Hatred

Phoebe.

"Move! Are you crazy?"

Zion didn’t touch me. His hands were braced against the wall, trapping me, so I couldn’t move. I thought Zion had lost it when he kissed me, unaware that I was disguised as a man.

Zion took a step back, creating some distance between us. He grinned, his gaze still locked on mine, intense and unyielding. Slowly, I edged to the side, trying to slip away.

Finally free, I walked aimlessly, my throat tight with the curses I wanted to hurl at Zion but couldn’t. My fists clenched in frustration as I tried to calm my anger towards him.

I needed fresh air; I could barely breathe just moments ago. Facing two strange men left me craving a mental break.

"Hey, Phoenix."

I turned instinctively at the sound of my name, seeing Finley approaching with a warm smile, a stark contrast to how he had been earlier.

"I congratulated you in the group chat, but you didn’t respond. Did you not see it?" Finley started the conversation.

"Sorry, I changed my number. Could you add me back to the group chat? I think I should start paying more attention now."

"Yeah, I can do that. It’s odd, though—you were never active in the group, but whenever someone tagged you, you always responded."

Damn it!

I shouldn’t have said that. Now I had to think of a lie to cover it up. Why hadn’t I thought this through?

"I… have changed. I want to be more communicative in the group. Finley, can I ask you something?"

We walked together through the school’s back garden. I asked him a lot of questions about the biology class that Phoenix had been attending, since they were in the same class. I was considering making a journal—there was so much to remember about Livingstone.

My day improved with Finley by my side. He was friendly, and, honestly, he wasn’t bad-looking. I felt comfortable talking to him.

"Are you close to Hayden?" I asked him, half curious.

"I’ve never been close to him. Zion was close to him once, but after Hayden came back from rehab, he shut himself off from everyone. He’s antisocial. I can’t even imagine him as our team captain. I mean, sure, his abilities are top-notch—he is the future Alpha of the Silver Claw pack—but he’s just so rigid."

"And you? I don’t know much about you."

"I’m just a Beta’s son. I’m not as special as Hayden, Zion, or Adonis. In this team, we only have Beta fathers."

"You know my background?" I pointed to myself.

"Yeah, since you joined the team. Naturally, we talked about you."

I pursed my lips. I had now met three of my teammates. The only one left to gather information on was Adonis, the guy Finley had mentioned.

We stopped by the baseball field and sat on one of the benches. Some students were practicing on the field below, tossing and catching balls. I watched them for a while.

"Can I ask what perfume you’re wearing?"

"I’m not wearing any."

"That’s strange."

"It’s fine. Zion said the same thing earlier."

Finley frowned suddenly. I didn’t understand why he was so curious about that. I never wore perfume, because Phoenix didn’t.

I recalled Zion mentioning my scent. Even though his comment was odd, it was stranger still that two wolves had asked about it. Did I smell bad?

After a few minutes of silence, I stood up, ready to head back to my room. Finley followed, and we walked back together to the dorm.

Once inside my room, my phone pinged with two notifications. Finley had added me to the biology group chat, and Hayden had invited me to the team chat.

Hayden?

I couldn’t believe it—after threatening me earlier, he still acknowledged me as part of the team. Just as my anger towards him started to subside, I was shocked by a message directed solely at me.

"Get us five cans of soda and bring them to the training room. If you're more than five minutes late, 100 push-ups."

What?

I couldn’t believe he was treating me like his errand boy. I cursed Hayden under my breath as I stormed out of the dorm.

I was lucky that Livingstone provided everything its students needed, with vending machines on every floor, though I hadn’t explored all three floors yet. I had seen one on the map earlier.

I sprinted to the vending machine on the first floor and cursed when I found it broken. Frustrated, I returned to my room to grab the map and locate another vending machine.

After finally getting five cans from the machine on the third floor, I rushed to the training room, where Hayden stood with his arms crossed. I ran over to him, breathless.

"You’re five minutes late, Mathews. 100 push-ups!" His smirk infuriated me.

"But the machine on the first floor was broken, and the one on the second floor was out of soda. I only managed to get them from the third floor. Don’t you think you should reconsider the punishment?"

"You’re a werewolf. Use all four legs and get there faster."

Out of breath and humiliated in front of the others, including Zion, Finley, and a red-haired guy I didn’t know, I had no choice but to drop to the floor. He was right—I had forgotten my identity as a werewolf.

I braced myself on my hands and toes, counting each push-up until I reached one hundred. This was ridiculous.

Collapsed on the floor after finishing, I only had Finley’s sympathy. He offered me a drink and helped me up.

"Think things through before you act, Mathews. It’ll help when we’re on the stage."

"I thought you were just torturing him," Zion teased.

"No. I’m training him not to be weak."

I glared at Hayden with hatred. No matter what excuse he gave, I still felt like he was messing with me. He had threatened me earlier, after all.

"Give him a can, Adonis," Hayden ordered.

The red-haired guy approached with a soda can. I shook my head and pushed it away. I didn’t like soda, and I didn’t need Hayden’s pity.

"Hypocrite!" Hayden sneered.

His words lit a fire in me. I marched up to him, glaring into his sky-blue eyes, and pointed a firm finger at his face.

I wanted to punch him so badly. If not for Phoenix, I might have done it. I held back for Phoenix’s sake—he had worked hard to get into this team.

With a low growl, I warned him, "Watch your mouth, Grey. You don’t know anything about me."