Chapter 6

William

I had woken up that morning in renewed spirits. I felt I could handle anything; however, no one had prepared me for what was about to happen, and not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined it.

I left my room with a feeling of happiness; so great was my enthusiasm that my father noticed it and frowned.

"Is there something interesting about why you have that smile plastered on your face?" my dad asked with interest, and I denied it.

"No, I just want to get to school as soon as possible, that's all."

Dad set the silverware aside on his plate and stopped his breakfast, which was not a good sign.

"Since when did you become so interested in being on time for school?" he asked now with a mocking tone of voice. "It took years for you to adjust to waking up early, and yet you're still complaining. What aren't you telling me?"

My father's perception was unique, as was his nose for detecting my lies, so I was a bit honest.

"I have a feeling I'm going to meet a pretty girl today," I said, and he nodded as if that made it all clear.

"It's weird that you're meeting a new girl at this point in the school year," he said suspiciously, and I smiled at him.

"I never said she was new, just that I'm going to meet her; is that any sin?" I asked before grabbing my sandwich and walking away.

"Be careful; you know how I feel about promiscuity," Dad said seriously, and I ignored him and immediately got into my truck.

I arranged my things and took a good bite of my sandwich before pulling off, then drove carefully and thought of ways I could meet Sage. Somehow, I had to bribe the Fight Club people.

I was so focused on my thoughts that when I pulled into park, I almost hit the pariah of the pack. The black-haired girl gave me an angry look and walked away, so I ignored her as usual. As I got off, I greeted my teammates who were gathered in the parking lot, then went to change to go to the training class, which we had first thing in the morning.

After a while, everyone started to change, which gave me time to get to the far side of the campus, where the sports arena with the football field was located, without rushing.

I stretched with a group, and the teacher Conie, came over. She gave us a series of exercises, and I noticed that Emery wanted to come closer, so I slowly moved away and took some distance, so when she tried to come to where I was, the teacher spoke.

"Today we are going to have an interesting day; we will have a game where we will test not only your speed but your cunning and how you work as a group," she said, and everyone was ecstatic. "However, today I will be doing things very different from what we normally do."

That made everyone speculate and whisper, but it was Britney who raised her hand with a frown.

"What's wrong, Britney?" asked teacher Conie.

"What does that mean differently? Define it, please," she said, and people nodded, seconding the doubt she had.

"We won't be doing the typical basic training, but we will be playing 'Catch the Flag.' The game is that everyone will split into pairs with the goal of running in the woods, locating the flags and the ones who get the most flags will be the winners."

Everyone started laughing in amusement, but another boy raised his hand to ask.

"What are the rules of the game? How do we catch the flags?"

I frowned as I saw teacher Connie’s sinister smile.

She was a very creative woman, but at the same time, that made her terrifying, although that was what made her such a good teacher. She had a great wit, plus she used to adjust the fitness level and competitiveness of her students.

"That will be the fun part; you can find them in your hiding places, and you can steal them from your schoolmates," she said, and everyone started whispering, so I watched her with squinted eyes. "Best of all, we'll be more equitable and leave the pairs to chance."

"What does that mean?" asked Britney with annoyance.

"That you can match them with anyone here, regardless of sex, race, or your birth rank in your packs. Things are going to be a little fairer here; we don't want any nepotism. Let the Goddess be the one to choose your destinies." We all started to complain, but she saw us with annoyance, so we became silent, and then she took a red bag she had on the floor and shook it. "You are going to go through and take a piece of paper that will have a number on it, then I will go call to find out which are the couples and meet each other."

One by one, we went through it quickly.

The atmosphere didn't seem as lively as it had at the beginning, but that was just what made things interesting with teacher Conie. By the time it was my turn, I was number 47, and after half an hour, the teacher called out each pair.

Britney approached with amusement.

"What number did you get, handsome?" she asked coquettishly.

"The 47," I said, and she frowned, then Emery stood next to me, which made Britney leave immediately.

"We didn't get the same number, but we can cheat and change it," Emery muttered, and I raised my eyebrows before looking into her eyes.

She had honey-colored eyes that were beautiful, but her gaze showed a being that I was not at all attracted to. The girl was the queen bee of the school for a reason, but I wouldn't be the pawn to fall for her charms.

"I don't think that will be necessary," I said, and teacher Conie called out my number.

At that point, I moved closer to get away from Emery and didn't realize who my teammate was until she was close. My eyebrows immediately rose at the sight of her; she was the school outcast, the girl I almost hit early with my truck.

She eyed me with animosity.

Fantastic; that was what I was missing, I thought wryly.

"Well, this could be an interesting combination, and since I'm sure you don't know each other, William, meet Snow; Snow, meet William," said teacher Conie, and I heard everyone scoffing at the situation because everyone in the southern territory knew who I was.

I looked at the teacher, but she raised her eyebrows, and so I reached out my hand to give the girl a squeeze, and she moved closer so we could make up. 

Suddenly, the smell of her scent enveloped me completely. It was a vanilla scent that seemed to me to be the most exquisite in the world, and when we touched, I felt a damned electric current down my arm. She felt the same, let go of me, and didn't take her frown off her face.

It's my mate, I thought with horror.

I took a good look at her for the first time, noticing her as I never had before and realized that, although she was smaller than normal, she had beautiful hair, a sweet face with a few freckles on her face and very pretty lips. But it was her dark eyes that I really found mesmerizing and for a moment I thought of Sage, seeing the way she looked at me. 

The idea of her being Sage fell terribly on me; it was impossible for someone so weak to be my mate, plus she was a minor who had not changed; she had never attended the soul binding ceremony that was done before my father when you change for the first time. I had been to all of them since I was eleven years old and she never even came close.

She couldn't be Sage in her wildest dreams, nor would she ever have her worth.

This girl can't be my mate.

It was what my mind screamed quickly.

Disappointment immediately washed over me; Snow would never be my mate.

I was an advocate that a werewolf should be with who he truly loved, not who the Goddess thought or who biology wanted to mate with. The idea of being forced to be with someone seemed horrible to me, and this attested to it.

I realized that she did not perceive me as her mate, which I was grateful for because, at that instant, I decided that I would reject her when she came of age.

I couldn't be with such a weak girl, and maybe it was the way I looked down on her that made her see me as hating me.

That would make everything easier.