Divinely Mine

Chapter 2

Getting my schedule was easy, walking the crowded halls trying to find my homeroom, was not.

Thankfully my brother was leading the way, with his tremendous height, it was easy for him. Standing at 6 feet and 3 inches, he walked around looking like a giant. My 5 feet and 9 inches didn't help him with that either.

Dylan pulled me behind him as people ran and screamed down the halls making my ears hurt.

"Here it is," Dylan finally exasperated. I couldn't help but notice the little bead of sweat at the corner of his forehead and his racing heart. Either he was really nervous, or the trudging me down the halls had gotten the best out of him.

"Thanks Dyl," I snaked my arm around his neck to get a quick hug. He held me a while longer than I had expected. When he finally pulled away, he kissed my forehead. "Be safe."

He ruffled my hair and in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

The warning bell sang off and I willingly took a deep breath for safe keeping, before I entered the classroom. I was surely going to need it.

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"Hi, you must be the new girl." I heard a chirp from above me.

I glanced up and saw a tall, looming figure above me. Her scent told me she was a werewolf, so I eased up a bit. My brother strictly told me to avoid humans, especially since our school had a variety of both-- human and werewolves.

"My name's Claire." She smiled down at me, her straight pearly whites almost blinding my eyes.

Her dyed, black hair was pulled back in a long elegant braid down her back, revealing a pair of friendly, electric blue orbs.

Her hand poked out for a shake. For some reason the gesture confused me. It seemed like a deal more than a greeting, as if I took her hand in mine, I was agreeing to become her friend. But what if I didn't want friends? What if I just wanted to be left alone?

Not wanting to make any compromises, I simply smiled and stood up. "I'm Madison." I spoke carefully. Her eyebrows twitched together, but nonetheless, she dismissed her confusion.

She backed away from me a little and it was then I saw her full extent. She was extremely tall, maybe even taller than my brother!

"How tall are you?" I found the surprised mummer escape my lips before I could stop them.

This made her laugh. "I'm 6'1"." So maybe I exaggerated a little.

I found myself gapping. Again, she laughed. Obviously she had gotten this a lot. "I'm sorry." I felt the heat rising in my cheeks.

"You're fine; I actually like it when people ask me how tall I am." She had a cheery grin planted on her pale features. "It gives me a reason to brag." For some reason, no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I could still feel a smile creeping on to my lips.

After an eerie silence, Claire started walking, but slow enough to signal me to come along. "What's your next class?" Claire asked as we sauntered down the yet again crowded halls.

"Umm," I pulled out my schedule and glanced at it long enough to look at my next room number. "C125."

"Biology?" Claire asked, suddenly looking very delighted.

"Yeah, with Mrs. Henson."

"No way," She squeaked like a mouse. "That's my next class!" I found myself grinning... Again. "I'll lead the way." Claire declared. All the while we walked; Claire started to give me the scoop of this high school.

"Those are the punks, or Goths; whatever you prefer."She pointed to a group of fragile looking kids. "They're really the only humans in this school, so they mostly keep to themselves.

"Over there are the lower ranking pack members, they classify as the class clowns, its best if you avoid them." She furrowed her eyebrows. "I mean, unless, you're into getting in trouble almost every day."

"And I'm guessing that that right there is the Jocks, Cheerleaders, and beautiful, intelligent people." I pointed to the huge group of werewolves piled right in front of the courtyard to ovoid her question. Even for werewolves, the group was strikingly jaw-dropping.

There was a petite blonde that stuck out the most to me, she made even the most supermodel worthy girls jealous, I could just tell.

"All of the above." Claire joked, but I saw through it and all I heard was bitterness.

"Who is she?" I nodded in the blonde's direction.

"That's Alexa. The queen bee." I didn't detect jealousy or spitefulness, it was emotionless at how she spoke of the girl.

"Should I have to worry? She's not going to automatically hate me, or anything, is she?" I joked.

Claire laughed, pretty loud, if I might add. "No, she's the Beta's daughter, she's very respectful..." There was something in her voice.

"But...?" I asked.

"She kind of..." She seemed to be searching for the phrase. "Sleeps around, if you will."

"Doesn't she know about mates?!" I was shocked.

"I don't think she cares..." She whispered, as if Alexa would hear her.

"Why not?!" All my life I've heard of how wonderful mates were to have, and hearing how a werewolf was just throwing themselves away like that, disgusted me.

"She's convinced that she's going to marry the Alpha. At first when they gave the announcement that if they hadn't found their mates by her 18 birthday, then they'd be betrothed, Alexa was terrified, and of course-- outraged." We had entered the classroom now and I hadn't noticed how dozed off I had become. Nonetheless, Claire continued. "I guess that's what started it. She fells like she is being dragged into marriage, so she wants to live her last moments being completely and entirely single."

"Well doesn't she still have hope?" I asked, suddenly feeling sympathetic.

Claire shook her head sadly. "Mates are rare as it is. But nowadays if you find yours, its considered sacred-- that you're blessed."

Claire took a seat and I followed quickly to the chair behind her.

So fate doesn't have anything to do with it anymore... I spoke to my wandering thoughts. Tradition has been totally forgotten it seemed. The ways of this pack were already seeming way beyond what all other pack life-- for me-- was. Fitting in might just be the opposite of what I wanted to do.

If this pack was set on arranging betrothals, we might as well just spit on our mates, our history, our ancestors...

All of this was too confusing for me. Even though it seemed clear that they were disobeying our way of life, I just knew, I was having no part in this.