Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
The next two weeks of school passed in much the same way the first week had.
I fell into a comfortable rhythm of classes, homework, and the occasional after-school shift at Marilynn's.
Harriet and I ran together at the track a few days a week after class, getting to cross "staying in shape" as well as "ogling hot soccer bods" off of our weekly planner.
She also came over the Sunday after the end of the second week of school to attend an afternoon of Fortune Family Ass-Kicking Camp, taught by my dad.
We were going to make a fighter out of her in human form, for sure.
I kept a careful eye on Knox when I could since I had no idea whether his father had looped him into the more nefarious parts of his plans for our bond.
During the first week following the nightmare dinner at his house, he seemed content to continue to ignore me to the best of his ability, which made me think he hadn't been given the "make Mave fuck you or else" ultimatum.
He'd been all over Nikka, and then I spotted him being equally as handsy with a hot large-chested blonde wolf girl from the junior class for a few days, and according to the Academy gossip, he was with her over the following weekend.
Rumor had it that he and Nikka fought and broke up, which was apparently a reoccurring theme for the two of them.
To Nikka's credit, I'd seen her basically dry-humping one of the giant human dudes from the football team in the parking lot one day while she and Knox were on their break, so she was making the most of it.
By the middle of the third week of school, it appeared that Knox had reconciled with Nikka but also stopped acting out so much.
While he still mostly kept his distance from me, I caught him watching me more, and he didn't hide his intense stares from me when I did.
The daily torment of the decaying bond had already reduced enough that I was no longer constantly thinking about it.
Instead, I was mostly dealing with spikes of discomfort when I was in close proximity to Knox, when I caught him staring me down, and, of course, when I felt him getting his rocks off with his whore du jour.
As a result of Nikka's reconciliation with Knox and his more obvious interest in my whereabouts, the Alphawhores increased their bullshit during that third week after having been mostly quiet.
The jeers and name-calling during lunch and Study Hall had started up again, and there'd even been some (horribly clichéd) bullying in the gym locker room.
I'd stepped out of the shower on that Wednesday after an intense class of three vs.
three basketball games to find my clothes missing.
Instead of parading through the school naked or in baggy spare gym clothes like I assumed they'd hoped, I'd just texted Ben from my phone, which I'd had with me to jam to some Ariana Grande in the shower.
He'd appeared outside the locker room door with a slightly wrinkled school uniform I'd thrown in the car one day before work.
The disappointed faces I saw at the Elite table at lunch after that incident had been worth the moderate hassle of it all.
Both the best and hardest parts of my day were my classes with Blake.
He'd seemed content to follow my lead after what had happened at the back-to-school party, and I'd tried my best to be friendly with him without any overt flirting or indications I wanted to heat things up again.
I was just too nervous that if it got back to Knox that we were looking cozy, he'd go after Blake during soccer or some other way.
I was also still pretty rattled by the Alpha's threats, so I was confused and conflicted about having feelings for anyone at the moment.
It was one thing for Blake to be in Knox's line of fire—it was a whole higher level of bad if he somehow drew the Alpha's ire.
Blake, for his part, kept up the chill act and never gave any indication that the events of the party had rattled him in the slightest. If he ran into me in the hallway on the way to a shared class, he'd fall in beside me, give me a gorgeous smile and a hello, and walk me to class.
He'd usually escort me out, too, in the same sort of manner.
There were light touches to my back or my hand here and there, like he was just reminding me he was still here.
Sometimes, he'd send dumb memes and jokes to my phone or tablet, which would always make me smile.
I looked forward to seeing him every day (Moons, did he look good, always), but it was getting harder and harder not to drag him into a dark corner or an empty classroom and finish what I'd started at the party, consequences be damned.
Then the guilt would manifest, and I'd shove that idea back down into idea jail with all of my other bad ideas.
By Thursday, I was finally feeling as though I had adapted yet again to my new reality, which consisted of being more closely watched by Knox, being more highly targeted by the Alphawhores, and being more horny for Blake, and I was handling it the best I could.
After a particularly tense Shifter History lesson during which Helen spent a good half hour of the lecture on the revered position of the "Alpha Mate," including a discussion of famous Alpha Mates throughout history (and also during which Nikka preened and Mason glared at me), I was actually excited to head to Gym.
Ryan let us know yesterday that we'd finally be getting to do some real hand-to-hand combat against our fellow shifters instead of just running controlled drills.
So there I stood next to Ben, wearing my maroon Blackstone Academy gym shirt and short gray shorts while we both wrapped our hands up and got amped to beat some faces in.
Ryan had gathered everyone into a circle around two sets of mats, and he'd announced we'd be running two fights side-by-side—one for boys and one for girls.
He was currently studying his clipboard, making notes on who he wanted to pair up for the day.
"Alright, everyone simmer down," he called out, and the crowd quieted.
Some of the shifter students looked as blood-thirsty as I felt (the Elites, Nikka and her minions, a few of the other bigger athlete-types), while others looked like they'd rather be anywhere but here.
This was pretty typical—just because you were a wolf didn't mean you enjoyed or were skilled at fighting, especially in human form.
Usually only the top pack members and beta-types really valued that type of specialized training, but it was definitely a good thing they were teaching it here.
Wolves can be aggressive in any form, and you never knew when you may need to defend yourself.
"I'm going to announce our first two pairings," Ryan continued.
"Only a few of you will fight today, and we will probably only do this once every week or two, but everyone should get a turn.
We'll always continue to focus more on drills than actually beating the shit out of each other.
" He grinned at us. "That being said, the rules here are first to three hits, or first blood.
You may also tap out of a fight at any time.
This is all for sport—there are no actual Pack challenges or anything of the sort happening in here. Is that all understood?"
We all murmured our assent. I hopped in place on my toes, adrenalin pumping, even though I had no idea if I'd get to fight today. Watching others go at it was almost as fun.
"First pairings!" Ryan yelled. "Dani and Genevieve for the girls, and Ben and Thad for the boys."
Oh... shit.
The class tittered excitedly.
I glanced at Ben, who now had an absolutely feral grin on his face as he eyed Thad. Thad was looking equally as bloodthirsty, but he was glaring at Ben with murder in his eyes rather than smiling like a lunatic.
"Uh, Ryan?" Knox raised his hand like a douche. "Is it wise to pair a beta-bloodline wolf against an omega? I know this is all for sport and fun, but I'd assumed you wanted the fights to be somewhat evenly matched."
Ben was only grinning wider now. I just hoped he didn't break Thad's handsome face too much because Mason and Knox would probably be extra surly with me for awhile if he did.
"I appreciate your concern for your pack members, Mr. Monroe," Ryan responded, "but I'm not too worried.
Mr. Fortune has clearly had some combat training, and I think he'll be a good opponent for Mr. James.
I made sure to put some pairs together today that I thought would be a good display of skills, and this is one of them. "
We all looked on as the four selected students took their places on the mats.
Both Dani and Genevieve, who was a short but sturdy-looking pack member I'd said hello to a few times but did not know, looked bored with the whole affair.
But I was glad to see Genevieve at least looked like she had a fighting chance against that redheaded bitch.
Ben and Thad took their positions across from one another on the second mat.
Thad had removed his glasses and shoved his wavy dark blond hair behind his ears.
He was about as tall as Ben but just a little bit leaner.
Both of them looked tough and agile, their muscles flexing as they warmed themselves up in their respective corners.
I shuffled over into Ben's corner like I was his coach, and I started rubbing his big shoulders while Ryan set up a large game clock timer.
"Fuck him up, Benji," I whispered in his ear while giving Thad a grin. Mason and Knox hovered close to his corner.
"With pleasure, Magic," he responded, shaking out his limbs. "It's just a shame I'm gonna have to mess up that pretty face." He said that last part louder, so most of the class heard it.