MY BULLY STEPBROTHER IS A HOCKEY ALPHA

ive was worse. You kept your head down, you didn't challenge anyone's rank, you stayed ou

emy did not le

d talking the moment they saw me, their attention shifting the way pack wolves shifted when something

t wal

nobody pack. The outsider Evelyn Ashford had dragged into Blackwood territory through a convenient

None of them were entire

that wasn't quite contempt at all. Some of the wolves I passed in the hallway reacted to me the way they reacted to pack membe

d no wolf. I had no rank.

d, arms full of books I hadn't found a locker for yet, navigating a c

e a collision if anyone was watching. My bo

new before

tride. Eyes forward. Expression bored.

e you're go

ost an afterthought. The most devast

ly. A second picked it up. By lunch it had spread the way things sp

eg

told myself it didn't matter. I heard it from a group of boys who said it just loud enough to make sure it r

asn't just an insult. It was a ranking. The b

nch. After lunch I took a wrong turn and ended up near the hockey locker

one in front had a Blackwood crest on her jacket and the particular

t," she sai

said. "I was jus

aking it look like blocking. The girls behind

said. "Victor Blackwood's house. That's bo

of the others said. "Imagine thi

hing," I said. "I'd jus

e floor and my things scattered. I crouched to pick them up because the alt

the floor. "Landing Victor Blackwood. Really something. I'm just curious what sh

ich surprised me more than it should

flicked over me with open contempt. "You'll gro

led through

frequency that hit wolves somewhere beneat

irls turne

eyes moved across the group, landed on me for exactly one second, then moved back to the girls. Th

y. Even the one who had been leanin

oked

andle a few girls

raight to my chest. One of the girls exhale

wly confident, and put he

l rang out. My shoulder took the impact and

n mo

l's throat. Not her collar. Her throat. Her feet lifted slightly off the floo

llway

id when wolves were holding themselves back. He wasn't holding himself back. He was co

on in that h

me out low a

ouches wh