The Unknown Alpha

Chapter eight

The next few days was pretty usual. Nothing really stood out, no mean comment from Pearl or Madison. No sadistic smirk from Sean. No weird looks from Shay. But despite all that, despite a relatively uneventful few days, it was the most stressful Bailey had been for a while.

Bailey woke up each morning, feeling the fire scorching the sky as the dragon did his usual laps around the forest. Even as she laid in bed, she could picture every flicker of flame in her head. It was so real, like she was watching the event unfold herself.

Emily was overly optimistic as she drove to school. "Kim was asking about you again. Want to know if you reconsidered her offer." Emily was hopeful her friend would join the soccer team, but each time she brought it up, Bailey would just shrug it off and wearily lean against the window.

Bailey wasn't feeling as terrible as she had been a few days ago. The pain in her chest subsided after a few hours, then disappeared entirely. She still wasn't convinced the monster she saw in the forest was a dream, but she didn't bring it up again. She didn't want to sound crazy, but she was certainly starting to feel that way.

Thursday morning, Mr. Keller took the class outside and, as if it were P.E. sent the students racing around the track. This time, magic was allowed, and he timed the students, jotting down time as each wolf crossed the imaginary line in the track.

For most of the students, he said nothing, but occasionally, he would bark out his opinion on performances. Jaxon's speed was labelled 'excellent' – no surprise to anyone. Being an alpha's first born did give Jaxon an unfair advantage over the typical wolf. Being born into the Blakely Alpha Bloodline, well, there had always been a lot of magic in that bloodline.

"Terrible, Holker. Just terrible."

Adam lowered his shoulders and slinked to the side of the track. Around him, other wolves, all in a variety of shades, stood, panting loudly from the run. Some laid on their bellies as they waited for the rest of the class to finish the race.

Emily wasn't given a comment as she passed the finish line. Good. That meant she was safe. No ridicule from the teacher, but also no praise either. Not that she seemed to mind.

Bailey and Emily had taken the track together, maintaining a similar pace. Bailey crossed the imaginary finish line just moments after Emily. She was far from the last student to finish, but also nowhere near the victory line.

"Miller."

Bailey froze as Mr. Keller glared at her from over top of his clipboard. She didn't finish last! She knew she hadn't been that slow, her times should have been satisfactory.

"Not bad," Mr. Keller said, checking his clipboard again. "You're getting faster."

Bailey breathed a sigh of relief as she joined Adam and Emily. Her chest felt light with pride. She had never received praise from this teacher before, plenty of criticism, but never any positive words. No encouragement, just snide remarks.

Bailey sat down on the ground, pulling her magic back from the surface. Her change back to human wasn't immediate, but after a few pulses of dwindling magic, her reddish-brown fur crawled away until bright pink flesh took over. Her large black pupils danced around, shrinking in size along with her body.

As she completed the shift from beast to human, there were a few things that Bailey couldn't help but notice.

Her magic, that always became dormant in her human form, didn't fully disappear, as it should have. It was faint, her magic, but still there. Closer than usual. Not locked away in its crate until it was called upon. That was weird.