Chapter 2 | Secret Crush

~Kiki~

Walking to the far end of the horseshoe driveway, I got into a new black RAM 2500. It was a loaner car that the dealership gave my dad when he dropped off his old pickup truck for servicing yesterday. I used his pickup truck only for work. I walked to school, beaches, and other places.

My parents drove fancy cars, while Megan inherited my mom's old Chrysler. She was planning to get a nice, loaded BMW on her eighteenth birthday next year. I was hoping they wouldn't trade in the Chrysler and give it to me instead.

I took a sip of my delicious hot chocolate and placed the cup in the holder before starting the car.

Wait, what? Why would my dad bring a loaner with a manual transmission? He knew I sucked at driving a stick shift. Glancing at my watch, I jumped out of the car and ran over to my friend Benjamin's house next door.

All the elite warrior families were treated equally with the other high-ranking members. We didn't have to live inside the huge packhouse like the ordinary guard wolves or trackers. Being wolfless, I was an exception and didn't receive the same treatment as my family, but that's a different story.

My dad could afford this luxurious two-story house when he was in his late twenties; the house was just a few blocks from the packhouse. I have warm memories of growing up with Megan, Benjamin, and the other kids when we were all young. Every night felt like a sleepover.

Things changed pretty quickly as we became teenagers and our parents grew wealthy. All young warrior Etas were promoted to Zetas, including Benjamin's dad. Benji was a month younger than me and was one of the few who got chosen to be an Eta: the top of the class. 

"Benjiii!" I rang his doorbell impatiently.

He usually struggled to get out of bed early and lagged behind, doing thirty laps as punishment. But with my luck, it seemed like he left early. No one answered the door. His parents were probably on the training grounds.

Bracing myself for a bumpy ride, literally, I walked back to the car. Benji was my support system. If there was anyone in the Thunder Bay Pack I could lean on, it was him.

In crisis situations like this, I wanted him to tell me I already knew how to handle a stick shift and a beefy truck. He would have even given a quick refresher or a sort of demo. Hell, I even forgot that this thing came with three pedals instead of two.

Letting out a nervous sigh, I wrapped my hand around the gear shift and pushed the clutch all the way in. Feathering it out slowly, I gained confidence as I reversed smoothly and easily made my way to the stop sign in first gear. Not bad at all. All that panic was for nothing.

I passed by the perimeter of the training grounds, watching my friends and family with nostalgia. I was especially disappointed when I couldn't see Alpha Kayden. This had become my routine over the past four years: driving slowly past this area while watching him until I was satisfied.

Call me a creep, but who wouldn't fall for a handsome devil like that? When the gentle beams of the morning sunlight fall on his shirtless body, they accentuate every curve and ridge of his muscular torso in the most seductive way, sending waves of sensation straight to my core. 

Heat crept up my face as I imagined it. This was usually the highlight of my boring day where everyone except Benji avoided me and called me a freak. 

It wasn't just the good looks that drew me to the Alpha like a magnet. He had been my savior multiple times throughout the years when I faced bullying.

This pack didn’t accept a wolfless member like me, and I was surprised I hadn't been banished yet. They were probably waiting for me to turn eighteen. The thought made me shudder because this was the only home I knew. I wouldn't survive a day as a rogue.

Alpha Kayden lost his mom when he was three. Grandma told me it happened during a fight at a Coronation Ceremony about seventeen years ago. Alpha Dimitri nearly went insane after losing his mate. He drowned himself in alcohol for months, and rogue attacks killed several important members of his pack before he could overcome his grief and function normally.

It was skilled warriors like my parents who protected the pack when the Alpha was lost. To keep his son safe from any danger, Alpha Kayden's maternal grandparents took him to their pack, and he grew up a thousand miles away until he was sixteen. 

There was a brooding aura about him that had drawn me in from the moment I laid eyes on him. He was there to witness my shameful performance when I failed to shift at thirteen. He was the first person I looked at when my wolf refused to surface. All I could see was an unreadable expression as he watched my tear-streaked face.

Many friends, including Alpha Dmitri's beta and gamma, had comforted me, saying I was a late bloomer. He simply watched me with a blank face. Luckily, that blank expression did not turn hostile, even when the others had abandoned me over the years, one by one, slowly and painfully—except for Benji, who didn't care whether I was one of them. 

Lately, I had been acting very strange around Alpha Kayden. My heart raced wildly just at the sound of his name.

Thanks to these irrational jitters, I made a fool of myself a few times when he was around, the latest being falling off a tree and landing right in a big puddle, splashing dirt on his pants. Guess what day and time it was? It was his Alpha Ceremony day, and he was walking to the venue with his future beta and gamma. 

They called me a clumsy freak while he asked what I was doing on a treetop. Everyone else was digging into the appetizers by then, but I wanted to get a first look at his appearance that day. Deep down, his ceremony felt like a special day for me as well.  

Well, that was a month ago, and I haven't been in his good books (or blank books) since then. He flashed a look of irritation whenever our paths crossed, as if it was my job to fall into puddles and ruin his clothes.

Circling one last time around the grounds to confirm he really wasn't there, I headed to exit the place in disappointment. I wondered what could be the reason, since he never missed a day of training.

I cut my way through the open parking lot where all the spare cars of the wealthy pack members were parked. Alpha Kayden drove three different cars, but the love of his life was the motorcycle that he rode almost everywhere.

My stomach did a sudden flip when I spotted him, specifically his back, as he was walking back after parking his motorbike. No, wait... he didn't park it in the usual spot but left it randomly by the curb. He turned around when he heard my vehicle approaching, and there you go... my stupid body forgot where I was. 

Without realizing what the hell I was doing, I lifted my foot off the clutch completely while turning around the curb and ran the big ass truck over the curb, then its left front wheel went over his motorbike.

Fuck my life!

Prepare to die, stupid Kiki.