Chapter 1

"Leana! Time to leave for school!" Miss Mary called out from the kitchen.

Quickly I gathered up my art and school supplies into my backpack. I went into the kitchen before leaving to let her know that I had heard her and was heading out. Seeing as my foster home wasn't too far from the school, I just walked. When I was about halfway there, my friend Christian appeared beside me.

"Leana, have you heard that the new pack's Alpha, Jackson, has already made it to the top of the class?" he asked. "I have to say that it's going to be weird having another pack going to school with us."

I nodded my head to encourage him to keep talking.

"Apparently all the girls in our grade are trying to fail their classes so the teachers will have him tutor them," he continued while laughing. "It's not working, 'cause of course the teachers caught on fast. The amount of students drastically failing was pretty obvious."

I nodded in agreement. Jackson and his pack quickly made a name for themselves in the little time they'd been going to school with us. Not only was their pack known for being strong, but a good portion of the unmated wolves in our pack saw the amount of 'fresh meat on the market' as their chance to move up in the ranks.

Christian continued to talk about the latest gossip surrounding the new kids. "So how long do you think people will talk about them?" he asked as we made it to the school.

I just shrugged in response, but I guess he wanted my opinion 'cause he kept pushing me for an answer. Looking around to see if anyone was near, I turned towards him and started to sign my response.

"I honestly don't really have an opinion on them. Whether or not they stay the hot new thing around school doesn't matter to me as long as they leave me alone."

Christian sighed after seeing my reluctance to sign. "You know, Leana, you signing isn't something to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Everyone in the pack already knows what happened."

"Some of the other students at this school would say otherwise. Even though they know I have to use sign language, they still feel the need to mock me for it whenever they see it," I replied. "But I hope that I can stay under the radar and minimize my contact with the new pack. The less they know about me, the better."

"You never know, they might be really nice."

"'Might' being the operative word. I'd rather not leave it to chance. Besides, it doesn't matter; I'll keep to myself, like I usually do, and avoid everyone as best I can. Now let's go. Class is going to start soon."

Sighing one last time, Christian nodded, and we started making our way to the first class of the day. We didn't even make it fully through the door before we bumped into a group of people, knocking one of them down in the process. It wasn't a big group of people thankfully, but I could immediately tell that they were not from our pack.

"Watch where you're going next time," said one of them while helping the one that fell up off the floor.

"We are so sorry, Alpha Jackson!" Christian exclaimed while I frantically started bowing in a show of apology.

We started to walk away, but someone stepped in front of me. "Wait a second. Where do you think you're going without apologizing to our Alpha?" he asked.

Christian was by my side immediately. "Allow me to apologize on her behalf."

"No, let her speak for herself," he replied before turning me around to face who I assumed was Alpha Jackson. "Come on, speak up and say you're sorry," he continued angrily when I remained silent.

"She can't!" Christian exclaimed.

"What do you mean she can't?!"

"She can't speak!!"

All of a sudden everyone's eyes shot to Christian. "She is unable to speak, so I am apologizing on her behalf. It was an accident. We didn't mean to run into you guys, let alone make your Alpha fall. Now I am asking you nicely, please let her go."

"Let them go, Aaron," Jackson said.

"But Alpha—"

"That's an order. Let them go," Jackson interrupted.

As soon as the one that I now knew was Aaron let me go, I backed up into Christian and bowed once more before quickly getting as far away from them as I could. Christian followed soon after as I made my way to my classroom. Fortunately Christian and I had all the same classes for a good portion of the day. Up until art class at least. Christian was always more of a sports kind of guy—art was never his forte—so while I was in art class, he was in his foreign language class.

"Leana, are you okay?" he asked once we had made it to our seats.

I nodded in response, still in shock. I could already tell that everyone was talking about my run-in with Alpha Jackson and the other members of his pack. Looks and whispers followed me wherever I went.

Soon after, the teacher walked in, silencing the class before starting the lesson.