The Luna Alpha

There was no way to escape so I should just stay put. Just wait for the pain, the humiliation. The laughter, the mean looks. I’ve never been able to escape it so I stopped trying. Mostly. I stood at the bathroom door, coming out in to the hallway. I was heading back to my classroom when I smelled them. They had followed me, maybe getting out of class early because let’s face it, they could do that whenever they wanted. They were the alphas. Or rather the soon to be Alphas of the Blue Moon pack, the largest wolf pack on the west coast. Their father was Alpha Anton and mother Luna Palonia. They had just turned 17 so they wouldn’t be full blooded werewolves until next year just like me on my 18th birthday. Our pack consists of over 21,000 werewolves and growing. There are a few humans here who are mates of some of the werewolves which is rare but we’re pretty isolated. Most werewolf packs have 4000 or less in them, some small ones even having less than a thousand, and we are rarely within an hour of each other. Some packs’ children went to human schools because their population wasn’t big enough to support an entire school system but they still learn their werewolf history inside the pack. Our pack was like a small city with shops, a construction company, nice houses, even a couple of outside malls with lots of restaurants. Of course our packs talk to each other and trade and visit during big events but other than that we keep to ourselves. I wish the alphas would keep to themselves, or at least away from me. I could hear their footsteps. I could either hide in the bathroom or run to the classroom but what was the point? I couldn’t outrun them and as the next alphas these three 17 year olds had the best senses of smell in the whole school. They would sniff me out in a millisecond. So I just stood there. Waiting on Axel, Andrew and Aaron to corner me and do Goddess knows what to me. Watch me do a hundred jumping jacks? Steal my shoes? A wedgie? That’s an oldie but a goodie. The anticipation was stressful. “Parker!” Aaron, the youngest alpha spoke. “What a surprise to find you out here!” He smirked and looked me up and down. Andrew came behind him scowling and then leaned against the wall. Axel just stared and looked bored as always. “What’s it gonna be today, huh?” Aaron continued. “A little wedgie? A pantsing? Some jumping jacks?” He had read my mind. I couldn’t help but look down at the floor when I saw something flash in Axel's eyes. I don’t know if it was excitement, anger or jealousy that Aaron was going to prank me. Aaron was always the one who started it. The others either joined in or ignored it. No, Andrew either joined in or ignored it. Axel just watches. His dark expression unknown to me. “What would you like huh? I’m giving you the choice today.” Aaron was relentless. I either had to hide every day or move quick enough to get to my next classes. We only had two classes together so when I went to the bathroom after I turned in my math test, I thought I was safe. Usually they sit back and laugh and fool around after tests. I was going to wait until it was almost time for the bell to ring to go back in and grab my stuff and excuse myself. And since it was the last class of the day I could high tail it to my locker and make way for the exit. But they must have had their grand idea to find me first. They didn’t have their books with them though. “Have you gone deaf? Answer your alpha.” Aaron’s voice had gone deeper, almost as if he was ready to pounce on me. “I…uh, I've left my books in the room,” I croaked. It was always difficult to speak around them. The fear was always there. Would they actually really hurt me this time? What would Aaron do? Would Axel's anger get the better of him this time? Would Andrew ….would he say more terrible things to me? “I’m sorry, was that in answer to my question?” Aaron smirked. “I think you’ve earned a special reward for ignoring me.” I looked up at him with fear. What did he have planned for my disobedience? I dared not look at Axel but out of the corner of my eyes I saw him roll his eyes. He was probably annoyed with me again. Aaron grabbed my arm. My head went down again looking at the floor. The fear and anxiety I had around them was nothing next to the humiliation. I didn’t even want to see where he was taking me. Andrew and Axel had said nothing but I knew they were following. As soon as I saw the gray squared tile I knew we were at the boys locker rooms at the gym. I was pushed inside and I turned around to face my tormentors. They were the hottest kids in school. They had all turned 17 a couple of weeks ago in February and were really in their stride now. Bigger, stronger and scarier. The triplet alphas were all 6’4, square jawed, muscled, tanned and broad shouldered. Even though they were technically identical they looked extremely different and carried themselves even more differently. Axel being the oldest had an air of authority. If he said the word his brothers would stop tormenting me immediately. He never did. He also never smiled. Not intentionally anyway. Mostly he looked angry or bored and he had a perpetual stare on his face that scared away anyone who would even think of coming up against him. And looking in an Alpha’s eyes for too long wouldn’t fly. It was a challenge, one that anyone in this pack or anyone else would lose. But Axel’s were brilliant blue eyes you could get lost in. They were bright blue like a clear ocean at high noon yet at 17 years old, his looked worn and tired. I often caught him staring at me in disgust and if I looked back he would narrow his eyes and look away. He always stood straight as if he was on edge and ready to strike. He kept his dark black hair cut neat and short and beautiful. I always thought he never looked happy and I was never quite sure why. Andrew on the other hand was always leaning against a wall or something, his left foot pressed against it with a scowl on his face directed toward me. He went along with his brother Aaron when asked but he mostly just laughed at my predicament when Aaron played his pranks. He was also beautiful with the same gorgeous blue eyes but his didn’t look tired, they looked more disgusted with a hint of pity in them for me when I caught it. He kept his hair and clothing kind of loose but also neat. And the youngest, Aaron, my biggest tormentor, seemed light and carefree most of the time. His hair waved freely and unkempt in the air and he often ran through it with his fingers when thinking up ways to torture me. He was jovial, full of laughter, a bright smile or smirk on his face all the time. He would make jokes in class and have the students dying of laughter in the hallways. His eyes shone with happiness which is why I couldn’t understand why he seemed to hate me so much. He often told me it was just a joke when I ended up sprouting tears in front of him but I knew better. He never pranked other kids to the point of bullying. But me? He wanted to humiliate me. Luckily it was mostly in private with just the three of them, not the whole school. Maybe it was because I was an omega. Maybe it was because I was an orphan and poor. I didn’t have the best clothes or the best food to eat. Hell, I barely had any food to eat after they took most of the funds from the orphanage years ago to help support the new construction company that would bring more money into the pack. And boy did it. Our pack and our Alpha got much wealthier and it showed. Except when it came to the omegas and the orphans. Omegas were never paid in this pack but they had always been given food and shelter and jobs. We had jobs in the kitchen or cleaning the school, gardening, daycare – the tasks other pack members didn’t want or were too overqualified for. Omega children began working after school at the age of 12. They often followed the same job as their parents as it was easier that way. You were born an omega. You could end up omega even if your parents were warriors or other high ranking members except alphas, betas or gammas. Those were hereditary traits that couldn’t be broken in wolf packs. As for me I was born omega. A short 5’4, scrawny, curly brown haired boy with brown eyes. A much weaker looking werewolf than the higher ranks. And with that brought separation and bullying. My parents had both been warriors but they had died in a rogue attack when I was 2 years old. I only have a picture of us to remember them by and I don’t remember anything before the orphanage. “Hello? Earth to Parker! Did you hear me?” Aaron had raised his voice a little as I’m sure he had asked me a question. His left eyebrow raised in anticipation of my answer. I quivered as I knew he would be disappointed that I was daydreaming about their oceanic eyes. First he looked at Axel who rolled his eyes and huffed lightly. Then he looked at Andrew when he pushed himself from the wall and came forward. “What’s your plan for him this time?” he asked. “Well he didn’t answer my question so...” “Oh my Goddess, just get on with it.” Axel said, annoyed. He would often speak up when he was utterly bored of the situation. It was like he didn’t care one way or the other if I was pranked even though he seemed to hate me the most. “Fine,” Aaron huffed. “Since you didn’t say whether you wanna go swimming or running, maybe you don’t wanna be an athlete today after all. So I think our little omega here needs to clean some real athlete’s jockstraps. All of them.” He opened up a bunch of equipment lockers that had at least 50 random jockstraps in them and threw them at my feet. “By hand.” His grin got so big it was like Christmas. “But I have to get to the kitchens by 5 to work. And I need my books for homework,” I protested weakly, my eyes pleading. “Well I suppose you’d better hurry up then.” He patted me on the head and Andrew let out a snicker. “Oh and I’ll be back to check on you to make sure you didn’t skip out.” Axel grabbed Aaron’s arm midsentence and started pulling him toward the exit. He looked back at me with a grimace while his brothers laughed lightly. The tears came almost immediately after they left. I had learned not to cry in front of them for the most part. Sometimes tears would spring up and Aaron would roll his eyes saying I couldn’t take a joke and let me off the hook. But I had been through worse. And I had important things to do so I couldn’t let this hold me back today. I was stronger than to let this break me. I was gonna be 17 in less than a week and then in 1 more year I could find my mate and try to leave this pack. No. I was going to try to make things better for my fellow omegas and orphans as an adult in this pack. I had to stay. I’ve been watching the orphans starve to death for too long to leave them behind when I turn 18. Just as I’d finished washing all the jockstraps in the sinks near the showers I heard the door open. I had to dry these things and fast. What time was it? 4? 4:30? I couldn’t tell. I’d never had a cell phone. But they could tell me. I knew it was them. “Well, well, well,” Aaron grinned as he entered in the room with the sinks. He mimicked twirling a fake evil mustache then put his fingers together like an evil villain would in a movie. Even being as evil as he was he still almost made me smile. A familiar grinning face was with the triplets, Aaron’s partner in crime- their beta Derek. He stood almost as tall as they did with crew cut light brown hair and green eyes. He was always happy to help Aaron with a prank. “What have we here? Are you finished? It’s barely been an hour. How are you planning on drying all of these filthy things? Hmmm?” Was this his plan all along? To get me in trouble with the kitchen by keeping me back here until they all dried? He’d never done anything to try to get me trouble before. “What the hell is going on in here… Aaron? Don’t tell me you’ve got- Damn it Aaron!” Another familiar face and voice showed up on the other side of the alphas. It was their gamma Lucian. He rounded on them and stood in front of me. “Damn it all to hell Aaron, why are you always torturing this kid?” I cowered behind Lucian. He had always been nice to me. Genuine smiles always fell from his face and he always stood up for me. He couldn’t technically go against his alphas but he did his best to chastise them for their behavior. He looked down at all the jockstraps in the sinks and on the floor on towels. “What is it now? Making him wash jockstraps? I know you’re 17 but how very juvenile of you. Axel, how do you let him get away with this s**t?” He turned to help take the jockstraps off the floor. “Watch your tone Lucian,” Axel said, annoyed. “Watch my tone,” Lucian said lowly,” Watch your f*****g tone, Alpha Axel. He doesn’t deserve this and you know it. Sometimes I just …” he sighed and helped me clean up the jockstraps. “Oh my Goddess, you’re so dramatic,” Aaron piped up. “It’s just for a joke. Geez.” “Well it doesn’t look like he’s laughing does it?” I was washing my hands while they talked and purposefully kept myself from looking at them. I started to help with the straps but Lucian held his hand out. “Don’t worry, I’ll dry them, kid.” “You really are being overly dramatic about this,” Derek said. Lucian looked at Axel. “And you’ve got your beta who is supposed to protect his pack members thinking this is ok.” Derek paled and furrowed his brows. Lucian looked back at me. “Go on kid get out of here.” He jerked his head forward and I began to walk slowly toward the exit. “Hey, I didn’t say he could lea-" Aaron started. Lucian cut him off. “I swear to the Goddess Aaron! Sometimes I…you know you guys are my best friends but sometimes Aaron …I wanna punch you right in the face.” I could hear him gathering up all the straps in one arm. I kept walking. I could feel the authority in Aaron’s voice when he spoke next. “Yeah and if you did – “I know, I know, you’d kill me and whatever. Well maybe it’d be worth it to protect this kid. Stop being such an asshole Aaron.” Lucian walked in front of me and dropped the straps in some contraption that I suppose was a dryer. That’s when I looked down and saw my books. Thank goodness they hadn’t been locked in the classroom! And thank the Goddess for Lucian. Was the school still open? Could I get to my locker? It was just about 4 if I had only been there an hour, maybe I could make it before the staff locked up. I grabbed my books and didn’t look back as I made my way to the math hall where my locker was.