Chapter 3

This was only the third week of term and already I despised lunch.

The lunchroom was already one of the most awkward and terrifying parts of high school, but I envied those whose only problems were where to sit, or who to sit with.

I didn’t have either of those problems.

“Did you get all that, Cutter,” Misty glared, looking up at me through her lash extensions.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied in my zombie tone. The four of them just finished listing off what they wanted for lunch, and now it was my job to go and fetch everything. I waited for her to dismiss me with an annoyed flick of her wrist before turning and heading for the kitchen.

After all the excitement this morning, the limp in my right leg started to act up again as I began to fill the first tray. I spent every weekend working in Elder Alpha Roland’s Manor, and rarely did I ever escape without some kind of injury. He was the Alpha who stepped up and unified the other Packs in the territory when the Thunder Pack was massacred by the Bloodmoon Vampires four years ago, and he was also the one who pushed them back to their own lands. However, in doing so, he was nearly killed.

And he was never the same after that.

Half mad, he was prone to bouts of anger and rage, which meant any little mistake I made over the weekend was met with harsh punishments. However, during the times when he was sane and back to his old self, then he was actually decent to be around. It was him who discovered my illness, and it was him you looked for and located a medicine to keep it at bay. I owed him my life many times over, and so a little discomfort was an easy price for me to pay.

Misty’s tray was first, obviously, and the order after that depended on who was at the top of her list for the day. Whoever Misty allowed to sit at her side was the queen bee at the moment, then the one sitting across from her was second, and the one sitting diagonal to her was at the bottom. I wasn’t even on the list, and it was my job to stand behind her in case she needed anything.

That was the worst part of lunch, watching everyone else eat. Werewolves who had their wolves needed extra nutrients to help fuel their increases senses and growing bodies. If they didn’t work out or train, then they wouldn’t really grow at all, but since this Pack was all about becoming the strongest warriors in the world, very few of them went that route. As such, many of the plates around me were filled to the brim, being devoured by happy looking mouths.

Thanks to my illness, however, all I could keep down was the tasteless shake housed in a thermos sitting beside Misty’s tray. If I didn’t perform perfectly during lunch, then I wasn’t allowed to eat. Simple as that. And if I tried to eat something else, or if I snuck a snack of some kind, then she would know soon enough as I wouldn’t be able to keep it down for long.

“Did you see him earlier,” Misty whispered to her friends. Or, at least, she pretended to whisper, when in fact her voice carried to all the closest tables. She loved being the center of attention, and the best way to make sure everyone was paying attention to you was to pretend to be hiding something. “He was walking through the halls just as we were on our way here.”

“That guy Principal Thompson was escorting,” Lacy asked excitedly, helping to build the hype. “I’ve never seen him before, but he was hot. Like, hot hot. Do you think he’s a transfer student or something?”

“I heard he came from a different territory,” Evelyn added, just as excitedly. “It sounded like Thompson was trying to calm him down or something.”

“That guy was super angry about something, that’s for sure,” Bethony joined in last. As the girl at the bottom of Misty's list today, she couldn’t speak until the others had. I was only half paying attention though, as most of my attention was on Chris’s table nearby.

“Dad let slip this morning,” he said, trying a little harder than Misty to keep his voice down. “Our vanguard unit raided deep into Vamp territory last weekend and killed the last of the Bloodmoon leaders. They won’t be able to challenge us again for decades now. The war is over, boys.”

Three sets of fit’s pounded into the table, and it amazed me that it didn't split right down the middle. The angry growls coming from them was enough to cause every nearby person to crouch down into themselves.

“Dammit,” Dillan practically shouted before he lowered his voice again. “We were only two years away from graduating and becoming eligible for missions. This is bullshit, how are we supposed to make a name for ourselves if the war is over before we get a chance to fight.”

They continue to bicker for a while before George changes the subject. “Did the Silver Myst make an appearance?”

I had to struggle to suppress a laugh.

The Silver Myst was an urban legend, a pure silver wolf who showed up when things looked at their worst. He first appeared near four years ago, shortly after the war began, and has, supposedly, been seen numerous times since. It was always out of the corner of someone’s eye, or seen by a friend of a friend. Chris and the others were too old to believe in fairy tales.

Chris seemed to disagree. “Warrior Captain Lenny claimed that the Silver Myst was the one who killed the Vamp leader while the rest of our forces were engaging with the other suck heads. And not only that, but the Silver Myst then joined in the battle and saved our vanguard from being overrun.”

They continued to fangirl over the Silver Myst for the rest of lunch, and so I wasn’t able to learn anything more about the end of the war.

“Hello, earth to Cutter, you in there,” Misty said slowly, as though talking to a small child. Shaking my head, I jumped and panicked as I realized that I’d been paying too much attention to Chris, and not enough to Misty. She was standing right in front of me now, and before I could apologize, she poured most of my shake over my head.

Cold shivers ran down my body as the thick goop slid down my hair and under the top of my sweatshirt. She shoved the thermos none to gently into my chest. All I could do was stand there, gaping in shock.

“Perhaps next time you won’t make me ask twice, Cutter,” she giggled, and it was only then that I realized the rest of the cafeteria had witnessed the whole thing. Mortified, I lowered my head and tried to calm my breathing as I waited for everyone to get bored and leave. But that’s when I noticed something odd, a new presence that I hadn’t felt before.

Looking up, I found Principal Thompson raising his arm, trying to get everyone’s attention. And standing next to him was, without a doubt, the guy Misty and her friends had noticed before. My heart started to flutter all on its own as I took him in.