No Alpha, I Do Not Like Your Abs

Chapter 1: Normal

Ten Years Later

I guess you could say that our school is semi-normal.

We ride buses, have lunch periods, are forced into PE, and have that one weird assistant principal that looks down girl's shirts. But, unfortunately, there's a few aspects of our school that are a bit, oh I don't know, irregular.

Like the fact that werewolves like to break in.

I mean, that's kinda the norm around here now, with the bastards taking over and all. Werewolves have a habit of busting into the school's front doors, smelling their supposed "mate", then prowling around the halls until they find her. The look on freshmen's faces when this first happens is priceless. I'll admit that even I chuckle when they all run screaming. Everyone else is always quick to move out of the werewolf's way, darting into classrooms or flat out sprinting to the nearest exit. These methods of escape usually aren't an issue; unless, of course, this person trying to escape is their mate. The minimal amount of claimings I've seen have all been horrifying.

Once, a girl that I knew from my chem class named Bailey just happened to be walking to lunch when a group of wolves decided to raid. As any sane person would, she immediately ran to the nearest emergency exit, which are helpfully stationed all around the school. But naturally, her mate wasn't very pleased. The werewolf sprinted after her, eyes glowing a horrid gold color. He then tackled her to the ground, instantly sinking his teeth into her neck in front of everybody. Without a second thought, he threw her limp body over his shoulder and walked out of the school like he owned the place. Bailey's neck was a mangled mess as she flopped on his shoulders, tears silently leaking from her eyes. There was nothing any of us could do at the time due to Amendment 5 Subsection B of the Werewolf Accords: "All werewolves must be given ample opportunity to retrieve their mates, as it is the moon goddess's will. No human of any sort shall stand in their way".

I had been powerless to do anything at the time, but that's all changed.

Now I'm sitting in the middle seat of one of the old rickety buses our school employs. The middle seat is close to both emergency exits and both real exits, giving me the best line of sight. I'm listening to my music on the lowest volume possible because you never know what interesting things you might hear when people think you're not listening. There are rumors that some of the larger packs have spies in schools, who tell them about the minimal defenses we have. 

There's also the thing of me being a protector, but we'll get to that in a minute.

As I rummage through my knapsack, trying to find the granola bar I stuffed in there before I sprinted out the door, our bus comes to a screeching halt. I let out a groan of disdain, knowing exactly what's coming next: another one of those increasingly popular "bus raids". 

As schools have begun upping their security, werewolves have begun upping their creativity. Instead of mostly going directly to the schools, they have come to the conclusion that it's easier to raid the buses instead. The usual procedure for them is to simply walk in front of the bus and stick their hands out, effectively causing the bus to come to a screeching halt. They're strong enough to stop a bus with a single hand, and even if we wanted to run them over, it's not worth the consequences. There's only so much we can get away with.

I lean against the cool window, making sure to crack one eye open as if I'm half asleep. The element of surprise is always a good one, especially since I'm so outnumbered. The scent is what hits me first, evergreen forests. Not exactly a bad smell, but usual for most wolves. My nose still crinkles at the thought, having smelled too much of it in my life. Next comes the sound, which is just as distinguishable. The heavy breathing of a werewolf just shifted their heavy steps up the rickety stairs. Four sets of feet, a pretty large number for a bus raid.  One of their voices saying, "Keys, now", and those keys being slipped into whatever pocket they possess. All bus drivers are required to relinquish keys to any werewolf raiders so they aren't able to drive away, under Amendment 14.

I continue to keep my one eye cracked as the werewolves prowl down the aisle, sniffing the air, looking like total buffoons. As one of them passes by, I'm ashamed to admit that he's semi-attractive. Unfortunately, this isn't an uncommon trait in most wolves. It has something to do with their ability to attract their mate; they claim that every part of them is engineered to attract and please their other half, but I think it's a bunch of bologna. Their bodies basically wage chemical and physical warfare on their "mate", which is just unfair.

I can't help the frown that comes across my face as the last one passes by. He sees this, and stops with a slight smirk on his face.

"Got something to say love, or just admiring the merchandise?"

I scoff and turn back to the window, which is my first mistake. Werewolves have a legendary temper, which they claim can only be soothed by their mate. Again, I call complete bologna.

He grasps my chin with his hand, yanking my face until I'm eye to eye with him. I can see those gold bands start to weave across his pupils, signaling the presence of his wolf.

"Now now love, no need to get testy. I asked a simple question, and only need a simple answer."

I still remain tight-lipped, knowing that what was going to come out of my mouth would only piss him off even more. He frowned slightly back at me as if saddened by my lack of response, and flung my head back against the seat. I gave a sigh of relief as he continued walking down the aisle, just praying that none of them found their "mate". 

Of course, my prayer couldn't be answered.

I heard it before I saw it, the slight gasp of breath, the shocked inhale, the almost inaudible terrified whisper of "no". 

My hand began to slowly reach towards my backpack, slipping in to reach for my small tranq gun. All protectors are gifted with one of these extremely valuable items, only to be used in extreme situations. All darts loaded into the gun contain a mixture of illegal silver and illegally grown wolves bane. These darts were outlawed years ago and are extremely hard to find. The concoction will knock out any werewolf for a number of hours, even killing some of the lowest rank ones. But darts have never been tested on an Alpha or Beta, the highest ranks, as those are usually cocky enough to stroll right into schools, so we have no idea about the effects on them. Even so, we all try to avoid violent contact with werewolves.

I turn around in my seat to see the dude that referred to me as "love" embracing a small freshman. This is quite common, as wolves claim that they are overcome with emotion upon meeting their mate. I scoff at this too.

 Tears have already begun welling in her eyes as the girl realized her inevitable fate. Well, not so inevitable due to the little thing in my hand. I gave a small sigh and quickly squeeze the trigger, unloading a dart in the middle of the wolf's back. He freezes instantly, dropping to the bus floor with a solid thunk. His friends whipped their heads around, only to be met with one of my darts. I'm lucky this time, four darts for four werewolves. Had I had any less, I would be in deep crap right now.

A small gasp rises from the bus, as many of them have never seen this before. It's quite unusual that a werewolf finds their mate in our small town, and even more unusual for them to be gunned down.

I quickly rise from my seat and step over their limp bodies, thankful that none of them were alphas or betas.  I wasn't in the mood to begin testing the limits of the darts. I open the emergency door on the back on the bus with a slight grunt and begin tossing the heavy werewolf bodies out the door. The dart will keep them out of commission for a few hours, and leave them groggy for a few more. That should be plenty of time for us to figure out what to do with the girl.

I slam the door and go back to my seat, slumping down like all the others on the bus stare. I just simply roll my eyes and stick my earbuds in.

Yeah, a totally normal school.

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This is much better than the previous story, yeah? I'm trying to make it flow easier and be more put together. Tell me what you think!