FREAK OF NATURE

When the lunch bell rang I heard Marcus whisper too loudly over the din of hungry students, "Okay, Hen, but I don't think she's gonna take it well."

'Hen' ignored the Beta's warning, he turned to me and said, "Sam, you should lunch with us today."

"Why?" I asked.

"You know, it'll just be nice to eat together now and then..." Marcus tried his hand at diplomacy.

"I don't want the other wolves or vampires sniffing around you." Henry growled.

"It's probably safer, since you're newly shifted..." Marcus tried to soothe Henry's gruff tone out. I got the feeling Marcus disliked conflict.

"You're newly shifted too, have you thought about that?" I asked.

Henry looked at Marcus' and raised a brow.

"Yeah, I shifted yesterday afternoon." Marcus admitted finally, "But I'm pretty stable..."

"And I'm not?" I growled...Grrrr....

"No offence, Sam, but you haven't been stable since we met you." Henry chuffed a little, as if it was a joke I even had to ask, "And with your dramatic new coloring, I think it's better you don't wander about on your own. It'll just attract unwanted attention."

Yeah. I thought so too, but I totally didn't need to hear that from you! Grrr...

"I can handle myself, Henry." I told him.

"I was afraid of that." Marcus muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Sam, I don't even know why your pack let you out of their sight!" Henry said.

"They know I can take care of myself." I told him, "And it's not like they had much of a choice, my dad said it was okay."

"Have you even looked in the mirror Sam?" Henry asked me.

"I look like a freak, yeah, I'm aware." I told him.

"No one told you?" Henry asked, "Or you're just messing around as usual?"

"When have I ever messed around?" I asked.

"You are always messing around." Henry told me.

Now I'm mad. What the hell.

Marcus and Liam had gotten up, and readied themselves to stop the fight.

"Look Sam, I've tolerated it, at first because you were just a girl, and maybe it was cute even, but sometimes you really..." Henry stopped himself to take a deep breath, "F*** it."

Now that's a strong feeling right there. But what kind of feeling was that?

I saw Jasmine and Pearl standing there, frozen. Jasmine looked like she wanted to say something but she looked too scared to.

Henry was being way too scary in front of the girls.

I could be scary too.

"Just shut up." I flared up then. I really did. My dominance crackled in the air like static. The entire classroom was rooted on the spot.

And then something snapped. It was my hair tie, my hair flared up, I suppose the way my wolf's hackles would have raised.

"I don't mess around, Henry. I do what I want, when I want. So don't boss me, don't question me, and don't take the rap for me ever again." I had advanced towards him till we were inches apart, my hair flowing and quivering with a life of its own.

It appeared that even though Liam and Marcus had meant to intervene and stop the fight just now, they were having serious second thoughts about it now.

"If you were a guy, I'd have pinned you down from day one." Henry wasn't about to go down.

"If I were a guy..." I seethed back. Heck, I would do exactly what I've been doing I guess. How would I know what I would do if I were a guy anyway?

Suddenly, my phone chimed.

And then Harvey on mindlink:

- Princess, is everything alright?

I looked at Marcus who immediately put away his phone. Grrrr.... Did he think texting my beta would make a difference?

- Princess, I'll come right over.

- No, don't.

- I can beat up that Alpha for you.

I paused. Yes, I supposed Harvey could. Harvey was pretty strong. But I can beat up Henry on my own.

- No need. I can beat him up myself.

So why am I not?

I crossed my arms and glared at Henry.

He crossed his arms and glared back.

This was ridiculous. I started to laugh.

"What were we fighting about again?" I asked.

I moved away nonchalantly and pulled out my phone. No surprises, the text was from Harvey.

B.HARVEY

- Princess, I received an SOS text from B.Marcus.

I replied just to make sure he wouldn't come:

YOU

- I've settled it. Don't come.

I sighed, "Why did you text my Beta?"

Marcus shrugged, "I thought the both of you were going to kill each other."

I decided to laugh it off, "No way Henry would ever hurt me."

"You seem pretty sure of that." Henry growled. He was still ruffled.

"You said it yourself, Henry. I'm cute." I said smugly.

Henry turned a little red, "I didn't mean that."

"I know." I said with a shrug, "But seriously Henry, sometimes you just push all my buttons."

Henry laughed then, "Same to you, Sam, same to you."

Marcus laughed now, "Whew, you two were scary back there."

"That's Henry, I'm the cute one." I informed him.

"How can you call yourself cute?" Marcus asked me.

"I didn't. Henry did." I said.

"I did not!" Henry protested, reddening more.

This was fun.

"So wait, you were just messing with Henry again?" Marcus tried to clarify.

"When did I ever mess with Henry?" I asked.

"Let's just go for lunch. We've wasted enough time." Henry growled.

I grabbed my lunch bag and quickly pulled out the hair clip Krystal had given to me. Very quickly I clipped my hair into a pony tail. Sorry Savy and Lizzy, your mermaid tail masterpiece came apart.

Seemed like it wasn't just my unnaturally ultramarine eyes or midnight blue hair color. Besides growing back out whenever I shifted, I now had hair that would flare up whenever my wolf's hackles were raised. Great. I think I can officially be classified as a freak of nature.

"Nothing to see here." Henry announced to the rest of the class, "We're done messing around."

We left the classroom together.

So now I knew how my school pack saw me. I was unstable and always messing around. How sad. I wondered if that was how my home pack saw me too.

My wolf bristled at the thought and the hair clip clicked open and fell out. Jasmine picked it up for me.

"Thanks." I said.

"Are you okay, Sam?" Jasmine asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I clipped my hair back up again.

Jasmine became quiet, but I could see she obviously had something to say.

"What is it?" I asked, careful to keep my tone even.

"Well..." Jasmine hesitated, "Henry was just looking out for you... So, well...maybe you can let him take care of you."

"I can take care of myself." I bristled. The clip clicked open again. I caught it before it fell.

Jasmine froze a little, I forced a reassuring smile and redid my hair, "Don't worry about me. I'm strong. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, but..." Jasmine sounded like she was afraid of my reaction when she said this, "If someone stronger wants to take care of you, why don't you just let him?"

Henry was not someone stronger than me. But I got her point. Did she feel I was unreasonable? Was I the one who was wrong?

"I am strong. I can take care of myself. If I always let others run in front of me and protect me, I'll always be looking at them from behind. I'll always be dependent on their protection. I won't be able to run ahead on my own. I won't be able to see the view beyond the horizon, just their backs." I told her. I thought I explained it quite well.

But then Jasmine quoted, something often said in Lycan tradition, "I'm not saying to always stay behind them, I mean, the moon shines just as brightly even behind the clouds, and her beauty is all the more captivating when she peeks out from her cover."

I've always thought whoever wrote this Lycan verse had to be a man. One who had spent too much time staring at the moon and thinking about women.

But there was something about these ancient lycan verses that soothed the wolves, as if reminding them of a song and a home from long ago.

Perhaps these words were right. Even though I was an alpha, I didn't have to shine center stage all alone all the time, there was no shame in resting in the cover of the clouds.

I could pick my battles. I didn't have to fight every cloud and darkness that came my way. As long as I knew what I was doing and not get lost or tangled in them.

But did I know what I was doing? Maybe I had just been messing around all my life? But I had been living my whole life this way, it was hard work, but I had no idea how to live any differently.

I spent the rest of lunch eating pretty quietly. Jasmine and Pearl asked for my phone number, but other than that, lunch was just light hearted banter. Mostly between Marcus and Jasmine. Pearl would chip in every now and then, but there was definitely something up between the two she-wolves. After a while, Liam left to play football...in the snow, and Pearl excused herself because she had promised to have lunch with Abigail today.

Henry was quiet throughout lunch. So nobody bothered me at all. After what felt like a prolonged silence, I asked, "Am I really unstable?"

There was a pause and then Marcus said, "I wouldn't say unstable, maybe more like unpredictable."

Henry spoke then, lightly, his voice low and growly the way male wolves spoke when their wolves were just under the surface, "It's not your fault. You can't help it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's in your blood. Don't take this the wrong way, but your dad is well known to be radical, and rather eccentric too." Henry said.

Marcus nodded, "He was a genius though."

Henry continued, "There was a verse on the Night Forest Alpha bloodline, I'm sure you know it,

'The ones who left the mountains, to chase what could have been.

The ones who seek the changes that yet could not be seen.'"

Henry quoted in ancient Lycan. But I recognized those words immediately.

I nodded. My Grandpa Alpha at Night Forest Pack had read this to me since I was small. Every time I visited him, he would read it to me. It was inscribed on a gold bangle displayed in his office.

Wow, someone had been reading up on my family.

"Your family bloodline is old and powerful. In the colored mountains, you were known as the catalyst bloodline." Henry told me, "But I guess you know this."

No, not really.

"What else have you found out?" I asked. Seriously, where did Henry get his intel? And why didn't anyone at home think to tell me any of this?

"Your hair and eye color isn't corresponding your natural bloodline, which should be grey eyes and black fur." Henry told me, "Which indicates a split from your original bloodline and the possibility of a new bloodline."

I think Mrs Beta had mentioned this from her large book.

"A good one from the looks of it." Henry gave me a wide grin, "It's a pretty lucky color combination: blue eyes and blue hair. Your coloring is like the moon goddess herself!"

"More like a freak of nature." I told Henry.

I sighed, at least now I wished I was just a freak of nature. At this point, there seemed to be more to it and I'm bad with things that are just tip of the iceberg, or rather, I'm bad with all the parts that weren't the tip. Furthermore, I'm unstable, I mean unpredictable. I'm some kind of catalyst. I'm a deviation of my family bloodline. And I looked like a moon goddess impersonator.

I know what I'm dressing as this Halloween.

And I also knew who to look for if I needed information now.