8. NICE FREAK

AZALEA'S POV

The whole pack school was in uproar as I arrived, chaos and excitement, over the news of our pack hosting the next mating moon ceremony for the alliance. I graduated Highschool a year early and decided to take a gap year till I got my wolf instead of going to college right away. I took a job as a Teaching assistant to Grade 7 and 8 of the school.

It was a great job, but it attracted a lot of weird looks and attention when people my age were still in grade 11 or 12 freaking out over prom, or in this case, the dangerous Alpha of Red Fire pack of the North coming to visit for the mating moon ceremonies which is simply a modern werewolf version of debuting to the ton. Ladies get all dolled up for hours to attend an exclusive party in the hopes of finding a man. You only qualified to attend if you have shifted, the rest of the children stay away from the actual mating process.

Eloise always goes, and returns with the same surly expression on her face and irritable mood.

Mum whispering encouraging words to her, Dad giving a quiet forced smile and disappearing off to his study for the next 2 days.

This time felt different, Dad was whistling happily like he had just won the lottery. And even though I didn't mean to eavesdrop on my parent's conversation, but apparently, the Alpha had reason to believe Eloise was his fated mate.

I used to always look forward to mating moon ceremonies before I turned 18, to the day I’d meet my mate and he’d claim me as his, flaws and all, but now, dread fills me as the ceremony draws nearer.

If Eloise found her mate this coming mating moon, all attention would automatically shift to me. There is a low possibility I would find a mate without my wolf, and if I don’t, then I have no idea what becomes of me.

It would a lot easier if I knew who my biological parents are, if this was common in their blood line, but so far, I’m unlucky in that area as well.

Occasionally, the thought of finding my birth parents came to me. If I could find where I was from, maybe it would increase the chances of me getting a mate, for all I knew, there were thousands of people like me in a different community or deserted island and my mate was there, waiting for me.

Mom told me they had tried to find my birth parents when I was found, they took me to the alpha and tried for weeks, months and years, traveling all over the country and even Canada, till they adopted me on my 5th birthday. I went through a phase last year where I tried to find them, but there was too little information about me. I tried every thing, I had even done the online ancestry stuff but to no avail.

After trying and failing to clean the stain a random kid's drink made on my shirt in the rush hour of the morning, I finish with my business in the bathroom just as the bell for the next class rings. The hallways were empty by now and I was about to make a turn to my class of very active pre teen boys and girls when I noticed 3 boys corner a smaller boy, far down the hallway, ruffing him up.

"Didn't you hear the bell?, Get to class!." I shout but they ignore me land extra blows to the boy's tiny frame.

I run over and push the bigger boys away from him. Sadly, bullying is a very common occurrence in school.

Imagine a lot of egoistic males with heightened animal instincts in one small school.

The boy struggles to stand as I pull him up. "Go to the nurse." I tell him handing him my handkerchief for his bloody nose. His small frame didn't look a day over 14 years old against these 19 year olds

"If it isn't the Beta's daughter." One of them sang earning a nasty look. They are this cocky because it is a known fact that I do not have a wolf. So regardless of my father's position, they were higher than myself even though they were gammas.

"You took away our punching bag, what should we punch now?." The second one laughs pushing his mop blonde hair away from his face. I wince.

I suck in a breath as Kai's sinister smile rush to me. Since that night, small spaces frighten me and these guys are not helping.

I’m not usually bullied, people stay too far away to bully me, but sometimes, some guys are just natural idiots, they see a girl they’ve not slept with before and can’t take their eyes off.

“Hey hot stuff!.” One of them whistles. 

I groan as they move closer. I roll my eyes to walk away from them, I really don't want any trouble but they put a jock wall in front of me. One guy I recognize from the lacrosse team pulls me back aggressively on my back pack. I stagger, biting on my lip with a hiss, remembering the way Kai flung me across my room.

“Babe, my friend here wasn't done talking.” The guy says with laughter in his voice. I sigh loudly and untuck my hands from the back pack and turn around to face them, slowly. A round of small laughs fills my ears.

'I don't have time for this.'

Without any warning, I grip on both straps of the bag, plugging my feet to the ground, taking the strength from my waist, I swing, throwing him across the room with the bag. His friends gasp loudly, they didn’t expect that.

“Freak!. I told you the Beta's daughter is a freak!” The first one curses and tries to lunge at me, but suddenly the same way his friend held me, he’s being held up by a bigger guy.

"Hey, hey! what the?." My bully gasp again, he kicks and wriggles to free himself from the bigger guy, but to no avail, the big guy had a firm grip, with just one arm. The other guy I threw struggles to stand up, I glance at him to see blood running from his nose. Their third runs to his aid and they run off leaving the lacrosse guy behind.

‘Nice,’ I applaud myself.

“Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size.”