The Trials of The Alpha and His Mutt

Chapter Two: An Invitation

Miya's POV

Learning was fun for me at home. My grandmothers were excellent teachers. Granny Sarah was in charge of teaching language, manners, and arithmetic. Grandma Aikina was in charge of history, art history and practice. Mom taught me all about practical things, balancing a checkbook, taxes and credit, and gym... well, that was more of a self-study.

Learning at school was agonizing. The subject matter was ages behind where I had left off. The reading was boring, and the assignments were worse. I sighed through all my classes, and the one before lunch, a math class, I actually fell asleep. The teacher had me solve a problem on the board as 'punishment,' but looked baffled when I aced it. By lunchtime, my stomach was raging in protest. I went to my locker to switch out books for my lunchbox when a familiar scent assaulted my nostrils. Wolf- female- what had her name been? I shut the locker door and pretended to jump with surprise at the face she was making there.

“Oh, uh, Harper, right?” I asked, though I already knew. “Wh-what's up?”

“Eat lunch with us!” Harper demanded. “Don't worry, lunch is girls only. Well, except for Joe, but he doesn't talk, so...”

“Um, actually-” I tried to protest, but found my wrist wrapped in her hand. I was strung along to a table outside, where Harper, Rose and Jenny sat. And, uh, Joe. “Uh, hi guys.”

“I brought Miya!” Harper chimed in, happy. “The worst thing about the first day of school is always trying to find who to eat with, right? Well, no worries. I snatched her right out of the hallway, so she didn't even have to think twice about it.”

“Um, Harper,” Jenny said with an incredibly neutral expression. “Did you ever stop to ask if she knew anyone else to eat with?”

Harper's chipper smile froze. “Um- uh- actually... no.”

Jenny sighed. She was a pretty girl with auburn hair tied up in a messy high bun. She wore overall shorts with a T-shirt underneath, and had a paintbrush, a pen and a mechanical pencil stabbed through her hair. “I'm sorry, Miya, did you actually want to eat with us? You're welcome to, of course, but don't feel pressured to.”

Oh, I felt pressured to.

Harper, who had blonde hair in a bob with the underside dyed green and a flannel shirt and jeans, looked like she might cry if I left.

“Actually, Harper was kind of right on target,” I said, awkwardly. “I haven't met anyone else yet.”

Rose smiled, “Good, I would hate to be lumped into another one of Harper's kidnappings.” Rose had fiery red hair and green eyes and wore a floral dress with boots. “We were just talking about Jenny's summer fling, as I recall.”

Joe, who had a shaved head, kept his eyes down as he ate his sandwich, but the way he flicked the pupils at whoever spoke betrayed that he was paying attention.

“He was great,” Jenny sighed. Looking to me, she added, “My family took a trip to Amsterdam. I met the hottest guy there. Think... Bradley, but jacked, tanned and shirtless.”

I couldn't picture it based on my single encounter with the guy. I pulled out my lunch and uncapped my sweet, sweet, blood-strawberry shake and sipped on it joyously.

Harper was the first to crinkle her nose. “Oh geeze, what's that smell, girl?”

I locked up. Was this the first mistake of the semester? I pictured the table, bloodied and in a pile under my mother's boot and locked up. “Uh- it's- uh-”

“Pomegranate?” Jenny asked, tilting her head to the side.

I realized the strawberries masked the blood to an extent that they couldn't recognize it. I nodded, hiding my sigh of relief.

“Not that,” Harper said, narrowing her eyes. She looked into my lunch bag and A-ha'ed. “Sushi! You brought Sushi to school, girl? Are you nuts? Aren't you afraid it'll spoil in your locker?”

“Kind of,” I admitted, blushing. Sushi was the only raw meat acceptable to bring into public, so we'd bought a double insulated lunchbox and sandwiched the tray between two ice packs. “I, um, have some special dietary... things...” I lied, “I don't want to bother the lunch ladies with questions, so I'm just... you know...”

“God, Harper, you are so nosy,” Rose said, her green eyes piercing the blonde.

“Sorry,” Harper said, grinning. “I shouldn't be so nosy. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” I said, relieved. I wanted to get out of here, but at the same time, they at least seemed nice. “Um, so... did you get Amsterdam Guy's number?”

Jenny squealed, “I did, but I'm afraid to text him!”

“Girl, just go for it!” Rose groaned. “Getting the number was the hardest part! Texting him is the easiest. You're probably not even going to see him again, just have some fun!”

Don't wolves mate for life? I wanted to ask. Why are all these wolves dating and flirting so much? If I knew I had a soulmate out there, I wouldn't even look at another boy.

“Earth to Miya!” Harper said, slapping my back. I choked on my smoothie for a minute, then looked at her. “We asked how your tour with that tall drink of man-milk went this morning?”

“Please don't call him that,” Rose grimaced. “'Man-milk' should be an illegal phrase at the lunch table.”

“Ugh, you know what I mean,” Harper said. “That boy is handsome beyond reason. I think even Joe could fall for him. Right, Joe?”

Joe looked up at the mention of his name and nodded. The way his eyes lit up when Harper giggled wildly told me that he did it just to make them laugh.

“It was nice,” I said. “He showed me where all my classes are, showed me some short-cuts and that was it.”

“Ugh, that can't be it,” Harper groaned. “My life is severely lacking in drama lately. I was hoping you'd sweep him off his feet or something.”

“Oh please,” Jenny said, scoffing. “Angelica has him wrapped around her pinky. I wouldn't be surprised if she's our new Lu-”

Everyone at the table locked eyes with Jenny, glaring.

Luna, I wanted to finish for them. So Riever is their Alpha. Or Alpha’s son. Either way, priority number one is dodging him.

“Our new Lucky One! You know. The Lucky One that gets to go to the... uh... prom with him.” Jenny coughed into her sleeve.

I wanted to point out how obvious that lie was, but instead I nodded as if it made perfect sense. “He is... handsome. Angelica is a lucky one.”

The table breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“Ooh! I almost forgot!” Harper said, excitedly. “That handsome guy asked me to invite you to his birthday bash this weekend! The whole school will be there! It'll be a great way to meet new people, mingle, maybe even seduce a few hotties!”

“Oh, uh, I don't know,” I said, nervously. “I'll have to ask my parents.”

“Of course, of course,” Harper said. “We'll pick you up, bring you home, and if you need my parent's contact info, I have their business cards.”

I hid the twitch in my eye. Harper was a little too prepared to counter my objections.

“And you know, after school, you still have an open invitation to let me show you the town!” she sang.

“Let the girl breathe!” Rose said, irritation showing through. “You've known her for collectively thirty minutes!”

“Not so!” Harper said, triumphantly. “Did you know, Miya, that I sit behind you in math? You already had your head down when I sat down, but I was really impressed with that equation you solved. It would've had me stumped. I guess it's true when they say the Japanese are really smart!”

Jenny and Rose both smacked Harper, one on the arm, and one on the head.

“Really, Miya, just ignore Harper,” Jenny said. “She's an idiot.”

~*~

The rest of the day buzzed by. Rose and Jenny were sprinkled in a few of my classes, and in the last class, Harper and Riever were there. Riever asked me how my day was, and I politely filled him in before Harper stole my attention for the rest of the class. I was grateful for it, honestly. Looking at Riever turned off my mental faculties, and I needed those at full capacity to get through this ordeal.

When the final bell rang out, Harper grabbed my arm. “Is your mom picking you up? Do you need a ride? I can totally give you a ride!”

“No thanks,” I said, smiling and shuffling my feet. I didn't want them to know where I lived. If they entered my home the cacophony of smells in there would tell them a story I didn't want revealed. “My g-” I paused. “My older sister is picking me up.”

“Oh, okay,” Harper said, pouting a little. “I'll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright!” I called, running off towards the entrance. I sighed in relief when I saw my grandma's camaro sitting out front. Cherry red with racing stripes, it was just like her- loud and proud. I avoided the looks I got when I ducked inside. “Thanks grandma. Let's gun it before they follow me home,” I said, hitting my head against the dash.

“Ooh, a stalker on your first day? You're just like your grandma, too lovely to turn down.” She cackled as she hit the gas and loudly peeled out of the parking lot. “So, who is it? Some lonely boy?”

“Not quite,” I said, sitting back and buckling up. “I met the Alpha of the pack today. Or his son, I guess. He insisted on giving me a tour of the school. I guess that got the attention of three wolf females, because they've decided to be my new best friends.”

Aikina hummed as she gassed it through town, blowing through red lights as she went. “That's a good thing,” she said. “If they knew what you were, they wouldn't want to befriend you. And rest easy- as long as you're wearing that perfume, you are as good as invisible. Enjoy it. You're too young to be so stressed about things.”

“I have a lot to stress about,” I said, frowning.

When we got home, I ran out and threw my backpack on the ground. I hugged mom and Granny Sarah, and announced, “I'm going on a run!”

“Be careful!” Dad yelled, but I was already out the backdoor.

Every time we move, we choose our houses based on one factor; how remote they are. Considering my bedroom overlooked a literal cliff, and our backyard stretched into a large, forested nature reserve, this house was about as remote as they come. As soon as I hit the tree line, I threw off my shirt and bra, kicked off my pants and shifted forms. Instead of a wolf, like one might expect, I shifted into a bear-sized red fox with not one, but three beautiful fluffy, orange tails. I darted through the forest like a bullet, and anything big in my way, I vaulted over with ease. I loved coming up on rocks or cliff faces and bouncing off of them, rocketing in a new direction. I loved the smell of the forest- the smell of the prey.

Prey.

My stomach rumbled. I was always so hungry, and while wolves usually killed and took their kills back home to cook, I had no qualms eating my prey raw. A deer darted through the forest at the sight of me, but it hadn't a chance. I was on it in a minute, my teeth ripped through its slender neck, and I lapped up the blood that pooled in the wound. Delicious! The meat was so fresh and tender, and the blood sated me more than any shake could. Granny Sarah's cooking was great, sure, and my family tried to meet my needs as much as possible, but this bloody feast was what it took to sate me.

I left the deer with very little, and walked back home, sniffing my new territory as I went. I heard something click and I looked up to see a game camera. Oh no. Not here. Not anymore, I thought triumphantly. I caught it easily between my teeth and crunched it. I took it with me, in case it had a memory chip.

When I returned home, naked with blood splattered on my chest, chin, and mouth, no one batted an eyelash. Well, except dad.

“Oh- Come on, Miya, show some decency! Put on pants at least! No father wants to see his daughter like that.” He protested.

“I'll just get my clothes bloody,” I replied coolly, throwing them in the laundry basket. “You know how mom hates getting blood out of my clothes.”

“She's right,” mom said, “just hide your eyes until she's in her room.”

“I hate being the minority,” dad grumbled, gluing his eyes to the table.

The shower washed all the blood down the drain and I watched it swirl. My family's cool reaction wasn't always that way. The first time I went to hunt I was three. My mom stopped watching me for a split second, and I came back drenched in blood, three squirrel tails in my hands. She had screamed- and dad hadn't been much help calming her. It was my grandmas that knew I was going to be unlike any of them that helped me through it.

“Your appetite may scare you, but you cannot let fear consume you,” Aikina had said. “Just eat whenever you're hungry, and you'll never have to worry.”

“We'll always be here to provide for you,” Granny Sarah had added. “So don't feel afraid to ask me to make you something!”

A knock sounded on the door. “Miya,” mom called. “Can I come in?”

“Yes, mom,” I called back.

She entered the bathroom and shut the door behind her. “Where did you get this camera?”

“In the woods behind the house. The game reserve, I think. It clicked after I killed that deer, so I destroyed it and brought it with me in case it had a memory card.”

“I see,” she said. I heard the crunching of destroyed metal and plastic, and figured she was turning it over in her hands. “I'll have your father comb the rest of the reserve for any more.”

“Thanks,” I said. “That would be a dumb way to get caught. Though I don't think the vampires or wolves have any claim to the reserve, do they?”

“I don't think so,” mom replied. “I'll look into it a little more. The cameras make me nervous.” she paused for a while, then added, “Would you like a shake tonight?”

I was full and content for once. I smiled, “No thank you.”