Chapter 2: Public Shame

Nivia POV.

"This bitch here thinks she can snatch you away from me!" Claire thundered.

"I-I wasn't trying to snatch him away," I stuttered, trying to explain.

"Then explain the rubbish you wrote here," She waved the letter in my face. "You're confessing your love to a guy when you know he is taken."

"What?" Everyone asked, surprised.

All the guys from the football team were present.

Hot and sweaty from a practice on the field. Some female cheerleaders had also come into the male changing room with them.

And they were all looking at me like I was the devil.

I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat had gone dry, and my tongue felt heavy.

I wanted to say that it was a harmless note. I was only telling him how much I admired and respected him. Also, I had no expectations.

But the multiple sets of eyes fixed on me, with everyone gossiping in hushed tones, made me too nervous to speak.

As captain of the football team and head of the cheerleader group, Claire and Justin, were obviously close.

The rumors on the lips of the other students were that they could be fated mates.

But we couldn't know for sure until the mating festival when we all came of age and found the one destined for us.

"No, that can't be right," Justin frowned and collected the note from her.

As he read through it, I saw his face harden and his brows furrow. "What is wrong with you? Are you trying to come between me and Claire?" He asked, crumpling the letter in his hand.

"But I-" I tried to say something, anything.

"You wanted my attention, now you have it," he said, sparing me a look. "What did you hope to achieve with this note?"

"I just wanted to be fr-" I started to say, but he cut me off abruptly.

"Just save it!" He spat out with annoyance. "Who do you think you are to try to come between us? Even if I were not with Claire, I would never give you a second thought."

"I only wanted to be your friend," I managed to say in my defense.

I felt so ashamed, tears stung my eyes at his outburst of anger.

"The albino girl wants the Alpha's son!" Kyle, one of the boys on the team, snickered.

"The audacity!" Claire's friend, Sonia, who was among the cheerleaders exclaimed from the crowd.

I felt humiliated.

Before coming here, I already anticipated how things would go.

I expected a rejection, silence, or a small warning.

Never did I think any of the above would be happening in front of everyone.

"I liked you better when you were quiet and invisible. Now, you make me sick!" He threw the letter at my feet and turned to leave.

"Justin, wait!" I lunged at him. Wanting to say something to clear up the misunderstanding.

But Claire grabbed me by my hair. Pulling strongly on it, she shoved me to the ground.

I fell on the floor, my legs sprawled out as my skirt hiked up my lap, revealing a mark on my left thigh.

"The albino white rat has a crescent moon birthmark. You belong in a lab, you wolfless, strange girl," Claire laughed, and the other guys joined in to laugh at me.

The tears I was desperately fighting, finally blurred my eyes and streamed down my cheeks as I bowed my head in shame.

Just before I covered my face with my hands, I saw Justin turn around and stare at the mark on my lap.

I could be mistaken, but I think I saw his eyes widen with shock.

My hands covered my eyes, blinding me to the irritation on their faces, and I tried to block out the sounds of their mocking laughter.

To say that I was ashamed was putting it mildly.

I was mortified by the ripple effect it would have.

Before the end of the day, the news would have spread like wildfire among the students, and I couldn't handle the negative attention that would come as a result of it.

Gradually, footsteps started to move around, indicating that they were taking their leave.

Just before Claire left, I felt her breath on my neck, as she bent low to whisper into my ear, "My little advice to you, stay away from Justin."

With that being said, I heard her shoes click on the tiles as she left the room.

For a moment, I sat there like that, dazed. Tears ran down my cheeks in torrents.

What did I do that was so wrong?

Was it a crime to tell someone you liked them and that you admired certain qualities about them?

We all were not mated, and the mating festival was in two days.

Before the ceremony, every relationship among us teenagers was inconsequential and held no value.

When that day comes, Justin could be bound to another and Claire would not be able to do anything about it.

I was still crying silently to myself when a hand landed on my shoulder.

I looked up to see my best friend, Mateo standing above me with a sad expression that said: 'I told you so.'

He had probably been watching the entire scene play out.

We've been friends since 9th grade as freshmen and Matty, like I was fond of calling him, was a nerd as well. But unlike me, he was a hot-looking nerd.

He was tall, almost as tall as Justin. Even though he didn't play any sport, he was well-built with nice muscles. He had jet-black hair that fell to his face and hazel eyes that were intense and striking.

His only giveaway as a nerd was the glasses he wore, which hid those otherwise, gorgeous-looking eyes.

He was so good-looking that sometimes, I wondered how he was friends with me.

"You were right, it went badly," I told him.

"I hate to be the one to say I told you so," he said gently. "But I am glad you can now move on from your crush."

"I guess I'll just wait for the mating festival and see who I end up with," I said in defeat, then laughed bitterly. "Who would want a wolfless, weird albino girl for a mate?"

"You might be surprised," He winked at me, a glint entering his eyes.

Then I felt the fine hairs on my neck stand and a chill creep up my spine.

I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me from behind.

Unsure, I tilted my head backward...

And that was when I saw him.

Justin Reynolds, the Alpha's son of the Red Moon Pack. The most popular boy at our school and the captain of the football team.

Stood in the hallway, at the door's threshold.

Staring at me.

His gaze was hot and smoldering.