'Last night at the diner.' I gulp and look away from everyone. 'I heard Bane threaten our regular, Paul for staring at all of you and I knew something was wrong when I was able to hear everything.' I look towards Bane to see him staring at me with the same sneer still on his face.
'Then the milkshake incident that you all saw, I'm certain that the time slowed itself down for me to catch it. If that weren't possible that milkshake would have been all over the floor.'
Ryder sighs loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. 'We all know about what happened at the diner. Quit stalling. I want to know why you fought the change!? You could have been one of us!'
Sam turns to Ryder with an annoyed expression on her face. 'Back the hell off and stop rushing her.' Silver growls from her seat on the sofa that instantly makes Sam turn to her. 'And you? Quit acting like a bitch in heat and shut up.'
Kellan grabs ahold of my hand and calls my name silently, I look at him to see worry etched on his face, 'You don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to.'
'Yes she does.' Ryder scoffed. 'If we have any chance of knowing how to catch whoever's murdering people in this town then yes, she has to tell us everything!'
'Whoever bit her might not even be responsible for the murders!' Kellan yells back.
'What murders?' Everyone in the room ignores Sam, 'For God's sake someone please answer me!'
Ryder clears his throat, 'There's been a few murders in this town that have been kept on the down low, major signs of animal attacks. We don't know who's responsible for the murders or why they're killing these people, but the number of bodies are piling up and the murderer knows how to cover its tracks. The four of us have tried finding a scent at every crime scene but we never catch the scent.'
'Are you positive the attacks are caused by a wolf?' Sam asks.
'Of course we are you gormless prat!' Silver spits. 'Kellan's father's a cop and he tells everything to his son. All murders are the same, bodies ripped to shreds. What kind of animal can do that? A wolf, and so far it's been five bodies. Mr. Daniels was the fifth victim. We're recognizing a pattern so it's not just some random killing spree.'
'What's the pattern?' I ask quietly.
'One body every month.' Bane murmurs. 'There's no way in hell we're gonna catch this fucker.'
A man of a few words.
'Look if it helps either of you, I could describe you what the wolf looked like?'
'It won't matter.' Ryder speculated. 'You see, when you change for the first time, you're introduced to new abilities. Strength, Sound and Scent.' He turns to face the whole room. 'Wolves can hide their scent after a long period of time but only highly experienced wolves can do it, whoever bit you can do exactly that. When I passed you in the hall, I could smell the venom in your body but no scent of the wolf that bit you. The scent disappears if you fight the change, and you did. See, if you would've let your body change, you would have been able to identify that bond an Alpha does with its Beta. The chances of you finding that bond now is zero.'
'Ryder I was only trying to help.' I'm starting to feel sick and tired of being talked to like a child. I knew the consequences of what fighting the change would mean to me, but if the chances were that whoever did bite me is the one killing people, then why all of a sudden do I feel so guilty? It's not like I owe these guys anything.
'Your help means jack shit to us.' Silver sneers at me. 'I'm done here.'
Silver stands from her seating position, drops the blanket and crouches on the floor. She turns her head to look at Ryder. 'See you back at the house.' She doesn't wait for his response, instead her whole body starts to change into its wolf form. I can hear and see the bones in her body changing and the whole process seems to fascinate me. I'll be able to do that?
As soon as she changes, she walks with integrity towards the double doors that leads out to the garden. Silver waits by the door for Ryder to open it. He cups her face, strokes her gently before opening the door.
Ryder walks towards me and stands in front of me.
'You may not have been bitten by either one of us, but the wolf that bit you seems to have not claimed you as being part of its pack. Perhaps if you joined a pack, your Alpha might find you and claim you back. Now, I'll consider having you being a part of my pack but I'm guessing that's gonna be a problem seeing as two of my Betas can't stand you.'
'Wait, who said anything about being in your back? Or any pack for that matter?'
'Alice, you're gonna need a pack, an Omega rarely survives on its own. You could get killed.’
Why would I wanna be in a pack that doesn't even like me? I'd rather stay on my own and live my life like a normal person.
Why can't things go back to the way they were?
'What's an Omega?' asks Sam.
Kellan clears his throat and pulls the blanket around him tighter. 'You have three rankings of a wolf; Alpha, Beta and Omega. Alpha's are considered to being the most powerful, strongest and lethal.' He points at Ryder. 'Ryder's the Alpha as we all know.'
Kellan points at Bane. 'Bane and Silver are the Beta's of the pack. Beta's are the second in command. When the Alpha dies one of the Beta's take over. Then you have the Omega; The Lone wolf to be exact. Omega's are considered to being weaker than the Beta's. Wolves can become Omega's by choice or sometimes they can be forced to leave the pack.'
Kellan places his hands gently on my shoulders. 'Alice, I advise you to think about Ryder's offer, you won't survive on your own.'
I take his hands away from me. 'I can take care of myself.' I walk towards my front door hoping they get the idea that I want them to leave. Kellan leaves first without a word, Bane follows with an expressionless look on his face while Ryder meets me by the door with a scowl on his face. There is no pleasing this guy!
'Why don't you ever listen?' He crosses his arms over his chest.
'What?'
'You never listen to anything anyone ever tells you, I'm trying to help you! You have no idea what's coming to you, have you even thought about what this change might do to you? What about your mother? How is she gonna cope?'
'Stop it! I'm sick of you acting like you're already my Alpha! I don't want to be in your pack, so stick your offer and shove it up you're ass.'
'Alice!'
I turn to look outside to see my mother standing in the drive. Great..
'Sorry mother.' I can't believe this is happening. Hopefully Ryder will disappear into thin air before my mother sees him.
'I raised you better than that Alice.' She looks at Ryder with a huge smile on her face. 'And who's this striking young man?'
Is she checking him out? Gross!
'Mom this is Ryder, Ryder this is my mother.'
'Lovely to meet you.' He can act being humble all he wants but I wonder if he can actually speak a whole sentence without sounding like a moody son of a bitch.
'Likewise.' I look at Ryder and motion for him to leave.
'Right it's getting kinda late, I'll see you tomorrow at school.’
As Ryder leaves through the door my mother gives me a smile that says she approves. Too bad she doesn't know the truth behind Ryder. I head back into the living room when I realize that Sam hasn't moved from her position on the couch.
'I feel like I've been mindblown,' Sam wheezes, 'I can't believe I looked at Bane's crotch and I'm not even sorry!'
'Sam I think you're overreacting.'
'How? Did you even look Alice?'
'I refuse to take part in this conversation.' I turn off the TV, walk into the kitchen where I see my mother making herself coffee.
'Hi Tina.' Sam joins me in the kitchen and sits on the counter.
'Sam, how are you?'
'You know what? I'm very good, I've been completely mindblown from seeing the size of a man's penis today.'
I groan in embarrassment just as my mother bursts out laughing.
'Sam please leave.' I plead.
'Alright! I better go before Alice starts combusting and ha
tes me forever,' She waves and leaves out the front door.
My mother chuckles, ''She's a funny one isn't she.'
'Or delusional.'
'Well, I'm going to turn in early honey, I'm completely exhausted.' My mother tips the rest of the coffee down the sink and and kisses me on the cheek. 'I love you.'
'Love you too Mum.' I look at the clock to see it's 8:30 and decide to turn in too, It's been one hell of a long day.
Chapter 7
The next morning, I drive to school thinking about last night. What is happening to me? Over the concept of three days, I can't stop thinking about what has been going on in my life. The killings and the whole wolf thing, who would've thought that shapeshifters actually existed? I thought that only happened in movies and novels. To think that I would’ve been able to shift into a wolf seemed kinda impossible a few days ago, but after last night I think anything's possible.
It's also hard to believe that Mr. Daniels was one of the victims that’s been murdered. Why was he murdered? Mr. Daniels was nothing but kind and generous, and he was respected by many students and teachers here. So what could he have done to get himself killed?
A thought comes to me that what if this was the same person who murdered Anna? It wouldn't make sense because she died over a year ago and that was a one time murder, but what if this murderer has been doing it ever since Anna's death.
What’s the significance?
As I arrive at school at 8:45, I reach my locker and grab my Biology book. I turn to look up and down the corridor to see the oblivious faces of the students arriving. I can't help but think to myself that they have no idea what's going on around them, but surely by now they must know about Mr. Daniels.
When the bell chimes for 9:00, I head towards my Biology class and sit in the empty front desk. I place my book, pencil case and notepad on the desk and wait for class to start. Sam's probably outside playing football right now. She's always been the athletic one out of the two of us. She's the tall, skinny, long legs and the muscular one, where I'm the one that's short with big boobs, but Sam's the one that attracts all the boys in the school. Not me.
I look at the clock and see that's it's past nine. Teacher's aren't usually late to lectures so it's kind of unusual for it to happen to Mr. Thompson because he's never late.
At exactly 9:15 the door to the classroom opens and in walks Mr. Thompson with another student. Holy..
He has a chiseled shaped face with hooded grey warm eyes, lips full and firm with spotless porcelain skin. Golden wispy, untamed thick hair; his body tall and lean. He's wearing a denim jacket on top of a white t-shirt, skinny jeans and light brown work boots.
'Good morning class, I apologize for being late, I'd like to introduce everyone to our new classmate. This is Max Fields and he'll be joining our class so please make him feel welcome.'
I hear people talking under their breaths while Mr. Thompson speaks quietly to Max. I can hear the girls fangirling behind me, and I can just imagine that every guy in this classroom thinking they've got competition.
'Now if you don't mind I'm going to sit you next to Alice here because I feel that she'll get you right on track with the work. So from now you two will be partners from this year on, and it's up to you Max to catch up with the work and I think Alice will be a great partner for you.'
I smile shyly as Max sits next to me, I can’t think of anything to say to him, so I just smile instead.
'I'm Max by the way.' Max smiles with the most perfect smile.
I smile back. 'Yeah, I gathered that.'
'I'm sorry that I was put next to you, don't wanna cramp your style or anything.'
He's hot and he's got a sense of humour!
'It's fine honestly, I work better on my own but I'm not against helping people to catch up.'
'I promise not to piss you off too much then.' He smirks at me. 'But seriously, please tell me if I do because I sort of don't have any friends.' He winks.
'I'm quite a patient person so I can take anything.' I clear my throat and take out a pen. I realize Max doesn't have anything in front of him so I take out a pen and a few pieces of paper for him.
'Cheers.' He takes the pen out of my hand and writes the date on top of the paper.
'So what brings you to Small Town?'
He doesn't answer me straight away, he finishes writing, puts the pen down and looks at me.
'My mother and I moved here from the States, my mother's job transferred her to here and here we are.'
'What's your mother's job if you don't mind me asking?' Call me curious but what's the harm in getting to know the guy.
'She's a nurse.' He looks back down at the paper and clears his throat.
'No way! My mother's a nurse too!'
He looks from the paper and smiles. 'That's pretty cool.'
Just as Max finishes speaking, Mr. Thompson claps his hands to the classroom.
'Right, today I thought we could do something a little different. Now because we have Max here who has just started, I don't think it's fair on him to come to school today to jump right into today's subject, so I'd like everyone to read section A to C and write notes about variations of genetics so that you're all prepared for next week's quiz.'
Mr. Thompson walks up to our desk and looks at the two of us individually.
'Now, Alice I know you've already done notes on genetics and so on, so if you can print out your notes and give them to Max here at some point today, then he'll be sorted for next week.' He looks at Max. 'Other than that I hope you have a good day, Alice here can take you around the campus to see where everything is, and if I remember correctly you have the gym and basketball at the end of the day so Alice can take you to where that is if it's alright with her, okay?' He claps his hands, walks back to his desk and starts typing on his computer.
'He can talk can he?' Max chuckles.
'Yeah, he's a great teacher.'
'You like him?' Max raises an eyebrow and I burst out laughing.
'Oh god not like that! It's more of the way that he teaches that makes him such a likable person. He shows so much passion in his job and you can clearly see that he loves teaching, and to me that's the way people should be.' I look away from Mr. Thompson to Max and see that he's smiling at me.
'What?' I slowly wipe my nose and fidget with my hair.
'Do you think it will be okay if I joined you for lunch?'
'Huh? Oh yeah sure, my friend would love to meet you.'
Sam is going to love him!
'Thanks, I really appreciate it.'
Max and I spoke for the whole two hours. He told me about his life in the States and his mum. His mother and father divorced when he was a baby, and I learnt that he's an only child and that he used to live in a house right next to the sea. Talking to Max about his upbringing sounds exactly like my upbringing, I'm an only child and I've never known my father.
As the bell goes to signal the end of the lesson, I pack my things and walk out the classroom with Max. I see Sam sitting on the floor with her headphones on, and when she sees me with Max she stands up with her eyes wide.
'Well hello there, I'm Sam, Alice's best friend.' She licks her lips and not so subtly checks him out.
'Max Fields, lovely to meet you.' He puts his hands in his pockets and sways on his feet.
I look at Sam to see that she's still staring. Knew it!
'How was football Sam?'
Sam touches her hair and slowly takes her eyes away from Max to look at me. 'It would have been good if our teacher actually showed up.'
'She didn't show up?' It better not be a repeat of Mr. Daniels...
'No, apparently Mrs. Lewis is on maternity leave so we're not gonna have football for the next few months.'
'That sucks.'
'Yeah well I'm starving and I'm dying to know all about Max.'
I quietly chuckle when I see Sam pulling Max towards the cafeteria, and just as I start to catch up, I see Ryder leaning against the wall staring daggers
at me. After last night, I've got nothing to say to him, but when I pass him without saying a word, I can feel him walking behind me.
'What the hell is your problem?' I turn and place my hands firmly on my hips.
He puts up both of his hands. 'I just wanted to apologize about last night.'
'Which part do you want to apologize for? And you're apologizing to me a lot lately.'
'I just want to get along with you Alice. Is that so hard to believe?'
'Look I tried explaining to you about the night I was changing but you decided to cut me off, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it's your fault you didn't get you want and for that you can piss off.'
'Who's the new guy?' I look into his eyes but I can't make out his expression.
'He’s new to the school.'
Ryder puts his hands in his pockets. 'I saw him walking out with you.'
'What's that got to do with you? You're always asking me questions that are none of your business.'
He clenches his jaw. 'I'm not gonna leave you alone. You're gonna need me for the next change, and whenever that is, I'm gonna make sure that I'm there to help you. I don't care what you say but I'll be there to make sure that you survive.’
I don't get a chance to respond when I feel another presence joining our little conversation. Ryder's head comes up and he's looking sternly at Max.
'Alice, I thought we lost you.' Max pulls out his hand and introduces himself to Ryder. 'Hey man, I'm Max Fields.'
Ryder ignores him and walks away.
'What's his problem?' Max watches Ryder as he walks away with a look of confusion on his face.
'Yeah that's Ryder.' I watch Ryder walking towards his friends that are sitting at a bench near the football field.
'Were you two a thing or...?'
'Are you kidding me?' I burst out laughing. 'No we’ve never been a thing.'
Max and I make our way towards the cafeteria, but as I walk through the doors I can't help but feel like I'm being watched. I stand corrected when I look towards the picnic benches located outside and see Ryder, Bane, Kellan and Silver's eyes on me. Are they worried I'm going to tell Max about them? About what they are? It's not even my secret to tell.
Chasing the Omega Page 4
