Alpha Loren

A few weeks ago.

The party's music sounded throughout the house, and the smell of sticky teenagers was rife in the air. It was the vision of misguided youth with far too much alcohol, drugs, drunken make-outs, and a whole lot of annoying the neighbors.

Not exactly my scene, but I was here with my boyfriend, who was involved with this crowd as an established member of the football team.

Our clammy hands were held tightly together as we tried to wind our way through the crowd to our eventual destination: the drinks table.

I laughed as he attempted to remove the cap of his beer with his teeth, with no success, before resorting to the bottle opener that lay in a pool of warm beer on the table.

After pouring myself a drink too and clutching it close to my chest, we began weaving back through towards the door in the hope of finding a little bit of fresh air without the odor of vomit and sweaty bodies.

Just as the door came into sight and I felt its refreshing breeze, I bumped into a hard chest, causing my drink to go down my front. I looked up to see a familiar face. It was Jake, a tall, muscular, and admittedly quite hot senior. He was one of my brother's friends, and I had met him at my house one time.

"I'm so sorry, Jake, that was my fault," I said, grabbing some paper towels from someone else’s previous spillage and frantically trying to dry his shirt.

"Ella, don't worry," he said, placing his hand on top of mine and taking the paper towels. "What is it anyway? Lemonade?"

"Yeah..." I said with a blush.

"You don't drink?"

"Don't worry; I'm not a total loser. I did have a beer earlier," I replied, smiling.

He laughed before smiling back at me.

"Hey, listen. Do you wanna dance?" he asked with a slight blush to his cheek as I felt his hand reach for my waist.

"Um, I'm actually here with Cam—" I began suddenly looking to the floor with widened eyes.

"No, she doesn't want to dance because, as you well know, she is my girlfriend," Cameron said, coming up behind me and placing his hand on my waist.

"Oh, sorry, bro. I forgot that you two were still a thing," he apologized, looking at Cam, who was standing a little in front of me. "I'm not normally involved with juniors."

"It's okay," I said, taking Cameron's hand.

"Yet here you are, getting handsy with my girlfriend. You've had your eye on her for a while," Cameron replied spitefully.

"Dude, chill," Jake said.

"Cam, it was a mistake," I said, tugging on his jacket.

"Look, I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to upset you—" Jake began, but before he could finish, Cameron had flown straight into him. I gasped as they both hit the floor before I began pointlessly screaming at Cameron.

He only managed to get a few punches at Jakes's jaw before he was prised away, mainly by my brother, Connor. Some other guys then helped the bleeding Jake up as I desperately tried to calm Cameron down.

"Calm down," I said, dragging him upstairs and away from Jake. "What the fuck has gotten into you? One second we're having a good time; the next, you're beating someone up?! You need to snap out of it."

I bundled us into a random room upstairs and slammed the door a little too hard in my fury before turning round to face him with my arms folded across my chest.

"I'm sorry, Elle, but it made me so angry. I've seen him check you out before, and I just knew he was gonna make a move if he ever got the chance," Cam grumbled.

I sat down beside him and turned his face to look at me.

"Ignore him," I said. "I am your girlfriend, and I have no interest in doing so much as giving him my number."

He nodded, "I know."

"And you know that I can defend myself? I don't need you to punch people for me," I added.

He nodded again, "I'm surprised he even dared to try you," he said with a laugh before lifting the bottle of beer that he remarkably still had.

"I think maybe you have had a little too much to drink already," I said, taking it off him. "How about we go back downstairs so you can apologize for giving him at least one black eye..."

"In a minute," he almost whispered as he pulled me onto his lap. "I gotta show my girl some love first," he slurred very drunkenly before thrusting his lips into mine.

I kissed him back for a few moments before pulling away.

"Come on," I said, laughing at how incredibly drunk he was. "Let's go."

"No, no. Not yet," he said, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer before kissing me again.

"Okay, that's enough, Cam. Now let's go back downstairs," I suggested pulling his hand out from under my top.

"It's fine. I'm sure Karen (the host) won't mind us using her bedroom for a bit," He said, kissing my neck.

"I am pretty sure she will!" I laughed as I gave him a little half-playful half-serious shove. I was subtly telling him to get off, but he just continued to kiss my neck.

"No, Cam, not here, not now," I stated with what I thought was a stern tone.

"Oh, come on, babe. Loosen up a bit. It's time. We've been together so long..." he slurred again, the smell of alcohol pungent in his breath.

"No," I said sternly, but he didn't stop. "Cameron, get the fuck off me," I growled, giving him his final gentle shove. He just groaned and carried on.

"You need to show me that you love me, babe," He said, getting frustrated.

"I said no!" I hissed, losing my patience, pushing him forcefully off me. He stumbled away, slightly taken aback by my sudden increase in strength. He didn't know my secret; of course, not many people did.

"How much longer do you want me to wait!?" He asked.

The truth is: I knew at some point I would find my mate, so there was no way I could stay with Cameron forever because no matter how much I loved him, mate love was different and undeniable. I had to save myself for my mate—whoever and whenever that might be.

"If you really loved me, then you would fucking respect my decision and not try to pressure me into it!" I argued back.

"You're just unreasonable! Every other couple does it all the time!"

"Well, I really don't think this is going to work then," I said quietly, sitting on the bed and looking up at him.

He looked down, and the corner of his lip twitched a little. I was hoping that he'd sit down beside me and say that he was sorry and wrong and that he'd never do it again.

Instead, he silently held eye contact with me for a few moments before his face hardened.

"Fine," He said coldly. "At least now I can go and have sex for the first time in 5 months!"

"You go and find some slut like Witney then!" I shouted, storming out of the room.

"Ella! What's wrong?" Connor shouted as I raced down the stairs crying and instantly crashed into his arms.

"Can we go home?" I sobbed into Connor's shoulder, "Sure," he answered.

And that was how I broke up with my boyfriend. A great and beneficial experience if you asked me. I loved every second!

October 10th

It was a couple of weeks after the great break up, and life had moved on.

In the beginning, I'd felt lost and betrayed and spent many hours staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, wondering what on earth happened to the boy I thought was so right for me. But after a bit of time, I began to see it for what it was: Just silly teenage romance.

I was a wolf. He was a human. I hadn't even told him my secret.

Deep down, I always knew we'd never last. There was a man or woman out there destined for me, and no matter how much I thought I loved Cameron, nothing would compare to how I'd feel about my mate. That gave me a sense of guilt every time I looked at Cameron because I knew if we stayed together, one day I'd suddenly end it, and he'd have no idea why. So in hindsight, I'm glad he turned out to be such a douchebag. It's worked out for the better.

And from now on, it's no more pointless relationships. I've decided to wait for my mate—whoever they may be and however long I have to wait.

Meanwhile, I'll focus on school and trying not to murder the boy sitting behind me in American history class with his own ruler as he repeatedly prodded me in the back with it.

"Hey rogue," I heard him say.

It was Logan Wilson. He was a sixteen-year-old wolf-boy and heir to the Alphaship of the Cerridwen pack. Its territory included the whole of Kellington, but after my family had been forced to relocate from our previous pack, we'd been permitted by the Alpha, Logan's father, to settle there, peacefully living as rogues alongside the humans of the town.

But whilst his father took pity on us, Logan certainly did not.

In fact, he had taken it upon himself to make my life a living hell.

"What?!" I hissed.

"You free tonight, little miss Feisty?" He asked with a smirk.

"No, fuck off," I answered bluntly as I turned back around, trying to focus on what our history teacher was telling us about Rosa Parks.

"Are you sure, babe? I thought maybe you could come round now that you're single and everything," he said, leaning over and whispering in my ear, "How is Cameron, by the way?"

I ignored him. He was trying to provoke me, and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of a response.

"Hey Rogue, don't ignore me. Answer my question," He demanded, "Excuse me, Mr. Wilson, Miss Jones, I do hope I'm not interrupting anything?" The teacher, Mr. Greggory, asked.

"Yes, you were actually," Logan said.

My mouth gaped open. And so did Mr. Greggory's.

"Well, in that case, maybe you can finish whatever it was in detention. You too, Miss Jones." He said, writing our names on the whiteboard under the detention box.

"But—" I started.

"No buts, Miss Jones," He said.

"I didn't do anything!" I protested.

"Unless you want a week of detention, you will be back here at four o'clock sharp," he said.

I sighed with exasperation at the injustice.

"Yes, Sir," I murmured before shooting a glare at Logan, who still wore the same cocky smirk.

The bell rang, and my mind had a little moment to rejoice before I quickly got up and grabbed my books and bag.

"Everybody, before you go, I would like to hand you all this homework sheet, which explains the essay that I would like to be turned in before our lesson on Monday," Mr. Greggory said just before I escaped.

A groan rumbled through the room. After taking my homework sheet, I started to make my way to the door when something blocked my way. Logan.

"I'm sorry, Ella. How about I make it up to you and give you a lift home after detention?" he said, looking down at me like I was some tiny scrap of broccoli he just picked out his back tooth.

"Logan, leave me the fuck alone," I said, trying to push past.

"You are aware that I'm the Alpha's son, right?" He said, still towering over me.

"Whatever, he's not even my Alpha," I said, trying to get past again (obviously failing).

"But you're on our land, aren't you? So you abide by my rules; otherwise, I will make getting you and your brother kicked off my territory the first thing I do when I become Alpha. And my seventeenth birthday is in a few days, so you should probably start respecting me ASAP. Understand?"

"Fine," I said spitefully. "You can give me a lift home if you really want."

Logan didn't scare me. He was just an immature kid dressed up as an Alpha. But the concept of being kicked off this territory wasn't exactly comforting. I was happy living here in the human world.

"See you tonight," He whispered in my ear before winking and finally letting me past and to my friends, who were already waiting for me by the lockers.

"What took you so long?" My friend, Charlotte, asked.

"One word: Logan," I said, and they immediately understood.

"Being a jerk as usual?" Charlotte asked, and I nodded.

"I can't believe you got detention because of him," Abi, our other friend, said.

"I know, and I still have to do that fucking assignment." I groaned "Yeah, great, another two hours of school to do tonight, just in case seven hours during the day isn't enough," whined Abi looking down at the essay sheet whilst madly trying to get her crazy dark blond waves out of her face, in particular the strand that had somehow gotten into her mouth.

"Just do it on a computer and make the font really big, so you don't even have to write that much," Charlotte replied with her usual optimistic tone.

Abi laughed, "Knowing Mr. Greggory, if you don't stick to the 12 pt font size rule, he'll make you do it three times over."

"Nothing but facts," I said with a sigh.

Abi and Charlotte were my only two proper friends. When I first moved to Kellington at age eleven, they'd been the first to take pity on me as I sat eating lunch at school on my own for weeks, not quite sure how one was meant to socialize in the human world. I'd been moved around constantly as a kid and had never once been to a school. My parents taught me the basics of reading, writing, and speaking, but we were basically rogues, just jumping between packs and living in the wild for the first decade of my life. So despite probably being kinda weird and wolfy to start, they stuck with me, and we've been best friends ever since.

In the first year of high school, I entrusted them with my secret. They'd taken it surprisingly well. They said they always knew there was something odd about my family and me. But they still treated me as normal and refused to ditch me.

Now, in Junior year of high school, we were a solid trio who occasionally brushed elbows with some of the school's other social groups. "So...we're invited to Cameron's party tonight," Charlotte said, glancing at Abi before looking to me, "Are you coming, Ella?" she added hopefully.

"Cameron? As in Cameron Wood?" I mumbled in return. "Fuck no..."

"Look, that was all in the past, Ella," Abi said encouragingly.

I raised my eyebrow, "What, a whole two weeks ago?"

"It'll be fun. Loads of people are going, and we might not even see him," she said.

"No," I said firmly, "Besides, I have loads of homework, and since my mom's been gone, it's been hard to juggle housework, homework, and social life. But you two have fun. I don't mind."

"Can't Connor help with housework? Make dinner or something?" Abi asked.

Charlotte and I looked at each other with half-terrified half-hysterical glances.

"That's coming from someone who hasn't seen Connor in a kitchen trying to toast a piece of bread before," I said with laughter.

"Oh, please. Just because he's a boy doesn't give him an excuse not to learn to cook. This is the 21st century, right?" she argued.

Connor was supposed to be my older brother. But since our Mom left, I've felt like the parent of the house. I gave him chores, but I never let him anywhere near the oven for fear of burning the house down—something we definitely couldn't afford to do.

Having grown up with practically no friends except each other, we were pretty close. He was only a year older, and we moved in the same social circles, so we went to all the same parties and events together.

Although, that's not to say we always came back together. He'd taken full advantage of the absence of a real parent at home and usually stayed out until the buttcrack of dawn before stumbling home. This was either because he had a habit of either staying with his friends after the party, still drinking far more than he should, or because I banned him from bringing girls into his room, which shared a thin plaster wall with mine, and he ended up in someone else's bed.

But he was alright.

Not the most responsible, smart, or focussed kid in the world, but we didn't have it easy, and I didn't want to stop him from having fun.

Easy.

Easy wasn't a word I would use to describe any aspect of our lives.

Our father died four years ago.

It was a car accident. We don't know how it happened. His car appeared to have just spontaneously flipped over, and he landed dead in a ditch. But he was an alcoholic. The autopsy showed high levels in his system, and it was ruled unsuspicious.

We didn't have much to thank him for. He'd argued with every Alpha who'd ever let us into their pack and was the reason we never had a place to call home as a kid. But he was still our dad, and we still missed him dearly.

We missed our mom too. After the accident, she was never quite the same. She'd lost her mate. It was expected.

But a couple of years ago, she decided she couldn't face living in this house any longer. Sleeping in the same bed, she'd shared with him, seeing his photos, smelling the lingering scent on his clothes, seeing post come in the mail with his name on the envelope.

It was all too much.

So she left to go and live as a rogue again. She wanted Connor and me to join her, but we liked our lives in Kellington. We had friends, an education, a home. So we stayed, got jobs in a little diner on the edge of town, and started paying the bills ourselves.

As I said, nothing was easy.'

I sat with Abi and Charlotte in the cafeteria, picking at the dry sandwich I'd spent $2 on. It was limp and had one singular slice of cheese inside that sweated and molded in a way cheese definitely shouldn't.

"You know what, you're right," I said, chucking the poor excuse of a meal down onto my tray, "I'm coming. I deserve some fun—"

I was cut short as Charlotte squealed in excitement before bringing me into a bone-crushing hug. Abi and laughed as she watched my eyeballs almost pop out of my head.

"Okay, Charlotte, I think we get it, now let the poor girl go," she giggled.

"Let's go and get something better to eat. I'm starving," I said, sniffing the air. It smelt like they'd brought out some hot fries, and my stomach grumbled just at the smell.

"You're always hungry," Abi laughed.

"It's not my fault. I have an inhumanely high metabolism," I said innocently. "Literally."

When the bell rang at four o'clock, my heart sank.

Detention.

I walked to Mr. Greggory's classroom to see Logan already sitting at a desk.

Shit.

I was kind of hoping/expecting that he wouldn't turn up.

"Oh hey, little miss rogue," He said in his usual arrogant tone.

"It's bad enough that I'm even here, let alone with you, and because of you, so do me a favor and don't even fucking breathe in my direction," I said, sitting down as far away as possible from him. He immediately picked up his rucksack and scooted across a few desks until he was next to me.

I looked at him and scowled, shuffling to the very edge of my chair before Mr. Greggory came in.

"I know you two are no strangers to detention, so I won't bother you with the rules," He said. "Just get on with some work and make use of this time."

I often landed myself in detention. I always did my homework and didn't go out my way to break the rules, but my problem was that I'm going to make it known to the world if I don't agree with something.

Arguing with teachers about stupid policies, unfair dress codes, irrelevant content, pointless pieces of homework, and unfair treatment of students was my specialty, and adults don't like it when you point out something's wrong, especially if you do it with curses words and a fairly short temper.

But I meant well. I'm just trying to make the school less of a shit hole.

Logan, however, was just an all-around horrible student. As the Alpha's son, his future had been determined from the get-go, and he had no reason or need to work hard.

"I've got some test papers to collect from the office. I'm sure I can trust you for a few minutes," He said, leaving us alone.

I don't know what made him think he could trust Logan but okay. I got out my history essay and started to go over what I would write in my head.

"Do you wanna play Truth or Dare?" Logan prodded me in the stomach.

"Um, personal space and no," I said, trying to concentrate on my homework.

"21 Dares?" He asked childishly whilst prodding me again, this time on my back. "No," I hissed, smacking his hand away, stopping it from coming in for prod number 3.

"Come on, babe, loosen up a bit, just imagine I'm Cameron. Or maybe that wouldn't help actually, considering—" He said.

"Can you just leave me alone before I am forced to punch you?" I interrupted.

"No need to get pissed. I think we both knew that your relationship was never going to work anyway. What were you planning on doing when you found your mate?" He asked, rocking his chair back slightly, so it was leaning on only two legs.

I stood up to move to another seat. The thought of pushing him was a tantalizing one.

Maybe that story that the teachers always loved to tell about some kid they knew that smashed their head open and died on the swings would finally come true...

"On a scale of 16 to 72, how much would you hate to have to marry me?" Logan asked after following me to where I had moved.

"108."

"Imagine having to live in the same house as me, sleep in the same bed as me, have pups with me, and spend the rest of your life with me..." he said with an evil smile that put me slightly on edge.

"I think I would be forced to commit suicide," I replied, looking back at the essay sheet and my blank piece of lined paper.

"Could you think of anything worse?" He asked, "hmmm, let me think," I said, pausing for effect, "No."

"Perfect," I thought. I heard him mumble under his breath, "What?" I asked

"Oh, nothing,"

"Can I finish my homework now?" I asked angrily, "Alright, I'll leave you alone, but at least let me give you this." He said, delving into his pockets and pulling out a golden envelope.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at the shining paper, "Oh, just something about you and your brother getting kicked off our pack land. It's no big deal, just if you don't meet some...conditions," He said sarcastically and, of course, with a typical Logan smirk. I quickly got out of my seat, alarmed by the words 'kicked off' and 'conditions' in one sentence. I lunged forward to grab the envelope, but he held it above his head (about 6'6'' off the ground).

"I thought you were going to give it to me?" I questioned. "You have to come to my house at 8:00 pm, then you can have it," He said grinning, "There is no way I am going anywhere near your house, and I'm going out anyway," I said.

"You're going to Cameron's party? Wow, that's the most surprising thing I've heard all year," He said with a genuine look of shock on his face. "Fine, then I'll meet you there," He said, and with that, he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out into the corridor, gold envelope still in his hand.

"It's only 4:05!" I shouted, but he just waved his hand dismissively and carried on.

A few moments later, Mr. Greggory came back into the room.

"Where has Wilson gone?" He asked, looking down the corridor.

"He left. I tried to stop him," I said.

"Well, you might as well go too, Ella," he said with a sigh, "I understand that you are here because of him, but in the future, don't let him provoke you. You are a smart kid, but boys like him easily lead you astray."

Lead me astray? He wants to fucking evict me!

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Get home. I'm sure you've got Friday night plans to be getting on with.”