HER DOMINEERING ALPHA

Chapter One

Tori

The shrill beep of my alarm jolted me awake. I fumbled to silence it, squinting against the early morning sunlight filtering through my curtains. scrubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sighed.

"i hate mondays."

especially when it's my first day at a new school.

I dragged myself out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to get ready, my bare feet cold against the hardwood floor. As I brushed my teeth, I studied my reflection in the mirror, my long brown hair was a tangled mess, and the dark circles under my blue eyes betrayed my restless night.

After a quick shower, I threw on my usual jeans and a t-shirt. Fashion didn't really matter where I came from, in my old Pack in the northern woods, life was about survival, not style. I ran a brush through my hair and deemed myself ready enough.

In the kitchen, I scrambled some eggs and toast for breakfast. As I scooped the food onto two plates, my thoughts turned to my little brother, Theo. He was still recovering from a bad bout of fever that had kept him home for the past weeks. I carried his plate to his room and set it on his bedside table.

"Morning," I said softly. Theo grunted in reply, his face pale and sweaty. "I made you some breakfast. Try to eat a little if you can."

Theo nodded weakly. "Thanks, Tori." his voice was a feeble croak.

My heart ached to see him so ill. The pack doctor could only do so much with his limited medical knowledge. I hoped this new school might lead me to someone who could help my brother.

I squeezed Theo's hand. "I've got to get going, take it easy today." I quickly scribbled a note reminding him to drink fluids and call me if he needed anything. With one last worried glance at my brother, I headed out the door.

The bus ride waverly high took me through the outskirts of the small town, a quaint place so different from the isolated woods i was used to. I watched neatly manicured lawns and charming houses pass by, everything here seemed clean, orderly, and civilized.

As the bus pulled up to school, a knot formed in my stomach. I took a deep breath and clutched my backpack straps. "You can do this," i told myself.

i stepped off the bus into the crowd of students chatting and laughing on their way inside. Immediately, I felt out of place. Back home, school was held in a clearing, in the woods there with lessons focused on hunting, gathering, and surviving the harsh winters here. Fashionably dressed teens with expensive phones were the norm. I tugged self-consciously on my plain clothes.

The hallways were overwhelming, with students crammed shoulder to shoulder. I fumbled with the schedule the office had given me, trying to find my first class.

"You look lost," came a friendly voice.

I turned to see a tall girl with a mane of curly black hair smiling at me. "I'm Ella," she said warmly. "are you new here?"

"Yeah, I just transferred. I'm Tori."

"nice to meet you, Tori!" Ella's dark brown eyes were kind. "Where's your first class? i can show you the way."

I showed Ella my schedule, feeling relieved to make a connection. As we walked, i studied the other students surreptitiously. Their mannerisms and behavior seemed strange compared to what i was used to back home. As soon as we hit puberty, we were prone to turning at the slightest provocation. The civilized atmosphere here was jarring.

Ella led me to a classroom. "Mr. Thomas can be tough, but he's a good teacher," she said. Before heading to her own class, she gave me a warm smile. "Hope you like it here!"

i took a seat near the back, feeling totally out of my element. i was used to school being outdoors, not trapped in a building all day. The lessons in literature and algebra were foreign concepts. I wanted to learn about useful things, like hunting and gathering medicinal herbs.

when the bell rang for lunch, i was more than ready for a break. I grabbed a tray of food and looked around uncertainly. cafeterias were another new experience.

"Tori, over here!" called a familiar voice. I spotted Ella waving at me from a table. Gracefully, I slid into the seat next to her.

"how's your first day going?" she asked.

"Okay, i guess." i picked at my food. "just really different than what I'm used to."

Ella nodded sympathetically. "I moved here as a first-year student from a pretty small town too, it takes some adjusting."

At that moment, a tall, muscular guy dropped onto the seat across from me, he had tousled brown hair and warm hazel eyes. "Hey ella, who's your new friend?" he asked with a crooked grin.

"This is Tori. She just transferred here," Ella replied. "Tori, this is my friend Caleb."

"Nice to meet you," I said. Caleb seemed nice, with an easygoing charm.

"I'd be happy to show you around, give you the lay of the land," Caleb offered.

"That would be great, thanks." I was thankful to those two friendly faces. Maybe I could survive here after all.

We chatted for a bit about classes and teachers. Caleb told me about the different social groups and cliques. My eyes roamed the cafeteria, taking it all in. One group in particular stood out from the rest. Several extremely good-looking guys sat at a center table, laughing loudly and high-fiving each other. a few gorgeous girls sat near them, vying for their attention. Even from across the room, they exuded magnetic energy.

I nodded towards them. "Who are they?"

Caleb followed my gaze, then chuckled. "The cool kids. Well, they think they're cool anyway." he went on to name them— Blake, Declan, hunter, and Sebastian. Apparently, they were the stars of the basketball team and at the top of the social hierarchy.

"Blake's the ringleader," he said, pointing out a muscular guy with artfully messy chestnut hair and piercing green eyes. "He's the school alpha."

I raised my eyebrows, impressed that an alpha would bother attending high school. Back home, alphas were too busy leading the pack to be worried about general education.

Two then, a sudden shouting match broke out at the popular kids' table. Two guys stood facing each other, fists clenched. My muscles tensed instinctively, ready to leap into action. But to my surprise, no one else reacted at all. Blake lazily wandered over, his posture radiating power. He broke things up with no more than a glance. The other students continued eating and chatting without a second glance.

"Fights are pretty common with that group," Caleb noted in a low voice. "their inner-pack dominance disputes spill out into the open sometimes. The rest of us just try to steer clear."

I nodded, but felt confused. At home, fights only happened for real provocation, like theft of food stores or encroachment on space. the casual scuffles here struck me as odd.

when the bell rang, Caleb grabbed his things and stood. "what's your next class?"

i showed him my schedule. "history in room 302."

"i'll walk you there."

as we made our way through the crowded hallway, i felt eyes on me. glancing around, i accidentally locked gazes with blake, the alpha. a jolt of adrenaline shot through me at his intense stare. his green eyes were rimmed with amber—the wolf peeking through. caleb put a hand on my arm, steering me down the hall away from blake's penetrating gaze.

"like i said, steer clear of that one," he murmured.

i nodded, my heart pounding inexplicably fast. Blake's handsome face and muscular frame exuded a raw dominance that was familiar to me. but there was also something dangerous in his eyes, an untamed wildness mixed with cynicism.

"Get it together, Tori," I scolded myself. Caleb's right, he's bad news. Still, i couldn't shake the gut feeling that there was more to Blake than met the eye. There was a story there, and despite myself, i wanted to uncover it.

Caleb dropped me off at history class with a smile. "See you around, tori."

i slid into an empty seat, head still buzzing with questions about Blake, the alpha wolf accustomed to ruling this civilized high school pack. He remained in the back of my mind for the rest of the afternoon.

The final bell eventually rang, freeing me from the strange new world of academics and cliques. as i hurried out the front door toward my bus, a voice called out.

"tori, wait up!"

I turned to see Ella jogging up to me, beaming. "Caleb told me you didn't know anyone yet from our neighborhood. want to come over for a bit to hang out?"

I smiled, thankful for the kind offer. "yeah, definitely." the thought of heading straight home to tend to my sick brother was depressing. i could use an afternoon of normal teen friendship.

ella's house was warm and welcoming, smelling of fresh laundry and flowers. we grabbed snacks and settled on her plush bedspread.

"thanks for inviting me over," i told her. "today was a serious culture shock."

she nodded sympathetically. "i bet your old school was really different. was it small?"

i laughed. "that's an understatement. it was in a clearing in the northern forests. only about 20 kids."

i went on to describe what school was like back home—the focus on survival skills rather than academics, the outdoor setting, the casual physical fights. ella's eyes gradually widened.

"That sounds intense," she said. "the fights and stuff especially. here, that kind of thing only happens with..." she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"certain people?" i finished knowingly. "like blake and his crew?"

ella nodded, looking sheepish. "i hope you don't think too badly of them. the popular guys can be kind of intense, but they're under a lot of pressure, being at the top and all."

i wasn't sure i agreed with her generous assessment, but i nodded politely. my upbringing had taught me that strength and power were to be used responsibly, for the good of the pack. i wasn't convinced these so-called popular guys lived up to that ideal. but i kept that thought to myself.

the conversation moved to lighter topics, and i left ella's house feeling optimistic. i'd made it through my first day of school very different from the one i'd left behind. but the strangeness was starting to seem less daunting. with ella and caleb's friendship, maybe i could find my place here after all.

as i rode the bus home, my thoughts returned to blake despite my best efforts. the way his eyes had pierced mine in the hallway stirred up unfamiliar feelings and questions. what secrets lay beneath that cocky, dangerous exterior? what had happened to make him the way he was?

i shook my head, annoyed with myself. don't even go there, i thought. but even as i crept quietly into theo's room to check on him, part of me—the reckless, daring part—whispered that trying to uncover the mystery of blake would be a whole new kind of dangerous. and i wasn't sure i could resist the temptation.