Chapter 9
NINE
The remaining days of my first week of school passed in much the same way as Wednesday. Knox seemed content to ignore my presence to the best of his ability, and I worked on doing the same to him, other than the times he'd put on a live porn show by groping Nikka in public.
Once I passed him in the hall and saw him putting the moves on a cute junior human girl who was definitely not his girlfriend. At any rate, he'd been making sure the entire school, especially me, knew he wasn't into being mated.
Nikka and the other Alphawhores ran out of steam after a couple of days. They'd still toss a "Move, skank!" at me in the hallway or shout the occasional loud insult during lunch or Study Hall, but it didn't seem to me like they were trying very hard anymore.
Nikka had a scare on Wednesday with the fated mate power-boost information bomb Helen had dropped, but by the end of the week she seemed convinced that Knox still wanted nothing to do with me, so the mean-girl bullshit was kept to a minimum.
Mason had not tried to speak to me again in any of our shared classes, but I did feel him watching me sometimes.
Thad was around, also watching me, but watching Ben more, and Ben ate that shit up with practiced finesse.
It was all covert heated glances that seemed to rattle Thad, and only Thad.
It all worked out for me because as long as Ben was by my side, Thad kept his distance and didn't try to insert his aristocratic nose into my business.
Ben and I finally came clean to Harriet after school on Wednesday when she came over for dinner.
We revealed more about who our family is, why we left our old pack, and why Dad accepted Alpha Monroe's offer of membership in the NWLA Pack as omega wolves.
We explained that when we moved to Shreveport that shit just didn't matter to us at all.
Fortunately, she just gracefully accepted the news by screaming "I FUCKING KNEW IT" at the dinner table, after which Mom just patted her sweetly on her blonde head.
Blake was all hot smiles and easy camaraderie for the rest of the week, though we still hadn't interacted much beyond the occasional flirty banter that had become our thing before or after our shared classes.
He still watched Mason watching me, and he would always keep close to my back when we entered or exited class in case Mason tried to speak to me.
He never stood in front of me or tried to insert himself between us—it was as if he was saying that he knew I could take care of myself, but he'd have my back if it ever came to it.
I still wasn't exactly sure what to make of him, but I'd really only known Blake a few days, and my focus had been entirely elsewhere most of the week.
He seemed to be curious about me, at the very least, and I just hoped he wouldn't lose too much interest in me while I sorted out my life, because I was curious about him, too.
Finally, my constant battle against the fated mate bond, which stuck Knox to me like wet toilet paper I couldn't shake off of my shoe, was a slow-moving endeavor. Each day I felt a little bit better—a little bit less sick to my stomach, a little bit less pulled toward Knox whenever I saw him. But the heaviness of it all persisted, like a weight sitting on my shoulders that I’d never be free of.
Knox was never far from my mind because I could always feel the mark he left inside of me on that first day of school.
On Thursday, I was hit for the second time with the Knox-is-fucking-someone-else lust/vomit combo, but this time I was more prepared.
I dragged Ben to a private room in the library during Study Hall (because that manwhore was fucking someone during Study Hall!), and he held my hand while he pushed Alpha power outward, and I pushed inward.
His wolf called to mine, soothing her like he was stroking her golden fur.
After ten minutes of focus between the two of us, the sickening sensations that had hit me so suddenly while I was doing my homework began to slowly wash away.
When we returned to our table, we noticed Knox was missing from the Elite table, but Nikka was definitely there with her head buried in a workbook.
I couldn't help but give Mason a knowing look, and he just looked back at me with confusion and annoyance.
I felt like being a bitch after what Knox had just put me through, again, so I opened my school email on my tablet and sent a blank email to [email protected].
Subject: It's 3:00, do you know where your fearless leader is?
I didn't elaborate. I watched him pick his tablet up after a few minutes, stare at it intently, and raise his head to stare at me again in confusion. Then he got up and stalked off towards the library bathrooms.
When the bell finally rang, Harriet and I trudged out to the gym to change into workout clothes.
I'd talked her into doing some running with me around the track before I had my first shift of the week at Marilynn’s.
I donned my favorite hot pink sports bra and black cropped running pants, and I wrapped my long ponytail up into a bun as we made our way out to the track.
Harriet wore a loose tank top with a strappy purple sports bra and booty shorts.
Man candy was scattered all over the soccer field which sat within the track we were running around.
I spotted Ben doing some shooting drills with several other players on one end of the field.
Knox and Mason were in the middle of the field playing in a small-sided scrimmage.
I was surprised to see Blake out in the middle of the scrimmage, running and passing the ball with the others.
I hadn't known he played, but then again, we hadn't really had a deep conversation yet.
Soccer was popular with shifters because, unlike a full contact sport like football, it was easier to tone down the shifter strength when playing against humans.
Kicking a soccer ball to a teammate or into a goal was as much about precision as it was strength, so it wasn’t as easy for shifters to stack the odds with their superior abilities.
They did need to take care not to run at top speed, but it was pretty simple to blend in.
It didn’t surprise me to see Knox, Mason, and a bunch of the other jock shifters out on the field.
Harriet and I ran a warm-up mile, then we set out on our two hundred meter sprint repeats.
Harriet was pretty fast for a non-wolf. Her rabbit gave her a bit more speed than the average human, so she enjoyed running as much as I did.
I noted a few of the soccer players, including my good friend with the locs (whose name was actually Tyson), eyeing Harriet appreciatively as she jetted around the track.
I shot Ben the bird when I saw him making a face at me before I started off on my next interval.
When I slowed my sprint around the curve of the track to cross the finish line, I felt Knox’s hard stare on the side of my face.
As I walked to where Harriet waited to take off on her last sprint, I caught Knox dragging his eyes up and down my body.
He stared at me intently, and I just glared back at him.
I certainly did not want to be having any sort of moment with him, but fuck if I would be the one to drop my eyes first.
A whistle blew, and Knox’s attention was diverted away from me and back onto the game. I shivered and met Harriet where she finished her run.
"Was the Ice Man just leering at you like a creep?"
"Yeah," I replied, swallowing the lump in my throat. "He’s been working really hard ignoring me the last few days, so I’m not sure what his problem is at the moment."
"Uh, maybe it’s because you don’t have a shirt over your bangin’ bod right now. He’s not the only one staring." She nudged me and flicked her head over at the opposite goal line where Blake and Tyson were standing, waiting for their turn to hop into the scrimmage.
Blake was staring in my direction, and instead of his usual laid-back smile, he looked intense, with his eyes full of heat.
It wasn’t predatory and lecherous like Knox’s stare had been.
Knox looked at me like he owned me—like he thought I should be thankful to be considered for the opportunity to suck his dick.
Blake’s stare was more like a question and a promise, if the question was "Do you want this?" and the promise was "I'll rock your fucking world if yes."
I slowed my pace as we walked past Blake’s side of the field, and I ran my eyes leisurely up and down his body, making sure he saw it.
He looked hot, as always, with his muscular thighs peeking out of his maroon soccer shorts.
His practice jersey was tight across his broad chest, and his dark hair stuck to his sweaty forehead.
The colorful tattoos on his arms were visible under his jersey.
I was reminded again that he could easily pass for a wolf-shifter with his size and build.
He grinned at my perusal of him, and I just smirked back. Maybe we were taking our little game to the next level.
"Girl, I swear to the Moon if you don’t hit that soon I am going to start doubting your Alpha status," Harriet said as we stalked off to the locker room. "I’ve seen that boy watching you, and he doesn’t seem intimidated at all by the Elites."
"I know," I replied. "I just haven’t wanted to just jump headfirst—or vagina first, I guess—at Blake, because of all the shit that’s happened with the bond. I’m not sure I want to drag an innocent human into my wolf drama, even if it was just a casual fling."
We showered, changed, then headed out to the parking lot, each of us having a shift scheduled for our after-school jobs. I’d waved Harriet off as she drove away and was leaning against the Tesla, scrolling my phone and waiting for Ben, when I spotted two dickheads incoming.