Chapter two - Seraphina

Ana is hovering by the gates nervously waiting for me when my dad pulls up outside the school, she looks down at her shoes, avoiding eye contact as my dad stares her down.

He knows she was the one training with me on Saturday morning when I was caught, even though I refuse to confirm it, and if he thought I would listen, he'd ban me from seeing her. As it is, I've just got my sister as a new guardian. She's as happy about the situation as I am, but she wouldn't dare go against my parents orders.

"Right, mum'll be back here at three on the dot to pick you up. Tabitha once she's here you're free to do what you want." Dad tells us the plan for the upteenth time since I was carried home, tied up and humiliated, just for wanting to learn how to defend myself. 

It's not like I'm asking to be Alpha or anything, I just don't want to be attacked and have to wait to be rescued. Not like Arya, Giselle and the others.

The haunting images bombard me, bile rises in my throat and my vision clouds over, my heartbeat echoing in my head.

'Sera, breathe in slowly, breathe out, what can you smell?' Dina, my wolf, feels like she's forcing herself through and I try to answer her. 

What can I smell?

My dad's coffee in the cup beside me. Tabitha's perfume filling the car. 

'Good, what can you see?'

Ok, what can I see?

I blink twice, focusing on my dad's face, his irritated frown slipping and being replaced with concern. 

'What can you feel Sera?'

What can I feel?

Pain in my hands. I look down and see my nails digging into my palms, tiny pools of blood circling them. With another deep breath, I flex my hands, staring at the tiny semi-circular wounds as they start to heal.

'Good, nearly there, what can you hear?'

What can I hear?

"Sera? Are you ok?" My dad's worried voice finally breaks through. 

'Thanks Dina.' She settles down to snooze again, sometimes I think she's more cat than wolf. 

"Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I'm fine, honestly." I give him the strongest smile I can muster and reach for the door handle. "See you at home. Be safe."

"Always, baby. Love you both." He kisses my cheek and I climb out of the car.

My dad toots his horn and waves as he drives away and I'm left standing with my grumpy but attentive guardian.

"I can't believe I'm having to babysit you. I'm younger, it should be the other way around." Tabitha sighs, flicking her long curly brown hair behind her shoulders. "It's so unfair, why can't you be good?"

"Look, I'm sorry I got caught, ok?" She narrows her bright blue eyes at me and scoffs.

"Is that it? You're sorry you got caught? Unbelievable." Her arms flail around in exasperation as she rants about my desire to forever ruin her social life.

'She's still very young, she'll understand one day.' Dina coos soothingly. She's so much more understanding than I am, if I didn't know better I'd say she was the human and I was the beast.

Ana smirks at Tabitha, making her way towards us and as soon as she's close enough, Tabitha rounds on her.

"And you, don't think my dad doesn't know you were involved too. He's furious and now I'm stuck with her all week." Ana nods along while Tabitha rants, but her eyes are on me, looking apologetic.

'I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have hidden from the guys and let you take the blame.' She mindlinks while Tabitha is still talking at us. I grin, tugging her towards the school grounds.

'Are you kidding me? The fact that you were hidden right under their noses and they had no idea, just shows our training is paying off.' I'm almost giddy with excitement at the thought that has been running through my head all weekend.

"Are you even listening to me?" Tabitha spins around and hisses at us. "It's bad enough people know we're related, now they're going to think I'm willingly spending time with you."

She casts another look around and I take pity on her, she's genuinely terrified that someone might see her talking to us and assume she's involved in what she refers to as our idiotic deathwish activities.

"Sorry Tabs. If you want to go off with your friends, I swear I won't do anything that will get either of us in trouble." She stops walking, raising a brow at me and shaking her head like I'm insane.

"No way, Dad said I have to stay with you between classes, so that's what I'm doing. No matter how much I hate it." She takes a piece of paper with my schedule written on it out of her pocket and I roll my eyes.

"This is going to be the longest week of my life." I groan, leaning back against the wall.

"Same here." She mutters and then suddenly she's all smiles as Abaddon, Gene and Levi strolls past us. The first two don't acknowledge us, but Levi stops directly in front of me.

'Be kind, it's not his fault his brain is between his legs.' Dina says before he's even opened his mouth.

He's a handsome enough guy. Floppy blonde hair, bright blue eyes and muscles that seem to grow larger and larger from all the daily training the guys are forced to do, but he's also a creep. He jumps from one girl to the next, sometimes even during the same night, so I know as soon as he smiles at me, that I'm not going to like what he's about to say.

"Hey Seraphina, you know if you want some training tips, I'd be happy to roll around with you, anytime." He follows his words with a wink, as if I didn't already know he was being a pervert.

"You sure you're ok with your friends seeing me kick your ass?" I laugh, glancing behind him to see Abaddon glaring at me and Gene hiding his own smile. 

Tabitha groans, shifting a little further away from me and Ana laughs lightly, her arm brushing against mine as she moves closer in support.

"Only if you let me spank yours." He leans forward, licking his lips and making a show of looking me up and down.

A scathing retort is on the tip of my tongue, when Dina interferes once again.

'You're already on lockdown for a week, walk away." 

Knowing Dina is right, I turn away from him, marching away with Tabitha and Anastasia on my heels.

"So we'll talk later then, about the rolling and the spanking?" Levi calls after me, snickering when I raise my hand and give him the middle finger. 

It'll get back to my dad and he'll be disappointed in my continuous unladylike behaviour but I think I've demonstrated remarkable willpower in walking away.

"Sera, stop, people are staring." Tabitha grabs my hand and holds it down between us. "Why do you have to be like this?"

"Did you not hear what he said?" I don't know why I'm bothering to argue with her, she'd probably love it if Levi asked to spank her.

"You should be flattered. He was flirting with you." I widen my eyes at Tabitha, gesturing to Ana who's groaning and slapping her hand on her head, but Tabitha genuinely looks confused.

'She's young and going by what she's been taught. She hasn't experienced what you did to change her views.' Dina reminds me and thankfully, we've already arrived at my classroom door.

"Ok, I can't do this with you right now. We're here, you've done your daughterly duty, you're free to go." I wave my hand at her to shoo her away, but she stands there, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Dad said you've got to be in your seat, with the teacher in the room." She mutters, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Fine. Look, Mr Lars is there, I'll go sit down. Bye." I turn to Anastasia and she gives me another apologetic smile. "See you at lunch?"

"Sure." I turn away, feeling Tabitha's eyes on my back.

'I feel awful, you shouldn't be getting punished alone.' Ana's voice enters my head before I've reached my seat.

'Don't worry, it's a week, that's all, I can handle it. No sense in both of us getting in trouble.' 

Cutting the mindlink, I smile at Roseanna, the shy girl who sits beside me and slide into my seat. Getting my books and pens out, ready to start the lesson, I frown when I see Mr Lars leave the room, only to realise Roseanna and I are the only ones in the room and, due to my desire to get away from Levi and Tabitha, I'm fifteen minutes early to class.

Briefly, I consider making my escape, which is crazy. In my entire life, I have never skipped a class, it's too important, especially if I want to go to university to study medicine, but less than an hour with Tabitha guarding me and I'm craving freedom enough to risk everything I've worked so hard for.

'Hey.' I look up and see Gene standing next to Abaddon and Caleb, he looks like he's paying attention to them, but his voice in my head tells a different story. 'Four guys to bring you in? You're doing well.'

'Thanks. Going to have to find somewhere else to train now though. You know anywhere your friends won't find us?' I look down as they walk past me, but they don't look in my direction as they go to take their seats.

'The little clearing up behind the quarry. It's far enough from the border that the patrols never go there and Alpha Eligor has stopped anyone messing around in the quarry after the last storm made it too dangerous.' He briefly glances at me and gives me a quick smile, before turning back and nodding at something Caleb is saying. 'Is it still just you and Ana?'

'Yeah. You might want to up your guys' training, she was hiding in the trees when they found me and they had no idea she was there.' I turn, pretending to get something from my bag, so I can see his reaction. He's frowning which makes me feel guilty for making the dig. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to annoy you.'

'It's not you. I am concerned they didn't realise you weren't alone. What if you were rogues? They clearly aren't focused enough.' 

I don't know what to say to that and just as I'm about to close off the mindlink, he speaks up again.

'Let me know when you're going out again, I'll pop by and train with you. No spanking, I swear.' I laugh out loud, coughing to cover the sound and feeling my cheeks burn when the entire room turns to look at me. 

'Thank you for that. But yeah, will do. Nothing this week though as I'm grounded.' Shaking my head, I close the mindlink, pretending to be focused on something in my book to avoid the curious gazes of my classmates. Gradually they all go back to whatever they were doing, all except one. 

Abaddon.

His brown eyes burn into the side of my face and even when I look over, he doesn't turn away, just narrows his eyes like I've done something to offend him.

I try my best to avoid him, he's never taken much notice of me, more interested in the girls who throw themselves at him and I've never done that. 

He's handsome, don't get me wrong, his hair is jet black and silky looking, long enough for you to run your fingers through too, his eyes are a beautiful deep brown and intelligent, always assessing everyone and everything around him, but he's too controlled by his father. Too eager to prove he'll be just as good an Alpha when the time comes, that he won't even consider that maybe his dad's way isn't the only way to rule.

Alpha Eligor is a tyrant. He believes women are for breeding and taking care of the home, none of the women in my pack are allowed jobs that diverge from these areas and many don't work once they're mated. 

The men on the other hand, train daily from the age of eleven, some even earlier. They patrol and guard the pack lands and are expected to continue until they're either too old or injured irreparably and then they're allowed to take on other roles, like Mr Lars, who lost both his legs in the attack that killed Alpha Eligor's mother a few years before I was born.

I can't wait to graduate and get out of here, that's if I can think of a good enough reason to take to Alpha Eligor. I need to convince him to give his permission for me to leave. I could run away without it, but I'd be cast out as a rogue, forbidden to come back and even though our views differ drastically, I love my family and I'd still like to visit them, even if I don't want to live here.

'Do you need something Seraphina?' An involuntary shiver goes down my back at the sound of Abaddon's voice saying my name in my mind and I curse myself, realising I'm still staring at the volatile Alpha-to-be.

'No, Abaddon.' He flinches when I say his name and I quickly turn back to my book, turning the page and pretending to read.

'I assume your father punished you for that little stunt you pulled on Saturday?' His voice is rich, filling my mind and I'm both surprised and horrified that I want to hear more.

'He did.' I reply simply. 

'How?' That single word warms my insides and I feel myself turning to look at him again, his eyes narrowed on me.

'Excuse me? How is that your business?' His brow furrows deeper into a frown and I feel the urge to taunt him, so I raise a brow, pursing my lips and waiting for his reply.

'Everything is my business, Sera.' He says after only a moment's hesitation and the use of my nickname has butterflies swarming to life in my stomach, which is not the reaction I want, nor what was intended I'm sure.

'Not me.' I give him a tight smile, hoping this is the end of our conversation.

'You're sure about that?'  Luckily, Mr Lars comes back into the room and clears his throat to indicate the lesson is about to begin, so I have a valid excuse to close off the mindlink without a reply, but I feel the burn of Abaddon's gaze on my back until I hurry through the door, meeting Tabitha who is already waiting for me.

The rest of the day goes relatively quickly, at lunch Tabitha and her friends sit with us, discussing some TV show they're all watching and I'm able to converse with Ana via mindlink undisturbed while I tell her about the place Gene suggested.

She gives me this knowing look when I tell her he's said he might come and train with us, like something is going on between us and I won't admit it, but there isn't anything romantic between us.

I like Gene, not in that way, despite what Ana thinks. He's one of the only guys who understands and supports my desire to train. He'll make a wonderful mate for someone, someone that's not me. It's fairly obvious he's going to be Abaddon's Beta, they've been inseparable for as long as I can remember and so he'll need a mate that wants to stay here too. 

I'm pretty sure Ana has a crush on him, even if she won't admit it. Just like Abaddon and Levi, Gene has girls throwing themselves at him and Ana believes in true love, she wants to be the one, not one of many. So, even though she ogles him shamelessly when she thinks I can't see her, the only way she'd be with him is if he never touched another girl again. I'm not sure he'll do that until he finds his mate.

"Sera, mum's already there, will you hurry up so I can go and meet my friends." I'm barely out of my last class when Tabitha is dragging me towards the front entrance and down to mum's car.

"My beautiful girls', have you had a good day?" My mum beams at us from her car and I slip into the passenger seat, waving to Tabitha as my mum starts driving away.

She asks about my day and I give her a happy, glossed over version which leaves out any interaction with Levi, Gene or Abaddon and she tells me about hers, she spent the morning cleaning our home, then met her friends for lunch and they went for a walk together.

She looks genuinely happy and I know she is. She's a lot like Tabitha, she loves looking after my dad and us, she enjoys being at home and cooking, which is what we start doing as soon as we get home, she couldn't imagine a different life for herself and she can't wait for Tabitha and I to meet our mates, hopefully within this pack, so she can have grandchildren to dote on.

I know it hurts her that I want something else, that I want to leave, but I console myself with the fact that Tabitha wants a life just like our mother's, so at least they'll have one another.