Feral Mate

Chapter 1

White Crest looked on in utter horror and confusion. How could he have done that? It was unheard of that a mate killed its match…

The male turned to look at the pack, challenging them to attack him… but they did not. If a male could kill his mate without even blinking, what could he do to them? His scent blew their way. And they all froze in place. He was not a rogue, but nor was he in a pack. His scent and aura was that of an alpha, but he was too young- only looking around fifteen.

They did not know what he was.

***

Ashling walked out of her local high school feeling tired. It was not because she hated school, quite the opposite, she loved it, the day had simply dragged on. Walking on the bricked pathway leading toward the cream and brown front gate and grey-brick parking lot dotted with pine trees, she couldn’t help notice a few faces she didn’t recognise; she wasn’t popular- her school didn’t have cliques like that- but she knew a large amount of people by name but most by face. It didn’t surprise her that there were new students- the school had a good reputation when it came to sports, academics, no bullying and all that good stuff- she washowever surprised at how manythere were. They looked like the type of kids that would go out partying and drinking, she had a friend or two that enjoyed that kind of thing. Ashling didn’t judge the new kids based on that only, that would just be rude, but she could generally get a pretty good idea of what a person was like after a short conversation. People just gave off vibes that she either flat out disliked or made her curious, but once the curiosity subsided… that was when she revealed her opinion.

The boys in the group were buff, like seriously buff, but not to the point where it was too much; while the girls had athletic builds and legs for days. They probably had time to go to gym every day. Lucky fish. All Ashling’s time was put into her extra murals and school work. What about her free time? She didn’t have any free time. It was spent summarising for the exams so that there was less to do when the time came.

It was the first day of school for the new year. Why it had to start so early was beyond any reason she could see other than an increased workload. She had officially been bumped up to a senior student. Where she came from, the school system was different. School started on the 9thof January and ended in the first week of December, with holidays in between each one of the four terms. Senior status was given to grade 10’s to matric’s or grade 12’s. Ashling was in grade ten. But what made her happy was that all of her close friends were in the same year, with three of them being in her register class. Anyway, back to the original topic of the good looking kids. Their uniforms looked spanking new (their shoes were way too shiny). Ashling didn’t was to be one of those typical girls that stared at a good looking boy like he was a new textbook- you’d be surprised- and decided to continue on her original path towards the parking-lot. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned toward the person, expecting it to be one of her friends, but was pleasantly taken aback when it was one of the new kids. He had brownish-red hair that complimented his blemish free, pale skin and sharp jawline. Walking to the side of the path so as not to be in the way she politely asked if there was anything she could help him with while looking him in the eye. Huh, he had green eyes that had a teeny, tiny ring of red around the pupil…odd but pretty.

“I just wanted to ask if it was like this every day? Sitting in the hall listening to the teacher drone on and on about school rules and appropriate uniform,” he asked in a smooth voice.

Ashling let out a small laugh. “No, luckily not but we do have assembly on Fridays and sometimes during the week in the quad. They just give general announcements and awards. Sometimes we build school spirit by singing a few songs but that’s just in preparation for sports events.”

“What’s with all the blue and red?” he asked.

“We have two teams- blue and red- and are separated by birthdays. Blue is January to June and red if July to December. We have multiple events where we compete against each other. But participation is voluntary.” She explained

He seemed to ponder this a while, and just as she was about to leave to head out he suddenly asked, “What grade are you in?”

Ashling answered truthfully with a small smile and asked him the same in counter. “Eleven, but a few of my friends are in ten.” She thought he sounded a bit disappointed, but drew it up to him possibly just wanting to know someone in class.

“I really don’t want to be rude but I have to go. Need to get a head start on the summarising. It was lovely meeting you…”

“Keerin”

“Keerin." She said with a friendly smile.