Chapter Twelve
Iwalked out of class and headed straight to the forest. I needed a run. I was frustrated. These past few weeks have been irksome, and I didn’t know why.
Yes, you do. Nix’s voice was amused.
“No, I don’t.” I ran the rest of the way to the forest trail. I needed the wind on my fur, the dirt under my claws.
Megan rolled her eyes at me. Yes, you do.
I stumbled to a stop and threw up my hands. “No, I don’t.” I screamed and had a few people stare at me. I shook my head and apologized to everyone. I ran the rest of the way to the treeline and shifted into Nix.
She took off. She wove in and out of trees, jumped over fallen ones and skidded under bushes. “You know why you’re angry. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself.”
Just get to the point, Nix.
Rowan. Megan sat back on her haunches beside me. You haven’t seen or heard from him since the last call. She looked over at me. You have had a sub in class and he hasn’t called you back, so you haven’t called him.
Well. He should have called me back like he said he would. I growled out.
Nix just laughed. “You have been on edge. Which, in this case, is understandable. You don’t know what is going on, and Cass has been commanded not to tell us anything anymore.”
Stupid Alphas. I shook my head as my two wolves snorted. They think they know best. But I’m-
“Supposed to be learning another way to protect your pack.” Nix’s voice was a little agitated. “We should be focused on that and not some man who hasn’t spared us a moment’s thought.”
Someone else seems a little on edge herself. I scoffed.
I could feel her hackles rise. “Men suck. We all agree on this.” She pushed herself faster. “I just thought…”
Thought what? I asked.
“That our father and the king were different.” She finished. We caught the scent of a deer and veered off. We chased after it, weaving down the path. Once it caught sight of us, it darted away. We chased after it, our blood pumping in our veins and we leapt for it.
We were hit in the side and rolled. Our prey dashed away and now we are out for blood. Our growl was vicious as we got to our feet and whirled on the small brown wolf, pacing back and forth. As we turned, a few more wolves came out of the trees.
We prowled around and waited for them to speak. Obviously, they wanted something from me. But when nothing came, we growled again. “What the fuck do you want?”
“This is student grounds. No one but students and teachers may be in these woods.” A voice called out.
I froze. “What the fuck are you talking about? Who are you to tell me anything?” The wolf cowered, but they remained in place. I pushed forward to take control.
“Get off these grounds.” Another voice came, this one stronger. A she-wolf with red fur stepped out of the tree line. “As we said, these grounds are for students and teachers.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, pup.” Nix receded enough that I was alone in my fur for the first time. “I suggest you run along before I get any angrier after you made me lose my prey.” I snapped my teeth and my ears fell flat against my head.
“We will attack if we have to.” The air shifted and her scent hit me. Nina. I wanted to groan.
My mind linked Alpha Vince. You need to call off Nina and her pack of whores before I kill them all.
His response was swift. What are you talking about, Amy?
I decided to lie a bit. It’s Nix. I have control right now, and Nina has her group of friends surrounding me in the forest. They are pretending they don’t recognize my scent and say they will attack me to force me to leave.
What they haven’t figured out is that I have been trained for my entire life and I will kill them if they attack.
I let out a growl over the mind link, one that was as bloodthirsty as I was.
I’ll be right there. He sent back, and then he sent out an open mind link to everyone. Stand down if you want to survive. The black wolf is a student, and one that will gut you given the chance.
I watched the other girls falter, and Nina’s eyes glared at me as I paced back and forth. “Are you that stupid, girl?” I shouted, pretending to be my wolf. “That my human and I wouldn’t recognize your foul scent? Nina, your wolf is as stupid as you are.” I stepped up to her, towering over her.”
“Nix. Stop.” I growled out and my head snapped up as the light grey wolf of Alpha Vince came sliding into the clearing. “Please.” The other wolves gasped as he gave that inch, but his wolf wasn’t stupid. I was twice his size, and just as vicious.
I turned my head back to the others and sat. “They attacked me.” Was my only answer.
“We did not.” Nina, or her wolf, yelled back, but Vince ignored her and turned to me.
“What happened?” His preference was noted by everyone there.
“I was chasing after a deer. I thought in these woods, as a student, I was safe to roam.”
“And you are.” His answer was swift.
I felt my eyes widen in surprise. “Then why did the little brown wolf, the one I haven’t met, why did she intercept me? Why did they surround me?”
“Who is this bitch?” Nina’s response was vicious, and very confusing.
How does she not know who I am?
Nix and Megan looked at each other and then answered.
We changed your scent when you shifted into Nix.
That way, if you wanted, you could stay anonymous.
But it’s only enough to confuse people. Megan stepped forward.
We change it enough that it could be the same scent, if you layered more together, like when you shower and put on perfume.
So I smell like myself, but not. I questioned.
Exactly. It’s just enough to confuse a wolf who doesn’t know us.
I turned back to Vince, yelling at Nina. “This bitch?” He laughed. “This bitch would kill you and have every way to circumvent paying a blood price to your father because you attacked her first.” Vince turned back to me. I could see he was going to say my human name, but I mind linked him first.
Only my wolf’s name, please. They apparently need more practice with identifying smells.
He nodded once. “Nix, I apologize on their behalf.”
“Alpha!” Nina’s wolf stomped her front paw.
Vince whirled. “If you haven’t fucking noticed Clara, she is stronger than you.
” Ah, Clara was her wolf’s name. “I am doing my best to save you from a fight. You are an Alpha, I will give you that. And if the pairing I have in mind for Brandon fails, and you are open to it, I would offer it to you.” He glanced back at me and I grimaced inside.
Gross. “But for the love of the goddess, you are a weak Alpha. Nix is not.”
She glared at me and lifted her lip. “I could take her.”
I chuffed out a laugh. “You can’t even fight off my command.” I shook my head. An idea formed in my mind and I waited to see if she would take the bait.
“You can’t command me.” She cried, her wolf as stupid as she was.
Vince groaned out of frustration and I sat back and smiled my toothy grin. “You stupid girl.” Vince huffed. He turned to me and I tilted my head. “Nix, don’t hurt them.”
“I won’t.” I turned my head back to the five wolves around the clearing. “They interrupted my hunt, but I won’t hurt them physically…this time.” I stood on my four legs and stretched. I knew after I dealt with these girls, I would be back on the hunt.
“They are yours.” He turned his back on all of us. “Do with them what you will.”
“You can’t mean that Alpha Vince.” One wolf called out, and he whirled.
“You interrupted an Alpha’s hunt. You insulted her, and then threatened her. What did you think she would do?”
“We were just following Clara.”
“Then you will know better from now on.” His final call was harsh as he took off.
“Now.” I called out as a few turned to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going?” They all froze.
“Line up in front of me, next to Clara here.” I pushed a little aura into my command and soon they were all next to each other.
None stood out, other than Nina. Her fur was a thick, dark red, like a fox.
The others were brown or grey, then would have blended into any natural pack of wolves.
“You can’t hurt us.” One was brave enough to say.
“Oh?” I paced in front of them. “Why would you think that?”
“Nina’s dad runs an enormous pack. He will take yours down.” The amusement in her words irritated me.
I laughed, though. “What if I’m from a stronger pack? What then?”
They all froze. “No way.” One said.
“Only one way to find out.” I winked at them.
“You can’t hurt us, you said you wouldn’t.”
“I said I wouldn’t attack you, but I can think of another way to hurt you.” I waited for a second and then let my full aura out. “Shift and walk back to your rooms naked.”
I watched as they all shifted and covered themselves. “Please don’t make us do this.” One small brunette asked. But I scoffed.
“You attacked me. You teamed up on me. You were going to force me to leave a place that I was allowed to be and now you want mercy?” I called out and turned.
“We are sorry.” Another called, and they dropped to their knees. “Nina told us there was a rogue wolf out here, and we needed to protect the school.”
I whirled. “In what world does that make sense?” I stalked back to the naked women.
“You are all weak, untrained, mostly unranked wolves. You caught me unaware because I thought I was safe to hunt in these woods. Which honestly was my fault. But if it really was a rogue, you would have died. Nina knew the wolf out here was a student, but based on my size, she probably assumed it was an Alpha male out hunting and she wanted to stand out.” I cut a glare at her.
“I can only assume she knows who the Alpha male is, and knew he would be out here today. She was using you.”
The girls turned on Nina, who was still glaring at me. “Shut up.”
“Tell me she isn’t telling the truth.” One girl begged. “Please tell me she’s lying.”