The chill of winter bit deeply into my flesh and the stink of bitter tasting fear was rank within my mouth. I did not dare make a noise, though I was tiny, though I was crawling past the dead of my pack, still I persisted. My will to live was like a creature all its own—like a second life within me.

Fires licked at the village deep in the northern woods of Canada. It would be soothing—if not for the death and carnage—if not for what it burned. The cooking flesh of the dead was vile and rank, yet I managed to swallow back the bile in my throat. Daddy always told me to be a big girl, to never show my fear—never show my weakness. He taught me that I would be the alpha, so I had to be strong—to be brave.

I felt the link to my daddy go dead and my world crashed upon me. I lost connection to my mommy moments later and I was bordering on hysteria now. Crossbow bolts rained down upon me, but I felt hot hands pull me flush to them. I herd the slight grunt, when one of the bolts struck my savior in the right shoulder. He plucked it out and the wound slowly closed right in front of my eyes, just like it did for daddy. I knew that only powerful alphas healed this fast, so my savior was lycan and alpha.

He murmured lowly into my ear, "Come on sweetheart, let me get you safely to my pack."

Safe?

Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang!

"Jenna, I swear I will drag you to school myself if I have to," Ele's obnoxious voice rang in my sleepy ears and I roared at the door, as if I could kill the damn wood.

Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang!

"Jenna, if you don't get up now, I will let Clay's brother try to wake you up."

I popped up from my bed and I yelled at the door, "If you do that, then me and Victor are going on strike."

"Oh, good, you're up, now can I come in?"

I groaned at her through the door and said, "You're the damn alpha, like I actually get a choice in this matter."

Ele opened the door, she was dressed in her usual loose sweats and a plain grey t-shirt. Her red hair was tussled from whatever morning activities she was up to with Clay and her cheeks were still pink.

"Well, I see one of us is having a pleasant morning," I snarked at Ele and she rolled her jade eyes and gave me a long-suffering look.

"Jenna, let's get some coffee into you, lest you and Victor stage a revolt next."

I gave her a smirk, and I said, "I don't have a clue what you're talking about Ele."

"I suppose it was not you that printed out papers to form a lycan union and then sat them on my desk?"

I shrugged and said, "Seemed like a good idea at the time..."

Ele walked over and ruffled my long white-blonde hair and said, "Get showered and come get food and coffee pup."

I gave her a half-hearted petulant look and she shrugged. She knew how much I hated school, yet she still makes me finish. With the Senior Formal coming up, all the guys are bugging the hell out of me. Everybody determined to break through my force-field of disinterest, but they did not know I had superhuman hearing and I knew there was a pool going on who could get in my pants—and Ele wonders why I have zero faith in the male species.

****

After a hot shower and two mugs full of coffee, I stole Clay's keys to his sixty-eight Camaro SS four-speed manual. It was a rich mid-tone blue, with double black striped decals. I loved his antique cars, so we had an understanding, if I could find the keys to one of them, then I was not punished for "acquiring" a car. Ele told me that she would by me a car for graduation, which was coming up, thankfully.

I roared down the streets in the blue V-8 muscle car and I was fiercely disappointed to reach school. I was tempted to just keep driving, but we had a few gammas who worked in the school and Ele was their alpha, so they would tattle.

The school was built in the sixties, so the red brick building was fading on the outside. It had been refurbished and modernized about ten years ago, so the inside was decent now, as decent as schools get. I pulled into the senior parking and many pairs of eyes were fixated on me, or on the Camaro, probably the latter. I heaved a defeated breath and I climbed from the car. I could already hear the murmurs of the human males, all speculating how I could afford to drive Clay's car.

The two-story building was larger than the student body needed, still it was a small school. Ele told me about her high school, it sounded like a thing nightmares are made of. I could not imagine over two thousand humans in my head all day, every day. I would probably go off the rails and bite them.

Grayville High had about eight hundred students, that was a decent sized high school for our tiny town. The ringing of the first bell caught me off guard this morning and my ears felt as though they might start bleeding. I made my way down the grey painted hallways and the rows of black painted lockers. I did not bother with notebooks, well I carried one, so it looked like I was taking notes—in truth I had a photographic memory. I never took notes, hence why I managed to pass, despite my bad attendance record and my lack of notes.

One of the ginger haired girls tried to trip me up on my way past her desk. I gave her my wintery stare and she shivered, not knowing why my gaze sent thrills of fear through her body. She murmured an apology, as if it was an accident, but I just kept walking.

I take my seat in the middle of the row and I curse under my breath, because all the guys pile in around my desk.

Very fucking subtle people!

'I am going to maul these humans if they do this in every period,' I spoke telepathically to the two pack lycans in my class. Both were guys and they gave me a wide-eyed look—very apologetic.

"Today we will be discussing the Fourth Crusade, who read ahead?"

I sighed, now to listen to the barbaric antics of humans well there were lycans involved on both sides behind the scenes too—not that anyone else in here knew that.

A book came down on my desk and I snapped my groggy head up, ready to kill, then I realized it was just my history teacher...

"I'm so sorry that this is boring you Miss Snow, but you will pay attention, or I will dock points from your final."

I gave him a neutral look and did not break eye contact, I could see a bead of sweat forming on his forehead now, good. He finally looked away and began to go back to talking about the fights over the "Holy Land."

The second the bell rang, five guys all called my name at once, but I bolted form the class at barely believably human speeds and I went to my English class. Three more guys tried to stop me in the hallway and I just juked them and kept walking. They all eventually stopped chasing me, but it was still annoying as hell.

English went by fast enough, but I had a small pile of notes on my desk. All invitations to the formal, not that I was going. I knew that the humans did not know what kind of pressures female lycans lived under, but it did not make the attention any less annoying to me. They had no idea how close my animal instincts were coming to surfacing. This damn school was about to turn into a scene out of Ginger Snaps, if I am not careful.

I heard a masculine voice chuckle, I knew that tone, it was Taylor. He gave me a look of empathy, but was still fighting a smirk. I narrowed my eyes at him, he was always like this! He was always playing, always thought my situations were amusing. He flicked his chestnut hair out of his eyes and he took his seat next to me. I glared at him, my eyes were feral now, I had spent the entire day being propositioned.

He held up his hands in a gesture of peace and said," Easy Jenna, I come in peace! I just thought you would like someone sitting next to you, who is not going to pester you for one class period."

I shot him a skeptical look and he blinked a few times, like he knew not to hold direct eye contact for long. His body language was stiff, but his heart rate was steady, he seemed to be telling the truth. Boys without motives were still very suspicious creatures, but I sighed and nodded to him. He shot me a dimpled smile and I felt my stomach flip. Why did those dimples bother me!?

****

I managed to make it through class for the day and I was near the car, but then I saw the tall, masculine figure. I cursed vividly and loud enough for him to hear it too. Jamie waved at me gingerly, as if he were an old friend, or a lover. My eyes had begun to glow, bleeding my lycan aura and I let a sub-level growl roll form my throat.

Jamie looked unconcerned and I knew why, we were in the neutral area and surrounded by humans. He could be his dickish self and I would have to tolerate it, for now, but I might well kill him later.

"What the hell are you doing here," My voice sounded guttural, my white fur threatening to spill out. My aura promising everything from death to castration. He smirked at me and said, "I walked into town to look around and I thought maybe someone would give me a ride back?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, showing him how much I believed his ridiculous story.

"You do know that you are flirting with your own death now boy?"

He shrugged and said, "You can't kill me, that would bring the wraith of my father down on you—not to mention—put pressure on Clay to have to move back to Oregon."

I shrugged and said, "Clay knows I will do what I have to do and he will respect that, even if it loses him one snotty ass little pup of a brother."

Jamie's eyes were feral now and he said, "I thought we could talk... you know, peacefully, maybe get something to eat?"

I snorted and said, "You know, I might have given you one chance, since Clay is your brother, if you had not pulled the lycan male bullshit on me!"

Jamie looked annoyed and he said, "You try standing near a she-wolf as powerful as you and not wanting to claim her!"

I snorted and said, "I am around powerful lycan females all day, every day and I have never developed a sudden lesbian fetish for them."

Jamie narrowed his eyes and said, "You know what I mean Jenna."

I held up a hand, before he could continue and said, "No, I don't son, but I don't wish to either. Get it through your thick head, I'm not interested in you, never!"

I slammed my car door and I burnt out of the parking lot before he could climb into the car.

Jenna two, Jamie zero!