Chapter 4 #2
"Ah, I have Shifter History, Lunch, Chem, and Study Hall with you," Harriet noted. Ben would be with me for Gym, Lunch, and Study Hall.
"What the fuck! Why am I in Responsible Shifting instead of Shifter History with you two?" Ben whined.
"Responsible Shifting is a junior-level class, buddy," Harriet said. "I had to take that last year."
"And you’re not in Gym with us?" I asked her.
"Nah, that’s wolves only since they let you guys go all out against each other in there. I have Gym with regular human students."
The warning bell rang then, announcing that it was time to head to class. Students trudged into the main building, chatting excitedly with their friends and catching up on summer activities.
Ben stuck close to my left side and Harriet to my right as we marched through the first floor of the building, which was lined with lockers like every school in existence.
We got a lot of curious looks and some obvious sniffs from the shifters as we filed in.
After stopping at our respective lockers on the second floor, I said goodbye to the two of them and headed up the stairs again to my first class at Blackstone Academy.
I found the perfect spot to sit in the back corner of my English class.
I was scrolling through the class syllabus on my tablet and taking discreet note of the other students who filled the classroom.
Man Bun Mason had taken up a desk in the center of the room with a few various other jock-type wolves and humans sitting around him.
One of the lesser Alphawhores had also made herself at home next to Mason and was excitedly chatting away at him, patting his arm every once in a while.
The class had almost filled completely, and the teacher, who was a friendly-looking middle-aged lady named Mrs. Watson, had started writing on the blackboard. About three seconds before the final bell rang, the door burst open again and Rodney fucking Blaze came waltzing in.
He looked as good as he did that night he came into Marilynn’s and drank his solitary beer while I closed up.
His dark hair was effortlessly styled, his uniform tie loose around his neck, and his white dress shirt rolled to his elbows, displaying his sexy tattoos on top of some quality forearm porn.
His jacket was slung over his shoulder, and as he rushed into the room, I noticed that he still had his black gauges in his ears.
"Sorry, new student, got a bit lost," he said to Mrs. Watson as he breezed by her desk. She just nodded at him and continued what she was doing. I saw more than one female in the classroom ogling him unashamedly.
Rodney headed up the row of desks and started to plop down into an open one about three desks in front of me when his gaze caught mine, and he froze for just an instant, looking startled.
Then he gave me a wide smile and a wink, and settled into his chair. The girls in the near vicinity tittered, and a few tossed me a glare. Cool.
The teacher began to call roll, and I very quickly learned that my bar crush was not, in fact, a twenty-one-year-old Floridian named Rodney Blaze; rather, he was an eighteen-year-old transfer student named Blake Agnon.
Clearly he’d used a fake ID at the bar. I should’ve known. “Rodney Blaze" was the type of ridiculous name one used for a fake ID or… porn.
The rest of class passed uneventfully as the teacher spent most of the time going over the syllabus and assigning reading. Once the bell rang, there was a flurry of activity as everyone packed their shit and hustled out the door.
I’d made it to the front of the classroom when I spotted Blake lingering next to the open door. He smiled at me again as I approached, all mischievous and sexy-like.
"So, Rodney Blaze, fancy meeting you here," I said lightly as I reached him. "You know, at a high school. For teenagers."
He laughed. "I have to say I was just as surprised. I assumed they only let employees of age serve at the bar, but I guess this is Louisiana. I probably have a lot to learn."
"You do, but we’re in the same boat as far as that goes," I told him as we walked out into the hall teeming with students. "I’m Mave."
"Blake," he replied. "So you’re new, too?"
"Yep, moved here from Utah this summer."
"Cool. I came from DC." He grabbed onto my arm to stop me for a second, pulling me out of the student stampede into a nook next to some lockers. Normally I would have sucker punched anyone who touched me without permission, but for whatever reason his touch didn’t bother me, and my wolf, the slut, had perked up at his touch.
"Show me your schedule real quick," he said, whipping out his phone.
I pulled up the public version of my schedule, where “Shifter History” was listed as “World History.” We compared notes and found we had the same lunchtime and Study Hall, to be expected since we were both seniors, and he was also in my Stats class later this afternoon.
"Awesome. I was hoping for a chance to make up for being such shitty company that night at the bar," he said as we headed for the stairs. "I was kicking myself for weeks for not asking out the hot bartender, but I kind of thought you were an out-of-my league older woman."
Oh man, I was gonna get that Tesla fuck if it killed me. This was perfect—human, hot, new, and had zero to do with the Pack. And my wolf seemed to approve of him, which was a first for a human.
"You’re on, Mr. Blaze,” I said with a laugh. "I’m probably still older and out of your league, though. I’m nineteen."
"No shit?" he laughed. "I’m intimidated but not discouraged."
We said our goodbyes as I headed for Shifter History.
Harriet, a goddess, had saved me a seat near the back of the room.
I looked around at the smaller class that was made up of all of the shifters in the senior class.
Of course, this meant that the Elites, the Alphawhores minus Claudia, and their fan clubs were all present. That included….
Yep, there was Ice Man. He walked in as the bell was ringing and sat down in the seat Nerd Porn Thad had saved for him.
Man Bun Mason sat behind him, and Nikka took the seat to his right.
They were fortunately in the opposite corner of the room from us.
Just looking at them, knowing who they were and who they represented, was making my wolf super antsy.
At least I thought that was what was up with her.
Ice Man was looking antsy, too, as he fidgeted in his seat.
He glanced over his shoulder and eyed Harriet and me for a second, looking confused.
Likely he hadn’t been close enough to me yet today to scent that the new girl was a wolf.
But here I was, in Shifter History class, which meant I was a wolf and Pack member.
As son of the Alpha, he was probably wondering why he hadn’t met me before now.
He nudged Man Bun and whispered something to him. Mason glanced my way, then whispered back to him. Nikka watched the entire exchange, stole a glance back at us, then rolled her eyes. She started rubbing Knox’s arm possessively, and the weird anxious feeling swirling in my chest intensified.
Our teacher looked up from her desk as everyone settled into their respective spots. She was a tall shifter with long auburn hair, and she looked to be in her mid-thirties. She was pretty, and she had on a stylish blouse and cropped suit pants. Her glasses matched her hair.
"Good morning, senior shifters of Blackstone Academy," she greeted us warmly. "Welcome to Shifter History. I’m Mrs. Hespell, but you can all call me Helen. We are packmates, after all. Well, most of us, anyway." She gave Harriet a quick look, but it didn’t seem unkind or disparaging.
She continued. "I thought today we’d just go over the syllabus so you know what to expect in this class.
While we will be reviewing the basics about wolf packs and our shifter powers, we’ll also be diving deeper into what we know about the magic that gives us our abilities, and we will even discuss the history of other supernaturals and magics throughout history.
"Now, to start us off, will someone volunteer to give us the basics of wolf pack structure?"
One of the Alphawhores (Dani? Whatever, the redheaded one) raised her hand, and Helen nodded at her.
"Wolves form packs to both claim and defend territory, and to protect and nurture all pack members, especially the young and the weak.
The strongest wolf is the Alpha, who leads the pack.
Other wolves with great power and strength are betas, and they assist the Alpha in leadership.
The majority of the pack will just be known as ‘pack members’ if they do not rise to beta status.
And there are also omega wolves, who are the weakest wolves and may need special protection from the pack in times of need. "
I didn’t miss how both Man Bun and Ice Man tossed a quick glance back at me after the mention of omega wolves. Guess I’ve been made.
"Excellent, Dani; thank you," Helen said. "I think that those basics are pretty well ingrained in all of us, but I’d like to take a few minutes to explore the source of our power and the ‘why’ of the pack hierarchy."
She looked over at Knox. "Alpha Monroe is the Pack’s Alpha not just because he is descended from a long line of Alpha wolves.
He’s our Alpha because his wolf holds the most Alpha Power of anyone in the Pack.
Whenever he needs to stand up to a challenge or establish dominance over another wolf, he and his wolf will push that power out and onto others.
It can force total submission in weaker wolves, or at the very least it will propel him to victory in a fight or challenge.
"Alpha power, we believe, is blessed on wolves and families by the Moon, just as she’s blessed all of you with your wolf halves.
It is a type of magic tied to nature, and there are just some of us who are stronger users of this type of Moon magic than others, which is why there is a differential in pack hierarchy.
As far as we know, shifters are the last remaining ‘users’ of magic in the world.
As recently as a thousand years ago we believe other magic users such as fae and the ancient mages still walked the Earth, but for some reason, only the Moon-blessed magic of the shifters has endured. "
Nikka’s hand shot up. "Helen, do Alpha wolves tend to mate with females blessed with substantial Alpha power?" She appeared excited about this particular topic, no doubt because she was already planning Knox’s and her mating ceremony.
"Good question, Miss Parker. I would say that is often the case, yes," Helen replied.
"It is natural that Alpha wolves and other wolves strong with Alpha power would seek mates of similar power so as to ensure their offspring continue to be powerful and able to take up the mantle of leadership in the pack. "
Nikka nodded enthusiastically at Helen’s response and gave her friends a smug smile.
There were a few more questions about power and politics, which I tuned out because none of it was new to me.
I took to doodling in my notebook and trying to distract myself from whatever weird shit was going on with my wolf.
She was so restless. My eyes continued to be inexplicably drawn to the back of Ice Man’s head, and I watched him fidget as much as I was.
He even flicked Nikka’s hand off of his bicep the few times it had slithered up there.
Class wound down and the bell rang to dismiss us all to Gym class for shifters.
I said goodbye to Harriet and stayed behind for a bit under the guise of checking my email.
Really I wanted the Elites and the rest of their groupies far away from me before I had to see them again in Gym.
They were making me and my wolf anxious, especially Knox.
If this is how it was going to be every time I was in a room full of other wolves, including the sons and daughters of the Pack elite, then I was in for a very long year.