me for too long. If anyone was even just pol
long, miserable drag, and high scho
trained. If I could just become a warrior, ma
s confrontation with Kaïa would mar
sa, and Marnie always found ne
ands and shred it in the hallway in front of everyone, or tear up my ten-
teacher-despite seeing the whole thing happen
of the story. He punished me for my "laziness," locki
ost: she would have snuck me something to
yreille left, he hadn't even pretended to care about wha
me against lockers, or slammed heavy bags into me as they walked by. I le
en so, my ribs had been cracked several times over; a simp
injuries, but she made sure the pain didn't linger. H
s she called Kaïa and her friends, sometime
students, especially the younger ones. She exploited
the reality of it: as long as they too
ed quickly, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy their cr
iced, my wolf and I had taken to hunting at night. Wheneve
ld manage on my own. The woods felt far m
ng, held every morning at five o'clock sharp. All high school students had to part
mediate for the patrols, and elite training for the warriors-Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas,
res from my brother, who couldn't stand seeing me there. As a born Beta, he had fre
I could exist outside of
ior and the daughter of an elite warrior. She showe
adership or fighters themselves; the Luna,
ature to my advantage. Opponents tended to underestimate a smaller
que didn't dare provoke me in front of the future Alphas or the
. I already ran the borders occasionally, slipping out before or after class just to escape the house. Attacks were rare,
my father's wrath that drove me to study. The classes themselves hardly in
meant signing a soc
a new recruit: a girl who had moved in with her aunt
ance, standing on the sidelines in high heels and a miniskir
. Tall and athletic, with long dark brown hair and striking honey-colored eyes
off her, which made me smirk: the
my gaze. Delta Kyle motioned for her to join our gr
straight
meet you," she said,
before my brain registered that
, awkwardly taking it. "I'm just..
n't have time to respond: the trainer i
fit to partner with her-given tha
nd had always granted me free access to the gym and the tra
taller, standing around five-foot-seven, while I barely scraped five-foot-one. Our heights weren't co
anned skin and every well-defined muscle. With thos
s my body was trained-but I pre
othing concealed the bruises and cuts, stopping people from
rarely lasted when it actually came time to take action. Most people preferred
arring sessions. During training, I usually stayed in the background
to withdraw-and I sensed
e a training partner was availa
ng set my day right quite like a good fight: the adrenaline, th
Kaïa and her accomplices had knocked me to
ger out on me rather than on someone
tter to suffer in silence than to give fodde
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