size in a small corridor like this, with no weapons on me, and his forearm pressed on my windpipe.
He gazes down at me and raises an eyebrow, but something burns on my arm.
In the corner of my eye, my wolf mark in the middle of my arm burns vividly. The swirls that form a wolf shape glow a deep, vibrant red, at first burning painfully but they quickly fade into a dull ache that fills my entire body.
Mathi follows my gaze to the mark and smiles.
“Seems like your parents are calling you home,” he snarls, loosening the pressure on my throat. “Did your mum’s mate ever realise that you weren’t his?”
This asshole knows damn well my dad knows I’m not his. I was conceived and born before my mum ever mated. Everyone in the pack knows it. It was a big scandal, and to this day I still hear the boring wolves talking about it. Caeli wolves love to gossip because they have nothing better to do.
I grit my teeth at the jab. “Fuck. Off.”
He raises his free hand as if to strike me. I don’t flinch, and that seems to piss him off. He grabs me by the scruff of the neck and slams me against the wall again, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Go back to your little family, half-breed. But just remember that when I’m alpha, your kind will never be welcome here.” He releases me with a derisive scoff. “Off you go now, run back home.”
I don’t reply despite the tinge of fear that his threat elicits in me. My wolf, however, bares her teeth and snaps her jaw at him in retaliation. I need to get out of here before I shift and try to take on an alpha twice my size. The fading burn from my family’s mark sears in my mind, screaming down to my soul for me to move.
Biting back my spiteful retort, I jog down the corridor and take a left out of the noisy house, dodging students who whistle and tease me. The cool night air lifts my hair over my shoulders when I step onto the porch. I take a deep breath and jog into the snowy outskirts that surround the house. Snow-capped trees line the distance, and I make a break for them. The cold doesn’t bother me, even when I duck behind a tree and strip off. Once I’m fully naked, I bundle my clothes into a ball and shove them into the small bag I always carry with me.
I rest my head against the tree and gaze up at the moon cutting through the frozen leaves. My breath comes out in puffs of smoke, and for a moment I stay there, thinking about how much I’d have liked to punch that alpha-hole in the throat.
But my family needs me.
I dig my feet into the earth and arch forward, spreading my fingers through the snow. Shifting is an effortless, painless task for me, almost like breathing. I transform into my wolf easily, letting my body change until my red paws sink into the ground. Picking the bag up with my fangs, I run through the forest back towards the towering academy hidden in a clearing shrouded in blankets of untouched snow. It’s eerily silent at this time of night. Most people are sleeping, and those who find themselves awake under the light of the moon, venture into the woods to hunt.
The side door of the academy is always left open, and I slip through it. The wood corridors echo every hit of my wolf’s claws on them as we dodge around corridors of lockers. We keep running until we get to the main stairs and head straight up to our room and pause. My wolf drops my bag on the floor, and we use our advanced hearing to make sure no one is around before shifting back. Most wolves don’t care about nudity, but I’m not one of them.
I unlock my door and head inside with my bag, quickly getting back into my jeans, plain black tee-shirt and boots. I search the messy floor for my phone next. I push a few items of clothing around before I find it and try ringing my parents, but it goes straight to voicemail. I ring my adopted elder brother, but again, straight to voicemail. My family are bloody useless with phones. Instead of trying to keep ringing them, I decide I might as well just go and see them since it’s not too far to walk. It’s a weird thing for them to use a wolf call with my mark, but I’m sure everything is fine, even if something in the back of my mind doesn’t think so. My mum never uses the mark to summon me, and my dad definitely hasn’t done it. He likes to pretend I don’t exist. That only leaves my brother, but Leo’s too busy working as a new demon hunter to bother summoning me. I guess there’s only one way to get to the bottom of this.
Time to go home and see what the hell is going on.
Chapter 2
Lilith Thornblood
Burning leaves.
It’s all I can smell when I emerge from the trees surrounding my childhood home. The scent clings to my snow-covered fur and permeates the night air like a sceptic perfume. I pause on the outskirts of the forest and lift my head towards the sky. A stiff breeze sweeps over me and carries the scent downwind, meaning it’s coming from the direction of my house.