Chapter 2 – A Cruel Dare

Ava’s POV

My breath stutters out of me as my legs go weak. Expelled…

I had wondered what the alpha would do to me if I turned eighteen and still didn’t shift. Would he send me away? Would I be declared rogue… or worse, human? Unworthy of the pack, stripped of even the ghost of identity.

To think he’s already considering throwing me away.

It’s not a surprise, but I’m still shocked. I’m Crescent Hollow’s puzzle piece that doesn’t fit. I don’t know what kind of wolf I’m supposed to be, if I even am one. But I don’t know how to be a human, either. No other pack would take me in, and besides a necklace that I keep hidden, I have nothing to my name.

If the pack really throws me out, I can only wander around like a stray and die of hunger in some street in a human town.

“Hey, don’t look so devastated,” Rina said with mock pity. “They might not kick you out. While it’s extremely rare, there are times when wolves simply don’t shift for a long time. It’s not a problem as long as you can make yourself useful. But the pack will never accept a coward.”

I curl my trembling fingers into fists in my pocket. I open my mouth to respond, to defend myself, that I’m not a coward, but the words get stuck in my throat.

How can I not be a coward?

Just to survive within the pack, I have to keep my head down and avoid interacting with others where I can, because if it ever comes to a fight, there’s no way I can win. What else do I have to offer?

If there isn’t enough wolf in me to bare my teeth even now, then what right do I have to belong here?

The truth of it bites more than Rina’s taunts.

“Are you… telling the truth?” I ask, my voice hoarse because it’s been a while since I last spoke.

Lana, Rina’s right hand girl, scoffed. “Does Rina have any reason to lie to you? You’re worth nothing to the pack, after all. Everybody thinks that. Don’t tell me you have no idea.”

My shoulders curl inwards instinctively at her mocking, before I catch myself. Shrinking away from confrontation has become like second nature to me.

It hasn’t always been like this. Once, I was a child like any other in the pack. Too young to shift, everyone was the same. Even then, I would get judgmental looks for being an outsider and an orphan, but it was certainly better than now.

Only when the other kids started to shift one after the other, while I was left behind, did everyone start to change. Kids I would have tentatively called friends just a little over a year ago now treat me like I’m invisible. The rest of them are like Rina and her friends.

Rina cocks her head, as if waiting for me to tuck in my neck and run as usual, but when I just stand there, her smile sharpens. “Oh? You look like you want to bare your teeth at me.”

At her words, it feels as though dozens of eyes turn to stare at me. My skin itches from the weight of their stares, and I feel like digging my fingers into my arms to peel it all away. But I force myself not to shrink back from the attention.

I don’t like Rina or any or her friends, but I can’t ignore the truth in their words. To earn the right to stay, I can’t always shrink away from attention. Because wolves value strength. Whether or not I can fight them, I shouldn’t show weakness.

Slowly, I pull my hands from my pockets and uncurl my fingers in a show of non-aggression, but I don’t dare lower my eyes from Rina’s. Her eyebrows jump up in surprise as she barks out a laugh.

One of her friends scoffs incredulously. “Rina, is she challenging you?”

Rina flicks her hair, slow and deliberate, as her lips curl into a smirk. “A challenge isn’t with words, but with actions. I’m sure Ava knows that.

A handful of kids come closer, forming a loose semi-circle around us. Their attention presses like fingers between my shoulder blades. I resist the urge to hunch over and shrink.

Not this time. Not ever again.

I have to will my hands not to shake.

“Maybe we were wrong about her being a coward,” Rina says, her voice taunting. “But there’s only one way to prove it to the rest of us. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

I don’t look around at the others, but I can imagine all their eager nods and smirks as titters spread among the gathered crowd. Behind them, I can hear the supervisors giving out instructions, but it’s hard to know if anyone was even listening.

Rina tilted her chin up and stared down at me with a look full of pride. “If you can’t prove you’re a wolf, at least prove you can keep up with the rest of us.”

My lips twist as I frown. “Are you joking with me? You know I can’t keep up with you.”

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to run. I have a dare for you.”

Alarm bells ring in my mind. My instincts tell me I’m walking right into a trap, but I know if I back down right now, nothing will change. My future will remain bleak. If I want a chance at something different, then I have to start here.

Of course, everything would be solved if I could just shift, but my birthday is less than three months away. Sitting still and praying that fate doesn’t screw me over isn’t a solution.

My tongue feels two sizes too big for my mouth, but I force myself to speak. “What kind of dare.”

Rina flashes her perfect teeth. “It’s simple. There’s a trail behind the west fence, near the Crescent Ridge border. You follow it until you reach the old pine tree – the one with the red ribbon tied around it. Bring it back, and we’ll consider you one of us.”

“The adults won’t allow us to go into the woods,” I say. After all, the point of the Gathering is to bring the pack’s juveniles together to mingle, to pick out the strongest among the group. It’s not only about having fun and doing as we please. “They’ll stop us. Especially with me tagging along.”

“And who says they have to know? We just have to keep it as our little secret.”

She turns to meet the gazes of the group surrounding us, and as though they’d come to some tacit agreement, they disperse, heading toward the supervisors, likely to keep them distracted.

When it’s just us left, Rina smirks, then turns to me. “Well? Let’s go. If you don’t hurry, the sun will go down. Unlike us, you can’t see in the dark.”

She whirls around and heads for the tree-line, with two of her friends moving to her left and right.

I stare at their backs and, my heart pounding, force my feet to move and follow.