Chapter 3

Ayla’s POV

Monday morning, again. I didn’t mind school itself, just the idiots that attended there. Mason was three years older than me, so he attended the Pack university. Unfortunately, the university was on the same campus as the high school, so I still had to see him throughout the day.

Naturally, he was one of the most popular guys there, most girls wanted to be with him, and most guys wanted to be him. The only ones not interested in Mason were the already mated pairs. Mason himself was still unmated. He liked to make you believe this was because no one here was good enough for him. The moon goddess hadn’t found the perfect match for him yet, and she wasn’t going to put him with just any old Mate.

I had to laugh, it was more likely no one deserved to be stuck with such an asshole, and the moon goddess was saving us all from that fate.

Today was no different from any other. I arrived at school in my old Honda Civic. She had seen better days, but I loved her. She was a beauty of a car. I had also bought her by myself, so she was my baby. I worked all summer last year, saving enough money to buy myself a car.

Pulling into the same space, I aim for every day. I kill the engine and start to get out. I hear it before I see it. A massive black SUV pulls up next to me; its breaks slam on, bringing it to an abrupt stop. Music screaming out the windows. The kind no one liked but pretended to as it was meant to be cool.

“Here we go,” I say as I push myself out of the door.

“The wannabe princess is here, lads, gracing us with her presence; all bow,” Jacobs’s voice assaults my ears.

“Piss off, Jacob; no one wants to hear your crap today,” I say as I sling my bag over my shoulder.

“Ouch, Missy has an attitude today, I see; this should be fun,” he sneers back. I roll my eyes at him, and I hug my books to my chest and head for the main building,

“Wait up, princess, I didn’t mean to offend you; stay, chat with us a bit,” he says with a drawl.

I stop, being pulled back by my backpack.

“What” I snapped; I wasn’t in the mood.

“Now, don’t use that tone, Missy; you know Mason and Lucas won’t be happy if you don’t play nice. He says way too close to my face.

“Fine, how can I help you, Jacob” I throw a fake smile his way, at the end, for good measure.

“That’s better,” I hear the rest of his cronies snigger behind us. “I hear it’s your birthday soon, eighteen too.”

“Yeah, so?” I reply

“All legal, and your first change is happening too. Do you need me to hold your hand, show you what it’s like to be an adult” he pushes himself up against me?

“Ugh, get off, Jacob, don’t touch me” I shove him away, earning a glare, knowing I’ll pay for it later. He makes my skin crawl.

“I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last she-wolf alive, you disgusting little bitch”, he snaps at me, his ego bruised by my rejection.

“Whatever,” I mutter as I start to walk as fast as I can towards the school; head bent down, I try to block him out.

“No one will want to be your mate Ayla; you’re disgusting; you don’t belong,” he shouted as I moved further away; I heard his friends laughing and cheering him on.

“Good one Jacob” I hear one of them say; I block them out and head to class before the rain starts again.

Jacobs POV

“No one will want to be your mate,” I shout at her as she walks away from me, heads down and picking up speed.

The wind blows her scent my way. I catch a strong whiff of black cherry and cream.

“Damn, she smells good,” I think, stopping myself from saying the words aloud.

Ayla was not liked; Mason made sure of that. She wasn’t from around here; that was clear as day. Even without knowing, the Alpha adopted her. She looks nothing like the other girls in the pack. For one, she’s shorter and curvier, and her hair is a stunning shade of auburn. No one else in the pack had hair anywhere near her colour. She was one of a kind.

No matter how hard she tried to blend into the background, she couldn’t; she stuck out like a sore thumb. We were friends for a short time years ago, one summer. I had to spend a lot of time at the pack house with my brother while my parents were away on pack business. I think we were around ten-year-old then. It took a while for her to talk to me, but I kept trying. My brother and Mason didn’t want me hanging around them all the time, so I had to find something else to do.

Ayla was in the library a lot, so I would go and find her and sit with her for a while. Eventually, she let me in. It was quite a fun summer. But once my brother and Mason found out we were friends, they stopped it immediately. By the time we were back at school, they had me hating on her.

I had taken such a beating from them for being her friend that you listen and do as they say at ten years old. It had been eight years since then, and she hates me now, so I carry on the way I was. She can never know I would die to be her mate; she intoxicates me. It’s not worth the beatings; I say nothing,

Honestly, though she wouldn’t be fated to be with someone like me, I just know it.

Ayla’s POV

“Bloody Jacob,” I breathe. I can’t believe we used to be friends. I hadn’t done anything to him either, yet, he hated me overnight? It is what it is at the end of the day. I don’t need friends; I need to get on so I can finish here and then work out what I want to do with my life.

Tapping in the code to my locker, I shove my books in. I pulled out a hoodie as I had miss judged the weather today. I wore black shorts with my broken trainers and a simple light blue t-shirt. What a mistake; I could see the rain pounding on the glass outside; I only just made it inside before the heavens opened.

Looking in the tiny mirror inside my locker door, I braid my hair on each side of my head. It was easier to tie it back with this hoodie, or the hood wouldn’t stay upright.

“Move,” she shrieked.

Stacy, the school bitch. The girl who loved herself so much also expected everyone else too. She didn’t care if that was by choice or by fear. She was also Jacob’s girlfriend. I, on the other hand, was her favourite punching bag.

As far as possible, I stick my head in my locker as if I’m looking for something. I was trying to stay as far out of her way as I possibly could. Hopefully, she will ignore me and walk past, choosing another victim this morning.

How wrong I was.

“Good morning, lovely Ayla. The beloved of our oh so fearless Alpha,” she smirks at me.

My blood boiled; I hate anyone bad-mouthing Michael; he has been so good to me. Taking a deep breath, I turn around, a fake smile in place.

“Stacy, how are you,” I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.

She was looking down at me when I turned around. Her perfectly straight blonde hair was loose around her shoulders today, reaching just above her bottom. Her baby pink mini skirt hugged her waist and ended halfway down her thigh, causing loads of the guys to stare and drool at her. She loved it, of course. She paired her skirt with a tight low cute white t-shirt. She was showing off her boobs exactly how she wanted.

That was one of the reasons she hated me so much. I was blessed in the breast department… she was not. Let’s just say she had to use an excellent push-up bra to gain anything worth looking at.

“I hear you had fun this morning with my man. You know he’s not yours, right” she snapped at me.

“What! No, I didn’t.” I started to defend myself. “He came up to me,” I said just before her hand connected with my cheek. A hot burning flash of pain shot through my face; she had slapped me! My hand sprang up to cover the sore spot.

“Don’t lie to me, you silly little bitch; we all know you want him, but he’s not interested in you; no one is.” She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Once we are mated, I swear if you try to touch him again, I’ll tear your ugly little eyes out” she paused, “Jaxon said you were all over him when they pulled up this morning, that he had to tell you to piss off.”

“No, it wasn’t like that,” I answered, taking a step back. I wasn’t going to take this today; I had had enough already. I'll be okay if I could hold her off until the bell rings.

“Are you calling my brother a liar” she snarled; a low rumble came from inside her.

“Shit, this isn’t going to be a good day,” I tell myself.

“No, I’m just saying it wasn’t like that; I don’t want Jacob; he’s fully yours,” I try to say, but all it was doing was making her angrier.

“Why wouldn’t you want Jacob? He’s the hottest guy here!” she seethed at me and practically spat in my face.

A small crowd had begun to gather around us at this point. This school loved a good fight. Sadly, I always seem to be the one on the receiving end. Most of the time, I hadn’t done anything to deserve it either. It was all because I wasn’t like them, and they didn’t want to be on the wrong side of Stacy. If you found yourself on her bad side, you better fix it quickly. Otherwise, you were in for a shit time.

“Ring,” the bell rang out loudly,

“Thank the Goddess for that,” I sigh. Quickly I glance at my timetable and see I have science first period.

“Could this day get any worse”