All Chapters of Winter: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

I tapped the papers straight that my last class turned in before vacating the classroom. It was my first Friday and it was about as hard to get the students to focus as I thought it might be. With how the rotation ended up today, I had one of my Latin 1 classes at the beginning of the day and then the second one at the end. My Latin 3 class was skipping this Friday. The rotating schedule was something I needed to get used to as well. After so many years in college, it was jarring.My Latin 1 class was a cute class full of Freshman. They also were counted the lucky ones who managed to sneak into the class with the “hot teacher” first year. They were chatty and excitable but they seemed to have chosen Latin because they wanted to, not because they had to.This school offered three other languages; French, Spanish, and Chinese. Latin was the outlier and it was obvious with only having three classes for the size of the school. While this was the private school, there were still a lot of st

*** Winter’s POV *** I stood in the back of the yard. Everyone who had a wolf gathered on the last Friday of the month for the pack run. Even though I didn’t technically have a wolf, I could still shift. Alpha Damian gave me his usual creepy giant smile when he was about to say something he knew I wasn’t going to like before telling me I was to join. So now I’d been bringing up the rear for two years.There were only a few others my age or younger. Since only leadership, strong leadership at that, shifted when they were fifteen, it was a very small few. The rest were all eighteen and above. Sighing, I leaned my back against the tree.Most people ignored me. Usually for two reasons. One, I was just a young pup and they didn’t really care. Others knew that I didn’t have a wolf or that my dad had basically discarded me for Rebecca. Speaking of which, I didn’t see her nor Hannah in the mix. Dad was standing with Gamma Maddox off to the side.Gamma Maddox had taken over for my grandfather

I froze, my body going stiff as I looked up at my dad. Not that I really wanted to go with him. It would be nice since the walk was a long way but hope was not something that I held when it came to my dad.He frowned again before he shook his head. “She exerted herself too much.”Translation for that meant that I was too sweaty and I would have gotten his seats dirty. The front door slammed shut behind him and I winced. Luna Ember pulled me close, her arms wrapping around my shoulders.“I’m fine, Luna. I wasn’t expecting…”I nearly jumped out of my skin when Alpha Damian turned and threw a bottle at the door. The metal bottle didn’t break but there would be a dent in it for sure. My eyes widened as I stared at the door and then at Alpha Damian. It was rare that I saw any outbursts from Alpha but that was way more than normal.“Honey…” Luna Ember sighed.“Go get your backpack, Winter. I’ll drive you back.”My mouth nearly fell open. “Alpha, you don’t need to…”“Now, Winter.”He didn’t n

I looked over at my dad. He looked agitated. His back was straight as his hands thrummed on the steering wheel. Not just that but his leg was bouncing as well. It was odd seeing him like this. “Winter, I need you to remember. It’s really important.” “We didn’t talk about you or Hannah. The only thing we talked about was that Krista had seen Rebecca at the party. It wasn’t…” He growled, glaring at me. “I need you to tell me what he said!” I did jump this time as he raised his voice. “Nothing. Really. He didn’t say anything! It’s not like he would talk about that kind of stuff. He knows I can’t do anything or that you think I’m worth telling anything.” “That’s right. That’s right.” The second time he said it, he let out a sigh. “Why would Damian talk to you about anything?” He chuckled to himself. “How silly of me.” I looked out the window, keeping my hands in my lap. After that, I expected him to just kick me out of the car and make me walk home. However, he seemed like he w

I nodded again. “We did. My Great-Grandmother was a full-blooded witch that found refuge in Dawn Claw. At the time, my Great-Grandfather had lost his mate a few years back. He had been the current Gamma of the pack. They two of them didn’t have an…instant…connection. At least not from the stories my mother told me. But they did end up marrying and having my Grandmother and a Great Uncle.” “A witch line is passed down through the eldest female? Correct?” “Yeah. It’s why I have the last name Cyprus and Rebecca doesn’t. Hannah never had the last name Cyprus either. She took after my Grandfather, Gregory Tank. She changed her last name when she moved in with Dad.” Mr. Penn cocked his head to the side. “I remember Linny doing spells, or always having a potion on hand.” He looked down and smiled to himself. “She always smelled like herbs. Like mint and rosemary.” “That’s what I remember as well.” It was weird. I didn’t talk about my mother with Luna Ember much because I knew it was