Unleashed

Taking the First Throw

Aliyah

My first mistake was not attending the bathroom before class, but my second was the assumption I’d never see those deep brown eyes again any time soon.

“Class, this is Aliyah DeLoitte,” the Professor introduced me, “there’s a free seat second row from the back.” He waved his hand in the direction of the desk and I heard the chair in front of mister wolf-breath scrape.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ I sighed to myself.

Making my way towards my seat, I noted the subtle tilt to his lips and rolled my eyes. His lips quirked into a smile, and the sight almost made the breath catch in my throat - almost.

“Careful new girl, anyone would think you’re checking me out,” he leaned forward and whispered to me.

Scrunching up my nose in disgust, I whispered loud enough for his wolf ears to hear, “Careful, if your head gets any bigger, you’ll float away.” I could hear snickers from all the wolves around the room before the teacher called the class to attention again.

“I approve of that look of disgust in your eyes,” my desk partner smiled towards me before turning back to the front of the room, pen poised ready for class. “I’m Amaya.”

“Aliyah,” I introduced myself back and mentally face palmed, “of course you already knew that.”

“Yeah, but it’s always nice to have my own personal introduction.” She smiled warmly, before it thinned out in seriousness, “Might want to pay attention and take notes, Mr Harrison is a hard-ass.”

Taking out my notepad and pen, I tuned in to the lesson with the knowledge that I hopefully just made my first contact into the wolf world.

*

Ryder

“Amaya,” I reached out through mind-link.

“What do you want? You know Mr Harrison has it out for us,” she linked back, and I could hear the annoyance in her tone.

“I need you to scent the new girl,” I requested and watched as she dropped her pencil on the desk, turning around to face me, her eyes incredulous.

“What?” she whisper-yelled aloud, drawing the attention of Aliyah, who looked between us frowning before turning back to the board.

“Just do it,” I pleaded back through the mind link.

“Please never killed anyone,” she sighed, and I watched with bated breath, as she bumped her pencil off the desk and leaned closer to Aliyah as she took in a big sniff.

“Are you ok?” Aliyah whispered to her as she scooted further over to allow room.

Amaya’s cheeks flamed at being caught smelling the new girl, and quickly collected the pencil from the floor and whispered back, “Just dropped my pencil, thanks.”

“Well?” I pushed for an answer, but she just shook her head and continued with the class. Frustrated, but knowing I couldn’t do anything about it, I sat back in my chair placing the pencil behind my ear as my eyes scanned over the new girl, trying to piece together this sudden curiosity sitting in front of me.

*

Aliyah

The bell rang signalling the end of class and I packed up following Amaya to the door. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention as I felt wolf boy close behind but distant enough that we weren’t in immediate proximity.

“What class do you have next?” Amaya asked, and I pulled the schedule out of my pocket.

“Urgh, potions,” I ground out, my shoulders sagging, until I looked further down and noted I had Physical Education after lunch and perked back up. “Oh, I have PE after lunch today.”

“Awesome, me too!” I’ll catch you there,” she smiled before heading in the opposite direction for her own class. Smiling to myself, I turned and almost ran into a brick wall of a chest. Startled, I placed a hand on my chest and looked up into those deep brown eyes that had become all too familiar.

“You should really watch where you’re going, new girl.” His eyes glittered at the taunt.

“And you should really invest in breath mints,” I shot back equally as fast. If he wants to dance, then let’s dance.

“Maybe, I just need a little… snack,” his eyes drilled into me as he inched closer, and I swear the people around us could hear the sound of my heart beating in my chest.

“Maybe – “ I was cut short at the arrival of my muscle bound escort, whose hand clamped down firmly on my shoulder.

“Maybe you should move along,” Carter suggested, although it didn’t sound like a suggestion at all, but a promise that there would be trouble if he didn’t.

“Is that a challenge,” wolf boy growled at Carter, his eyes flickering from brown to black and back again.

I could feel the intensity of their testosterone building, the tension so thick I’d need a hack saw to cut through it, not a knife. The display drew a crowd, all eager to watch these two powerful beings battle out in the hall.

The warning bell rang making me spring into action. Stepping between the two boys, reaching a hand out to push them further apart, I raised my voice to break into the fight fog (or so I call it, when they can’t hear or see anything but their challenger in front of them), “If you two are finished with your pissing contest, I have a class to get to.”

Two heads snapped down to look at me, standing between them; my hands still braced against their panting solid chests, one forbiddingly more electric than the other. Ripping my hands away, I blushed furiously before grabbing Carter’s elbow, “Help me find my classroom, please?”

I watched as he narrowed his eyes back at Ryder before escorting me down the hall towards my classroom.

Just as I was about to enter the class, Carter nudged me aside, his face a mask of seriousness, “I told you to stay away from him, Aliyah. He’s bad news.”

His eyes bore into mine and I knew he was genuinely concerned from the use of my name instead of the nickname I had become accustomed to.

“Look, I turned around and almost walked into him. Our conversation was purely accidental,” although my mind knew otherwise, I didn’t need to deal with someone else’s hang-ups or drama right before class. “Let’s get into class and forget about him, yeah?”

His eyes felt like they were looking directly into my soul, until he finally broke contact, nodding his head, “Yeah. He’s not worth it.”

****

‘Surely someone out there doesn’t like me. Like I must be this huge joke someone up there is laughing at. How can a witch be this disastrous?’ I wondered as I stood with singe marks all over my clothes from the explosion of my potion and smelling like burnt wood.

‘Could be worse, could smell of barf,’ that voice in my head rationalised, making me smile… until I realised, I was standing there talking to myself as the rest of the class didn’t both hiding their snickers.

“You sure you’re a witch?” Carter laughed as he wiped a smudge of goop off my cheek.

Heat rose in my cheeks as I’d been wondering the same thing for the last almost 18 years, but as I looked around at the class, I remembered the one thing that got me through every other daunting predicament over the years – never let them see you sweat.

“Hmm… maybe I need some more hands on assistance,” I deepened my voice to a huskier seductive tone and took a step closer to him, my eyes slowly trailing up his body to look at him from beneath my lashes seductively.

His face displayed a series of emotions from shock and desire, before resting on intrigue as his lips quirked up at the side, “I may know someone who could help out at such short notice.” He teased back, and it was just the distraction I needed.

While his eyes were still pouring into mine, I scooped up a handful of the still warm goopy mess I’d made, from the bench beside us, and under the guise of lovingly stroking his face, I splattered the goop on top of his head and slid my hands down his now shocked face. Biting my lip and widening my eyes in innocence, I tried to contain my smile with a simple, “Oops.”

I heard the collective gasp from students around the room, but kept my eyes solely focused on Carter, waiting for his next move.

His eyes narrowed as his hand drew up and grabbed a particularly lumpy mound from his hair. I heard a collective gasp from the students and quickly looked to the front of the room making sure the teacher was still outside.

Lost in my curiosity, I almost missed the shift of his lips as they became a predatory smile, and his hand scooped up a handful of goop – with me, his target in mind. “You cheeky little minx,” he uttered before the front of my shirt was decorated with the charcoaled mess and we both dissolved into fits of laughter.

I was about to wage war by tipping the cauldron over his head when the teacher re-entered the classroom, immediately ceasing my actions. His gruff voice called the class to attention, then directed his next command at me, “Detention. This afternoon.”

My mouth sat agape, but really, I shouldn’t be surprised – I did disrupt the entire class with a goop war and failed to make a simple potion.

“Come on, sir, it’s her first day.” Carter negotiated, but I placed my hand on his arm to silence him.

“I accept the consequences of my actions.” I nodded to the teacher in acknowledgement.

Shortly after we finished cleaning up my mess, the ball rang to announce it was finally lunch, so while the rest of the class was filing out, I made my walk of shame up to the teachers desk to receive instructions for detention.