Chapter 1

BULLYING MY BULLY

"Arrrgh! Shut up already!"

Aria slammed her alarm clock shut and threw the blanket over her head. Another horrible day.

"Get your ass up or you'd be late," her wolf purred in her head.

She sighed.

"Why do I have to get out of bed so early?" she grumbled under the blanket. When she finally opened up to the day, the sunlight on her face was soft, at least the weather was friendly.

Somehow, she managed to drag herself to the shower since she wasn’t ready to face the consequences of being late to school.

She dressed in a plain blue cotton shirt and a pair of regular jeans, then headed downstairs to the empty sitting room. Not like she expected anyone to be home.

Her mom was probably off somewhere with another new boyfriend. Her dad—most likely drunk, passed out somewhere useless. A perfect family, really. She let out another tired sigh, the tenth that morning, and the day hadn’t even started.

After breakfast, she grabbed her bag and left for school. On her way out, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror—"plain Jane"

Tsk.

She shrugged, smoothed her hair with her palms, and tied it into a bun. Fashion had never been her thing.

She was an Omega werewolf from a broken family. That alone put her at the bottom of the pack. To survive, she worked outside pack territory, in human terrain, doing things others like her would never dare.

Crescent Moon Academy, the signboard was bold.

"I'll stop here," she said, voice flat as she stepped out of the cab and paid her fare.

Life inside those walls was no better than outside, but she didn't have variety to choose from. She walked to her locker to grab the books she needed before recess.

Splash.

Cold water hit her straight in the face. Perfect.

Wiping her face, she looked up to see a blonde Beta girl standing there with a smug grin.

"Oops, I think my juice slipped," the girl giggled.

'Of course it did slip upward,' Aria gritted her teeth hard and looked down. Her top was soaked with watermelon juice. She didn’t fight back. She never did.

Being an Omega meant she was an easy target. Fighting back would only make her more visible. And visibility got you preyed on by Alphas.

With a plastic smile and squinted eyes, she dissed it.

"It’s fine," she muttered, walking quickly to the bathroom to change. She always carried a spare outfit. These kinds of things happened too often for her to be surprised anymore.

She changed fast, grabbed her books, and rushed toward class—only to bump into something.

A wall. No—a person-Worse-Kai.

Not today.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, trying to move past him.

"Are you blind or dumb?" Kai sneered. He slapped the books out of her hands and yanked her by the hair.

Pain shot through her scalp. Her bun fell apart making her hair fall over her shoulders.

"I would think your eyes are functional, you dumb pig, but I guess I was wrong," he mocked and twisted her ponytail as laughed for his personal entertainment.

Kai was the future Alpha of Shadowfang pack—her pack. And she was an Omega. That meant she had to submit to him so no one stepped in to help her. They never did.

~~~~~~~

"I don't know how I feel about this man," Jaxon was filled with the thrill of the adventure as they pulled up at the stripper club.

Kai and his friends.

Young Alphas in forbidden territory. But they didn’t care, why should they?

Recklessness was one raw emotion they were made with.

"We'd pay for a VIP spot close to the center."Kai even left a tip for the attendant as they showed them to their seats

Werewolves weren’t supposed to associate with humans, but there they were, lounging like they owned the place. They had each snuck out to watch the performance of the one person whose name preceded her.

They were just in time as the moderator announced.

"The faceless..."

Meanwhile under the dim colored light of the inner room, a girl sat in front of the vanity, adjusting her mask and fixing her hair. She was someone who was the life of the club, the reason people patronised all the more. Someone admired by every man.

"...Raven Star," she heard her cue.

The lights hit, the music swelled as she stepped onto the stage. The room followed her—her rhythm, her movement, the pulse of the music.

"She’s gorgeous, man," a voice said.

Her hands trembled slightly. Panic crept in—but then she remembered her identity.

Unlike everyone else, she was The Raven Star. Humans and werewolves alike worshipped her, she couldn't be intimidated.

She peeled off her top and tossed it into the crowd. Screams and cheers erupted. The rush was new every time—the hunger in their eyes, the way they looked at her like she was everything.

And then she saw them.

"Dance for me, baby," one of them called out from Kai’s table.

She did.

Like a moth tended to fire she approached them.

She was confident to be in such proximity with her kind because suppressants hid her scent, erased her identity. To everyone in that club, she was human. And she liked it that way.

"Damn girl, you can move." Jaxon watched as her slender waist moved, her soft skin rubbing his jeans.

She gave each of them a dance, moving from one lap to the next. Then came Kai.

She paused for a second to admire him, chiseled jaw, perfect hair, broad shoulders.

He looked perfect, her hands itched to touch him so she did.

She traced his jawline with a finger and lifted his chin, for once, she was the one in control but when it came time to sit on his lap, she skipped him and moved on.

His expression darkened. He grabbed her wrist, reminding her he was there.

She gently pulled away, seductive and slow.

She was done for the night.

"Are you really going to skip me?" His voice was low, rough.

She nodded.

His eyes narrowed but she smiled.

For some reason, it pleased her that he couldn’t have what he wanted. His Alpha Aura filled the space between them.

She almost let her guard down, he was her Alpha bully—No—in that club, she was the one doing the bullying.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" he snapped when she looked at him unintimidated.

Despite his intimidating presence, her shrinking wolf and his allure, she dared to ignore him and walked to her manager with a complaint instead.

"That man over there," she said, pointing at Kai.

"What about him?"

"He... he tried to touch me," she lied, her voice breaking into a practiced cry.

Her manager never took cases like this lightly.

"Excuse me Sir, Is there a problem?"

Kai’s voice was already rising. His ego was bruised.

"Do you select customers here?" he growled.

Classic Alpha, he was already losing what little control he had left.

"She has the right to do what she wants," the manager said calmly. "If you don’t mind, sir, please calm down."

In the blink of an eye, Kai flipped a table.

"Don’t tell me that shit!" He panted slightly as he clenched his fist by his sides, knuckles already white from anger.

Security moved in, sensing the shift in him. "We'd have to escort you out please."

Double humiliation.

Kai’s eyes already flickered from grey to black and back indicating his wolf was on the edge, that wasn't going to be good for any of the young Alphas considering they were far from home.

"Let’s just leave, Kai. It’s no big deal," Jaxon said, placing a hand on his shoulder in a bid to stop him from wolfing out.

Kai looked over his shoulder and shot a murderous glare at Raven where she stood but she didn't flinch, she wasn’t intimidated by him at all.

Not in that club, not hidden under her mask.

He would never know who she was, never be able to punish her for it, she had no reason to fear.

She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled, it made his wolf want to make her submit to him.

If only he knew that she was the same girl he bullied in school…