Bloodlines and Betrayal

2: 🐺

The lunchroom buzzed with chatter, the scent of fried food and teenage sweat hanging heavily in the air. Even amid the overwhelming mix of human and werewolf odors, my super-sensitive nose could easily pick out the familiar scents of my pack from across the crowded room. I could sense their curiosity before I even saw them—my brother's pack, always alert, always watching. And today, they were watching me.

As Alex and I made our way to our table, I realized my fingers were laced with his. The warmth of his hand in mine was surprisingly comforting—almost too comforting. It was a stark contrast to the intense gaze of my pack, whose collective attention felt like tangible pressure. I could almost hear their unspoken questions, especially when I noticed my best friend Kaylie's eyebrows wiggling suggestively. Her expression screamed, "What's this? Is your wolf purring yet?"

Oh great, just what I needed. I quickly let go of Alex's hand, my face heating up as I did so. Kaylie always had a knack for making things awkward.

"Well, well, look who's here with the new hottie," Kaylie teased, breaking the silence that had settled over the table. "So, what's your name? You're new, right? How did you meet my bestie and sister? And where are you from?" Her words tumbled out in a rapid-fire sequence, her excitement barely contained.

Alex grinned, clearly amused by her enthusiasm. "Yeah, I'm new here. Just moved from a small town called Riverwood Hills in Washington. I met Charlie in AP Art, and well, we ended up having most of our classes together. Anything else you want to know, just ask."

His calm demeanor intrigued me. There was something about him that made me want to know more, yet also made me wary.

Kaylie leaned in, her eyes narrowing playfully. "Art, huh? So you must like artsy stuff, sports, and cars more than our Charlie here, right? I'm Kaylie, by the way. Best friend and sister from another mister. This is my twin brother Troy, and the rest of the gang—Hunter, Cassie, Jacob, Skylar, Max, and Lindsay. There's one more, but he's too lazy to show up on time. You'll meet him eventually."

"Nice to meet you all," Alex replied, glancing around at the group. "How many twin sets do you guys have?"

"There are two sets of twins," Troy explained. "Kaylie and me, and then Charlie and her twin brother, Colton. But it's more like three if you count Hunter and Jacob. Their parents remarried after one of their parents died, so they're basically siblings now too."

As if on cue, Colton walked up, tray in hand, and sat down beside me. "Sorry, I'm late. Office stuff. You know how it is," he said, planting a kiss on my cheek before noticing Alex. "Who's this?"

"This is Alex," I said, still blushing slightly. "He's the new guy I met in art class. Oh, did you get your classes switched to mine like you wanted?"

Colton nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as he assessed Alex. "Nice to meet you, Alex. Yeah, I did switch. Char, you better help me out with art. I swear I don't want to flunk and get benched for football."

"Ditto, dude. Your sister's hot. Can I tap that?" Alex said, his face immediately turning red as he realized what he'd just blurted out.

The table went silent. For a moment, I thought Colton might actually leap across the table. But then Jacob broke the tension with a laugh. "Relax, man. He's just joking. Right, Alex?"

"Yeah, just a joke," Alex said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "No harm meant."

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. We all got up to head to our last classes. Alex and I had auto, gym, and a free period together. During our free period, I found out Alex was trying out for the football team. I just hoped Colton would go easy on him—being the team's star quarterback and all, he could be a bit of a perfectionist.