Claiming The Rogue Alpha

WHERE THE FIS THAT BICH?

The eyes were gone. One second they were there, the next they had vanished.

Who was that?

My pulse still hammered,but I couldn't get myself to look away. I stared at the empty space for a whole minute. Then I sadly turned to leave. For some reason,I hated that I had to.

It was past break, I could tell from the way the court space had emptied out.

"Hey."

I walked faster hoping whoever it was would let me go.

"Anya. Wait."

I did and turned... it was...Hunter.

He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed from the scent coming from him, it was obvious he'd skipped classes and went for a smoke. I cannot do this right now.

What ! I don't have time," I said. "Whatever this is."

"Okay." He didn't move. "I just wanted to—"

"Hunter." I called out sharply. "I'm not doing whatever game this is. I don't have this."

He looked at me. Not the way he'd looked at me this morning. This was different. His brows drooped and his lips were slightly parted. There was something in his expression that I didn't know what to do with. It looked uncomfortably close to actual "concern", which didn't fit the narrative I'd constructed about him.

He reached into his bag. And held something out.

My annotated pack law packet. Neatly stacked, the pages I hadn't even noticed were missing when I'd hurridly gathered everything off the floor.

I took it slowly. “Thank you”.

"You left these," he said. "In the hallway. I grabbed them before someone could stepped on them."

I looked down at the papers, then him.

"Also." He tilted his head toward the building behind me, the direction of the bathrooms just inside the east wing. "You should go clean your eyes before class."

My hand went up automatically, and touched the skin below my eye.

"I'm fine."

Hunter didn't reply for a second. He averted his gaze outside,then back at me. His jaw moved once like he was trying to stop himself from saying something.

Then he said quietly, that I almost didn't catch it.

"You deserve better."

I felt my body go still.

He wasn't looking at me when he said it. His eyes had gone somewhere past my shoulder, and his voice had soften…it felt like he forced himself to spill something he wasn't ever planning to say out loud and had said it anyway. He pushed off the wall and walked back inside. The door swung shut behind him.

You deserve better. The words lingered in my head.

I stood there for a few seconds before leaving.

---

The bathroom mirror was mean as hell. Mirrors were never kind, but today it was actively hostile. The fluorescent light did everything in its power to illuminate how the last fourty minutes had gone. The underside of my eyes were swollen, with big red-rimmed bags. A concealer could help but it definitely wouldn't fix it. A sigh escaped my lips as I turned on the tap. I splashed the chilled water on my face, shivering at the shock but I continued till my face felt a bit better.

I stared at myself again and turned the tap off.

---

I was four minutes late to class and Professor Denim, His name is actually Damien but because of his love for Denim jackets students thought it was a much befitting name and of course he didn't mind — stopped mid-sentence when I came through the door. The whole class turned.

"Miss Anya." He called out. He used the tone teachers used when they want the room to understand you're an example. "How gracious of you to find us."

"Sorry," I whispered.

"See me later to discuss your tardiness." He turned back to the board. "Sit down."

I found my way to the back, I opened my notebook and wrote nothing in it for the full fifty minutes. I just stared at the same paragraph in my textbook until the words stopped being words and became just shapes.

I occasionally pressed my pen into my notebook hard enough to leave an indent to keep me awake.

---

The bell rang and I was up and out before Denim could catch me for the after-class conversation, which was probably going to cost me tomorrow but tomorrow was tomorrow's problem. Right now I need to get out of here.

I made it to maybe fifteen feet. Before someone's shoulder drove into mine with full weight, I was caught off balance and fell sideways fast.

Ahhh…My ribs.

The sound that left my lips was involuntary and embarrassing. I would've been mortified about it if I could think about anything other than the shock and pain spreading up my left side. I lay there for one second.

Before I knew it, tears welled up in my eyes, I blinked trying to stop it from streaming down my eyes but it didn't stop, it only worsened.

I pressed my palm to the dirty floor and tried to breathe slowly.

People were watching. They didn't bother to hide it, they just kept moving unconcerned.

To add salt to my injury, I locked eyes with the one person I said I'd try to avoid today.

Minet…With her was Ryker, he had his hand on her waist. They were mid-conversation with someone. As if sensing my gaze, she glanced over. Our eyes met for a second, something crossed her face. Pity. I would have preferred if it was a mean grin it would have been easier to work with. Not something that had the tears in my eyes wanting to rush out.

Oh moon goddess why? I swallowed the tears back down, I would deal with that later.

"Watch where you're going." The huge guy who'd hit me said over his shoulder, as he kept walking "Wimp."

Chuckles filled the hallway. I got up, desregading the pain and picked up my bag. The law papers had scattered again but I left them this time. I just hurriedly walked toward the exit.

“Isn't it the girl from this morning?”

“Always something with her”.

“Omegas, what do you expect”.

I zoned their words out and pushed my way through the main doors.

---

I found myself in the woods behind the shed again, it was wide and long enough it stretched towards my Pack. It was so vast that smaller clearings like the one close to my house met with it. I'd never gone home through them before,it always seemed like the kind of decision I’d regret. Today I didn't mind, I ran into it..

The trees closed around me and the school noise disappeared the further I ran. In no time I could only hear my breathing, and my foot hitting the moist floor. I kept running even as my lungs were begging me to stop.

I didn't bother reducing my pace when I came out the other side of my street. I only slowed down when I got to the front of my porch.

I unlocked the door breathing in a sigh of relief, the house was empty, Dad isn't home early today.

I jammed the door to my room and sat on my bed. I removed the stupid dress and threw it to the other side of the room. Argggg I screamed. I sat still staring at the wall for a little while before I layed down and pulled the duvet over my head. Then I let the dam open, I cried into my pillow like never before. If I thought the one at school was a lot, then this... Is worse.

My water works took a while. Eventually I got up. Lying in your own tears gets really uncomfortable and I was just in my underwear. I also needed to wash away the sweat and everything that clung to my skin. I picked up the dress and hung it up.

As much as I hated it, the dress cost me twenty bucks. And in this economy, that is quite a lot.

When my stomach began to rumblle, I had some crackers. I hadn't had anything all day because I'd left my lunch in the shed.

I did the dishes in the sink, then had my bath before doing some school work.

When I was done with everything, I went back to bed.

---

PAM!

A heavy thud cut through my sleep, but my eyes stayed glued shut. My mind struggled to catch up, still tangled in the fog of sleep.

Then I heard a voice say,

“Where the f**k is that b***h?”