14. Boarding school

Eden has almost finished filling his suitcase. He had already divided the rest of his things into boxes that had left the day before. He stood up and looked around. The cave he had lived in since achieving his rank five years ago was nearly empty. Only his nest remained as it was almost impossible for an omega to sleep outside of it. The teenager had programmed his alarm clock the next day to fold and tidy his nest in a suitcase before leaving.

The male omega dreaded this departure. Even though he planned to go to college in Red Creek, he felt he had time to prepare. Their sudden transfer to the civil pack's school was something he hadn't foreseen.

More than leaving his pack and home, the fear of facing one more time curious looks, for the most part, mocking for some, hateful for others, was what occupied his mind. At least if he had arrived at Red Creek as planned for his college entrance, he'd have blended into the crowd of new students. Now, whether they like it or don't, his combi with Dante and Cherry would be the center of attention.

He sighed and walked over to the wooden dresser where he had prepared and prominently displayed his clothes for the next day. He looked at the flyer from the school and the boarding school he is about to join and grabbed it, walking back to his nest.

Eden settled down as comfortably as possible and started by detailing the first page where several photos represented the establishment with its various buildings. The place looked much bigger than Black Moon's high school. He fumbled in the covers of his nest and found his smartphone. He opened the camera and flashed the QR code printed on the flyer. The screen displayed a home page asking for a password, protection against non-werewolves. Even though no sensitive information was posted on the site, his kind was always careful about anything that might give away information about their company and organization.

He entered the code his father had given him with his registration papers and tapped the screen at the 'enter' button to get straight to the Red Creek Academy site.

Even though he'd watched it almost half a dozen times already, he didn't pause the high school introduction video. When the music toned up, he grabbed his earbuds and he pushed them into his ears to fully immerse himself in the virtual tour. His eyes didn't leave the screen for a second. One by one, he discovered the buildings of the school and the boarding school. An enthusiastic voice praised the facilities' merits as it toured a standard room.

Eden had not made the trip with his parents when they went to enroll him, and he regretted it. Since the decision was rushed and he had only just won the trust of some of his father's lieutenants, the teenager didn't want to be away, even for a few days. He had little time to confirm that he was a trusted member of Bloodhood and he didn't want to waste it. Now that the departure was here, he figured out a visit might have helped calm his nerves.

Eden locked the screen and threw the phone in his nest without a glance to where it landed. His thoughts were starting to drift away when a muffled voice called out to him. He turned his head towards the entrance of his cave and met his mother's gaze.

Snow Bloohood was standing in the doorway, pushing aside the curtain with one hand to clear her way. She smoothed the front of her fur, as she always did when she was nervous or preoccupied.

"Are you ready for tomorrow? "

Eden straightened up and removed the earbuds from his ears.

"Yeah. Everything is ready, I only have my nest left. I'll tidy it up tomorrow before leaving. "

He patted the space next to him in silent invitation, and the Luna slipped inside the nest before releasing her pheromones freely. Eden breathed quietly, immersed in his thoughts, before breaking the silence.

"It's been a while since I last sniffed your scent like that," he remarked.

"Your nest is practically saturated with the scents of Dante and Cherry," she said dramatically.

Eden giggled. He kept breathing the nostalgic scent and enjoying the comforting calm.

"How are you feeling?" Snow continued.

"Well? Stressed out? I don't know." He sighed and leaned his head against the wall behind his back. "In Back Moon, it has practically disappeared. Now, I'll deal again with stares, whispers, and mockery."

"You don't know."

"Yes, I know. That is how things have always been. Luckily, people here got used to the idea that there is an omega like me. I guess I've got to start from scratch. " He concluded his sentence with a sigh.

"I'm not going to pretend I know what it feels to be you. However, I know that no matter what happens, you'll be okay. You have this strength that forces people to look at you for who you are, Eden. No matter how long it takes, they end up seeing what a beautiful person you are. "

"You say that because you are my mother," said the teenager with an embarrassed laugh.

"Maybe," the Omega retorted with a mischievous smile. "That doesn't stop me from being right."

She crossed her arms over her chest with her chin raised in a confident pout that made Eden chuckle once again.

"I hope so."

Snow stroked her son's hair and stood up. She walked over to the cave entrance and turned around one last time.

"Don't stay up too late if you don't want to be tired tomorrow."

_______

In the SUV that had picked them up from the airport to the Red Creek High school's campus, Eden was with his two friends and Silver Bloodhood. Despite the tensions in the pack, the alpha couldn't bring himself to let his son travel alone much to Eden's dismay.

Even though he liked his life too much to say it out loud, Dante found the overprotective side of his leader pleasing. Especially if that meant having a prime spot on the mini-drama where his best friend, a 5'6 feet omega, was giving a cold shoulder to a 7'1 feet alpha.

In the seven-seat all place car, silence reigned and Dante watched, amused, as the alpha sat alone in a row in front of them. His head was sticking to the ceiling and it was not to mention his unusually large stature, which took up two of the three seats.

The beta didn't have good visibility and not enough guts to openly check, but he suspected from the way their Alpha wriggled at times that the dominant was more than uncomfortable with the little space he had to lay out his legs. To top it all off, the driver who got them on kept glancing in the rearview mirror, something Silver pretended to ignore, too busy as he was watching Eden's changing morale through- over his shoulder.

Cherry had fallen asleep, her head resting on his shoulder and the young beta was smiling. His nose was glued to her hair, a fruity scent escaping and mingling perfectly with her natural scent.

The driver finally stopped alongside the building and Eden was the first to get off of the vehicle. He left the door open to let Cherry and Dante out while his father settled the bill.

Red Creeks was a small town occupied almost entirely by werewolves. The only one of its kind. The few humans who lived there were members of the WIA who had full knowledge of the supernatural beings living next to them.

The pack had copied and then pushed to its extreme the model of civilian packs by creating a pack with all the modernity of human society. The whole process had been accomplished with the help of the WIA who kept tabs on the supernatural wolf population and only intervened in their affairs if there was a problem involving humans. The creation of this city had enabled Red Creek to flourish economically using the best of both worlds.

The development of technologies that allowed the two kinds to coexist, the development of medicine capable of taking over when the regenerative capacity inherent in werewolves was ineffective, this fact and much more was born in Red Creek.

The taxi pulled away and Eden moved forward without delay, dragging the huge suitcase containing his nest behind him. A man standing in front of the doors reacted when he saw the massive alpha and waved to them. Silver walked over and squeezed the offered hand.

"Mr. Bloodhood, our alpha has notified me of your arrival. I will be your guide for today. Hope you had a good flight. I guess the three young people here are the students who will be joining our school tomorrow, " he said, turning his gaze to the three teenagers.

Eden and Dante nodded in greeting, while a tired and still half-asleep Cherry clung to her dominant's free arm to stifle a yawn.

The group stepped forward and finally passed the automatic gate, which opened onto a long driveway bordered on either side by a manicured garden as large as a football field.

Cherry, now wide awake gasped in awe and spun around to appreciate the magnificence of the structure. In front of them, at the end of the garden, a building with modern architecture combining concrete and a metal structure. They barely had time to appreciate the view as the man showed them a direction.

"If you can follow me," the man in the suit said. "I'll take you to the Subs dorm first so you can drop off your belongings. We will then continue with the dormitory of the dominants, and finally the high school and its various facilities. "

"I'm sorry but I'm in a rush," Silver Bloodhood explained, giving his son another glance. Eden's face remained unfazed. "I won't be able to stay long. If I could just meet with the dean to once again offer my thanks for making the registration process easier ... "

"Of course, I guess you have to go. Since it's like that, I'm going to ask a guard to take care of your suitcases and ... "

"No !"

Eden and Cherry had spoken at the same time and the two omegas blushed, embarrassed. Uncomfortably, they lowered their heads and avoided eye contact with the man who had just received a total refusal. Eden hung on his suitcase and Dante understood from his mate's reaction that it was out of the question for him to separate from the luggage he was carrying.

The Red Creek omega frowned and immediately understood the problem. He gave an understanding smile. "I apologize. You just arrived, it's normal that you won't feel comfortable leaving your nest away. Afternoon classes aren't over yet, the dean must be in his office. We will do this as quickly as possible, to free Alpha Silver. Then we'll continue with the visit together, youngsters. "

Without waiting for a response, they walked away towards the main building that housed the school and quickly rushed in before going up to the third floor. Silver was chatting with the guide, who was explaining the rules and operations of the school under the gaze of Eden who glared at his nape. The teenager rolled his eyes and finally focused on the architecture and decoration of the building.

When they finally arrived at the door to the dean's office, their omega guide ushered them into the waiting room where a secretary greeted them politely. The woman walked towards the door and was about to knock when the sounds of an argument reached them from inside. Her fist hung a few inches and an embarrassed smile appeared on her lips as she turned to her guests, unsure of what to do.

New voices erupted, betraying the escalation of the exchange that was occurring out of their line of sight without either of them understanding what the people were saying to each other. Pushed back near the front door, as Dante and Silver smelled an alpha's pheromones, Eden and Cherry looked at each other amused by the situation.

Suddenly the door snapped open and a man in his twenties strode out of the office. He was as tall as the alpha of Bloodhood which was more than impressive. However, his musculature was much thinner. There was something wild about his aura and his face was half-hidden by long, dark, slightly wavy hair.

"You will do as you've been told whether you want to or not!" A voice from inside the office thundered as the man stormed away as fast as he could.

The stranger didn't turn around and walked through the waiting room in a few steps. On the threshold of the door, he brushed past Eden who had narrowly moved aside not to be in his way. The waiting room recovered soon after, but something was wrong.

Cherry turned to the omega male. A strange scent hung in the air around him. She frowned when she saw her friend gasping for air, his pupils dilated. The next second, Eden collapsed to the ground.