Rise of the Underdogs: JACOB

Humane VS Humiliation

There’s something to be said for vanishing for two weeks and coming back smarter and stronger. Something that’s classed somewhere between “I’m starting s**t” and “I’m sick of this shit.” Unfiltered, unmatched, and completely unpredictable.

The wind had that early-winter bite to it—sharp enough to sting, but not brutal. Snow hadn’t committed yet. It flirted with the ground in lazy flurries, melting as soon as it touched pavement. The sky was a washed-out steel grey, the kind that made everything look like it was being filmed through a cold filter. Damp air clung to my hoodie, and the sidewalks were slick with a mix of rain and salt that hadn’t quite dried. Newfoundland didn’t do winter gently—it crept in sideways, with gusts off the bay and a chill that settled in your bones like it paid rent.

Walking into the red-brick prison—because let’s face it, that was high school in a nutshell—I expected the taunts and the belligerent rumours. Bullies didn’t stop just because you were out of reach. No. They info and trauma dumped people into believing their side of the story and made me seem like the guilty party. Why? Because I left for a bit. Their target wasn’t around to defend themselves, so they actively worked to disorient me upon return.

Something they didn’t know was that my sisters and the twins had filled me in on the drive to prison—I mean school. The frost on the windows hadn’t even melted yet when they started listing names and offenses like we were prepping for war. I was amused and concerned by the rumours. Amused because they actually assumed I left because I got pushed around, and concerned by how generic, unrealistic, and so uncreative the hockey team was.

It was obvious their heads were toilets that never got flushed.

Nothing like walking back into the frayed pandemonium of teenage life, the scent of wet wool and cafeteria grease in the air, and staring down half the populace while correcting lies before lunch.

Walking into class, I watched several faces turn a wonderful shade of “I’ve f****d up” white. Taking my usual seat as the hockey player occupying it scrambled to move, I grinned at Selene. “Good morning, Princess. How was your weekend?”

“Quiet and quite fun, thank you,” she replied, following the unscripted version of Bully-Takedown 101. “How was your political visit to Russia?”

Political. Not friendly, not escape.

My vanishing act was being rewritten as a political visit to a Russian training camp. My grin widened, giving me an almost predatory look. “It was fun to learn different ways to disorient enemies and take down full-fledged Vampires without breaking a sweat. I mean, I feel like I can take the whole hockey team, honestly.”

While we’d spent time together over the weekend, we had come up with a subterfuge act that would throw off any suspicion on my part and make the guys who started the rumours look like the liars they were. I glanced over my shoulder, watching two of the players shift uneasily in their seats.

“Well, you know the rules set down by my Mate, your Alpha,” Selene said softly. “Don’t start any fights, but you are permitted to end them with the understanding of no lives lost and no major harm done.”

“Of course, Princess,” I answered calmly.

Using her current title in school was only one way of keeping her safe. I was her shadow, which was another link in the protective chain. Having her eldest brother working as a teacher was the third. The final link was the most volatile: Logan himself.

By the time morning break rolled around, the news of my return and newfound strength had swarmed the school like wildfire. There would be no third chances for any of them if they wanted to back me into a corner.

I’d been given permission to end any fights they started, and I would follow that rule to the letter. As long as they swung first, I would get away with holding the line.

Just before lunch, I’d gotten cornered in the stairwell on my way to eat with my sisters, our Luna-to-be, and the Brake twins. All of whom were already out in the yard waiting in our usual spot. Our body heat protected us supernatural shape-shifters from the cold, but Heaven would need us to surround her just right to stay warm. This, of course, was only because she hadn’t shifted yet, so she didn’t have our level of warmth.

Grant Ozmond stopped me, shoving me hard into the concrete brick walls. His forearm pressed against my throat, his smile eerie and, I’m guessing, what he considered predatory. He forgot something, though. Wolves weren’t prey.

We are Sparta!

No, seriously, we were the predator. Not the prey.

I blinked, staring at this guy who was easily twice my size. “Need something?”

“You bleeding and begging for mercy would work fine,” he snarled, hauling back his arm to strike.

Humoured, I adjusted my stance subtly. Not enough for him to notice, but enough for him to hit the wall rather than my face. His knuckles collided, the sound of shattering bones and his primal scream filling the stairwell. The echoes lasted seconds longer than the actual noise before silence fell.

Clutching his hand to his chest, he let out another agonized cry. “What the hell!?”

“That sounded like it hurt,” I said, completely unbothered by the bully behaviour. Calmly, I asked, “Do you need the nurse?”

“You asshole!” Another one snapped, his eyes narrowing in defiant anger. Another flying fist.

I dodged again, tilting my head as they lost whatever cool they had been clinging to. It obviously wasn’t much. “Are you guys okay? I mean, do you have issues at home or something?”

As the second guy lay whimpering on the floor with the first, I kept going. “I read somewhere that sometimes bullies are just lonely kids with parent issues. Anyway, I’ll be going now. My friends are waiting.”

That’s when Grant struggled to his feet and lunged at me. “Little pest!”

Without thinking I sidestepped the attack and grabbed the back of his jersey instead. “Are you insane? You could have killed yourself!”

Gesturing to the dimly lit stairs, I watched his face turn three shades paler. He winced when I threw him backward “gently” into the wall behind us. “Wh… what?”

“You two attacked me, in a stairwell, and you just played the stupid card by lunging at me while I’m on the stairs. Are you mentally okay? That’s practically suicide!” I snapped, my patience thinning as hunger started taking hold. “Stop being idiots, and leave me the hell alone!”

“Think you’re so smart?” The second guy snarled, staggering to his feet. “I’m going to pound your face into the bricks!”

“Mr. Atwood,” a bored voice called, bouncing off the vaulted walls. We looked up, all three of us, and I had to fight to keep the smile from my face.

Standing above us, his hands neatly folded on the rail as he took in the scene, was Henry Atwood’s uncle, the Coach. He wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t cheering. He was standing there with a look of pure contempt and disgust on his face.

“U-Uncle?!” Henry, the other guy who had attacked me, sputtered like a dying engine. “This brat….”

“That’s quite enough, Henry,” the Coach said, shaking his head slowly. “I was on my way to the teachers lounge, which this stairwell is closest to, when I saw the most interesting scene. Imagine my shock when the nephew I defended so hard tried to use his size and status as a human to beat on a Werewolf pup.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Grant gasped, finding his voice in the face of losing everything.

Coach Atwood raised a brow as he slowly joined us on the landing between flights. “Grant, I was standing at the top of the stairs for the last five minutes watching Jacob there do nothing but use your momentum against you. You got injured due to your own damn stupidity, so don’t go trying to blame him when you two” he jabbed a calloused finger at both hockey players “used the fact that they can’t fight back against him. Hell, Jake even saved your worthless hide-”

“Sir!” I cut in, my anger bristling. “They aren’t worthless, and there’s no need for name calling.”

Coach Atwood cleared his throat, “You’re more of a man than these two are lately, Mr. Grey. Get to lunch. Grant and Henry, you two get to the nurse. I’m putting this incident on your permanent file, too. Actions have consequences, boys, and it’s about time you learned the consequence of being bullies. I’ll be benching you both for the rest of the season. That should give you plenty of time to think about the cost of your disruptively violent behaviour.”

“My dad..”

Grant slammed a hand over Henry’s mouth. “You want us to get kicked off the team? Geesh, man. I mean, the kid just saved my ass – literally, and he stood up against your uncle for us.”

He looked at me, “I give. Just… just stay away from us.”

“Then you do the same for me,” I replied smoothly. “I don’t want to fight you, because I know I can hurt you. Badly. If I squeeze too hard, I could break your freaking hand without a problem. Me? I’ve been holding back.”

I raised my hand before straightening my arm to slam my fist into the wall. Crumbs of paint, plaster, and brick fell away, but I didn’t feel pain. “If I can do that to a wall, what do you think I could do to you if I fought for real?”

Pale to the point of collapse, both shook their heads as realization dawned on them. Now they understood their target was never weak.