Becoming Alpha (16 page)

I knew exactly nothing about that. “Um, I think he mentioned that he’s from France.”

“Oh?” She paused, waiting for me to keep going but I wasn’t going to tell her what happened. There were too many ears around. Plus, she was right. I didn’t trust her yet.

A soft tone dinged throughout the cafeteria, and everyone got up and moved toward the doors.

“Well ladies, it’s been lovely. See you at lunch.” Chris blew us another kiss before leaving.

“That’s the bell?” I said.

“What did you think it was?” she said.

“I had no idea, but it doesn’t sound like any bell I’ve ever heard. Usually they’re more fire drill-like.”

“No fire drills here. Talk about insta-headache. Werewolves have really good hearing. Plus, once you know what the bell sound is, you can’t miss it.”

“But your alarm clock—”

“Just because I have good hearing, doesn’t mean I want to get up in the morning. The more obnoxious and harder to turn off, the better. And I have a tendency to smash them. I go through a couple a month.” Meredith frowned at my tray. “You didn’t eat nearly enough.”

The girl had lost her mind. “I ate a humungo-sized omelet, hash browns, a bagel with cream cheese, and a bowl of fruit. That’s more than I’ve ever eaten in one sitting.” There physically wasn’t any more room in my stomach.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “Hang on one second.” She walked back to the guy making the omelets, talking to him while pointing at me. He shook his head in disapproval.

Jeez. Why didn’t she call the National Guard while she was at it?

Meredith came back with some sandwiches in plastic bags and an apple. “Take these. You might not think you need them, but when your stomach growls in ten minutes, do yourself a favor and eat them. Okay?”

I saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” I shoved them in my bag.

We walked outside with a group of other students.

“The classes are all in there.” She pointed to a two-story red brick building next to the infirmary. “The physical stuff is on the first floor. Don’t want anyone going out a window, right?”

I laughed. “They’re not so bad.”

“I kind of was bummed about getting a suite-mate, but that moment changed my mind. The whole breaking the window with the IV stand and then jumping thing was kind of badass.”

“Thanks,” I said, grinning. “In retrospect, maybe not my smartest move, but you gotta go with what you’re feeling at the time, right?”

“Totally.” She laughed. “Anyway, the academic stuff is on the second floor. All of the lockers are there too, so we can stash your stuff.”

Off to the side of the building was some training equipment. It looked way more Navy SEAL than high school. “What’s that?”

“Anyone who wants to be a Cazador has to pass a physical test and a sparring test. Most people try it after they graduate. Although some will come back and practice after graduation if they can’t pass it the first go-round.”

“Cazador? As in Spanish for hunter?”

“Yup. They keep the norms safe from all the things not so normal.”

My mind kept bouncing back and forth between two things: either these people were seriously demented or the world was a lot scarier than I thought. Werewolves weren’t bad enough? There had to be more?

Someone darted out of the woods between the buildings. Someone with strong arms, a broad chest, and long legs roped with muscle. I knew who it was, even from this distance. I stood frozen in place as I watched Dastien run toward the course with equal parts raw power and grace. He was wearing a pair of running shorts and nothing else.

“Wow.” It came out half moan as I watched the play of muscle across his body.

“Yeah. He’s kind of amazing to watch. One of the best Cazadores we’ve seen in a long time.”

Dastien ran at the hurdles, jumping over them without slowing down.

“But I thought he stayed here?”

“He goes out on assignment, but likes to keep his home base here. He teaches martial arts sometimes and gets the seniors ready for the Cazador test when he’s around.”

He took a running leap at the rope wall, gaining half of it by that alone. Hand over hand, he lifted his body up like it was easy. He leaped off the top of the wall, shifting midair, and landed as a beautiful white and gray wolf.

Well that was not what I was expecting to see. Undeniable proof that Dastien was a werewolf. I shoved any feelings I had about that way down. I had more than my fair share of junk to deal with for today.

Steeling my shoulders, I forced myself to turn away from him and keep walking.

The second floor had a long hallway lined with wooden doors and tall, black lockers. Each locker had a name on it instead of the usual numbers, and none of them had actual locks on them. Meredith pointed me in the right direction before heading to hers.

The schedule said I had English first. I left one notebook and the English books in my backpack, and dumped everything else in the locker. Meredith waited by one of the open doors.

All talking stopped when I entered the classroom.

“Ignore them,” Meredith said.

I focused on keeping my chin up and followed her to our seats. The teacher strode in. Everyone in the class sat up straight in their chairs as she set her papers down on her desk. I shifted in my seat, not knowing what I should be doing. I grabbed my notebook and a pen, and waited for class to begin.

I checked my schedule again for her name. Mrs. Ramirez. Thick black hair flowed down her back. Her large almond-shaped brown eyes made her look fey. She scanned the desks and stopped when she saw me.

“Hi, Tessa. Welcome to English. We’re doing
Macbeth
. Have you studied it before?”

I nodded.

A smile spread across her face and she stepped toward my desk. “You’ll be ahead of this bunch.” She handed me some papers and turned, her paisley printed maxi-skirt swirling around her legs. “Let’s begin.”

She started asking questions, but the syllabus distracted me. My old school had always been more of a straight out of the textbook kind of thing. But this was different. I flipped through the pages and couldn’t find anything about when the standardized tests were. Instead there were descriptions after each piece of literature—two essay question exams, blue books provided.

What the hell was a blue book?

I tried not to stress, unsuccessfully. I flipped open my notebook, furiously writing down everything that Mrs. Ramirez said.

Meredith hadn’t been kidding about the classes being hard. At my old school, you could get by on the Cliff’s Notes version. Not here, apparently. By the time the bell rang, my hands were sweating. I should’ve worn a thinner pair of gloves.

I scribbled the last few points in my notebook and shoved it in my backpack. By the time I got up, everyone was gone except the teacher.

Mrs. Ramirez eyed me carefully with a small smile. “You’re going to do fine, Tessa,” Mrs. Ramirez said.

I forced a smile. “Sure.” Honestly, I wasn’t at all sure that she knew what she was talking about. I rushed to my locker and grabbed the books for my next class, where Meredith stood waiting by the door.

It wasn’t just werewolf stuff I was behind on—it was everything. The new workload made it easier to ignore the wave of silence that followed me into every classroom.

By the time the bell chimed for lunch, I wanted to run back to my room and suck my thumb, but Meredith wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “Come on. It’s not that bad.”

“Totally not bad at all.” The whine in my voice was pretty thick.

She quirked an eyebrow. “You put claw marks in the lab table.”

“Oh. Um. Ooops?” That wasn’t good. “Should I tell someone? Do I need to pay for it to get fixed?”

Meredith shook her head. “No way. Stuff like that happens all the time here. It’s part of life. But maybe next time eat the sandwiches?”

I’d completely forgotten about them, but now that she said something, I realized that my stomach was trying to eat itself.

Shannon waited in the hall. “How was chemistry?” Her smooth Irish lilt made me smile, even though I wasn’t sure that she liked me.

“It was fantastic,” I said. “I think I’ll go shoot myself in the face now, and avoid the pain and humiliation of flunking. How am I so far behind?”

Shannon laughed. The sound of it lessened the tension in my shoulders a little bit as we walked to the cafeteria. I didn’t know how I was going to face the next round of classes after lunch.

I piled my tray high when we got there. I needed a plan, fast. In a mere forty minutes, my classes were going to take a turn for the strange and I was already at my stress limit.

Chris smiled when I took the seat across from him. “How’s it going?”

“As well as can be expected, I guess.”

“She’s got Were classes after lunch,” Meredith said.

Adrian laughed. “Be prepared to hear some funky shit.”

“Don’t scare the girl, Adrian. She’s already panicking,” Shannon said. “You should try to be open to what Mr. Dawson has to say in Were history.”

“I’ll do my best.” But I still didn’t know what Were history meant.

“Hell, I wouldn’t buy any of it if I were you,” Chris said. “But I know what I know.” Chris’ easy smile comforted me. I wasn’t threatened or intimidated by him like I was with other guys.

Like Dastien.

Chris relaxed, reclining in his chair a little, muscles at ease.

“We all have martial arts and yoga class together,” Meredith said. “It’s fun, promise. So keep that in mind while you’re in the more wolfy classes.”

“Wouldn’t picture you as a yoga kind of a guy,” I said to Chris.

“Hey. You don’t know me that well. Plus, I’m an artist. It’s hip and arty to do yoga.”

“Whatever, dude. You like it so you can check out all the girls’ butts in downward dog,” Adrian said, shoving Chris.

“Hey!” Chris shoved Adrian. “You’re doing the same thing!”

“I’m a dude, dude. It’s what I do.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the boys. The tension in my shoulders eased some more and I smiled.

“You’re really pretty when you smile,” Chris said as he leaned toward me.

“Thanks,” I said. My cheeks heated.

“It was merely my observation,” he said with a wink. He settled back into his relaxed pose.

Yeah, I wasn’t buying that for a second. The guys here were way too smooth.

The chair next to me scraped against the floor. Dastien stepped into the empty space and leaned in close to my ear. “I need to talk to you.”

I froze, unable to look at him. My pulse sped up at the sound of his voice, his breath hot on my neck.

I was seriously messed up where he was concerned. He ignored me ever since he bit me and here I was, drooling at the chance to get close to him. This had to stop. My body, heart, and hormones might want to do whatever he wanted, but my head was in charge of the lot.

I turned away from him. “No. You can’t just come over here and—”

He gently circled my arm with his fingers.

Jealousy. Rage. It swamped me. My stomach burned with it. My heart raced and I had an urge to rip something apart.

The intensity of his feelings made it hard for me to breathe. Was he really that mad?

He squatted down next to me. “Now. Outside.” His words weren’t a demand, but a plea.

I tried to jerk my arm away, but he slid his hand down to twine his fingers with mine. Dastien’s hair stuck out all over the place and his shoulders hunched down. He mouthed the word “please.”

I glanced around the table. Shannon and Meredith’s mouths hung open, but Chris sat forward, every muscle tense. His eyes were bright as he stared at Dastien.

I shook my head. I didn’t need Chris to protect me. Dastien had already done his worst by turning me into a werewolf.

I was probably going to regret this. “You’ve got five minutes.”

I followed Dastien out the door. He kept walking until he hit the tree line between the dorm and the classroom building. His grey T-shirt wasn’t tight, but he couldn’t have hidden his muscles if he tried.

Use your head, Tessa.
“Are you going to keep walking, or do you want to talk?”

He spun, eyes glowing. “Stay away from Christopher Matthews.”

I had a second to be freaked out by the eye change, before I got seriously pissed off. “You’ve got some nerve. You’re the one with the fucking girlfriend.”

“What? I don’t have a girlfriend. Just please. Tessa. Just stay away from the guys.”

“What do you call Imogene?”

“A friend. A very old, very loyal friend.”

“Well guess what. Chris is a friend. A very new, very fun friend.” My blood boiled. “News flash: I haven’t done anything wrong. You have no right to drag me out here and yell at me. Hello? You bit me. Now, I’m here and struggling to keep my head above water. So you need to get your shit together.”

His eyes dulled back to his normal light amber. “I—”

“No. Don’t say anything. There’s no taking back what you did.” I took a couple steps toward him and poked him in the chest. “And now you want to boss me around? Tell me who to talk to!”

“You’ve been flirting with Chris.” His voice was more growl than anything else.

“You’re jealous. You’re a big ball of lime green jelly.” It wasn’t a question. It was a fact. Maybe my visions were coming back. But why was it just words and emotions? Why didn’t I “see” anything.

He punched the closest tree. I ducked as splinters rained down. “
Merde
, Tessa.
S’il vous plait…
”

I took a giant step back. “What’s your deal?”

He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. “I don’t know.”

“You have no right to tell me anything. To speak to me. To be around me. What you did is unforgivable!” I forced myself to take a breath, but it didn’t help calm my anger. “You can’t ignore me, and then come over, drag me out of lunch to tell me who I can and cannot talk to. I don’t care—” My skin started tingling and my knuckles cracked. “Shit. This isn’t happening. This can’t happen. Christ. I didn’t eat enough.” Hair sprouted down my arms. My breath came out in gasps as I watched it thicken into fur.

“It’s going to be okay, Tessa. Just let the shift take over.”