I AM SILVERS; NOT PARKER

ARI

Have you ever felt so alone in the world that you knew that no one was coming to save you?

No matter who is around you, they won’t help you even if you are on your last breath. When you can’t reach out to those who can help you because your back is against the wall?

That is my life.

The first days are supposed to be chill, and boring and the new student is supposed to be invisible.

Not me.

At least not this time.

A hot cup of water is thrown on my face and I feel it burning my skin, scalding me that I am in so much pain but I don’t cry out.

One thing I promised myself yesterday night after reality dawned on me is that I won’t cry. I have no more tears to cry, and giving them the satisfaction of seeing me crying and in pain is something I won’t do.

Even though I want to cry out and run to stick my face in the freezer, I only clench my jaw as I try to open my eyes.

The girl in front of me is smirking, looking at me …daring me to say anything. I am nothing here. A mere dirt, poor, charity case that the prince is allowing to exist.

That’s why nobodys like her can make me feel pain. I am an alpha, something I won’t say or reveal to these rich spoilt people. I can heal faster than any normal wolf, and my pain tolerance is pretty high after the kind of life I have had.

That’s why I walk away. I take my now-soaked books and go back to the sanctuary of my dorm room.  Thank the goddess I don’t have to share a room with anyone because this is the only place I can find peace of mind.

I change my uniform, take new books, and decide that breakfast can be skipped. I don’t have to eat to survive the whole of today. I might try getting something late at night when everyone has eaten.

I just have to keep my head down and survive. Two years and I am out of here. Two years with the prince as my mate and I will get out of his hair.

Two years.

As luck would have it, I don’t have my schedule nor do I know where I am supposed to be going for my first class. I know nothing and I have to rely on my wits to get my schedule when the woman who is supposed to hand me one is gone to the bathroom before I snatch it quickly and get out of the admin office.

Calculus, communications then free break. Physicals and the day are done.

Looking at the schedule for the rest of my week, I find that I don’t have a lot of classes that can make me hate my life more, the classes and subjects are easy to manage and coast by. My mom says I am a genius, I think is should be smarter than everyone if I am going to make it in the outside life.

My dream is to become a lawyer, forget this life, and live a life that I have orchestrated, not under anyone or a pack’s thumb.

So yes, I am smart. I need to be. I need to be ahead or I will be the prey.

The teacher is already in class teaching. I got lost finding my way here, the large buildings all confusing but I finally found it. Downside? I am thirty minutes late.

“Who are you?” the tall man asks me his glasses perched up in the bridge of his nose.

I glance around the room, my eyes scanning the full room trying to find an open spot. There is one at the very back.

“I am new. My name is Ari.”

“Ari Parkers. Yes, you are late,” he looks at the papers on his desk.

“I am Ari Silvers,” I can feel the tension in my scalp. I have never nor will I ever go with Parkers as my last name. I am a silver. My father’s name. My pack’s last name.

“Sit, Silvers. I do not condone tardiness in my class but today I will let you slide. You are a new student after all. I hope you can keep up with our syllables, we move fast.”

“I can manage.”

“You studied in human schools,” he looks up and I hear snorts from my classmates behind. “This is not a human school nor do we go by their pace. We are on a higher level. I suggest you lose the attitude and sit and learn, young lady.”

Great. First class and I am being lectured by the teacher. The class is snickering and watching me with predatory eyes as I make my way to the back of the class where I see an open seat.

Until someone puts a bag on it. I am too focused on not tripping or being tripped so my eyes are cast down, books pressed on my chest that I missed the person I am standing in front of, who has taken the last seat in the class.

Zade.

“Find a seat, stand, or get out,” the teacher calls me out and I start feeling sweaty.

Zade’s stormy eyes are looking at me with hatred and dare and I know that I have no other option. I stand in the other corner, leaning against the wall.

How did I miss he was in this class?

The teacher doesn’t say a thing, and the class continues like nothing is happening.

But I don’t miss the feeling of someone watching me. I look on my left, clashing with those dark eyes and my breath catches in my throat.

I got mated with him yesterday. My body is carving him, I want to be close to him with all I have but I can’t. He rejected me. He is making my life a living hell.

I have vowed that I will fight every instinct I have to be with him even if it’s with my last breath. He hates me? I hate him more. I don’t deserve what he is doing to me but I can’t tell him that.

I won’t tell him because it won’t matter. He has a mind of his own and I mean nothing to him. That’s why I break the staring contest and look forward, to concentrating.

The teacher is right, the classes are advanced but I still manage to catch up and understand everything. I bury myself in math, willing myself to forget the dark cloud on my side, the eyes that are piercing my soul hoping to crush me and tear me to pieces.

But it’s so hard. Not when every fiber in my being wants to get closer to him. He will make the pain I feel within my core ease. He is my antidote to the craving and the twisting pain that feels like a knife being plunged so deep into my gut and being twisted by every breath I take.

I can’t believe that my life changed yesterday just like that. It was one thing to know that I would never have a mate because my true mate died when I was young. Or so I thought. It’s another when it turned out to be him.

I wish it wasn’t him. I wish I could just bolt and leave this place behind. But I can’t. I am doing this for her. It’s important to her that I maintain a good image, socialize, and know people of our caliber.

More like her caliber. My mother has always been a woman of high taste, living a soft life with no worries. My father worshipped the ground she walked on. She never lifted a finger. Now it’s Mr. Parkers who is worshipping her ground.

I think I took over my dad because as much as I was a princess, I was found rolling in the mud, helping in the menial tasks, and doing all sorts of odd work before I would get caught and sent back to the manor to clean and be proper.

But I loved it. I didn't want to stay inside and just paint my nails. I wanted to be active, learn how to fight, and be a warrior. Follow my ancestors’ footsteps. Our pack was in the white Alps, deep in the north and the mountains, the fog the cold weather was perfect.

My ancestors as much as they were white werewolves, were also warriors. Strong and vicious. To be weak was inviting to be teased and thrown in the freezing borehole until you changed. My father told me all about the history of our bloodline.

Until everything changed and now I am here.

My stomach grumbles the hunger cramps start to kick in. I never got dinner and breakfast was not an option today. Do I think things will change and I will get to eat lunch? No.

If Zade doesn’t kill me, then hunger will do the work.