Tessa hurls herself out of the classroom. If she had to sit between Simone and Keri for a second longer she knew she would lose control of the wolf. The two of them spent the whole of geography taking shots at each other, Tessa forced to sit between the two and try to soften the blows.

Now this wasn’t unusual. The step-sisters fought like cat and dog on a regular basis, but in such a way that you knew the troubles would be resolved by next period, or one of them would cave and they would make up. This time however, the looks they gave each other, the aurora of wretched anger which hung around them made Tessa tense. Like every move she made would set them off, that a mouse’s squeak could reduce them to blows at any second. 

Her other problem, sat in the corner of the classroom all period staring out the window. He seemed unable to take his eyes off the trees as the rain thrashed into them and the wind tried to strip them of their leaves. Oftentimes, Tessa found herself doing the same captured by the beauty of it. But every time she glanced at him she could not help but think of a dead man walking. That if she hadn’t smelled him out, hadn’t alerted Walter to his whereabouts, Rye could have slipped away before anyone could do anything about it.

That’s a lie though. Deep down she knew her alpha could track Rye all over the country once she smelled his scent. She knows her mum would track him all the way to France if that’s what it took to secure her pack’s reputation. There are some things Tessa is not looking forward to doing as an alpha. 

Simone stood on one side of the door, Keri stood on the other. Both with their arms crossed, both expecting Tessa to choose a side and follow one of them. Tessa waited. Head ducked Rye exited the classroom, fingers picking at the strap of his rucksack. 

“Rye,” Tessa blocked his way out of the classroom, watching from the corner of her eye as Simone’s smirk splattered to the ground like jelly sliding off a plate. “Come eat lunch with us, yeah?” 

“Um…” He glanced at the others, clenching his rucksack strap and biting his lip. “Your friends won’t mind will they?” What he really means is Walter won’t rip my heart out if I join you right? 

“Not at all,” Simone strode away, “I’ve got a new opening in my friendship circle and I’d be more than happy to let you in.” 

“Subtle.” Snapped Keri. 

Grabbing her arm, Rye held Tessa back out of ear shot. His forehead crumpled and for the first time Tessa noticed a second, thinner, scar over his left temple. Five tiny lines, the width of a spider’s leg met in the middle resembling a snowflake. She’d never seen a scar in such a pattern, she wondered what kind of hurt could produce such a thing.

“Why are you doing this? I don’t want to cause problems in your pack.”  

“You’ve already done that,” She regrets the words as soon as they meet the air, watching the glimmer in his eye die. Twitching her nose she tried to shake off the sinking in her gut. “But we need to establish your presence here. Present you as a nice and sociable student who fits in. It will be a lot easier for the alpha to get rid of you if you were a nobody who ate lunch alone. This way people would ask questions if you disappear.”

“So you want me to be nice and sociable?” 

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Well you’ll have to because your life depends on it.” And she intended to keep him alive long enough to find out where that snowflake scar came from.