Page 5 of Alpha Varsity (Wolf Ridge High #5)

Chapter Five

A sher

I wrap my arms around my mom and squeeze her tight. Her thin body trembles against mine, telling me that my fears of being banished from this pack like my dad are founded.

“It’s going to be okay,” I murmur, not sure if it’s true.

We’re standing outside the door to Alpha Green’s office, where I was summoned by a phone call during dinner.

I’ve already answered to Principal Olsen, who suspended me from school for the rest of the week.

“If I was being kicked out, this would probably be a council meeting,” I whisper.

At least, that’s how I think it worked when my dad was banished.

Shame fills my entire being, as it always does when I think of my dad. It was my loose lips that got him banished. I stupidly trusted Lotta James. I confided in her, and she betrayed me.

What a gruesome twist of fate it would be if I was now banished over defending her reputation .

I release my mom and knock lightly on the door.

“Enter.”

I step in, and Alpha Green glances at my mom. “Wait outside, Lisa.”

She bows her head. “Yes, Alpha.”

Alpha Green remains sitting but doesn’t indicate that I should sit opposite him, so I remain standing.

“You broke the wrist of a student at school.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“At school. In front of humans .”

“Forgive me, Sir.”

He scrutinizes my face.

I work hard to remain perfectly still. Perfectly stoic. I don’t allow myself to swallow or sweat. I don’t want our pack alpha to smell fear on me. That would confirm the idea that I’d done something wrong.

“Principal Olsen was inclined to forgive your behavior on account of chivalry–you were defending a female teacher.”

“He suspended me until Saturday’s game, Sir.” I point it out in hopes that he’ll decide I’ve already been appropriately punished.

“Eric will have to wear a cast for at least four weeks to avoid suspicion. That’s a lot longer than three days, isn’t it?”

The fucker deserves it as far as I’m concerned. I keep my face blank of irritation, though. “Yes, sir.”

Alpha Green must sense my disagreement because he stands, sending a blast of power in my direction. It’s all I can do not to take a step back and show how much it affected me.

“Violence is in your genes, Asher.” He points a finger at me. “Your father was violent. This pack put up with incident after incident with him, brushing it off as part of wolf nature, but in retrospect, it’s clear he didn’t know right from wrong.”

I don’t know what he’s referring to. Sure, my dad got into brawls at the pub. He knocked me and my mom around when he was in a mood. But his ultimate crime wasn’t violent.

A familiar mix of shame and anger makes my neck flush with heat. I keep my lips closed, dragging breath in through my nose.

“Do you , Asher?”

I blink, not sure what he’s asking. My brain was out reviewing this perspective of my dad.

“Do you know the difference between right and wrong?” he roars.

Fuck. I made him mad.

“Yes, Alpha.”

He raises his brows. “Do you?”

“Yes, sir.”

He glares at me for a moment. “Son, let me explain this very clearly. I won’t excuse your violence again. You are a hair’s breadth from getting banished like your father. Any more incursions, and you’re gone. Understand?”

My heart hammers against my chest. “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

I hate this town. I hate this whole damn pack.

I especially hate Lotta James because all of this–this whole damn mess–rests firmly on her slender shoulders.

Lotta

I enter my casita and flop face down on the bed that takes up half the apartment. Sunlight streams in through the windows, making the polished saltillo tile glow like a warm sunset.

I left school after my visit with the principal. I usually stay and paint until late evening, but I’m not capable of doing anything creative right now.

It’s a miracle I didn’t get fired. I’m not sure how I managed it. Probably only because my mom is pack royalty, and both of my parents are part of Alpha Green’s high council.

My phone buzzes with an incoming text.

What’s up, Arizona?

It’s from Andy–one of the three human roommates I left behind in Chicago when I realized there was no way I could keep paying rent. We’re not friends, but I muddied the waters by playing the roommates with benefits game with him for a spell.

What can I say? I was lonely. He was hot, for a human, and available. Too self-involved and just in it for sex to sniff out my secret.

I don’t know why he’s texting now. We weren’t in a more than business texting relationship. Even if that business sometimes included booty calls.

I text back,

??

I’m coming to Scottsdale to meet with a gallery owner my mom knows. I might be able to get you a meeting, too.

Oh. Unexpected. Andy’s a trust-funded sculptor. He’s never had to work a day in his life. He thinks far too highly of his art and doesn’t give a shit about anyone else’s. He’s not usually the kind of guy to throw anyone a bone.

My pulse picks up speed.

That would be great. I would appreciate it. Scottsdale is just down the hill from Wolf Ridge.

Cool. I’ll let you know.

I’m light-headed. The rumbling in my stomach gets me up off the bed. Something about shifting last night has made me ravenous today. I swear it’s like hitting transition again. Great–I’m having a second puberty. As if the first one wasn’t awful enough. Coming back here was such a mistake. But what choice did I have?

I failed to find a job in Chicago that paid enough to cover my student loans and rent. I was substitute teaching there for twenty bucks an hour. When the human art teacher at Wolf Ridge High went on medical leave for the rest of the school year, my mom called and talked me into coming home to take the job. The long-term substitute contract pays more than I was making in Chicago. It’s a seven-month commitment teaching the subject I love. I decided my mom was right–it’s a chance to catch up on my bills and figure out my next move.

Of course, she just wanted me back under her watchful eye. She and my dad could have helped me financially while I was in school–they have plenty of money–but they refused. They were basically starving me out.

Which reminds me, I am starting to shake with hunger. I need protein and not the couple of slices of ham I have in my mini-fridge. I will have to invite myself to dinner with my parents .

They will be delighted. Me, not so much. I walk across the pool deck to their back slider, which I find open. “Hey, guys!”

The house is air conditioned to seventy degrees, and the cool air feels good on my flushed skin. I hadn’t realized I was running warm.

“Hi, honey!” My mom has a glass of white wine in her hand, and she’s moving around the kitchen, cooking and drinking at the same time. She’s still in her work clothes, minus the heels, her sleeveless blouse opened at the throat and coming untucked from her pencil skirt.

“Hey, peanut.” My dad is standing on a stepladder, installing new drapes.

My mom gives my outfit a critical up and down. “Tell me you didn’t wear those clothes to teach today.”

I try to resist my nervous system’s instant reaction to her judgment. The heat in my face. The spike of anger. The clench of my palms.

Only seven months.

Then I will move away and pursue my art.

“I woke up late,” I confess. I figure if they hadn’t already noticed my late departure, someone in this small town is sure to tell them.

“Lotta, I stuck my neck out to get this job for you. Don’t embarrass me by proving you’re not responsible enough–”

“All right, Denise,” my dad cuts in.

“Mom, I know. I’m not blowing off the job. The full moon threw me off.”

Both my parents stop what they’re doing to peer at me. My mom puts a hand on her hip. “Did you shift?”

Gah. I really don’t want to have this conversation with them. They know I didn’t shift the entire time I was at college. That I found it easier to fit in and live with humans that way. Of course, that’s why they wanted me back home.

“Yes.”

They shoot each other pleased looks. “That’s great honey,” my dad says. “I’ll bet it felt good.”

I force a smile. “It did. But it ramped up my metabolism. I slept hard, and now I’m starving.”

“Well!” My mom beams. “Let’s get some food into you. Set the table, hon. I’m almost finished with this beef stir fry.”

I hate that they’re happy about this. I don’t want to admit that my dad was right–it did feel good. The whole situation reeks of a told-you-so. For most of my upbringing, they’ve been telling me art is for humans. Cities are for humans.

When I chose to attend art school in a big city against their wishes, they told me how bad it was for me to never shift, how I would make myself sick, how my wolf might go dormant, or I might suffer from a human-like ailment like cancer.

They refused to help me with tuition or living expenses in hopes I would tuck tail and return.

For over four years, I’ve been trying to prove them wrong. So I really hate to make them right about anything. Especially anything that makes them share victorious smiles about me.

I guess that’s the trade-off for a home-cooked meal that will actually satisfy my ravenous wolf. I set the table and pour myself a glass of wine, drinking half the glass down in a few gulps to try to relax.

Not that the buzz from alcohol lasts very long for wolf shifters. We metabolize too quickly. Hopefully it will be enough to get through dinner .

My mom finishes and dishes out the meal onto the three plates I set.

I slide into a chair and put my napkin on my lap. My stomach gives a loud rumble.

“Coming,” my dad says before my mom tells him. He washes his hands and sits down at the table, searching my face with delight. “I didn’t see you on the run last night.”

I pick up my fork and dig in. It’s a simple dish–snap peas, tomatoes, and beef with cashews and some kind of plum sauce. It tastes like heaven. I gobble down a bite before I answer. “No. I wasn’t planning on joining. That’s why I didn’t go to the pack hall. But I heard the yips and howls from the school and…I guess I couldn’t resist.” I force a cheerful note into my voice like it was something I chose rather than something my wolf forced onto me.

“Did you find any of your old friends?”

I’m still shoveling food into my mouth. “Uh…I honestly don’t know who I was running with.” Heat crawls up my neck. I’m suddenly feverish again, remembering that male.

The things he did to me.

Is this what you needed, little wolf?

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him all day. How much I crave his dominant touch again.

Need it.

How I’m afraid to find out who he is. I’d give anything to keep it in the realm of fantasy. A faceless man with an incredible, growly voice who I meet once a month on the full moon run.

Except I’m already dying to see him again. I don’t know how I will wait another twenty-seven days.

I even called Dr. Oakley’s office at lunch today and made an appointment to get birth control. I’m definitely planning on having sex with this guy again, and I can’t risk an unwanted pregnancy. Considering I had no control of myself last night when I was in wolf form, I need to take some precautions.

“But you enjoyed yourself?” my dad presses.

This ass belongs to me. It’s mine to do with what I want.

Oh, fate. I’m getting hot and squirmy right here at my parents’ dinner table. I shove another giant bite of food into my mouth and chew, nodding. “Uh huh.”

I don’t realize for a moment that my mom has stopped eating to stare at me.

I force myself to slow down. Purposely set down my fork.

“You were hungry, weren’t you?”

I pick up my wine glass and drain it. “Unexpectedly so. Sorry to come over here and barge in on your dinner, but I couldn’t even wait to fix myself something.”

“No, we’re delighted to have you any time, darling. I wonder if you’ll fill out a bit now that you’re shifting again.”

Ugh. Now the body shaming stuff. My mom seriously drives me nuts. I work on cleaning my plate.

“You might have just been a late bloomer, and that’s why you were able to suppress your wolf while you were at college. I want you to go and see Dr. Oakley for a full check-up.”

“I already called for an appointment,” I cut her off.

“She’s an adult now, Denise,” my dad chides. “She’s been on her own for years now.”

“I know, I know.” My mom holds up her hand in his direction without taking her eagle eye from me. “Why did you make an appointment?”

I stare right back at her. “Birth control.”

“Oh!” That shocks her into a moment of silence. “Well that’s great. Does that mean you really did enjoy that full moon run?” She waggles her brows. Of course, she’d love it if I found someone here who would make me stick around.

“Ugh.” I stand, taking my cleaned plate with me. “Enough, Mom. Respect my boundaries, please.” I rinse my plate and set it in the dishwasher.

My mom has enough grace to laugh. “All right, honey. I’m sorry. I just care about you, that’s all.”

Oh, I know. She just cares about me in an interfering, overbearing way.

I lean over and kiss her cheek. “Thanks for dinner, Mom.” I kiss my dad’s cheek, too. “Love you both. Bye!”

I cruise out the door before they can grill me anymore.

I’m seriously ready for a second meal. Like that one gave me enough energy to get in my car and drive to In ‘n Out burger for more protein.

That’s what I’ll do. Get a second meal and go back to the school to paint.

Hopefully, I won’t wolf-out again and lose my panties to another idiot student.