Secret Alpha

Chapter 3

One year later

I am standing in the parking lot, looking at the huge, modern school in front of me. First day of my senior year, but also the first day at this school.

“Do you have the note?” Mom asks.

“Yeah, thanks Mom,” I smile at her and push the sunglasses higher up my nose.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get your contacts in time, honey,” she apologizes, “but they promised it will arrive today.”

“I’ll be fine, Mom.” I tuck my long, black braid under a cap and make sure that not a string of hair is visible. I give her a peck on her cheek, grab my backpack and jump out of the truck waving her goodbye.

A couple of kids walk past me, and one accidentally buds his bag against me.

“Sorry, dude,” the boy mumbles and I just smile at him as he continues walking. Nice, that is exactly what I have wanted. There is a reason why I am wearing sneakers, jeans and a hoody. I want everyone to believe I am a boy.

“Woodridge High,” I sigh the words more than I am reading it, already missing my old school and friends.

“It’s not that bad,” replies Storm.

“Not that good, either. I hate people and you know it.”

Storm knows exactly how and why I feel the way I do. With all the revelations on my seventeenth birthday, I decided to avoid people at all costs. She also agrees with Mom and Dad that I have to finish my senior year in this school. Because they feel that I need social development. Like I care. I am happy and content all on my own in the woods. Storm’s company is good enough for me. I do not need people in my life. People are evil. I do not like people in general.

“Most people aren’t evil, Alexandra,” Storm argues, “you need to see and experience that. Besides, you might think that I am all you need, but I need our mate.”

“You don’t need him, you want him,” I smirk at her, “there’s always a chance that you might not meet our mate, so there’s no such thing as needing him.”

Storm replies with dead silence. Obviously ignoring me and was tired of our old argument. With a great sigh of defeat, I pull myself together and walk to the administration office.

With my schedule in hand, I set off to my first class of the day, History. I love history. While most people find it boring, I find it very informative. It is filled with evil bastards like the one who fathered me, and I intend to study evil to avoid evil. You need to know the enemy to defeat it.

The class is already filled with students, and it takes me a minute to spot an open seat. Great, the only open spot is by a window right in the sun. No wonder nobody is sitting there. With our werewolf blood, we will boil within minutes. Add the fact that I am wearing a hoody to cover up my breasts, I will be toast in seconds. With another dreaded sigh, I take the open seat. It is not like I have a choice.

A few kids look at me like I am a freak, but nobody says anything. The only positive thing about Woodridge is that it is like Switzerland. All the kids from all the packs attend this school, including some humans. Centuries ago, the elders of the Werewolf Council sat down and decided to build this school. To teach young wolfs to get along better with humans. Also, they argued it would teach them some restraint being forced to deal with rival packs in a neutral environment. It does not matter how much they despise each other, they had to act civil for the sake of humans. Needless to say, the kids giving me “the look” were all wolves. Humans have no idea of our discomfort in the sun and would not find it abnormal to wear a hoody in spring.

Everyone quiets down when the teacher, Mrs Williams, enters the room.

“We have a new student today,” she announces as she picks up the paper to read my name, “welcome to Al …”

“Alex Sloane,” I cut her off before she could pronounce my whole name, making sure to drop my voice a bit to make it more masculine.

“Welcome Alex,” she smiles a bit taken off guard about my forwardness. “Would you please remove your sunglasses? It is not permitted in school.”

“I have a doctor’s note, mam, I have to wear it due to an injury for another twenty-four hours to avoid further damage.”

For a minute she just looked at me. Clearly, she is debating whether to believe me or not. So, I dig into my pocket and held the note up high.

“Would you like to see the note?” I offer.

“No, it’s fine,” she smiles.

“Freak.”

Annoyed I looked at the group of wolves laughing at my expense and cheering their buddy on for being an asshole.

“What an observation, numb nuts,” I smirk back at him while flipping him the middle finger.

“Alex Sloane!” Mrs Williams’s voice cuts through the class like thunder. Clearly, she is a wolf for no human has such authority in their voice.

“My apologies, Mam,” I tried my best to sound remorseful. “It was an involuntary reflex reaction.”

“Since it is your first day and since Marco started it, I will excuse you this time. But this is your first and final warning, do you understand?”

“Yes, mam.”

“And that counts for you as well, Marco.” The stare she gives numb nuts is so cold and icy that the whole group immediately settles down.

With that, Mrs Williams ignores both of us and start the class. Numbnuts glares at me, but I just smirked in return. Jerk, if he for one minute thinks that I am intimidated by him, he’s sadly mistaken.

The rest of the morning passes eventless. I attend class, listen to the teachers and avoid any other students. I did not have any more classes with Marco, so I guess that is a good thing. It is time for lunch and I make my way to the cafeteria … and that’s when it happened.

I was paying for my sandwich when the smell hit me. My favourite smell in the world – is fresh rain. Confused I look out of the window, but there is not a cloud in sight. How the hell am I smelling rain?

Perplexed I look around in the overcrowded cafeteria until my eyes fall upon the most gorgeous guy I have seen in my life. He is easily a head taller than all the kids in the room. Wavy black hair with a frown between his emerald green eyes like he is also looking for something or someone.

“Mate,” Storm basically screams at me, “it’s our mate. Quick, go to him, he is looking for us.”

“f**k,” I mumble out loud and make a beeline to the nearest exit.

“What are you doing?” Storm is almost hysterical in my head.

“Are you crazy, Storm? I do not have my contacts yet, think about Mom.”

“s**t, you’re right. Get out of here, go.”

I do not need Storm to tell me to get out fast, I am already out the door, but not before I quickly glance back and see that our mate is also moving in this direction. I make a quick observation of our surroundings. There is a huge crowd of kids gathered in front of us and to my left, I saw Marco and a few friends. Hell no, I am going to the crowd, but then I noticed something else. A boy is sitting in front of Marco, and he looks extremely sad.

“What are you doing? Blend into the crowd.”

“No, there’s too many girls. He will obviously go that way first.”

“But if we go to Marco, he’ll definitely draw attention to us by picking a fight or something.”

“I know, but he’s looking for us and will most likely not care about a random school fight, also … that boy.”

“Fine, hurry up”

“What is this feeling?” I desperately want to know as I make my way to Marco without drawing too much attention to myself. “It almost feels like I know him or something.”

“Almost, I agree. I do not know, Alex, but it’s freaky towards a complete stranger.”

“Hi guys,” I say to no one in particular and sit down next to the sad boy, but he does not return my greeting or look my way. He just keeps his eyes on the ground.

“What do you want, freak?” Marco demands.

“Oh, hi, numb nuts,” I reply nonchalantly and take a bite of my sandwich. “I want lunch.”

Innocently I look at Marco and then towards the crowd, spotting my mate walking from one female to another. Thank goddess, it worked. He is not even looking this way.

“Can I interest you in a protein sandwich?” Marco sneers and I roll my eyes. Really, how corny can this guy get?

“No thanks, there’s ham on mine.” I keep on eating my sandwich and ignore him completely, but I am aware that the boy next to me is trying his best not to burst out laughing.

“I can’t tell if you’re sarcastic or just too stupid to understand what I’m saying,” sneers Marco.

“Just another mystery, I guess.” I smile at him while finishing off the last of my lunch.

“Get lost!” barks Marco at me.

“I cannot, I have a great sense of direction. Must be a gift, because even as a child, I have always found my way and never got lost.”

That undid the boy next to me because he burst out laughing.

“What are you laughing at, mutt? I’ll f*****g rip both of you into pieces.” Marco is so furious that his face is beet red and it is almost like it’s giving his blond hair a pink glow. I so want to jump up and beat the s**t out of him, but I just clench my fists and take deep breaths. Getting into a fight on my first day would really disappoint my parents. And I love my old people. Also, there is that thing that I do not want to attract attention to myself.

“Are you hot, numbnuts? You look a little red. I have some sunscreen in my bag if you’re interested.”

“I’ll f*****g kill you,” screaming he storms at me. So much for not getting into a fight. I jump up and place myself between him and the boy. Making sure my feet are solid on the ground. Marco stops inches from my face breathing onto me, making me flinch.

“Holy f**k, never mind the sunscreen, you need a breath mint.”

With a growl, Marco pulls his fist back to swing his first punch, but I block it, step sideways and sweep his feet from under him making him land on the ground with a thud.

“Now listen and listen carefully,” I hiss as I kneel beside him, my hand in a choke hold on his neck and nails slightly but firmly squeezing,” the way I see it, you have two choices. Get up and walk away or continue this fight and lose. By the look of things, this would not be your first fight at school. Who do you think are they going to believe – me or you?”

I stand up and step aside, giving Marco a chance to make his choice. Marco gets up and glares at me. “This is far from over.”

“I bet,” I reply as I watch him walk away, his two friends following.

“Congratulations, you just got onto the bulling list.”

It is the first time the boy speaks, and his voice is smooth and comforting. I sat down next to him again, but he still has to lift his gaze from the ground.

“Yeah well, at least I’ll have entertainment during lunch. Although, I do prefer my entertainment a bit more intellectual. I am Alex, by the way.”

“Nathan,” he replies.

“Well, Nathan, nice to meet you. I must say, it feels like I know you from somewhere even though I know it is impossible.”

“Funny enough, I feel like that too,” he answers and finally looks at me. When his eyes met mine, I could only stare at him.

“Holy f**k! Storm, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“That explains everything.”