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Meeting the Pack
Atallladywearingan immaculate pants suit walks in and sits on the desk in front of the room facing us. The class only has about nine students and four of them are the Alphas. The desks are spaced evenly, divided into three rows, there is an empty seat in front of CJ and the brown eyed Alpha as well as every seat behind me. The other four girls in the class are huddled together in the front seats of the same rows as The Pack. I feel like I’m on an island, all alone. I try really, really hard not to let it get to me, but the first words out of the teacher’s mouth just make the feeling of loneliness grow.
“Good afternoon class. Welcome to Manifest One-o-One, this class can get pretty personal, so I want all of us to be comfortable with each other.” She glances around the room with a stern face before tapping her fingers on the desk and continuing. “The first assignment is going to be a mandatory introduction. I want each of you to stand and give us your name and manifestation. Then I want to know one fact about your manifestation. Please make sure that your answer is unique and not just a reworded explanation of the person that went before you.” She raises a stern brow and glares at a girl in the front row who blushes and sinks down lower into her chair. “So like this. I’m Professor Serena. Beta. All Betas are pre dispositioned to love Omegas and protect them as if they are our own pups. We’ll start in the back closest to the wall, then we’ll go up to the front of the row and start at the beginning of the next row then again until everyone has gone.”
Pointing at the Alpha with the glasses, she crosses her arms and jumps a bit to sit more fully on the desk. Her feet are dangling off the ground, but she still looks like she could handle some serious business. If I weren’t so terrified of having to admit to the class that I’m an unmanifested Chosen, I’d be in awe of her. The Alpha stands without complaint and folds his hands behind his back. His smooth deep voice is so different from what I imagined it’d be, but as he talks, a warm heavy feeling settles deep in my belly. My face flushes and a weird buzz echoes in my head.
“Skylar Paw, Alpha. Fun fact about Alphas, we have an extra chromosome that gives us certain physically unique traits.”
Gods damn, a sentence about fuckingchromosomesshould not make me so fucking squirmy. Also, a teacher smiling at a boy I’ve never met or even spoken to shouldn’t make me want to stab my pencil into her eye. Yet, here I am, flushed and daydreaming about going on a murder rampage in this room. Over a group of boys that don’t even know I exist. Okay, that’s not true, Charles said he texted CJ and told him to look out for me, but they obviously don’t know that I’m sitting here in this room right now.
The next boy stands and flashes the room of sighing girls a smile and a wink as he leans against his desk. “Hutch Hounds, Alpha.” His voice is just as playful as his eyes and I want to roll around with his words. I’m so confused by these emotions, I just want to go home to my room and hide until I manifest so my body levelizes again. “And I know that Alphas are one of two manifestations that have destined mates.”
Huh. I didn’t know that. Abby mentioned that Alphas have to have an Omega to complete their pack and that Omegas will know when they’ve met their pack the same way Alphas know when they’ve met their pack mate Alphas. But she never mentioned ‘destined mates’. I’d assumed that wolves mate for love like humans, but I guess that isn’t always true. I’m pondering this new information as the girls in the class introduce themselves. I should probably be focusing on what facts they give about Betas since I’ll soon be one, but my mind is swirling with the Alphas voices and the hints of scents that keep drifting through my senses. My mind is off in a jungle of jumbled thoughts but then the big Alpha stands and his rumbling deep voice snaps my attention to him. He sounds so mean, but my body doesn’t seem to recognize the danger in that tone.
“Erik Lupus. I go by Viking and I’m an Alpha. Alphas are the only wolf shifters that mate for life. Once they take an Omega, they can never mate another. Even Omega have the choice of leaving if the Alpha mistreats them, it's very rare but it can happen. Not Alphas though.”
He takes his seat without saying anything else and watches CJ stand behind him. I think my mind is jello, or maybe it’s exploded with all the new information. I’m not sure, but I don’t really care either. CJ is speaking now and I have to do a double take because I could have sworn that it was Charles spitting facts, not CJ.
“Charles Lycan JR, Lead Alpha. This isn’t so much a fact as a wives’ tale. Some wolves believe that an Alpha can smell their destined Omega from miles away. That the scent of their Omega is ingrained into their mind from the time they are born. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I’d love to see the science behind it if it is.” Shrugging his shoulders, he sits back down.
Everyone in the room turns to me as I continue to watch the four Alphas. As each of their gazes falls on me, I stiffen more and more. Each pair of eyes on me feels more and more heated. I’m entranced by CJ’s blue eyes. I feel the same safe comfort looking at him as I do sitting with his dad and that freaks me out. I don’t know this boy, and I have never seen him before today. Nothing about him or his gaze should feel safe or comfortable. Yet here I am, lost in the ocean of his eyes and wishing for impossible futures.
“Okay, last one. Up you go.”
I slowly stand on shaking knees as I force my eyes to the professor. I close my eyes and pretend I’m the only one in the room. It works a bit, I no longer care about the girls or even the professor, but the hot gaze of the Pack is still burning between my shoulders. So I take a deep breath and get the words out as fast as I can.
“Rebecca Lancaster. Chosen not yet manifested. I know that there has been no chosen wolf to date that has manifested as anything other than Beta.”
I sit down and pick up my pen. I ignore the hushed whispers in the room and start doodling. I refuse to acknowledge that the others are still staring at me or that the professor hasn’t said anything. I know that it’s weird to have a Chosen that nobody knows. I can even accept that it will take a while for the news to stop being shocking. But that doesn’t mean I have to give any energy to the curious wolves around me.
“Yes, well. Thank you all for sharing. I’m going to cut class short today, but tomorrow we will jump right into chapter one. I advise that you all read the chapter and make note of anything you need explained because I will only go over what needs to be known unless there is a question asked. Have a great night.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth I rush out of my desk, desperate to get away from the looks and whispered questions. The Alphas haven’t taken their eyes off me yet and I don’t know how to feel about it. My mind is panicking but my body is thrilled to have captured their attention. My emotions are spiking all over the place and all I want right now is to go hide in my room and reshore my defenses for tomorrow. August told me to text him when I’m ready to leave and he’ll pick me up, but I really just need some space and time alone to sort out how I’m feeling.My phone chirps with an text from Mandy, but I ignore it, after a second, it starts ringing with incoming calls from the Mandy and her Alphas. I put my buzzing phone on silent and walk back to the Lycan house, praying the whole time that CJ and his pack decide to go back to wherever they have been this past week and not come to the house. Thankfully, the house is empty and I make it to my room without having to talk to anyone or answer any questions.
Going to my closet to put my bag down and change into more comfortable clothes, I notice the door I still havent explored. No better time like the present I guess.
Opening the door slowly, I gasp when I see another smaller room. The carpet is thick and there are thick cushions lined up against the wall. There isn’t a light hanging in the middle of the room like in the bedroom and closet. Instead, there is a string of dim lights hidden in the crown molding where the walls meet the ceiling. There’s no windows and strangely enough, I can’t smell anything in this room. I can’t hear the ocean either. This whole room is like a cozy sensory deprivation tank. Slowly, I walk into the room. My bag is still in my hand and I make my way to the biggest cushion in the room. I notice a soft furry blanket sitting in the middle of the cushion and I wrap it around myself as I settle into the deep softness.
The rest of my night is spent in that room after calling Mandy to let her know I’m safe and in my bedroom laying down. For hours on end, I sit there, not thinking or talking or doing anything other than just being. The longer I sit in this room, the quieter my mind becomes. My thoughts aren’t jumbled with random emotions that don’t make sense. It's like all the noise inside my head has stopped and I can take a deep breath again. I can see things clearly. I take this time of peace to think about everything that's happened and I come to a few conclusions.
First, what happened to me fucking sucks. No one should ever be forced to change their entire life because someone else had a bad day. Next, even though what happened to me sucks, I’m not going to let it reflect on how I live my life from here out. I’m going to be the best wolf ever because I refuse to live a miserable life. That brings me to the next conclusion. I’m going to embrace the Lycans the same way they did me. They brought me into their family and made me feel welcome. So instead of walking on eggshells and expecting them to leave me at any minor inconvenience, I’m going to open my heart to them and make them the parents I’ve always wanted. Finally, I have to stay far the fuck away from CJ, Hutch, Skylar, and Erik. At least until I manifest and my hormones level out some. I can’t trust myself or my feelings around them, so it’s better to stay away for now.
I fall asleep in the dim, quiet little room, my mind at ease and my heart settled now. Tomorrow is a new day and I can’t wait to make it better than today.
Chapter Thirteen
Happy Birthday to Me
ThefirstweekatHowl University is flying by. I spend every day hanging out with Camden. He is a sweetheart for the most part. I do keep noticing a few times that he gets really pushy and weird. Like on Wednesday when he insisted on holding my hand through all of class and refused to let go until the bell for second class rang. I was really uncomfortable the whole time, but Camden just said it’s because I was ‘getting used to the relationship’. I told him the only thing I’m interested in is friendship, but he laughed it off and told me he’d text me later then left for football.
The Pack keeps trying to talk to me as well. At lunch on Tuesday, they walked towards our table and my body was pushing me to leave Camden and run into their arms. Instead of making myself look like a complete fool, I got up and went to the library. Camden found me a few minutes later and asked me why I left so fast. I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell him that the Pack makes me feel like a wanton hussy, so I lied and said I forgot to do some homework for Manifestation One-o-One. For the rest of the week I went to the library for lunch. Camden tried to talk me into going back to the dining hall, but I just insisted that I'd rather spend lunch doing homework. It wasn’t a lie, not really. I honestly do like having the two hours of silence to make sure I’m ahead in the fast pace courses.
That's where I am now. It’s Friday, my birthday and tonight my wolf is going to Manifest. Camden has been really weird all day, brushing his body against mine and sniffing my hair. I keep telling myself it’s because the full moon is tonight so everyone is acting a bit more wolf like. Still, something in my mind is screaming that I need to get away from him. I ignore it for about half of the lunch period but when his hand starts to trail up my leg, I decide that it’s time to get out of here. Standing up, I put all of my stuff away.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to talk to Professor Serena about the assignment due Monday.” I don’t actually, but I do need to get out of here.
