Three
1529 Words
The hallway slowly settled once the late bell rang, classroom doors shutting one by one until silence spread through the building in uneven patches. The constant noise faded into distant muffled voices behind walls, sneakers squeaking against gym floors somewhere deeper in the school, lockers slamming far off at the opposite end of the corridor.
Compared to the chaos from a few minutes ago, the quiet almost felt unnatural.
I shifted my weight slightly and rested my head back against the cinderblock wall behind me, staring blankly at the fluorescent lights overhead while the scent of floor cleaner burned faintly in my nose.
Human schools always smelled too artificial, too clean, and too confined. There was no forest air, no fresh earth, no scent of pine or rain. Just bleach, cheap perfume, cafeteria food, and stress.
I had spent six years away from this place and still could not understand how humans survived inside buildings all day without clawing through the walls from sheer irritation.
A low buzz vibrated against my thigh. I slipped my phone from my pocket and glanced down at the screen. Alpha Jon.
My expression flattened immediately. I answered on the second ring. “Yes, Alpha?”
“You and Will settling in alright this morning?”
I glanced toward the classroom door beside me. “Unfortunately, yes.”
A rough chuckle came through the phone. “That bad already?”
“A human male informed me I would be prettier if I smiled.”
There was a brief pause, then another chuckle, lower this time, more dangerous. “Is he alive?”
“Barely.”
“That’s my Future Beta.” Amusement lingered in his voice for only a second before his tone shifted back toward business. “I need you and Will back on territory immediately after school today. We’re having a leadership meeting tonight.”
My brows furrowed. “Something happen?”
“Maybe.” That single word sharpened every instinct I had.
Alpha Jon was not a paranoid wolf by nature, but he did not call emergency leadership meetings without reason. Especially not involving Future leaders and their Charges. My grip tightened slightly around the phone.
“What kind of maybe?”
“I’ll explain tonight.” Papers shuffled faintly on his end. “Until then, keep your eyes open.”
The words settled heavily in my chest.
Not unusual exactly, considering Protectors were always expected to remain alert, but something about the way he said it prickled beneath my skin.
Keep your eyes open. There was no be careful or stay alert. Keep your eyes open. As if there was already something to look for.
“Understood,” I said quietly The line clicked dead.
I stared at the screen for another moment before slipping the phone back into my pocket, my thoughts already turning over possibilities. Border tension maybe. Rogue activity. Another dispute with Crescent Ridge Pack over territory lines. We had gone nearly three months without any major issues, which honestly should have been my first warning something was wrong.
Peace never lasted long between wolves.
Movement inside the classroom caught my attention. I lifted my head just as the teacher crossed in front of the narrow window beside the door. A human female in her mid-forties. She smelled faintly of coffee and peppermint, and had a nervous disposition. Her gaze kept moving toward Will more than the other students.
I frowned slightly, then I realized why.
Will was not paying attention to the lesson. He sat near the back corner of the room, leaning back in his chair with his pencil spinning lazily between his fingers while he stared out the window with the exact same expression wolves got before they did something reckless.
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
I pushed away from the wall and stepped closer to the narrow glass panel beside the classroom door.
Will noticed immediately. His eyes widened.
Slowly, I pointed two fingers toward my own eyes. Then toward him. I watched realization dawn across his face before his shoulders sagged dramatically.
Good. Maybe he would actually listen for once in his life.
The teacher continued speaking while writing something across the whiteboard, completely oblivious to the silent threat exchange happening outside her classroom.
Will glanced toward the window again.
I mouthed: Pay attention.
He mouthed back: Make me.
My eye twitched. The little menace grinned.
I stared at him for another long second before stepping back into my original position beside the door, folding my hands behind my back once more. The brat was definitely getting thrown into the sparring pit later.
A few minutes passed before footsteps echoed down the hallway, stead and confident. Pack. I recognized the scent before I even looked up.
Future Alpha Jade Morgan rounded the corner with the easy stride of someone entirely comfortable taking up space. Tall, athletic, dark curls pulled into a high ponytail, she wore the White Wolf Pack crest hoodie like armor rather than clothing. Beside her walked Kyle Bennett, Future Third and unfortunately one of the most irritating wolves I had ever met in my life.
His grin widened the second he spotted me. I immediately considered homicide.
“Well,” Kyle said, slowing to a stop in front of me, “if it isn’t White Wolf’s scariest babysitter.” Jade snorted softly beside him.
I looked between the two of them with complete disinterest. “Shouldn’t you both be in class?”
“Study period,” Jade answered.
Kyle crossed his arms. “Besides, I wanted to see if the human male population survived your wrath this morning.”
“So far.”
Kyle raised a brow. “That bad?”
“He called me sweetheart.”
He winced. “Ah. Yeah, that’ll do it.”
Jade leaned against the wall beside me, lowering her voice slightly. “Alpha Jon called us, too.”
Instantly, my attention sharpened. “You know what the meeting’s about?”
“No clue,” she admitted. “But Braxton looked pissed.” That was not reassuring.
Beta Braxton almost never lost composure publicly. If he was visibly angry, something serious was happening.
Kyle’s grin faded slightly as he glanced down the hallway before speaking again. “Dad said there’ve been more rogue sightings near the eastern tree line.”
My brows pulled together. “Rogues usually avoid White Wolf territory.”
“Exactly.”
A strange tension settled between the three of us then, subtle but uncomfortable. The kind that appeared when instincts noticed something the mind had not fully pieced together yet.
Jade broke it first. “You think they’re scouting?”
“Maybe,” I muttered. Or maybe something worse.
The eastern border backed against neutral territory. Rogues drifting too close usually meant desperation, not organization. But organized movement? Repeated sightings? That implied leadership. And leadership among rogues almost always ended in bloodshed.
Kyle exhaled sharply and shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “You know what I hate most?”
“What?” Jade asked.
“That if a war actually starts, we still have to finish high school.”
I blinked once, then Jade laughed. A real laugh. Loud enough that someone inside a nearby classroom shushed through the wall. Even I felt the corner of my mouth twitch upward.
Trust Kyle to reduce potential territorial conflict to academic inconvenience.
“I’m serious,” he insisted. “Imagine getting mauled by rogues and still having to turn in algebra homework.”
“That would truly be the greatest tragedy,” I deadpanned.
“Exactly.”
Jade shook her head, still laughing under her breath. “You’re both insufferable.”
“Yet you continue hanging around us,” I pointed out.
“Because somebody has to make sure neither of you commits a felony before adulthood,” Jade fired back.
Kyle looked offended. “Raven’s more likely to commit a felony than me.”
Jade nodded in agreement. “That is true,” she admitted.
“I’m standing right here,” I said, waving toward myself.
“And?”
I opened my mouth with every intention of delivering a truly devastating insult when movement inside the classroom caught my eye again.
Will was staring toward the hallway, which wasn’t anything unusual. Except he wasn’t look at us. He was looking past us toward the windows at the far end of the corridor.
My expression sharpened instantly. The amusement vanished from his face the second our eyes met. Slowly, he glanced toward the windows again, then back to me.
A warning.
Every muscle in my body tightened. Without a word, I pushed away from the wall and started down the hallway.
Jade straightened immediately behind me. “Raven?”
I ignored her.
The farther I walked, the more my wolf stirred beneath my skin, restless and alert. Students moved through the distant intersections between hallways, teachers crossing classrooms, fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, but beneath all of it, faint enough most wolves would miss it entirely, something unfamiliar drifted through the air.
Not human. Not White Wolf. A scent I did not recognize.
It was fresh, recent, and definitely watching.
- Writer
