CHAPTER 3
1550 Words
I was lucky to get out of that hallway without Jack or even Beau cornering me again. I didn’t answer his question. Only accused him of being rude and stormed off. With Addy right on my heels. Surprised that I spoke to the Alpha heir like that.
When I got home that afternoon I got a snack and I did whatever homework I had been assigned that day. It was boring and tedious but it had to be done. The last thing I needed was the teachers on my case at school.
By the next morning when I arrived at school it started off with me telling myself not to start a fight. That was my goal. Nothing heroic. Nothing ambitious. Just don't fight anyone. Keep my head down. Blend in. Be normal.
Ten minutes into the school day, that plan was already dying a very painful death.
Because Melody was waiting for me at my locker.
I spotted her before she saw me. She stood beside my locker like she owned the whole hallway. Honey blonde hair curled perfectly. Shoes too clean. Smile too fake. Her friends flanked her like sparkly backup dancers with dead eyes.
Addison groaned the second she noticed. “Oh no. She’s hunting.”
“For what? Attention or blood?”
“Both.”
Melody perked up when I approached. “Hello again Lainey. We meet again.”
I opened my locker. “Unfortunately.”
She gave a small laugh, the kind that sounded like it would melt metal from pure toxicity. “I have been meaning to talk to you.”
“Sorry. I only talk to people with souls.”
Addy slapped both hands over her mouth to hide her laugh. Melody’s smile faltered.
Her friends stiffened behind her, like they were bracing for impact. Melody recovered quickly.
“You’re new so I will give you a little advice.” She tilted her head. “Try not to embarrass yourself. This school has standards.”
I pulled out a notebook. “And yet somehow you got in. Shocking.”
Her nostrils flared. “I am trying to help you.”
“By insulting me?”
“It's not an insult if it's true.”
I shut my locker lightly. “Do you practice these lines in the mirror or do they just fall out of your mouth naturally crooked?”
Gasps erupted down the hallway. A couple wolves paused mid stride, eyebrows up. Even a group of humans near the water fountain leaned in like they had bought tickets.
I guess no one ever spoke to Melody like this before.
Melody took a breath through her teeth. “I’m just saying you don't belong here.”
“Great,” I said. “Then stop standing in front of my locker like a badly dressed scarecrow.”
Addy choked. Melody’s eye twitched.
“you're rude,” Melody snapped.
“And you’re boring. It's a tragedy for everyone involved.”
The hallway rippled with laughter.
Melody stepped closer, fuming. “You think you're funny, but you're nothing special. The only reason people are talking about you is because you showed up smelling like a broken air conditioner. You’re a glitch. An accident. Someone whose existence makes no sense.”
I blinked slowly. “Wow. That was a lot of words to say you’re jealous.”
Her face turned bright red.
“Jealous?” She hissed.
“Painfully.”
“Of what?”
“Me,” I said simply. “Clearly.”
Her friends murmured nervously. A wolf near the lockers let out a quiet snort. The hallway grew hotter with attention. Melody sensed it, too, because her shoulders tensed like she felt the social ground shifting under her heels.
She leaned in. “Don't think you can come here and talk to the twins.”
“I don't want to talk to the twins,” I said.
“Good.”
“Because apparently they talk about me and to me plenty without my permission.”
Gasps flew across the hall like confetti. Melody’s mouth fell open. Addy grabbed my arm so tightly she nearly cut off circulation.
“What did you say?” Melody demanded.
“Oh, come on,” I said. “You have been glaring at me since I arrived. Obviously something happened that messed up your little fantasies. Must be exhausting.”
Melody’s voice rose. “You think you’re better than me.”
“No,” I said. “I know I’m better than you. I don’t need to go around threatening people because of some stupid little relationship you’ve made up in your head.”
That broke the hallway.
Wolves laughed. Humans gasped. Someone said holy crap under their breath.
Melody froze. She had no comeback. She looked melted. Actually melted. Like someone had left her out in the sun too long.
“That’s enough,” She whispered, shaking.
I leaned in with a smile that could cut glass. “If you want a different result next time, try approaching people without sounding like a tax invoice.”
Her jaw dropped.
Addy dragged me backward. “Okay. Okay. Before she explodes.”
Melody’s friends pulled her away like she was a bomb leaking embarrassment.
Addy exhaled. “Lainey. You destroyed her.”
“She started it.”
“I know. But you finished it. Violently. Verbally violently. No one has ever done that before.”
“Good. I looked like it was about time someone took her down a notch.”
Addy hugged her books to her chest, eyes glittering. “I love you.”
I brushed it off, but my wolf preened. The whole hallway buzzed. People whispered my name. Some admired. Some confused. A few terrified. Wolves loved dominance displays, even verbal ones. And apparently roasting Melody in public counted as entertainment.
I headed toward my first class with Addy. She walked like she was strutting on a fashion runway.
“You have fans now,” she announced.
“Gross.”
“A pack of wolves watched you like you hung the moon.”
“I probably just offended half the school.”
“They loved it.” She smiled.
We entered the classroom. Conversations dipped when I stepped in. Eyes flicked toward me. Humans whispered. Wolves smirked. Melody’s humiliation still clung to the air like perfume.
Addy practically skipped to our usual table. Axel slapped the surface dramatically. “Dude. You verbally murdered Melody.”
Walker nodded, impressed. Josie hid a smile behind her hand. Tyler and Colton exchanged looks like they were not sure whether to protect me or stay out of my way.
Tyler pointed a pencil at me. “You have no scent and now you're verbally slapping people. You're an experience.”
I sat. “Glad to be everyone’s morning entertainment.”
Axel leaned in. “Melody sprinted to the bathroom so fast her hair curled from friction.”
Walker said, “I thought she was going to shift and start throwing people around.”
Addy grinned. “Lainey handled it.”
They all stared at me with something between amusement and awe. The attention pressed against my skin, but not painfully. Just strange.
My wolf paced inside me. She liked the chaos. She liked the challenge. But beneath that was something sharper.
Someone was watching.
I felt it through my spine first. A presence. Steady. Focused. Hot like a spotlight.
Slowly, I turned my head.
Jack and Beau sat at their usual desks across the room. They weren’t laughing. They weren’t whispering.
They were watching me.
Jack held my gaze without looking away. Beau’s expression was unreadable, but his eyes gleamed with something dark and hungry.
Not dangerous hungry.
Interested hungry. I hated that I could feel it.
Addy noticed. “Ignore them.”
“I’m trying.” I admitted.
“you're not.”
“I’m doing my best.”
“Your best is terrible.”
Her voice made me laugh, but when I glanced back at the twins, heat curled low in my stomach.
Jack leaned back slightly, arms crossed, eyes on me. Beau tilted his head like he was studying a riddle carved into stone.
It was too intense. Too deliberate.
My wolf pressed her paws against my chest.
Something is wrong, she whispered.
Or something is coming.
I forced myself to look away.
The rest of the day crawled by. People kept whispering about Melody. Addy kept translating the stares of random wolves. My wolf stayed restless, waiting for anything that might attack or be a threat.
When the bell rang, relief washed over me. I grabbed my bag, said bye to the group, and headed to my locker alone.
Bad idea.
The hallway was quieter than usual. A couple wolves lingered, but the tension from earlier had mostly dissipated.
Except that feeling. That heavy, deliberate gaze. I walked faster. My wolf bristled, ears up.
Someone is here.
I reached my locker, exhaled, and spun the combination. As soon as the locker opened, I froze.
A sound echoed from inside my locker. A low, deep growl. Not human. Not faint.
A growl that vibrated the metal.
Right behind the door. My wolf lunged forward inside me.
I stepped back, heart pounding. The growl came again.
Low. Close and alive.
- Writer
