Chapter 1

1

M y brain barely registered the hand between my shoulder blades a second before the shove sent me careening face-first into my open locker. I slapped a palm against the frame to brace myself before I ate a mouthful of rusty metal.

Gritting my teeth, I straightened myself and ignored the laughter behind me.

My leg jerked as a foot connected with the backpack between my feet, but it barely budged. I habitually stood on the shoulder straps when changing books at my locker for this very reason.

I had almost survived the eight minute class change break without incident, which might have been a new record for me.

Now I only needed to keep that going for another two hours until school ended for the day. And then walk home without incident.

Yeah, I didn’t like my odds either.

I was thinking of routes through the pack compound that would give me the best chances when the speakers overhead crackled and popped with an incoming announcement. Startled out of my thoughts, I whirled around and nearly slipped on the frayed nylon strap I was standing on.

The obnoxious noises of conversations around me died down almost at once. Eyes flickered up to the speakers that hung over chipped beige lockers, as if expecting them to sprout a screen for everyone to watch. Sneakers came to a stop with sharp squeaks that bounced off the plain beige cinder block walls. The teachers even came out of their classrooms to stand in the doorways.

Long Mesa only had one school for all grades, but even still, there weren’t even a hundred people total in the building. The high school side of the small building had thirteen students and three teachers. The only time we all mixed was during class changes since there was one corridor that held all the lockers.

Usually if a message needed to be relayed to everyone, a messenger went from class to class. The announcement speakers were hardly ever used, so the break in normalcy stunned everyone into silence.

Several people near me gave each other quizzical looks, but they all turned to sneers and glares when they saw me watching.

With a soft sigh, I turned back to my locker and remembered that no amount of curiosity was worth unintentionally challenging a pack member who would be all too happy to slap me back into my bottom of the pack status.

Invisibility was my ally in my daily game of survival.

I kept my eyes down, taking out my chemistry book and shutting my locker. The metallic ringing of the door shutting caused several sets of eyes to fall to me again, and I flinched. The disgust and the annoyance were glaringly obvious in their stares. The exact same looks I had seen my entire life from the exact same people.

So much for trying to be invisible.

“Jesus, Skye,” a scornful voice hissed.

I glanced up though a curtain of mahogany hair to see Lilly Peters, a girl three years younger than me, staring with open hostility. Her tiny nose wrinkled in disgust. “Be a little fucking louder, dumb bitch.” With a loud huff, she spun away from me.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from replying—it wouldn’t end well if I did. I had learned years ago that any response gave them more fuel. Hell, sometimes even my silence fed the flames of hate amongst my pack. There was no winning; there was only surviving.

I had managed to endure the first seven weeks of my senior year without too much trouble other than the usual being shoved into lockers, food dumped on me in the cafeteria, and random objects thrown in the path to literally trip me up. And considering even before that, I spent every day in our pack focusing on just getting through the day, I was doing a pretty decent job of it.

Most of the time.

Being an unofficial pack omega had a lot of drawbacks, the biggest of which was filling the role of pack punching bag. Sometimes physical, always emotional.

“Attention, faculty and students,” the static voice began, the tone grave and somber despite the accompanying high pitched shriek as the speaker figured out how to work. Any type of midday announcement was an anomaly, and everyone seemed to tense as they realized this wasn’t going to be a happy announcement. The air crackled with nervous energy.

“It is with deep regret we have just learned that our beloved Alpha, Alpha Warren, has passed.”

A wave of stunned gasps rose up in the hallway, accompanied by a couple of screams and several loud sobs. The news was a shocking turn of events that even surprised me.

Alpha Warren had ruled the Long Mesa pack— my pack—for decades. He was actually beloved by very few and feared by most, but he was still our Alpha. Our leader. Losing him was a blow to the pack.

It was no secret he had been unwell lately, but the idea of such a formidable man and wolf dying was a foreign concept. He had been Alpha of the Long Mesa pack for nearly thirty years, taking over after his father had passed.

Several sets of eyes drifted over to me and the whispers started up again.

Alpha Warren had been my grandfather. Not that he ever accepted me as any sort of relation to him, which honestly was fine by me. He had disowned my mother before I was born, and he hadn’t been in my life in any type of grandfather role ever.

I couldn’t stop myself from letting my gaze land down the hall on my cousin, Bella.

The granddaughter he had doted on at every turn.

Her usually radiant mocha skin had gone positively ashen, her big green eyes wide with grief. Several people bowed their heads in her direction, giving their support and deference to the pack princess.

“Move.”

A loud male voice snapped the command and people scattered to do his bidding as he stalked through the small crowd, shouldering teachers and students away as he moved until he was by Bella.

Arms reached out and surrounded her as she was pulled against her boyfriend and future mate, Cassian. His large hand covered the back of her head, pulling her head to his broad chest. Her fingers curled into the cotton of his t-shirt, fisting around the material as a keening sob whined out of her throat.

Bella was younger than me by eighteen months, but even if the age gap didn’t separate us, there was no way we would ever be allowed to play together or hang out.

She was now the granddaughter of the former Alpha, daughter of the current Alpha, and potential mate to the future Alpha.

I was the daughter of the pack traitor.

We didn’t mix.

Cassian was one of the largest shifters in the school, standing well over six feet. He had classic All American good looks with blue eyes and short blond hair. I could see why other females liked to throw themselves at him, despite his almost taken status. He was strong, aggressive, and dominant.

And he was the person who lived to make my life a living hell.

Even as he comforted Bella, his eyes moved down the hall, finding me with perfect accuracy and laser intensity. He smoothed a hand down Bella’s back as he smiled cruelly at me. After a beat, Bella pulled away and whispered something to him, drawing his attention back to her and off of me.

Cassian nodded and kissed her cheek quickly, releasing her from his grip. He watched her walk away and turn the corner before looking back at me. With deliberate slowness, he reached down and adjusted himself in his jeans. Everyone was still whispering about the Alpha and missed his little show, but it didn’t matter.

That crude gesture was only meant for me.

I shuddered and turned away quickly, pulse racing and fear churning in my gut. I took a second to settle my racing heart, knowing that heightened shifter senses would catch my panic and draw attention like a heat seeking missile on a volcano.

“Classes are canceled for the remainder of the week to allow a proper mourning period,” the announcement continued. “Classes will resume as normal next week.” There was a short pop as the announcement ended, and everyone seemed to hesitate. Then movement exploded at once as students slammed lockers and started for the exit.

Not even the death of the pack Alpha could stop teenage shifters from the allure of an impromptu five day weekend.

I spun the dial on my locker to shove my chem book back inside since I wouldn’t be needing it now. Even after I had deposited the book, I kept my head in my locker, rooting around to kill time until the halls emptied. It was easier to sneak out of the school unnoticed when the halls were empty of people.

I had just closed the door when a massive shoulder body checked me into the locker. I didn’t have time to brace my hands this time before my full face hit the metal. The taste of copper flooded my mouth, and I instinctively licked my lips, not surprised when I tasted blood there.

My wolf surged to life inside of me so fast it made me dizzy. My blood popped and fizzed with anger, my wolf pawing at my insides for release.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to reason with the animal that lived inside of me.

The temptation to shift was strong, the temptation to fight even stronger. I could feel my own wolf rippling at the surface.

I sucked in a sharp breath through my teeth, trying to control the violent reaction of a beast I shared a body with.

While most shifters had a balanced harmony with their wolf, mine always seemed elusive and temperamental. She roared to the foreground when she wanted on occasion, but mostly laid dormant. The act of shifting on command was a struggle for me, so I rarely did it unless mandated by the seasonal pack runs. Even then I was the last one who forced her wolf into this shift, and I was usually exhausted from the fight before the run even began.

My wolf and I didn’t get along. All I knew was she chose shitty times to try and assert herself. Like now. My mother told me it was due to my omega status—the stronger the position in the pack, the stronger the shifter bond, supposedly.

I wasn’t the strongest in the pack, something my pack mates loved to remind me of all too frequently.

Lately, though, she seemed a little more inclined to surface, which only caused me to panic. The last thing I needed was to shift suddenly when I was cornered. It would be an automatic challenge to whatever wolf I reacted to.

Judging by the scent of the person behind me, shifting right now would be a death sentence.

The hall was almost completely empty now except for the press of a body crowding behind me. Hands came up on either side of my head, caging me in. I pulled in a deep breath, trying not to panic as I was blocked from all sides. All my muscles tensed, bracing for whatever was about to happen next.

“Skye, Skye, Skye,” he whispered softly, his tone light and menacing all at once. I felt my hair move as he dropped his head to bury it in my neck, inhaling deeply. “For such a dirty little whore, you smell amazing.”

Snickers and chuckles rose up from behind me. I didn’t have to look to know it was Cassian at my back, flanked by his best friends and betas, Marc and Preston. I could picture the matching looks of lusting disgust that always reflected on their beautiful, cruel faces.

The Unholy Trinity is what the other wolves called them, mostly joking and adopting the ‘boys will be boys’ narrative that gave them a pass to do whatever they wanted to whoever they chose.

I tried to slow my breathing, urging my wolf to calm as she struggled to the surface.

Fight. Hurt. Kill.

Her demands pressed against every cell of my being and I glanced down, horrified, as my hands started to shake with the urge to shift. Now was not the time for her to decide to be a suicidal badass.

If I shifted, these three would tear me apart. Literally. And no one would stop them.

It was no secret that Cassian was third in line to be the next pack Alpha. It was why he was promised to be mated to my cousin. Females couldn’t be alphas, and Cassian had proven over the years to be the most dominant, if not sadistic, male in our generation.

Second in line , I reminded myself.

With the death of Alpha Warren, Cassian was now one Alpha away from ruling the Long Mesa pack. He already ruled our school, and even in the compound we lived in. Most of the wolves gave him and his friends a wide berth; they were vicious and volatile.

If I gave him any reason to attack, he would. There would be no reprisal or punishment for hurting, or hell, even killing me. I was an omega—completely expendable to the pack, even if I was a female in a world where female shifters were a dying commodity.

Preston came around Cassian’s right side, leaning his shoulder against the bank of lockers. His gray eyes locked with mine until I forced myself to look down, to submit. His hand lifted, a finger tracing the curve of my cheek before his hand came around my throat. He barely applied any pressure, but the threat was there.

Preston Loomis was the batshit to Cassian’s crazy. There was something deeply disturbed about this guy, and it terrified me to the core. He was literally capable of losing it at any given moment.

He punched someone unconscious during lunch last year for chewing too loudly.

“Soon, Skye. So soon,” he reminded me with a wicked smile. His hand moved to my hair, curling a lock in his fist. He rested his head against the lockers, his dark hair falling over one eye.

Marc laughed behind his friends, bouncing on his feet as he watched the exchange with a slightly unhinged look of his own.

The problem with Marc is he was all brawn and no brain. Simple math definitely eluded him, but he was the biggest of the three. His neck was the size of my thigh, his fists as big as my head.

Preston hummed under his breath, the back of his hand intentionally brushing against my chest as he released my hair. “Soon you’ll be ours,” he murmured. “I can’t fucking wait.”

Cassian laughed, his breath hot against my neck. “If the new Alpha has any say, we may not have to wait much longer.” His hands dropped from the lockers and circled my waist, pulling me flush against him.

My blood turned to ice, freezing my body, as I felt the hard ridge of his erection pressing against the small of my back as he rubbed against me. One hand slid under my shirt, cupping my breast. Preston’s eyes tracked his assault with an excited gleam.

No. No. No.

My wolf was roaring inside of me now, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to control her.

I wouldn’t control her.

I would pick death over whatever hell these boys had in store for me.

“Cass!” The shrill, pointed voice of my cousin had Cassian dropping his hands from my waist and taking a step back from me. Preston slid off the locker, falling into step behind him. Marc rounded out the group, his dark eyes raking up and down my body until I wrapped my arms around my torso with a shiver.

I glanced down the hall, torn between gratitude and fear at Bella’s appearance in the hall. Her arms were crossed under her chest, her green eyes void of all emotion as she only looked at Cassian.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Cassian greeted, as if nothing was wrong. Probably because to him, nothing was.

Bella wasn’t his mate yet. He didn’t owe her his allegiance despite being promised to her, plus she was almost two years younger than he was. But something told me even after their mate bond was secured and they were adults, I would still be seeing Cassian and his friends regularly.

My stomach cramped painfully at the thought.

“My father wants us at the house. He’s planning to name his council before sunset,” she informed him, arching a perfect brow. Her gaze slowly slid to me, her lip curling up slightly as she regarded me coolly. “He wants you and your mother at the house at seven.”

Her father, my uncle, would most certainly be the new Alpha, barring any challenges. But no one would challenge him. Linden Markham had been groomed to be the next Alpha for the last eighteen years. He had spent nearly two decades making sure the pack knew who was boss.

There was no question in the pack who was in charge now that Alpha Warren was dead. His son would take over the Long Mesa pack.

There weren’t enough prayers in the world to save any of us now.

I watched Cassian, Preston, and Marc walk down the hall and out the door with Bella, leaving me alone in the hallway. None of them spared the omega another glance. I wasn’t worth the effort.

A shiver skittered down my spine as I realized my uncle being Alpha might be far worse for me than my grandfather. Grandfather had treated my mother and I with apathetic indifference, barely acknowledging our existence.

But it was no secret Uncle Linden despised my mother, and by extension, me. Being hated by the new Alpha was the worst thing that could happen to any wolf—let alone an omega.

I waited several more minutes before heading out in the hot New Mexico sunlight. My feet started moving on muscle memory towards the house, every step drawing me closer to the Alpha who now controlled my fate.