Chapter 3

Monday Assembly. The massive auditorium was packed.

I was forced onto the freezing podium, mechanically reading my confession.

"I pushed Madison out of jealousy... I envied her. I am nothing but an ungrateful, lowborn half-breed..."

My voice echoed through the hall, but every word felt like barbed wire wrapping around my heart.

Madison was sitting right in the front row. She was surrounded by high-ranking pureblood boys, looking at me with absolute triumph.

Watching me break myself down under the spotlight gave her a twisted thrill.

The whispers in the crowd merged into a deafening buzz.

"I heard her family lives in a stray camp. She's only here on a charity ticket."

"She's so toxic. Just jealous of pureblood."

"An Omega with no pack shouldn't even be allowed in this school."

Every insult sliced into my bones.

But I was numb to it.

When I finished reading, I bowed my head deeply. I bent over, fought the violent trembling in my soul, and completely bared my neck.

My dignity was crushed into dust.

After the assembly, I walked off the stage, pale as a ghost.

People parted for me like I was the plague.

Madison made sure to walk right past me, her heels clicking loudly.

She spoke with dripping arrogance. "Some people are just born to be trash. You think an apology is enough? Keep your distance when you see me, stray."

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my flesh. I didn't say a word.

I just went back to my desk, took out a wipe, and scrubbed at the words "STRAY DOG" deeply carved into the wood with claws.

But the cuts were too deep. The more I rubbed, the uglier it looked. Like a permanent scar.

I spent the whole day drowning in their malice.

The second classes ended, I couldn't take it anymore. I bolted.

Avoiding the front gate, I went to a dark corner of the school parking lot to grab my beaten-up bicycle.

But Madison and her three minions were already there. They had formed a hunting circle, cutting off my escape.

She cracked her knuckles, walking toward me in her heels.

"Didn't you say you'd be my servant? I haven't even left yet, and you're running away? You playing with me, Chloe?"

"I'm sorry, you didn't call me..."

"Whether I call you or not, you wait for me like a good dog!"

Madison's eyes flashed with a dangerous wolfish glint. She flared her pureblood aura.

Her minions lunged forward, ruthlessly shredding my jacket with their claws.

Madison stepped in close. She waved a hand in front of her nose, disgusted by my scent blockers.

"Pureblood territory doesn't welcome strays. You reek of poverty. It makes me sick."

I bit my lip hard, standing perfectly still.

That only pissed her off more. Madison suddenly reached out and yanked the wolf-tooth necklace hidden beneath my shirt.

It was a protection charm Wyatt gave me.

In our world, the fang of a high-ranking Alpha was a terrifying totem of power.

Madison glanced at it and scoffed.

"A cheap piece of fake bone. You think a fringe stray has the right to wear an Alpha's fang? Disgusting."

She threw it straight into a muddy puddle and stomped on it, cracking the tooth in half.

"No!" I screamed.

Madison held up her phone, pointing the camera right at my devastated face. She laughed wildly.

"Pick it up."

"Get on your knees in the mud and pick it up with your mouth. Or I report yesterday to the Enforcers, and your pathetic family gets dragged in front of the Council."

My mind went blank.

The absolute humiliation made me shake violently, but I couldn't risk calling her bluff. I couldn't let her ruin my brothers.

Fighting every instinct in my body, I swallowed my pride. I bent my knees and knelt into the filthy mud.

"I'm sorry..."

I must have said it dozens of times. I picked up the shattered pieces with my mouth. Madison finally smiled in satisfaction, kicked me, and turned to leave.

"See? Be a good dog. Be waiting for me right here tomorrow."

"Yeah." She laughed with her minions and walked away.

Suddenly, I was the only one left in the dark parking lot.

I don't know how long I sat there. Fighting back tears, I reached up with shaking hands and spat the broken pieces of the wolf tooth into my palm.

But the moment I looked up.

The motion-sensor lights at the end of the parking lot snapped on.

Standing thirty feet away, were my five brothers.

Five apex Alphas, looking like demons dragged straight out of hell.

They didn't say a word. Their eyes were burning with lethal, dark-gold fury.

The oxygen was instantly sucked out of the parking lot.

Wyatt's eyes flared with such terrifying, destructive Alpha pressure that every car alarm in the lot started screaming.