Chapter 3 - ASHLEIGH

The start of this week has been hell so far, and it's only 12.30pm on a Monday!!

I don’t know how much more I can take, I’m not usually this wound up, I suppose maybe because I got up earlier this morning to finish some work and maybe because Kia has been so restless today … it all just added up.

I just finished two exams and hopefully, I aced them both as I’m aiming to be dux of the school this year. Thank goodness it's lunchtime and I can finally get some food. I’m hungry!

I make my way over to the cafeteria to see that Chloe and Skyla are already lined up. Chloe has her phone out and is tapping away furiously. She looks up as I approach them and smile.

“There you are, I was just texting to see what you wanted for lunch,” she says and frowns as she feels my annoyance and frustration.

I may be a Beta but Ollie’s dad and mine are brothers which means Alpha blood also runs through my veins. When I get upset, which is rare, I can’t hide it. My aura just pushes out and affects the people near me.

“What’s wrong, babe?” she asked. “How did the tests and reports go?”

I sigh. Of course, she picked up on it, even Skyla looks worried.

“It’s not like you to be this, what’s the word … itchy?”

Skyla laughed, “Itchy?”

“Well, yeah I mean, she’s all jumpy and frustrated like she can’t reach an itch,” Chloe laughs back.

I smile and shake my head at my silly friends. They always know how to make me feel better no matter what. Their mates are going to be so lucky to have them.

“I just had Mr. Trevor for Bio, Miss Libbs for English, and Mr. Dominic for Economics,” I sighed.

“Offt damn, I’m sorry gurl that sucks, Trevor and Dominic are dickheads. Libbs isn’t too bad, but you have to be on her good side,” Chloe says, understanding my frustration.

The cafeteria is a wide-open space that can accommodate well over 150 people, with tables of various sizes that can fit 6, 8, or 10 people. The glass doors all fold out making it nice and fresh in the summer and when closed in the winter, it keeps the warmth in nicely. Today is a beautiful Autumn day so someone opened all the glass doors to let the fresh air flow through.

They usually do a special every day with a variety of different foods you can purchase, if you pre-order in the morning you can get reserve homemade sandwiches, so you don’t have to line up for 20 minutes.

I just nod and sigh while waiting in line for food. I look around the cafeteria to see where everyone is sitting today. With Blackwood's pack back there would have been some adjustments made.

When the humans found out about the supernatural world, they adjusted a lot of their lifestyle as did we to accommodate each other. The school we currently attend is one of the most prestigious schools around. Being on neutral ground or human land means that different packs clash as more than one Alpha and Beta are in the school grounds at the same time.

In a way it made sense. All these packs being together in one place means that there are better chances to help each other in case of an attack. It also helps in building relations between packs as well as building a relationship with the humans.  However, if something goes wrong between packs because of any pent-up issues that haven't been resolved, then things go sideways quickly.

Luckily there has only been one or two instances where Ollie or I had to step in.

I look around and see Ollie with most of our pack over at one of the far corners, all crammed around a 10-seater table. After we grab our food, the girls and I intend to join them there.

Ollie looks up from his conversation with Brent. Feeling my gaze on him, he grins as he meets my eyes.

He suddenly frowns. Jeez is my agitation really that bad for Ollie to sense it all the way over there. I sigh and shake my head. ‘Later,’ I tell him in the mind-link. He nods in understanding and continues his conversation with Brent.

Mondays and Thursdays are the worst days to line up at the cafeteria; Thursdays because we get more meal options. I was in such a rush this morning that I wasn’t able to pack my lunch.

As we slowly get closer to the pay station my thoughts are derailed as someone slams into me. I look up in surprise and was about to apologize when the girl spoke to me in an annoyingly bitchy voice, “watch where you’re going, bitch, I just had to wait 20 minutes in line for that,” she growls as she spills her lunch all over the front of my clothes.

Everyone around us gasped and went silent. Kia pushes forward, her aura blazing around me absolutely pissed at the disrespect coming from this stupid she-wolf. Quite frankly I’ve had enough today, too.

The she-wolf looks up in surprise, her lips open and close like a fish gasping for air.

“Excuse me, you ran into me,” I growl with Kia overlapping.

I could see in my peripheral vision that Ollie was starting to get up to come over. I shoot him a look. He frowns then shrugs and sits back down. Chatter started back up with those who don’t really care about what happened. But for the people around us, they were already cowering in submission.

“I... I..” she splutters. Kia is getting more and more frustrated with this she-wolf and pushes her aura out more, making her presence felt even more.

I suddenly recognized her. She’s the she-wolf draped all over Blackwood this morning...

“Is there a problem Beta?” a rich husky voice asks behind me.

I slowly turn around and come face to face … with Zander Blackwood.