Eighteen

"Happy birthday, Sapphira!"

"Oh, thank you, El. You shouldn't have!" Sapphira blushed as her closest friend bounced over with a silver-wrapped parcel and the most obnoxious hot pink balloons.

"Don't be silly. You're only 18 once, Sapph!" She winked, flicking her brown curls over her shoulder.

El had been her best friend since her first week in the pack, and her endless energy, although exhausting, was a welcome distraction from all the stress in her life. The girls had met the day she started at Bridgewater High. Honestly, she hadn't intended on making friends here, worried that this would only be temporary or that it would open her up to questions that she couldn't answer. But when El had hopped up to her, the epitome of a southern beauty with her deeply tanned skin and dark eyes, Sapphira hadn't the heart to turn her away.

Sapphira rolled her eyes as El handed her the present and balloon. It seemed now everyone in the school was now staring at her. Being the last to turn 18 will do that.

"So, do you feel any different?" El asked, waggling her eyebrows. "Any boys smell extra good today?"

Sapphira snorted.

Mates were attracted to each other by smell--or pheromones as their biology teacher had told them. These hormones peaked when wolves reached maturity, acting as a beacon for unrelated wolves with similar strength. Occasionally, mates found each other before the Mating Ball but rarely were in the same pack.

"No, but I'll keep you posted," she rolled her eyes again and pushed the parcel and balloon into her locker. "I'll open that at lunch, okay?"

"Sure! We're going to be late for the first lesson anyway." 

On cue, the bell rang, and they made their way to English class. 

Sapphira was far more concerned about males sniffing her out as someone with royal blood. Since family smelled the same, she hoped that no one at the Mating Ball had met King Iri. Or her insane brother.

The morning classes went quickly, and as Sapphira and El headed out onto the Common for lunch, the twins, Cressa and Lucas, caught up with them.

The twins stood out in the south, with their bright blonde hair, pale gold skin and deep green eyes. They were built for the runway, Cressa exuding quiet elegance while Lucas was straight out of an underwear advert. Both of them were extremely tall.

The twins wished her a happy birthday and handed over a small gift. It was a beautiful moleskin diary with an engraved fountain pen, perfect for practising her writing in. El had given her a golden bangle encrusted with tiny gems, a traditional item of jewellery worn by women in the south. She put it on, and although her skin was fairer than most southern women, it offset her olive undertones beautifully. 

She gave El the biggest hug, tears in her eyes. She didn't know what she would do if she had to leave her friends behind.

"Heads up!"

Sapphira snapped her head up as a football bounced into the middle of their circle, narrowly missing Lucas.

He leapt to his feet and snatched the ball up from where it had landed a few feet away, fury radiating from him.

"Hey, sorry about that, man." One of the football team players came loping over.

Lucas threw the ball as hard as he could at the player, who caught it, to Sapphira's surprise.

"Watch what you're fucking doing, asshole!" He spat.

"Lucas!" Cressa jumped up and grabbed onto her brother's arm as he stalked towards the football player.

"Dude, chill out."

But Lucas had already grabbed the guy by his throat and lifted him off the floor, Cressa still holding his arm and begging him to stop.

Sapphira and El also jumped to their feet to help pull him off the guy.

Now half the football team was involved, and the rest of the school was staring, knowing full well what kind of trouble they would be in for this. Fighting among pack members was common but strictly prohibited on school grounds. Young males often struggled to control themselves after coming of age, and from what Cressa had said recently, Lucas was having a tough time. 

Lucas still had the guy by the throat and threatened to kill him while the football team tried to pull them apart, but Lucas was strong, and Sapphira and El looked at each other with horror as they realised he was about to shift.

"Enough!"

The whole group went utterly still as Alpha Kai stood tall a few feet away. His dark curly hair rippled slightly in the breeze, but his deep hazel eyes were fixed on Lucas.

Lucas shuddered and let go of the football player as the Alpha's command registered, his whole body dropping to the floor as people moved aside to let the Alpha through.

"You want to fight someone, Lucas? Fight me."

Lucas looked nauseous and started to apologise, "Alpha, I-"

"Get up."

Lucas staggered to his feet, still under the Alpha's command. 

"You five, Principle's office." He pointed at the football player, Sapphira, and her group of friends. "Now." Alpha Kai turned on his heel and walked back the way he had come, not even bothering to check if they were following him. 

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Lucas muttered under his breath as he grabbed his bag and ran a hand through his blond hair.

El and Sapphira took Cressa's hand as they walked back toward the school building, following the football player.

The Principle's office was near the centre of the main school building, a dated but clean space with a row of chairs outside. The dark-stained wooden door with a glass panel in the top was reminiscent of all the TV shows she had watched growing up about high-school students. All the clichés were hilariously accurate. The extremely grumpy Principal's receptionist was notoriously unhelpful most of the time and took a particular dislike to the football team. Her office was joined to the Principal's but was far neater, a metal filing cabinet was in the corner, and a computer about 20 years out of date whirred obnoxiously on her desk next to a pot of dusty fake flowers. The receptionist herself was a very well made-up woman, with dark grey hair worn in a different style every day and about ten golden rings adorning her long slender fingers. Her glasses changed to match her outfit; Sapphira had seen her wear at least six different pairs, all with thick coloured frames.

As the group walked through the space, the receptionist peered over the top of her cherry-red cat-eye glasses and sucked her teeth, her only acknowledgement of the large group. Her gaze returned to the computer screen, her long red nails tapping on the clunky white keyboard.

Next door, the Principal sat at an enormous office chair that seemed to dwarf his tiny frame. He was a nervous man with huge square glasses that he propped back up onto his large nose every few seconds. His brown suit had old food stains down its front, and his desk was covered in odd papers and stationery items.

Sapphira had only spoken to the Principle on her first day here, but he reminded her of a tortoise that a traveller had once gifted to her when she was young.

Now, the office seemed crowded; the five of them stood on one side of the Principle's desk and Alpha Kai and the Principle on the other. Alpha Kai lounged against the corner of an overstuffed bookshelf behind him, his massive arms crossed, chewing the inside of his cheek. A single dark curl had dropped onto his forehead. His skin was tanned and freckled, mirroring the fur of his wolf, a rusty dappled colour.

Sapphira had to admit. He was hot, especially when he was pissed off.

He was still pondering what to do with Lucas after he had explained that he had lost control. Torin, the football player, was also the Beta's son, and so Alpha Kai had a reason to come down hard on Lucas for attacking him. 

This is why Sapphira stayed away from the leaders of the pack and their heirs. Politics.

"Lucas, you will start training at the packhouse every morning before school." Alpha Kai unfolded his arms. "I expect to see you there tomorrow morning at six." He pushed himself upright and walked towards the door, carefully stepping over a stack of files on the floor next to the Principal's desk.

"The rest of you have cleaning duties in the packhouse for a week." The door clicked shut behind him.

El stifled a groan and turned to Lucas, who looked utterly mortified.

"Right, back to class, folks!" The Principle shuffled his chair back as he stood, vaguely gesturing with one arm.

They filed out of the office into the main hallway, where the magnolia paint was peeling off the walls in places, revealing a pale green underneath. "Psychiatric green", El had once told her, thought to be a calming colour.

Lucas took off down the hall, slamming a locker door as he went.

"Well, that's just great," El grumbled.

"I don't understand what's wrong with him at the moment," Cressa said quietly, pushing her long blonde hair behind her ear.

"He's just a hormonal male; he'll get over himself." El wrapped her arm around Cressa's waist and walked her back towards their lockers as the rest of the school began to file back in.

Sapphira adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she approached the steps of the packhouse. She spent most of her time trying to avoid the place since she didn't want to run into any visitors that might recognise her or her scent. She didn't have much choice now.

The massive building towered above her, oddly welcoming with its wood-clad exterior and enormous glass windows. A puff of smoke trailed out of the chimney in the centre of the roof, the sweet smell of burning wood filling her nose. She knew the unassuming cabin look was backed up with state-of-the-art protection, including steel shutters and alarms in case of attack from a rival pack. Honestly, the chances of that happening in a place like Bridgewater was pretty much zero, but it was still an excellent deterrent. 

As she stepped through the doors of the packhouse, the smell of jasmine hit her. It was one of her favourite scents, but she didn't expect a house of males to smell floral.

Her heeled boots thudded softly on the wooden floors as she passed through the lobby towards the Alpha's office.

On the inside, the packhouse was beautifully light and airy, the lobby an open space in the centre of the building with a simple round table in the middle with fresh flowers and a heavy-looking chandelier above it, the wooden stairs curling up on either side. The Alpha's office was in an alcove past the staircases, an odd place for it, Sapphira thought.

His door was ajar, and she could see him at his desk searching through a stack of files.

She knocked shyly, and he looked up.

"Ah, Sapphira. You're early. Come in." He paused and stood, gesturing to a brown leather sofa on her right. Behind it, the windows reached nearly floor to ceiling, with a window seat running the length of the room. The thick green drapes added a luxurious feel to the relatively small space. Beyond the windows, she could see a small stone fountain in the garden, and small hedgerows encasing the pretty space. Not what she had imagined Alpha Kai's daily view to be.

She swung her bag onto the wooden floor by her feet and sat, watching him lean against his heavy desk opposite her. She took a glance at the bookshelf built into the wall behind him. A huge curved sword was hung in the centre of the space, its milk-white handle held a stunning contrast with the deep blue-black of the blade itself. She had never seen anything like it before; it looked razor-sharp and freshly polished.

The books that she could see from where she sat were mostly about pack history and war tactics, spaced with little trinkets and photos of Alpha Kai with other pack members. It was odd seeing him looking so carefree and happy.

She knew he was in his mid-twenties and unmated, not unusual for alphas. It generally took them longer to find a female of similar ranking, especially when pack business kept them busy. 

"You don't seem like the kind of person to get caught up in a fight at school, Sapphira," he frowned. "I understand that a difficult situation must have brought you to my pack, but I hope I don't need to warn you that I have a low tolerance for drama." He clicked his tongue thoughtfully.

She had never explained her situation out of fear of being turned away. The King had declared her missing, presumed dead. She was more than happy for him to think that. She had simply asked to be sheltered by his pack, most people assumed that someone from her previous pack had made her life difficult and so she had run. This was extremely common among young females.

Her throat bobbed slightly, she hoped he hadn't noticed.

"I think you and your friends should stay away from Lucas for a while. He's having trouble controlling himself, and he needs the strong pack influence to help him. The last thing we need is him ripping someone's face off." He muttered the last sentence, his eyes turning darker.

"Of course, Alpha." Sapphira looked down, submissive.

"Good. Irina is waiting for you in the kitchen." He stood upright again and turned to walk back behind his desk.

Sapphira grabbed her bag and stood, stepping through the door.

"Oh, and Sapphira?" He paused, turning back towards her. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you, Alpha." She smiled and walked towards the kitchen.