Pureblood: The Badboy's Mate

Chapter III

After officially surviving my first class, I found out that the hardest part of studying at Nordholt wasn't hanging out with teenagers with wild animal instincts, but actually catching up with the lessons. I was three weeks behind my class and I felt like I had never been literate at all. They don't teach anything special in werewolf schools, just Biology classes that have an unusual focus on canine physiology and evolution. Otherwise, it was just an extremely demanding application school. The books and papers would certainly keep me busy, which was good; That way I didn't have to think too much about my life. My internet search history was a shameful thing, but I needed to figure out what to do next full moon, how werewolf packs worked, and all the stuff that was too embarrassing to ask around. I wanted to spend hours in that huge library exploring all the books on werewolf folklore, legends and history, but unfortunately I was too busy with a mile-long list of Physics exercises.

Zara, Delphine, Irene, and Amelia were some of the other girls in my dorm that I mostly talked to besides Olympia. They were nice, daughters of different alphas, all very rich and beautiful and smart. They treated me well, but every now and then some very intrusive questions came up about my parents, my transformation, and even my financial condition. In those moments, I was as sympathetic as it was spiritually possible to me (which wasn't much). “Don't piss anyone off and try to make friends like a normal person” I constantly reminded myself of Olympia saying that. I didn't exactly feel welcome at that school, but I didn't feel rejected either. It was as if I didn't exist, didn't matter, didn't make a difference in that established elite ecosystem. Aside from the super-rich supernatural creatures and surprisingly stylish uniforms, it wasn't much different from my old school.

The reason I was attending that school was called Rosalind Blanchard - wife of my legal guardian and a senior history teacher at Nordholt. There were a few humans among the school's staff; the strangest part: I knew how to tell them apart by smell; most surprising part: they seemed more comfortable and adapted than me, who is actually a wolf. The other Mrs. Blanchard was as sweet and kind as her wife. Once she realized that I like History, she started helping me with the study schedule so I could follow the class more easily. She was a monitor in the Medieval History study group that Olympia attended and all the students seemed to like her.

“Please try to finish reading chapter seven by the next class or you will make my job a lot harder.” Said Mrs. Blanchard at the end of class. The bell rang shortly thereafter; me and the other students promptly started to get up and get our things. "Ms. Carter, I have something for you.”

"What is it?" I asked, walking over to her desk. She opened her bag and took out four medium-sized books.

"Olympia mentioned that you like werewolf stories." Said Mrs Blanchard. “There isn't much historiographical material on this subject, packs have a very strong oral tradition and I'm not sure I want you to learn about it from low budget movies full of muscular hairy men and suspicious online forums... These happen to be the best books I have.”

"Thank you, Ms. Blanchard." I said, laughing. “I hope I have time to read them.”

“Don't worry about it, they're yours until the end of the year. Read critically, these three were written by humans.” She said, pointing to the top three books in the pile.

“And this one?” I asked, pointing to the smallest of the four. 'The Last Pureblood' was the title, a small red hardcover book.

“This… This is a book of poetry written by a 12th century woman, an Andalusian princess. Many claim that it’s a journal, a personal diary of a female werewolf, a direct descendant of the first werewolves, a pure-blood. But most historians believe it is just fiction, some even claim that the author was human. It's a good read, anyway. Diana loves this book and I believe you will too.”

I left Ms. Blanchard's class and saw that Olympia and her friends were in the hallway talking. As usual, she pulled me up and shoved me into the middle of her group, which included a few girls from other dorms I didn't know.

"I spoke to Pembroke, she said P.E. classes start next week." Said Amelia. "I can't wait to pretend I don't know how to shoot a ball so they don't put me in advanced training."

“You are the daughter of an alpha, they will never fall for it. Trust me, I tried.” Olympia said, rolling her eyes.

“You are the oldest of two, I am the youngest of seven. It's not the same, I have no chance of being an alpha."

"As if I had..." muttered Olympia.

The girls continued talking and I noticed an unusual movement in the hallway - everyone was hurrying towards the patio. "Guys, what's happening over there?" I asked. They saw what I was talking about and we all decided to go with the flow of people to see what was going on. When we reached the courtyard, two guys were in a lively argument surrounded by people.

"He's dead, Casiraghi, dead!" One of the boys yelled, pointing his finger in the other's face. "My father is dead and the fault is yours and of all the Bloodmoon bastards who lined up with those f*****g bloodsuckers who control us now!"

"I have nothing to do with this, you freak!" The other boy said. “Are you listening to yourself? Talk to me when you stop crying about your daddy like a puppy.”

With a well-aimed punch, the first boy hit the other in the jaw. Wolves or not, they were still men, so this obviously turned into a physical fight as ugly and stupid as any I'd ever witnessed before. "Enzo!" Olympia screamed beside me nervously, in the midst of all those people shocked or cheering for the fight. Three school guards accompanied by Vice Principal Pembroke burst through the crowd. Two guards broke up the fight by pulling the two students away from themselves. The boy who accused the other and started the fight hit the guard who was holding him with his elbow and kicked him with immense force. He tried to go for his opponent one more time, but before he could, the third guard pulled out an electric wand and electrocuted him between the ribs until he fell to his knees.

“All of you, go back to your classes!” Pembroke said, as one of the guards dragged the boy to his feet by the arm and the other two carried the unconscious boy to the ground. It took a few seconds of shock and hesitation, but the crowd of students slowly began to dissipate amidst whispers of “what the hell just happened there?”. I looked back once more and saw the guards still carrying the passed out boy, saw the burn mark the electric wand had left on his uniform. I couldn't stop thinking about the moment his red eyes changed from brown to green through his tears, seconds before he hit the other boy in the face.

"Are you okay?" I asked Olympia. She missed the last two classes and I found her in her bed, still in her uniform, hugging a pillow and listening to music at the end of the day.

"Yes I am." She replied, stopping the music.

“I don't think you are. You want to talk?"

"I'm just a little tired..."

“Is this about what happened earlier today?”

"Perhaps." She said, sighing. “That was horrible.”

"You know one of the boys, don't you?"

“I know them both. We’ve studied together since elementary school, way before we came to Nordholt.”

"Who are they?"

“Enzo Casiraghi from Bloodmoon pack and Randall Price from Black Claws. They used to be friends when we were kids…”

“This kid Randall… He talked about 'bloodsuckers who control us'. What does that mean?"

“I don't know, honestly, I think… Wait, you're confused about the bloodsucker part, right?”

"Yes..." I said, frowning.

“He's talking about vampires. Jesus, I always forget you were raised by humans.”

“Vampires!?” I reacted, eyes wide.

"Yeah, you know, Dracula, Edward... Those pale immortal idiots who drink human blood and enjoy preying on teenage girls."

"I know what a vampire is, I'm surprised they even exist!" I exclaimed, shocked. “People know werewolves exist, why doesn't anyone know vampires exist too? ”

“They are not like us, we can live in society without hurting anyone. But they are literally human predators, so… It becomes a little difficult to advocate for their rights. So they live in the shadows.”

"Well, as if my life couldn't get any more complicated..."

“Not every wolf around the world is aware of their existence either. But basically every pack in the north of England has deals and deals with the Roman Clan. Pembroke? She's one of the Romans.”

"I think that's why her scent is so strange to me, I guess."

"What?" Olympia asked, arching one of her eyebrows.

“Her scent… It's strange. She obviously doesn't smell like a wolf, but I could tell she doesn’t smell like any human being.”

“Girl… That woman drinks more human blood a day than I drink water and you’re telling me you can feel the difference between her smell and a human one?”

“Yeah, of course. Can’t you?"

"No!" She laughed. “And neither do any wolves I know. I mean maybe if I shift and someone trained me to tell the difference between humans and well-fed vampires, I could. But to be able to tell the difference in your human form, being so young and untrained… That’s impressive!”

"Oh great, now I'm some kind of superhero!" I said, laughing.

"If you complain about being super cool I'm going to have to punch you in the face."

"I won't, I promise!" I said, raising my hands in surrender. Olympia laughed. “But… Back to the original subject. You seemed pretty worried about this Enzo Casiraghi in the fight today.”

"It's... It's complicated."

"Oh, so he's the complication..."

“We basically grew up together, our families are close. Last year he broke up with his girlfriend and we became closer… I think he might be my mate. I'm worried about him, I couldn't speak to him all day."

"I'm sorry about that, Olympia."

“Please don't tell anyone about this, not even the girls. Nobody knows we're dating."

"Why?"

“As I said, our families are close. He's the son of Bloodmoon's alpha… If our families find out about us, they'll either force us to break up or marry us right after graduation. I mean, what if he's not my mate? What if we don't work out? I want to go to college and travel, but I can't do that if I'm too busy married and constantly pregnant."

“So is it like that? Your families… Can they do that? Make your whole life revolve around finding a mate and making puppies?”

"When you're the daughter of an alpha, yes."