Page 14 of Clawless

And the girls were good. In fact, they were sensational. Maybe it was their shifter blood. Or maybe they just practiced really hard. Watching them was no hardship at all, and a little part of me was wistful. Would I have grown up to be as cute and pretty as these girls if I’d been born into a shifter pack? It was stupid to obsess over what-ifs, but the more I learned about their world, the more I had to wonder why I’d been taken from it.

“Concentrate, Marrow. And lock your elbows.” I snapped back to attention, giving the gym teacher an apologetic glance. The girl I was balancing weighed less than a duffel bag, so it was easy to forget she was up there. But I had already lost Ms. Costa’s respect once before, and didn’t want to screw up again. I performed the rest of the routine without missing a beat, and she came over to pat my back at the end of the class. “Can you hang back a moment, Marrow?”

“Sure.” I waved to the other girls, who headed to the locker room to change. Ms. Costa finished writing notes on her clipboard, then waved me over to the bleachers. I took a seat, wondering what had put the tense look on her face. She blew out a breath as she sat beside me, her forearms propped on her knees. “I just wanted to say I was sorry about what happened after the musk test. Getting sent off to the pack labs was completely out of line. And I want to assure you, it wasn’t on my recommendation.”

I tried to suppress the shiver that arose every time I thought about the pack lab. Doctor Klein and his fucked-up dentist chair had been a fixture of my nightmares ever since. “Thanks. I’m not sure who did, but the other girls told me it wasn’t your style.”

She sighed. “You’ve not had the easiest introduction to life here. But there’s a lot about being a shifter that’s great. Your natural athleticism for one.”

I gave her a small smile. “I was wondering about that. The omegas are all so talented. Is that their shifter blood?”

“To a point, but they also drive themselves pretty hard. Being a low-rank in the pack means you want to shine where you can.” Her gaze grew thoughtful. “They really classified you an omega?”

I stiffened. “Yes. At the lab.”

“I’m not questioning it. Ranks come in all shapes and temperaments. It’s just that the Costas are distantly related to the Wests, and there have never been a lot of omegas in our family.”

I blinked at her. “We’re related?”

“Shifters are an in-bred bunch,” she smirked, “so we’re all related in some way. But yeah, we’re probably third cousins. Or maybe I’m your great aunt twice removed. Family trees aren’t really my forte.”

I searched her face, not sure I believed her. She had no reason to lie, but I’d been fooled too many times. “Really? It’s just… I’ve never had much family.” I felt a twinge of guilt about the Chances, but pushed it aside. They’d been the first to distance themselves, and I was over feeling like a packless nobody. “I mean, I just saw my real birth certificate, so I’m still trying to take it all in.”

“Fair enough. I don’t know a lot about your parents, but I’ll give my grandma a call. She’s ancient. And an old gossip. She probably has some info on your dad.”

I gulped. Part of me was overwhelmed by her kindness, but I was also uneasy about learning more about my history. It felt like as soon as I latched onto someone, they were torn away. Or told me the bond between us had never really existed. But I hated feeling rootless, too. Maybe the gym teacher sensed my conflicted emotions, because she patted my shoulder and gave me a friendly smile. “Take your time with all of it. We’re pack now. And you know what they say about family. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t drive ‘em out of town.”

I was still in a daze as I headed into the locker room to change. Everyone else had gone to their next class, leaving behind a haze of shower steam and body spray. As I rounded the bank of lockers, I was distracted by the sight of my backpack, upside down and sitting in a puddle of water. And that was my only excuse for letting Pearl and her pack of bitches encircle me. A rough hand hit me between the shoulder blades, but I caught myself on the edge of a bench and turned towards my assailant. Pink Tips, the worst of Pearl’s minions, flashed me a nasty grin. “On your knees, Omega.”

I glanced behind me, taking them all in. Pearl was watching me with a vicious glint in her eye, her arms folded over the front of her Arras blazer. Dana, the freshman from the Hunter Moon Formal was at her side, and although she was trying for a similar relaxed pose, I thought there might have been a vague quiver to her chin. But the other three girls who filled out the circle were cold-eyed, staring back at me with palatable dislike. That jittery feeling under my skin was back, but I squared my shoulders and affected a bored look. “Really? Hazing in the locker room? Could you get more cliché?”

Pearl’s lip curled up. “You don’t deserve anything more creative, Void.” As if on a silent command, the circle tightened, and my heart slammed against my ribs. This was about to get very nasty.

Before they could make their move, I leaped up onto the bench, kicking out at the nearest girl. I nailed her in the arm and she cried out, but as I tried to jump through the gap I’d made, another girl grabbed me around the hips. I grimaced as I realized it was Pink Tips, but she just sneered and tossed me against the lockers. I was no lightweight, which meant she was strong. Shifter strong, but also muscular under her sleek appearance. Or just harboring a whole lot of spite. When I tried to get up off my knees, she grabbed my head and slammed it against the locker door.

I saw stars. Pain also bloomed in my neck. I’d taken that hit fighting the Black Denners, and now I’d wrenched it again. My whole spine throbbed and nausea crawled up the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down. As much as I wanted to puke on these bitches, it might have made me pass out. And that would just be an invitation for them to go to town on my limp ass.

Not that Pearl looked like she was going to hold back. As the other girls crowded around and held me down on my knees, the Arras alpha took a Sharpie from her pocket and thumbed off the lid. The glee was rolling off her as she stepped forward and began to write on my forehead. I tried to bite her hand, but one of the girls cuffed me hard against the side of my head.

I slumped onto the floor. Pearl stood over me and shook her head. “You’re like a runt that won’t curl up and die. But maybe now you’ll get the message.” She tossed the pen in my lap. “Leave this school, or I’ll send every student a copy of the picture I took of you panting for it under the Wolf Fire. Believe me, if they don’t see you for the desperate dud you are now, they will then.”

I waited until they’d all filed out before dragging myself over to the mirror. I’d expected a nasty message, but maybe not this nasty. Because she’d written Warning: Wolf Fire Whore across my forehead in bold black strokes.

Twelve – Reed

The packball game ran overtime, which was only a problem because it was an hour before the dinner dance. I loved the game, with its chaotic energy and battle tactics. But it was its lack of rules that made the blood sing in my veins every time I stepped on the field. Because truth be told, it was the only part of my life where I didn’t have to follow a carefully laid-out plan. In packball, I could hit as hard as I wanted, target whoever I wanted, and when things got really ugly, let my beast out to finish the game. Which usually ended with at least one wolf in the medical hut and my bones ringing like they’d been hit with a sledgehammer.

Today, the sledgehammers were the Arras lieutenants, Baron and Felix. Their alpha was off doing pack business, and he’d left his two buddies in charge. They’d come out hard, slamming into me before the first pass was thrown. I’d grinned through my bloody teeth; this was exactly the kind of game I liked best. The snow just added another dimension, with the shift between man and beast having to be perfectly timed, or you’d risk sliding into a tree or snapping your shinbones in the icy drifts. And then there were the added obstacles of frozen limbs, snow blindness, or getting suffocated beneath a damp two-hundred-pound shifter. By the end of the game, I’d taken a battering, but so had the Arras wolves, and we’d all dragged ourselves off the field, still arguing over the final score.

But now I was late. Thanks to Penny, my suit was on its hanger and the corsage was sitting on my dresser. I checked myself in the mirror as I clipped on my cufflinks. The worst of my scrapes and bruises had already faded with my alpha power. I could have probably done with another shave, but I was out of time. As I grabbed my phone, I saw there was already a missed call from my Head Omega.

I quickly dialed her as I left my room. “What’s up, Penny? Everyone make it to the buses okay?”

Penny was our committee rep for the dance and had everything planned down to the playlist on the transport into Huntington. I punched the elevator button just as she sighed, “It’s Vail Marrow. She’s the only one not accounted for, and when I asked Nadia, she said she’s holed up in her room. Hasn’t spoken to anyone since this morning.”

I frowned and held the elevator door open so I didn’t lose reception. “You sure she’s still in there?”

Penny paused. “Where else would she be?”

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