Alpha Zander
Chapter 2

“Do you guys mind if we stop by Victoria’s house? I told her I’d pick her up this morning,” Ollie asked, looking at Brent and me through the front mirror.

He didn’t have to ask; he knows our opinion of the girl. Basically, she’s a total psycho b***h. At one point she was so bad I had to tell him what had happened with her bullying other pack members and flirting and flaunting around with other men. She obviously denied everything.

They stopped seeing each other for a couple of months after but then we caught him sneaking around again the other week. He finally came clean and confessed that he and Victoria were dating again.

He doesn’t owe us any explanation, being the future Alpha and all. But he is our cousin, and it hurts that he would take her word against ours. But then again if she doesn’t change, sooner or later something’s gonna happen and he will replace out for himself.

“Sure,” I shrugged. To be honest I don’t really care anymore. Being the Beta means I give him advice, which he knows. Beyond that, I can’t change his mind or opinion. He must do that on his own.

“Why don’t you hop up front, Ash, and she can sit in the back with Brent?” he muttered.

I looked at him in surprise, “Are you sure?” I asked back

He frowned. “Of course! First, you’re my best friend. Second, you’re my Beta. And third, we just started things back up a few days ago, I just want to see if anything changes in her attitude before we make it official again. And, well, what better way to test it?” He shrugged.

I folded my arms in frustration and looked sternly back at him. “I am not going to be part of your girlfriend’s attitude experiment.”

“Please,” he asked, looking back at me pleadingly. “I took in what you and Brent said. I just wanted to check things out and take it slow.”

Damn, I guess he really likes this girl. He was depressed for a few weeks when they ended things the first time around, and the parents tried to ask us what happened. Of course, Brent and I kept quiet about the whole thing because it wasn’t our place to tell them.

I am only slightly older than Ollie who is turning eighteen in three months and will then be able to sense his mate. Our parents are very particular about us waiting for our mates. Nowadays, a lot of people don’t really wait, but I like the idea of my mate being my one and only. I didn’t really see the point in dating because we were going to replace our fated mates. What was the point in falling for someone if we already had someone destined for us, the heartache and hurt alone would be pointless. So I always avoided it. When I was younger I wanted to have a boyfriend but as I grew older I realized there wasn’t any point.

“Fine,” I sighed and moved to the front. He grinned and stepped on the gas taking off in the direction of Victoria’s house.

Victoria was waiting for us on the steps of her front porch, she looked up and smiled when she saw Ollie. Her smile became a frown as soon as she saw me in the front seat then peered behind and saw Brent.

Her frown turned into a frustrated pout. I guess Ollie forgot to mention we were coming along for the ride. I braced myself for the explosion that was going to happen when she reached the back door.

“Hi baby, I didn’t know we were going to have company this morning,” Victoria said in her sickly-sweet voice while she hopped into the car.

“Sorry, I forgot to mention it,” Ollie half-heartedly responded.

The tension in the car was thick and we sat silently for the rest of the trip. Brent was shifting around awkwardly in the back seat trying to get away from the whole situation. Victoria just sat there looking at her nails and fiddling with her hair, she looked up at Ollie once or twice as if trying to decide if she was going to say something but decided against it.

Ollie mind-linked me just as we were pulling up to the school. ‘Are you ok?’ he asked, eyes still on the road in front of him trying not to give away that we were having a silent conversation.‘Yep, just stressing about this test and my reports,’ I answered back and quickly grabbed my schoolbooks and got out of the car as quickly as possible.“See you guys in the cafeteria at lunch,” I called out.

As I ran up the school stairs lots of people looked at me and nod in acknowledgement, muttering “Morning, Beta” out of respect I nod back and respond with the same “good morning”.

As the Beta of Liverpool, I like to keep the peace, I like to know who’s who, and what’s what. Not in a bad way, just that it’s my job to know if there are any threats old or new, and I need to evaluate them accordingly to protect our pack and future Alpha.

At school Kia likes to keep a low profile and will only stir if she senses a threat of any kind or to anyone. Today seems like a harmless day, so she has retreated to the back of my mind and let me get on with the day of schoolwork and teachers.My two closest female friends, Chloe and Skyla, came bounding up to me with big smiles on their faces. It was nice to have some familiar faces around when we first started high school.

Chloe and I belong to the same pack and grew up together. We met Skyla in the second term of our first year and quickly became fast friends. She is from the Westfield pack about 30kms from our pack lands. Visiting her has been hard but we made it work. At least we get to see each other in school. We also made sure to include her in everything.

“Girl, how have you been? How was the weekend? I am so excited about Friday! So happy you decided to throw a party,” Chloe babbled on as she reached my locker.

I smiled, “it was good, just study and more training with Uncle and Dad,” I shrugged and started to walk towards my Bio class. “How was both of your weekend?” I asked them both.

There were lots of people standing around and muttering as we entered the main hallway, which led to the different classrooms and fields. I looked up and frowned. Kia was restless, pacing back and forth, unsettled. She has never been like this before.‘What’s wrong?’ I asked her.

‘I’m not sure, something just feels off,’ she muttered.

‘Like a bad thing?’ I asked.

‘No, just different,’ she responded, still pacing in the back of my mind. It was unusual for her to be this restless.

“What’s all the commotion?” I wondered out loud.

Chloe and Skyla looked at each other with concern. “Zander Blackwood is back,” Skyla muttered.

My body went stiff, and I quickly mind-linked Ollie. ‘Ollie, Blackwood is back, how do you want to handle this?’

‘Just keep an eye on everything, keep your distance,’ Ollie responded.

‘Noted,’ I replied.

As he minds-links the pack members who are currently at school, you could see some of the students’ eyes glaze over as he made a formal announcement.

‘Zander Blackwood is back at school, keep your distance and watch your back around him and his pack members. Do not engage. The North side of the cafeteria is out of bounds while he and his pack members are in the area. If any issues arise between our pack members and his, link me and Beta Ashleigh,’ Ollie linked out to all members in school.

‘Yes Alpha,’ came a wave of response after the announcement.

Chloe glanced at me with a worried expression. “I guess things just got a little harder than we liked,” she muttered softly as we walked past the humans and other pack members gathering around and gawking at the new arrivals.

I nodded in confirmation and glanced around. Blackwood was standing between the massive pillars that led to the English classrooms with his arm around a she-wolf’s waist. She has long dark hair and she was wearing black stiletto heels, a black and white striped mini-skirt, and a short white cropped top with her boobs spilling out.

My breathing hitched and my heart raced as his hand ran through his beautiful dark brown hair. His hazel eyes looked excited, happy even, perhaps he was happy to be back in school after a few years. Or perhaps it was because of the she-wolf that was standing next to him presenting herself to him like a prize to be claimed.

“I guess so, yeah. Honestly I didn’t think they were going to come back.I thought they’d go somewhere closer to their pack” I shrugged as we walked towards the science labs.

“This is me; I’ll catch you guys at lunch? I have three periods this morning,” I waved to my friends as I walked into my science class.

“Sure thing. We will text you when we all finish, and we can meet up,” they chippered back.

We wished each other luck for the morning and went our separate ways until the lunchtime bell.