Alpha Riley

Chapter 5 - New stuff!

Riley

I had gone from a pack who didn’t want me to a pack who didn’t want me. Why was Jeremy keeping me around? Why was he pretending to treat me like a high-ranked wolf when he made it abundantly clear that I was just an omega in his eyes? I finished dinner under incredible scrutiny from the pack and got out of their way as fast as I could. I waited around the corner for Jeremy and almost breathed a loud sigh of relief to find he was alone. Anna had already gone to bed, which, hopefully, meant I could talk to him in private.

“Could we talk?” I asked as soon as he came around the corner and, for a split-second, I had to fight back laughter when it seemed as though I had actually frightened him.

“Yes, sure. Uhm, let’s talk in my office.” He frowned, and I waited for him to walk ahead. He took a seat behind his desk and waved at one of the open chairs, but I didn’t sit down. I wasn’t going to spend all night in his office, and I wasn’t going to make myself comfortable.

“I used to go to school, but Anna tells me that omegas don’t attend school here.” I started feeling nervousness creeping up my back. My hands tightly clamped together as he nodded for me to continue. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but I would really like to finish high school.” I rambled, feeling like a fumbling i***t.

“Well, part of the agreement with Ironclaw is that you won’t go back to school with the rest of them. I will ask Anna to find you a tutor and to make sure you have enough time to get your schoolwork done.” He nodded, but I was still gaping at him. Not because he would get me a tutor, but the reason behind it! Caleb and my pack hated me so much that they didn’t even want me to finish school!

“Was there anything else?” Jeremy frowned, bringing me back to the present where I was gaping like a fish out of water.

“No, thank you.” My voice was barely a whisper as I bowed my head before walking out. As I reached the door, I whipped around and looked at him. “Why are you doing this? I mean,” I took a step closer to his desk. “Why are you helping me?” I frowned. It was a very personal question, but I needed to know.

“Because no pack should do to a female what yours did to you.” His answer was simple yet surprising. Coming from a man who basically used women, I was surprised. I nodded, bowed my head and left as quickly as possible. Was it possible that I was safe here? Was it possible that I could actually make a future for myself in this pack? I went to bed feeling more positive than I had in a while.

Sadly, my positivity was shot straight to hell the moment Anna greeted me in the morning. She was holding her shoulders even straighter than before, as if that was possible, and her hands were tightly clamped together while she explained that Jeremy had already found me a tutor and I would spend my mornings with the tutor and my afternoons cleaning.

First off, I was stumped that he found someone so quickly, and secondly, I didn’t want to say much to upset her more than she already was. Now that I was going to study in the mornings, it meant she would have to do the work she so gladly handed over to me. From the sound of things, I was also the only omega who was going to finish school in the pack, and she made sure I knew what a huge privilege that was.

Before bed, I made sure I had all my books ready in my backpack and that I still had my stationary. I didn’t want to disappoint the person who would be spending their mornings teaching me by leaving something in my room. Especially not on my first day. I was so excited that I completely ignored Anna’s scowl as I sat down beside Jeremy for breakfast.

We were joined by an elderly man and Jeremy introduced us before he dug into his breakfast. Eli was my tutor and he seemed kind. He asked me what grade I was in and which was my favourite subject, and promptly announced that we would be spending less time on that and more time on my least favourite. I had to laugh.

“It’s like taking the medicine that tastes awful rather than the medicine that tastes nice. It’s usually the awful ones that work faster and better.” Eli winked at me and I laughed. I could just tell that he was going to be a great teacher. After breakfast, he showed me to what I could only guess was supposed to be the Luna’s office.

Surprisingly, it was set up to look like a classroom for one already and I wondered when all that happened. I sure as hell didn’t see any furniture being moved around. There was a stack of text books on my desk with some notebooks and a brand-new set of stationary waiting for me.

“I don’t need all of this. I have textbooks and stuff.” I scrunched up my nose as I paged through the books and Eli laughed.

“Oh, yes. You can give those to me. I will return them to the school. Jeremy wanted you to have new books and stuff, as you call it.” I gaped at everything on my desk. I never had anything brand-new. Even my clothes were hand-me-downs that my sister no longer wanted. My stationary was always the leftovers they didn’t use from the previous year.

Eli and I quickly got stuck in the first subject and I found I loved the way he taught. I had lunch with Eli and hardly noticed that Jeremy wasn’t there. After lunch, Eli kissed me on the cheek before leaving, and I was left with scowling Anna. I didn’t care though. I was so happy that I floated throughout the house doing my job. Life was suddenly a lot brighter and Anna wasn’t going to rain on my parade.