BenHe had to get away as fast as he could.For years now, he’d been fighting off girls trying to win his affection. When his brother was still alive, it was like a fun game that they played together, but since his death over a year ago, Ben killed that part of himself off.Or so he thought.This girl was good, very good, managing to hit him in all of his weak spots. Pretending to be a victim, working with the cubs, and challenging even his abilities to track a scent through the woods. It was like the Goddess placed this perfect harpy right in his path, just when he was so close to finally finding the man who killed his brother.But at least now he had the upper hand. He called her out for the temptress that she was, and now he had a valid leverage to make use of her going forward. Unless she pretended to be his conquest, then he would cut ties with her completely, which would put her on the wrong side of her parent’s ire. A girl like her couldn’t stand losing her extensive allowance.
The next two days were amongst the worst ever.Word spread like wildfire, and before I even stepped foot inside the school, everyone knew that Ben and I were a thing. Many of the guys who used to ignore me completely, even the ones who were cruel with their words, suddenly tried to hit on me. It was awkward, and with how little sleep I got, my mind couldn’t seem to find the words to respond.So, I just ducked my head and tried to flee whenever I could.That was bad enough, but nothing compared to the girls. With how much attention I was suddenly getting, not to mention the fact that many of the stronger females had their sights on Ben for themselves, I was declared enemy number one. I lost count of how many times I was tripped, had my belongings knocked from my hands, elbowed, had my hair pulled, ridiculed, or punished in some countless other ways.The worst was when Misty’s friends cornered me every time Ben pulled me away to some secluded room in the school for some alone time. The
“You look like shit,” Rosie said as soon as I walked into her clinic.“I’m sorry, the cubs are relentless in Club,” I said, breathing hard after having ran all the way here. I didn’t think I could handle getting cornered in the woods by Ben. It was bad enough that Rose could probably still smell his scent on me.Rosie looked around to make sure the coast was clear, before stepping closer. This was never a good sign, and I braced for whatever bomb she wanted to drop. “Please, Ayla, let me give you a checkup. I promise that no one will ever find out, and no matter what I find, it will just stay between you and me.”Placing my best smile on my face, I laughed and waved her concern away. “I’m fine, really. Where would you like me today, ma’am? Did that shipment come in this morning?”Rosie glared into my soul for the longest time before she sighed. “It’s already taken care of, but you can help out in L-Term. Seven new patients were admitted today, so they have their hands full over there.
Everyone was so excited about the bonfire later tonight that I was left alone for most of the day. Only during lunch did I have to deal with Misty and her friends. Being the king and queen of the school, no one argued when Misty and Chris combined their tables so they could all eat together.With Ben sitting right in the middle of both groups.Since we needed to play along, Misty had some other freshman girl come over to be the tables servant instead of me. I felt bad for her, but it was made clear quite quickly that she was more than happy to do so. Every girl in the school would give just about anything to get closer to Misty. That didn’t mean I was off the hook however.“What’s the matter, poppet,” Ben asked near the end of lunch, using his special nickname for me. “You look uncoforatable. Is your diet shake not agreeing with you? You really should eat normal food, it’s foolish to think that you need to lose weight.”That was a lie Misty and Chris came up with for why I never ate so
The look on Ben’s face when I opened the door almost made me giggle.With how nervous I was, however, all I could manage was a small smile as he openly gaped at me for an uncomfortably long few seconds. Thankfully, for once, the appearance of my siblings and their friends saved me from having to say anything.Chris’s friends all whistled at me and said nice, although dirty, things, while Misty’s friends eyed me up critically. They would never be caught dead complimenting me, but they also couldn’t seem to find any flaws to nitpick either. It probably also helped that they knew Luna Lannie was responsible, and so any critiques of my appearance would be a critique of her work.“You look,” Ben said after the rest of the group rushed outside excitedly, heading for their cars. “Wow, I hardly even recognized you.”“You look very handsome too,” I said, smiling again despite my crippling fear. And it wasn’t even a lie, as the outfit he picked out made him look even more perfect that normal. I
BenHe’d only had a couple drinks, not nearly enough to affect him as bad as this.But, as much as he wanted to blame his condition on the beer, he knew it started long before his first sip. It was the moment that girl opened the door.It wasn’t the makeup, which she finally seemed to learn to apply properly, or even the hair or clothes. It was her eyes that captivated him, and not for the right reasons. He’d seen that look in many girls eyes, the hungry one that shouted that they, and their inner wolves, wanted to snack on him. She had that same look, and normally this would've instantly put him on the defensive, but not this time.His wolf often yearned to chase after many of the girls who threw themselves at Ben, saying that their wolves were strong and would put up a good fight. It often annoyed Ben, having to argue for hours about why he chose to stay away from people like that. He had enough trouble on his plate without adding a host of fangirls.But this time was different.It
I wasn’t going to cry.Pulling my knees to my chest, I rocked back and forth on the ground and counted. I knew from that first dinner that he had no interest in me. I knew that he didn’t look at me the same way I looked at him. And I knew that trying to flirt with him tonight was going to backfire bigtime.And yet, it still hurt as bad as that first night when he rejected me.I never had any intention of actually trying to seduce him tonight, but from the moment I opened the door and saw the look on his face, a warmth and boldness started building up inside of me through the night. When he helped me out of the car, when he held my hand while we mingled, when he ran each time I needed a new water, and especially when we started dancing.I never felt so alive before.Nor had I ever laughed so much in such a short amount of time. And when my brother, his friends, and their friends all started to take a turn at dancing with me, I was left speechless. Even more so when I saw the look on Be
I was too tired the next morning to worry about how I looked.The sun wasn’t quite above the horizon yet as I walked down the street towards the northern outskirts of the town where Elder Lord Roland lived. Luna Lannie, after punishing me for ruining her cloths, and making it clear that I was going to pay her back for every penny, scrubbed the word off my forehead and did what she could to fix my hair. The scrubbing hurt a lot, but the haircut, at least, managed to calm me enough to get a few restless hours of sleep.“What’s with the new look,” Ben said as I walked past the house he was staying at. He jogged over to walk beside me, falling into place on my left. I saw him the moment his house came into view, but I still hoped that he had other plans this morning.I pulled my hood over my head without a word.“An interesting choice,” he chuckled nonchalantly. “It’s not my cup of tea, but as long as you dig it.”“I take it you didn’t get into Lord Roland’s Manor,” I asked, hoping to cha
“Hold still, or I’ll really give you something to cry about,” Luna Lannie seethed, crashing her aura into me. Biting my lip to keep from crying out, feeling lightheaded already, I braced as Margret tightened my corset even more.Ben, Maize, and their friends left school as soon as they recieved the call that their parents had arrived, leaving me alone with Misty and her friends. However, instead of resorting back to the their usual bullying, they continued on as they had this morning, talking about guys in the lewdest way possible. I learned more about my male classmates than I ever wanted too, and all the tips they were giving me to make sure Ben stuck around were still making my ears steam.Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when we returned home. As soon as I was through the door, Margaret stormed up and dragged me away to change. Practically screaming at me and whacking me with her stick for hours as I helped to clean the house and prepare for the dinner. I was a mess
This was by far the best day of school I’d ever had.Instead of classes, we had a pep rally followed by a series of games and competitions. Every year before this, ever since I first came to live in this Pack, I wasn’t allowed to participate. Instead, I was shuttled off to the lodge to begin cleaning and setting up for the weekend festivities.“Come on, I’ll race you to the top,” Ben challenged all of us when we reached the rock-climbing pillars. Ten in total, standing side by side in a row, they were one of the many pieces of equipment brought over from the Warrior Training facility for the day. And once school ended, they would be trasnported over to the lodge for the remainder of the weekend. “Loser pays the next diner bill.”“Your on,” Chris and Dillan say in unison and the other guys are right there behind them. Misty and her friends excused themselves, but Maize seemed even more excited then the guys. She was one very competitive chick.My back was throbbing with each step at th
“Why is she in here?”“And why is she naked?”“She must’ve been punished again, those bandages look fresh.”My eyes shot open to the sound of laugher, and they nearly popped out of my head when I looked over my shoulder to see Lacy, Evelyn, and Bethany standing over me. Scrambling away from them on instinct, I felt the wounds on my back tear. Then, just to prove that the Goddess hated me, I ended up tipping backwards off of bed, slamming into the ground with a solid thud.They exploded into laughter, leaving me to groan in both pain and embarrassment. After much struggling, I got onto my knees and slowly peeked over the edge of the bed. I quickly realized that I was in Misty’s room, and a few faint memories from a couple hours ago flooded into my head. After Rosie applied the silver and treated my back, Misty carried me up here and we took a bath together. I was so weak by that point that I couldn’t even lift my arms, let alone clean myself, so she had to do all the work. Even now, my
I was just so tired.I’d somehow fallen asleep at the diner, the extra shake I was given seemed to push me over the edge. The shot Rosie gave me this morning had started to fade after Clubs, and without it, I could barely stay awake while Misty and Maize took me shopping. It was a dream come true of mine, to be able to go into a store and spend hours trying on new things. Instead, I was angry with myself for spending the entire time in a daze.“Good night,” I said through a yawn as I hugged Maize.“And a good night to you too, Ayla,” Maize said back, hugging me tight. She also kissed me on the cheek, but unlike the confused flutters I got when Misty did that, this one left a warm tingle in my stomach. “Make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight since you didn't get any yesterday. A girl needs her beauty rest.”“I will, mom,” I teased, earning me a ruffled head. Then my breath was taken away when Ben moved up and, before I knew it, had his lips pressed against mine.Delirious already, I
Misty“I wanted to apologize again for my behavior up till now,” she said to Maize as they waited outside the changing room for Ayla. “I’m sure you know how overbearing parents can be, especially hot-headed Alpha’s. He might come off as uncaring and cruel, but he’s only doing it because he loves Ayla.”“How do you mean,” Maize asked, giving her a strange look. Misty knew in that moment that she had her counterpart from the Briar Kingdom in the palm of her hand.“Our ways might seem harsh to outsiders,” Misty explained, feigning sadness. “Our weaker elements are sent off to the smaller and more rural Pack's in our territory. Only the strongest are permitted to live here, to go to school here, and to train here. We are like the Spartans of old. Therefore, Ayla never should’ve been allowed to stay here. But father refused to let my sister be forced out. As a compromise, he told the Pack to toughen her up as best they could.”Maizie sighed after a time. “I guess I can understand that. My
Only it never came.Peaking out from behind my backpack, I was met with numerous confused faced. One of the mother’s laughed when she figured out what was going on.“I’m sorry, Ayla,” she said, stepping forward before squatting down a few feet in front of me. Her hands were up, showing she didn’t mean me any harm. “I guess I can’t blame you for reacting this way after yesterday. What with us rushing over here like that?”The other parents started to laugh too and one of the fathers came forward next to the first woman. It took me a moment to regconzine them.“Mr. and Mrs. Lecter,” I said, still hiding behind my bag. They were Duncan’s parents. As if to further prove it, Duncan barged through the crowd to stand between his parents and me.“I won’t let you hurt our Luna again,” he shouted, glaring at them.I groaned. “Duncan, you can’t call me that outside of the cage. You shouldn’t even call me that inside either.”His mother and several others chuckled as his antics. He wasn’t backing
It was strange having Misty and the others pretending to be nice to me all day, baffling many of our classmates and teachers.“What’s going on anyway,” Mr. Davidson asked as he walked me over to the Middle School after the final bell rang. He told Chris and Misty to take charge of warmups until he returned. “I thought I was seeing things when Dillian ran in before fourth period to bring you your crutches. I knew for a fact that they had disappeared yesterday before I could collect them. I requested a set to be brought over from the clinic, but the Principal shot that down. But just now, did I really see Misty showing some affection towards you?”My face heated up, hating that he noticed. Ever since lunch, Misty had been acting like the perfect big sister, not even threatening me or putting pressure on my back. Hugs, compliments, and more pain free physical contact than I’d ever really known. She even had me sit in her lap before Mr. Davidson’s last class started so she could massage m
“Ayla, could you stick around for a minute,” Mr. Davidson asked at the end of fourth period. “We need to discuss your behavior at Club yesterday.”Several of my classmates snickered as they left to go to lunch, everyone in the entire Pack already seemed to know that I pissed off Cythia somehow yesterday. I waited in my seat until the room was empty, then made my way up front as Mr. Davidson shut the door.“Mrs. Louis mentioned that you were looking for me yesterday,” he began, leaning against his desk.I held up my right arm. “I got burned again before school and was hoping to ask if you had anymore of that medicine.”“And how did you get burned this time,” he asked, his voice hard, causing me to keep my eyes on his shoes.“I can’t tell you that, sir,” I said softly.He sighed. “And I suppose you can’t tell me what happened last night between you and Rosie? She called me this morning with some bull about seeing to your treatment.”“That’s what she was doing, sir,” I answered truthfull
“Ayla, are you alright,” Maize said urgently the moment I reached the parking lot later that morning. “Why did you leave in the middle of the night? I’m sorry for falling asleep like that?”She wrapped me in a tight hug as soon as she reached me and my vision blurred when she touched the fresh wounds on my back. I must’ve made a sound because she pulled away quickly, leaning down till her eyes were level with mine.“I’m fine, really,” I said, forcing a smile. Rosie gave me another shot when I woke up, once again making it feel like I’d gotten a full night’s rest. She wasn’t allowed to give me anything for the pain, however, so every time I moved was a struggle. It was also why I carried my backpack in my hands, rather than on my back.“Why did you leave,” Maize asked, her voice getting a bit angrier.“I needed to go home for my medicine and treatment,” I answered truthfully. “I need to take my medicine every morning, and I was due for a treatment last night. That was why Rosie was esc