Page 6 of Rejected By Wolves

I get to my feet, keeping a hand on Adam’s shoulder to reassure him as he turns and looks up at his headmistress. He doesn’t look afraid, just sad. Defeated, maybe.

She scowls at him, and her lips move.

I can’t catch anything she’s saying with her head tilted down, but it’s obvious she’s telling him off for leaving the nursery. He winces and glances up at me, and the tiny spark of hope in his eyes makes my vision blur.

I wish I could help him, like Alina helped me.

Things are precarious enough for me in this pack.

I can’t do anything that breaks the rules for fear of dragging Alina down with me, because she’s the one who vouched for me. She sacrificed her standing in the pack, and now neither of us have any choice but to follow the rules and avoid making waves.

Maria’s stare moves back to me, and I blink back the urge to let my emotions overflow.

My vision takes a second to clear, but when it does, I nod, signalling that she can speak.

She smirks, and it takes everything inside me not to react.

She knows I have no power here, and she’s enjoying it.

“Give the boy to me,” she orders, opening the gate and then her arms.

It’s the last thing I want to do, especially while he seems so upset.

I feel a little stuck, and I’m sorely tempted to pick him up and walk straight back to the cafeteria.

When I don’t immediately pick Adam up and pass him over to his headmistress, she reaches down and grabs his hand, yanking sharply.

He’s dragged a step forward, his little mouth dropping open in shock.

Anger burns inside me at her unnecessary roughness.

My wolf growls, I feel the vibration in my chest.

Suddenly, my claws are out, and I’m feeling ready to use them.

Her superior expression drops, but only for a second.

“Touch me, and I’ll have you exiled to The Abyss,” she tells me, smirking again because she knows our Alpha will take any excuse to be rid of me.

I force my claws to retract as I stare at that self-satisfied smirk.

She narrows her eyes as she stares back at me. “This child is my responsibility. Not yours.”

Her words have more weight than I expect. It hits hard when I realize it doesn’t matter that I feel protective of Adam. Under our pack’s laws, she is his guardian. I could appeal to our Alpha about her behaviour, but considering she is one of his consorts, and the mother to his eldest son, I doubt he would listen, even if I asked someone else to bring the matter up to him.

There is nothing I can do here to protect this little boy.

It hollows me out inside to watch her drag him away.

She doesn’t slow down and his little feet rush to keep up with hers.

I watch until they disappear inside and the door closes.

My claws come back in another burst of frustrated anger. I think about following them inside and slashing her throat. It might help the children to have that awful woman gone from their lives, but it would make me deserving of the punishment it would earn me, too.

I was an innocent when the Alpha planned to have me thrown into The Abyss, as a sacrifice to the monsters dwelling inside. Killing another member of my pack would make me a monster.

The Abyss would be exactly where I belonged.

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