Chapter 2

Snow

Arriving at the Dean's office, the least I expected was for the secretary to look at me with arrogance. So I gave her my sarcastic smile and let her see that I wasn't at the right time to put up with her off-handed phrases.

"Come in; the Beta is waiting for you right now," she said, and I sighed.

I knocked on the door and walked through as the man who controlled everything here told me to do so.

His gaze was piercing, as were his black eyes, so I bit my tongue lest I say something I might regret later. And well, voice. He had a couple of acidic comments about it.

"So you finally showed your claws?"

I didn't miss his tone of voice, and I knew he was teasing, so I didn't give in, and he snorted at my attitude.

"Why didn't you do it outside of school?" He asked curiously, and I frowned. "If this had been done outside or wasn't caught on camera in front of so many witnesses, I'd possibly let it all go under the table because this is Britney we're talking about: a bully, a repeat offender who loves this office, and one of the young women with delusions of grandeur who has someone who will solve her life."

His words made me sigh, and I immediately sat down in front of his desk.

"Let's just say I got carried away because she touched on sensitive issues," I expounded simply.

"And that's what she always does, so you're not telling me anything new," he expostulated, and I denied his words. "I don't want to, but I have to sanction you."

"But she was the one who started it!"

"And you fell into her trap," he said, lifting his shoulders as if downplaying it. "That's why you must learn a valuable lesson. She'll have work to do; she won't come out of it entirely unscathed, but there's only so much I can do for you."

"That's not fair; Britney always gets her way."

"And as much as I don't like to admit it, that's part of life, so you have to accept it."

I stood up indignantly, but the Beta only told me something that made me much worse.

"You can't leave here unless your tutor comes to get you at the end of the day; it's school policy that she accepts your punishment, and that's not up for debate."

I groaned and, after my day, waited for my aunt Susan outside the Dean's office.

For that, I prayed to the Goddess that she had sobered up.

However, half an hour later, my pleas went unheard, so Aunt Susan, thin and petite as she was, arrived disheveled and not only smelled of alcohol but had shown up with bloodshot eyes and the clear symptoms of having a hangover.

She went in to talk to the Dean and came out a few minutes later looking at me with a frown on her face, which did not bode well. The man had given me three days of academic suspension and sent me home, so I was sure Aunt Susan would be upset.

And so she was, not hesitating to grab my arm forcefully and reprimand me.

"You're supposed to be the smart one here," my aunt spat. "What happened to make you lose your temper like that?"

"Some girl said something about my parents and you," I replied, watching her remove her frown.

"You shouldn't pay any attention to any of that; you have to ignore it and follow the rules. We depend on you studying here for the Alpha's benevolence; you can't afford to throw it all away," she commented with the clarity one of the brief moments of lucidity gave her. "You can be great, and unlike my sister and me, you must be, so don't screw it up."

Her comments weren't said in a bad way; it was her way of trying to encourage me to get what I didn't have and a reminder that being here, whether I liked it or not, was a privilege, so I nodded.

The problem wasn't that on the way out, we ran into Britney at the door; this one, seeing us, didn't bite her tongue.

"Because of you, I'm suspended for ten days, and now I won't be able to visit the Walker's house, so you're going to pay for this one Omega male," she said angrily, and her parents' luxury car parked.

Aunt Susan didn't miss any details.

"Apologize to the young lady, Snow," she requested loudly, and Britney smiled at her request. "Tell her you won't be a bother again."

"No, on the contrary, I'm not going to apologize to her," I said, and my aunt squeezed my arm.

"Yes, you will; apologize at once," Aunt Susan spat.

"I'd rather die dry than apologize to this heartless bitch," I said, wriggling out of my aunt's grip.

My aunt was about to apologize on my behalf, but Britney burst out laughing and got into the car that had come to pick her up. Then I looked at my aunt with indignation.

"What was that? Why would you humiliate me like that?"

"That was me saving your ass," Aunt Susan muttered angrily, and I looked at her blankly. "You have to be open; you can't close doors with people like her, or you're going to end up being an Omega resigned to having no future, to not getting anything good, and you won't be able to get out of here. Think about your future, and don't offend powerful people or higher-ranking wolves because they can make everything chaotic for you. Use your brain; messing with the Elite is to end up like me or your mother. Is that what you want?"

"That's not the way things are," I spat immediately. "This school may be a breeding ground for bullies, but at least they get what they deserve, or something like that. So I'm not going to apologize because she decided to be a scumbag of a person."

"Don't be square; the reality is that power goes above all else, and she has the power to fuck up your life."

It was clear to me that reality was simple, but my aunt was exaggerating a lot of things.

Whether I liked it or not, even though the Beta had played me, he punished Britney more severely, and that gave me hope that despite everything, Alpha Hudson, the Alpha of the Ever Green Pack, was a wise man who managed the pack well.

Bullies like Britney were getting some flak precisely because of the policies the Alpha enforced.

That made me wonder if William could ever be one-fifth as good as his father, and, honestly, I doubted it.

In a hurry, we arrived home. I went straight to my room and noticed that Aunt Susan wasted no time in grabbing one of the beers left in the fridge.

I ignored him and changed to go to the one place where I could earn money without any trouble.

I put on the mask that gave me not only anonymity but security and adjusted the hood so it wouldn't be noticed, then sprayed on the spray they gave me to nullify my scent, which ensured that no one would know who I was.

I hurried to get there and then entered the Fight Club, a place that had become the entertainment center of the pack because of its anonymity and had a bar where people had fun.

I greeted the organizer of the fights, signed up for the flashiest fight of the night, then changed and arranged my hair under a helmet so it wouldn't be a nuisance, as well as adjusted my mask and put on a face shield. Then, I used the scent-hiding spray provided by the club, which would better help me hide my identity. No face, no smell, everything was perfect.

Well, this sure is fun, my she-wolf said cheerfully.

"Don't do anything to give us away."

My she-wolf laughed, and I just remembered the fact that my father made me swear to him that I would never show my she-wolf to anyone and that I wouldn't admit that I had her before the natural change you make at 18. But he was dead; I needed money for college tuition, and at the club, I could drain energy.

I walked down the hall, and the entertainer was quick to call me by my fake name.

"And with you, fighter Sage!"

I entered the ring, ready for battle.