The Luna Queen Is Reborn

School

If I had thought school would be an escape for me, I had it all wrong. I had forgotten for a second that this school was full of vipers, and I was once one of them—the kind that tore flesh and drank the blood of the weak.

As I stepped out of the car, several pairs of eyes were already waiting to scrutinize me inside out. Their gazes were sharp as pine needles, picking at my sore wounds. Then, they turned to their friends to discuss whatever mystery they thought they had just solved—probably that I didn't smell the way I used to. They knew my wolf was gone.

News really did travel fast.

My legs grew heavy, as if I were wearing lead instead of the regular canvas shoes I had on. I could see it clearly in their eyes: spite, mockery, and a triumphant satisfaction. The golden girl had finally fallen from her pedestal. I pulled my hoodie tighter to ensure my head was fully covered.

About a month ago, they would have flocked around me the second I stepped out of my car, everyone trying to get noticed by the Alpha's heir. Of all the people standing there today, not a single one approached me to ask if I was okay. Not one.

I suddenly missed Felicity. If she were here, her honey eyes would have smiled at me in encouragement.

Summer slammed her car door shut, and the crowd seemed to break out of their trance, finally realizing who I had arrived with. Summer swept her narrowed, green eyes across the student parking lot, and the crowd scattered as if a stone had been thrown into a flock of birds. A few still lingered, though; Summer’s glare wasn't enough of a threat to completely deter them. After all, they were Alphas' heirs too.

I took a step back in apprehension. Summer turned her gaze to me—inquisitive and challenging. She leaned back against her car, allowing me a minute or two to absorb and process everything.

Yet, Louisa and her minions still lingered. Their stance promised absolute wrath the second Summer was no longer in sight.

If I hadn't been so outstanding and popular with the pack parents, Louisa would have been the one all these people admired. Yes, she was really good. She had competed with me every chance she got, and she really did try. But people never actually remember second place when the first-place winner is right there taking all the shine. It wasn't really my fault; I was a competitive person too, and I never left a single opening for anyone else to take advantage of.

Louisa's dark-coated lips curled into a wicked smile. I knew that smile all too well. She wasn't going to make this easy for me.

Something gripped my chest. I couldn't tell which was better—the suffocating, caged reality of my home or this blood-sucking school. I still preferred the latter, though. Anything to get me out of that damned house.

Classes would be starting in a few minutes. Summer inclined her head at me, silently asking if I was ready to go in. As Summer and I fell into step together, I could still feel Louisa's eyes drilling holes into my back, tracking my every movement.

Something gripped my chest. I couldn't tell which was better—the suffocating, caged reality of my home or this blood-sucking school. I still preferred the latter, though. Anything to get me out of that damned house.

Classes would be starting in a few minutes. Summer inclined her head at me, silently asking if I was ready to go in. As Summer and I fell into step together, I could still feel Louisa's eyes drilling holes into my back, tracking my every movement.

The hallway was a gauntlet of whispers. Every shoulder that brushed past me felt deliberate, every hushed conversation cutting through the air like a blade. By the time we reached our third-period classroom—Shifter Lore and Advanced Pack History—my nerves were worn completely raw.

A month ago, this room had been my kingdom. I used to claim the center desk in the middle row, flanked by people who laughed at jokes I hadn't even finished telling. Today, I bypassed the rows entirely, slipping into the absolute furthest seat in the back corner, tucked safely into the shadow of a heavy structural pillar.

Summer immediately claimed the desk directly in front of me. Although slender, her athletic shoulders formed a physical wall, blocking me from the rest of the classroom's predatory gaze.

"You good?" she murmured, not turning around completely, but tilting her head just enough for me to hear.

"Fine," I lied, my voice sounding tight and hollow even to my own ears.

I pulled the cuffs of my gray hoodie down over my hands until only my fingertips showed. Opening my notebook, I gripped my pen and began to mindlessly scribble dark, aggressive lines across the margins—anything to keep my eyes occupied, anything to avoid looking at the space where my wolf’s presence used to thrum. Without her, the silence inside my own mind was deafening.

Suddenly, the heavy oak door of the classroom swung open.

A low, pressurized shift in the air hit me first. The familiar, stale scent of dry-erase markers and teenagers was instantly obliterated, replaced by something ancient and fiercely potent—the sharp, electric sting of winter pine, ozone, and a crackling, dominant energy that made the hairs on my arms stand up. For the very first time since I lost my wolf I felt another's essence.

My breath hitched. The pen in my hand jagged sharply across the paper, tearing a small hole in the page.

I didn't need a wolf to feel that kind of power. In fact, it felt like it was incomplete- as though he was suppressing his aura. The entire room went dead silent. Even the rowdy pack fighters in the front row, guys who usually ran their mouths without a care, instantly straightened up, their instincts either tracking the threat or wanting to measure up. The irony.