"Move your shoulder, Scotty. You're blocking the doorframe."
"Walk around me, Camille. You have legs."
"I will step on your shoes."
"You can try."
I shoved my elbow directly into Scotty Mercer’s ribs. He didn't even flinch. He just leaned his weight against the metal frame of the classroom door, trapping me in the hallway.
"Move," I demanded, glaring up at him.
"Say please," he replied, a maddening smirk lifting the corner of his mouth.
"I would rather swallow a live grenade."
"Your loss." He finally pushed off the doorframe and strolled into the classroom.
Silverthorn High wasn't a normal school. Every single student sitting at these wooden desks carried werewolf blood. Hierarchy was everything. Talent dictated your future.
And Scotty Mercer was the golden boy of the entire city.
He claimed the window seat at our shared desk in the back row. I dropped my bag onto the chair next to him, instantly annoyed by the way his long legs sprawled into my space.
"You're crossing the invisible line," I told him.
"Draw a real one, then," he challenged.
I unzipped my pencil pouch, pulled out a silver gel pen, and slapped it onto the desk. "Keep your elbows on your side."
Before I could even open my notebook, Scotty’s hand shot out. He snatched the silver pen.
"Give it back, Scotty."
"Give what back?" He spun the metallic barrel between his knuckles.
"My pen. The one you just swiped."
"I found this on the wood. Finders keepers, Thorne."
"It was on my half of the desk."
"Your half is debatable."
I reached for the pen. He lifted it entirely out of my reach.
Mr. Harrison walked into the room, clapping his hands to signal the start of homeroom. The rest of the class immediately quieted down. The Mercer family and the Thorne family were the two highest Alpha lineages in the territory. Everyone else knew better than to interrupt us.
"Scotty?" a quiet voice whispered from the aisle.
We both looked over. Maya, a Beta from a decent family, leaned out of her seat. She held out a perfectly folded piece of paper.
"I finished the AP History study guide," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "If you want to copy it."
Scotty’s expression flatlined. The playful glint in his eyes vanished. He looked at the girl with a freezing arrogance that made him the school's untouchable idol.
"No," he said.
Maya shrank back, her cheeks flushing red. She quickly turned around and buried her face in a textbook.
He didn't care. He turned his attention straight back to me, and the ice melted instantly. He reached out and yanked the hood of my sweatshirt.
"Hey!" I swatted his hand away.
"Your hair is a disaster today, Cami," he whispered. "Did you fight a lawnmower on the way to school?"
"I fought my alarm clock. Now I'm fighting you."
"You're losing."
He was right. I always lost. Scotty had shifted into his wolf form at thirteen. A terrifyingly massive, pitch-black wolf with power that forced even seniors to bare their necks. He was the undisputed future Alpha of his pack.
And me? I was seventeen, and my wolf was completely dormant.
"Mr. Harrison is going to give us detention," I muttered, trying to pull my hood back up.
"He won't." Scotty kicked my ankle under the desk. "He's terrified of my dad. And yours."
I kicked him back, aiming for his shin. "You're unbearable."
"You love it."
"I would rather chew glass."
"You'd break a tooth. You don't have the healing factor yet, remember?"
The words hit me like a physical blow. My jaw tightened. I stared straight ahead at the chalkboard, refusing to look at him.
He noticed the shift. He always did.
"Aw, did I hit a nerve?" he murmured. He leaned closer. I felt the heat radiating off his arm.
"Back off, Mercer."
"Just stating facts, Thorne. Everyone else in this room shifted by fifteen. Even Maya."
"I said drop it." My voice dropped an octave, shaking slightly.
"Why?" He tilted his head, studying my profile. "Are you scared?"
"I'm not scared of anything."
"Right. You're just a late bloomer." He tapped the silver pen against the wood of our desk. "Really late. Dangerously late."
"Shut your mouth." I gripped the edges of my notebook. The paper crumpled under my fingers.
"What happens if you never shift?" he pushed, relentless. "What happens to the great Thorne legacy?"
"It's none of your business."
"We're neighbors. Our parents have dinner every Sunday. It is my business." He dropped the pen and crossed his arms. "Maybe the Alpha blood skipped a generation."
"One more word, Scotty."
"Maybe you're just a dud."
I turned my head and glared at him. "Do you ever shut up?"
"What if you're an Omega, Cami?"
The entire classroom went dead silent. Mr. Harrison stopped talking mid-sentence. The scratching of pencils ceased. Everyone heard it.
An Omega. The lowest of the low. A servant class in our brutal hierarchy.
The insult burned through my veins. My vision tinted red. My hands shook, not from fear, but from an explosive, uncontrollable rage.
I didn't think. I just reacted.
I stood up, grabbed the heavy oak desk by the edge, and heaved it upward with every ounce of strength I possessed.
Wood cracked loudly. Metal screeched against the tile floor.
The desk flipped entirely, crashing onto its side with a deafening bang. Textbooks, pens, and papers flew everywhere. Scotty’s perfectly organized notes scattered across the aisle.
Gasps echoed through the room. Someone in the back row cursed out loud.
"Camille Thorne!" Mr. Harrison shouted, his face turning purple.
I ignored the teacher. I stood over the overturned desk, my chest heaving, glaring down at Scotty.
He hadn't moved. He was still sitting in his chair, completely exposed now that the desk was gone. His hands rested loosely on his lap.
He should have been furious. I had just humiliated the future Alpha in front of his loyal subjects.
Instead, Scotty looked down at the mess, then slowly looked up at me.
He threw his head back and laughed.
It wasn't a cruel laugh. It was loud, bright, and utterly delighted. The sound sent a shockwave of confusion through the classroom. Nobody laughed when they were publicly challenged.
"There's the fire," Scotty said, wiping a tear from his eye.
He stood up, towering over me. "I was wondering when you'd finally snap."
"You're a psychopath," I spat.
"And you're suspended," Mr. Harrison yelled, marching down the aisle toward us. "Principal's office. Both of you. Now!"
Scotty stepped over a scattered textbook and closed the distance between us. He ignored the teacher completely. He leaned down, his lips brushing the shell of my ear.
"Meet me by the old gym after school," he whispered, his tone stripping away all the teasing from seconds before.
I pulled back, narrowing my eyes. "Why would I do that?"
"Because I know why your wolf is hiding," he replied quietly. "And you're not going to like the truth."
