Swoon (Silverpine #2)

Prologue

I’ve just finished reading the last stanza of my poem as my cheeks burn red-hot. The entire school falls as silent as an abandoned graveyard, and I have to pinch my arm next to see if this isn’t some lucid dream. When my blood vessels sting, rising to the surface of my skin, my heart pounds.

Nope. This is actually happening… I should have known on account of all my clothes. I am fully dressed, and my teeth are still attached to my skull.

Fuck.

But… I finally did it. I just confessed to the boys who I’ve loved since freshman year that I’m absolutely crazy for them.

And I did it in front of the entire school. It’s the last day before we finish for spring break. Yet I don’t see the rest of the student body. No, I only see them— Rowan, Ash, and Briar.

The Thorn Pack. Three brothers, and all devastatingly Alpha in every way imaginable. Every girl wants them, but they can’t have them because the Thorn back are mine... Literally.

We are scent matches. We are meant to be together—it’s fate, after all. I still remember the day I first caught wind of their Alpha pheromones in the school hallway. That intoxicating blend of petrichor, freshly cut wood, and clove… and how it complemented my Omega scent of sweet May-blossom.

Now, if only I could just get them to notice me. It’s been three years. I don’t think they even know that I exist. Not one of them has ever spared me a glance.

Not that anyone could blame them. I’m plain, with frizzy, white-blonde hair that makes me look as if I were struck by a fork of lightning. I have pale skin too, and freckles, and don’t forget the train-track braces.

In other words, I’m the archetypal nerd. The one who is always hanging out at the school library after class lets out. A nerd I may be, though, but we are still perfect for each other in every way. They just don’t know it yet.

Pack Thorn sit on the front row of plastic seats in the school’s gymnasium in a state of indifference. I cast my eyes between all three of them. Ash, the biggest, albeit shiest, burns the brightest pink, hiding his adorable face with his strong hand.

But he doesn’t have to hide anything from me.

He’s a sensitive soul; I’ve seen him talking to trees and animals on the school grounds. He’s somewhat of a loner, like me, but he’s just so big: no one would dare mess with him.

However, I am constantly getting tripped up in the school hallway and having gum flung into my hair by the likes of Kyle Barlow and his partner in crime, Natalie Fox.

The girls are constantly flirting with Ash, whereas the boys at school either ignore me or abhor me. Yet Ash ignores all their sexual advances, preferring to spend his days with maple, oak, and pine.

Then there’s his brother—the one who has zero fucks to give. Briar is the cool one. Always so laidback and relaxed, and he barely pays attention in class, and the best part? He’s an artist, like me.

His drawings are phenomenal, and I have found myself admiring them for hours in the school’s art gallery.

Last but not least is Rowan… What can I say about him? He’s the pack lead. A real tough nut who’s hard to crack, and I’ve never seen him smile once in the three years that I’ve known him.

However, I bet if I cracked that icy exterior, I would find a shining heart of gold within. I know I could change him.

Not one of them will look at me now, though, as the deafening silence still rings in the air like an ominous death bell, and why don’t they see my grand gesture of love?

That was my best poem to date. I was up all night, burning the midnight oil, so to speak, until I got every verse right.

Every line had to sing until it echoed inside the ears of its intended recipient.

Well, three recipients.

Slowly but surely, the laughter starts rolling in like a series of wavelets. The first wave washes over the room, a sort of tittering that grates on the nerves until it explodes into a raucous cacophony.

And then it reaches its final crescendo, an ice-cold tidal wave that could destroy an entire civilization.

Now I am drowning in their cruelty as my mind begins to spiral. I have the sudden urge to throw up, but miraculously, I manage to keep the contents of my stomach back.

Desperately, I seek out my pack, my three knights in shining armor, to see if they’ll defend my honor.

But they act as if I don’t exist.

What awful alternate reality have I stumbled into? Why don’t my Alphas see me?

Why won’t they save me?

Principal Jeffries orders the crowd to settle down, but they’re all so beside themselves with laughter to take much heed of the balding, middle-aged man.

That’s when my archnemesis, Kyle, a mere Beta male, shouts at the top of his lungs, “Ha, what a loser! The freak loves the Thorn Pack!”

And the mocking only grows louder.

I glare at Kyle Barlow. He and his bros are always giving me a hard time. His girlfriend, Natalie Fox, and her gaggle of mean girls, aren’t much better as they’re constantly spreading rumors about me.

I had planned to show them all up today by proving to the whole school that the Thorn Pack and I are meant to be together.

Yet my heart breaks piece by piece, as each member of the Thorn Pack gets up from their plastic seats, then leaves. The first is Rowan. His glacier eyes of pale blue fall on me, and they melt for just the slightest moment.

Time slows next, and could this be it? Has my Alpha finally acknowledged me?

But then his eyes freeze over, becoming as solid as icebergs again, and then he brushes his fingers down his tailored suit, spinning on his heels towards the exit.

He may be seventeen, but he still comes to school in his clean business suits. He’s tall enough and well-built to pull the look off.

Now I gaze at the immaculate back of his midnight black suit. Not one speck of lint or a crease out of place as he reaches the door.

Then Briar follows his example. I watch as his fingers seek out his pack of cigarettes at the back of his jeans pocket.

He doesn’t look at me either, yet there’s no missing the tautness around his eyes as he reaches his hands up, tying a band through his shoulder-length brown hair as he joins his brother.

Last is Ash. He keeps his head of dirty blonde hair bowed and his large shoulders hunched as he exits the gymnasium.

The last I see of him is his blue checkerboard shirt as all three members of the Thorn Pack finally reach the doors.

And then, they’re gone.

My soul splits right down the middle, and then mistress despair has me gripped in her chokehold next, ensnaring me tightly with claws of black.

They… rejected me. Even after my bold declaration of love and devotion.

They don’t want me.

People start throwing things at me next as I still stand on the stage. A paper plane hits my head, and then a bit of rotten fruit.

Yet I can’t stop looking at the door.

No, I need to get to the bottom of this. I need to find out why they don’t want me.

I rush down the stairs at the side of the stage, running through the main aisle that bisects the rows of ugly plastic chairs.

“Look at her go!” Kyle cries in mockery, but I ignore him, pushing out into the hallway.

Before I reach the door, I find three familiar faces in the crowd. My younger brothers, River, Zale, and Trent, smile at me sadly. They're still in their freshman year, and if they're smart, then they won’t make the same mistakes as I did.

They will make names for themselves in their high school careers.

The pack is just leaving through the main entrance of the school when I call out to them.

“Pack Thorn.”

All three Alphas stop. They gaze at each other briefly, and I know they’re doing that pack thing where they can sense each other’s thoughts.

Briar and Ash are fraternal twins, so their bond is already innately strong.

Rowan is a whole nine months older, but he still has a deep connection with his brothers.

In the end, Rowan whirls around, and he’s all business as usual. He’s the smartest in our entire year. Valedictorian for sure. A perfect straight-A student. Nothing misses his keen eye…

Well, maybe except for me… Someone he hadn’t even noticed, apparently, until now.

I can’t just be the only one who senses it. How we all match.

We’re scent matches. There are no two ways about it.

“Delta, is it?” he asks, coldly.

Delta? Why on earth would he think I was named Delta?

“Daisy,” I correct.

The Alpha sighs, fixing me with his infamous, icy stare. “We have acknowledged your proposal, and… we don’t accept it.”

More and more, my soul deflates, yet I keep my chin high as I don’t look away from the frost in Rowan’s eyes.

The air seems to freeze as ice particles swirl and eddy in the air around us. I take several deep breaths, trying to get my bearings. All the while, the blood roars hot through my veins.

“Why?” I ask this time, my voice sounding as rough as gravel. “We’re scent matches. How can you all not see that?”

Ash closes his eyes, and now he gives me his back. Briar folds his arms, placing his palm over his face.

Rowan looks me up and down, his face a perfect mask of calm as he whispers, “Isn’t it obvious?”

I know where he is getting at. And I won’t deny the crushing weight that his words have on me. But I still don’t look away from his eyes.

“Pack Thorn would never associate someone so…” Rowan begins.

My cheeks heat as I dare a step closer. “So what?”

The Alpha’s face is hard to decipher next as he mutters, “Unremarkable. I apologize. But your feelings are not reciprocated. My brothers and I all feel the same.”

I scoff. “Do they? Or are you just speaking for them?”

Briar groans, and then he pushes the doors open, disappearing into a sheet of rain outside. Ash lingers, but he still can’t look at me; he’s too shy.

No. I won’t accept this. I think I finally understand…

Their mother is terribly sick. She has been for a while now… ever since their father walked out on them.

Some Omegas never recover from an Alpha’s rejection. Emotionally or physically. And sweet Molly Thorn is getting worse year after year.

Soon, she may be no more… a mere husk of herself. A shell of a person.

But I am not their mother. And they are not their father.

History will not repeat itself.

I trust them…

Rowan backs away with his brothers, as he at least gives me the courtesy of eye contact. “Goodbye, Delta.”

“Daisy!” I shout back. “And… you don’t have to do this. Reject me because you’re afraid that I’ll end up…”

I don’t continue. However, Rowan freezes on the threshold. His blue eyes burn like liquid fire now. “What were you about to say?”

His tone terrifies me, but I swallow, finishing my sentence. “I won’t end up like your mother… because you are not your father.”

Lightning flashes outside, illuminating Rowan’s silhouette.

“Rowan…” Briar warns outside.

The Alpha moves back inside the building, stalking me slowly like I’m prey. I don’t move from my spot.

“How dare you. You know nothing about us…You are a stranger…”

It looks like I struck a nerve. As scary as he looks and sounds right now, I still whisper, “But… we don’t have to be.”

Rowan trembles, losing his composure briefly as his eyes continue to burn a molten blue.

He hates me.

His breaths come hard and fast as he never takes his hateful gaze off me. And then the next thing I know, he’s gone, spinning around as he joins his brothers out in the storm at last.

And just like that, all my hopes and dreams vanish into the void forever. My Alphas don’t want me because I’m nothing special. Unremarkable, they say.

But I know that’s all bullshit. Their father broke them… just as he broke their mother.

And now, they are breaking me.

My heart is a cold, barren wasteland now. No love, no dreams, no… nothing. Just emptiness.

But I refuse to become like their mother.

I make up my mind, then.

My fathers are leaving Silverpine for a life in the UK very soon. Hence why I decided to profess my love. It was now or never… I just needed to know if they wanted me back.

And it looks like I got my answer.

Who needs them? I don’t need any Alpha. I will not deteriorate.

Screw having a pack and scent matches.

We’re done here.

They will never have another chance with me again.

“I hope you’re ready for me, England. Because Delta is on her way...”