Claiming My Wolf

10 - Wild Animal

~~Sadie's PoV~~

There's some kind of wild animal right outside the door! I look at Ava again and she looks a little worried, but not nearly as freaked out as she should be. Not nearly as freaked out as I am. My heart is pounding frantically in my chest as I try to figure out what the hell is going on.

I don't know what kind of animal it is, but it sounds big and mean and hungry. Maybe a bear? Do they have bears here? How did it get in the school? What does it have to do with the shooter?

I'm so confused, but when I open my mouth to ask Ava another question, she just shakes her head at me quickly, putting her finger back to her lips again, telling me to keep quiet so I immediately shut my mouth again. As many questions as I have, I don't want to let the animal know that we're here.

After a moment, the growling stops and then someone... or something... tries to turn the door knob, and I can't help it, I let out a small shriek. This is like some kind of horror movie. It can't really be happening, can it? How could an animal try to open the door?

Then we hear shouts from further away and the door knob stops moving. A few seconds later, the growling is back, and then there are more growls and other sounds, like a roar or a howl, and the sound of things... or maybe bodies... being thrown around in the hallway.

I keep waiting for gunshots, but they don't come. There's only the strange noises, like animals fighting, until finally it goes quiet.

“Is it over?” I whisper to Ava as quietly as I can.

“I'm not sure,” she whispers back.

We sit there quietly for a while longer until finally we hear three short beeps followed by three longer ones, and Ava breathes a sigh of relief.

“That's the all clear,” she explains in her regular voice as she gets to her feet, holding out her hand to pull me up too. “It's over now.”

That's good news, but I still have no idea what 'it' was. What just happened?

Ava opens the door to the hallway and there are a bunch of men standing around, adult men, talking to each other, and all wearing nothing but loose shorts.

Where on earth did they come from? And why are they half naked?

Ava tries to close the door again when she sees them, but she's not quick enough. One of them spots us and calls out. “Who's in there?”

Ava grimaces before opening the door again. “It's Ava Miller, Beta. I have my cousin Sadie with me.”

The man looks at us both in disapproval. “What were you doing in there? That's not the standard protocol.”

“No, sir,” Ava agrees. “But Logan told me to bring Sadie here. She's the new girl who's just moved to town.”

She says it in kind of a funny way, like it means something else besides what she's saying, and his eyes immediately move to me with a hard, condescending expression. “I see,” he says in a clipped voice, sounding not so different from Micah and the way he talks to me. “The human one. Get her out of here, Ms Miller.”

“Yes, sir,” Ava replies meekly, taking me by the arm and pulling me down the hallway.

Once we're on our own, I pull my arm away from her and turn to face her. “Okay, what the hell is going on here, Ava?”

She gives me a sheepish, nervous look. “What do you mean?”

“Don't treat me like an i***t!” I say, my voice getting louder as I start to get angrier. She's lying to me, just like before, and I'm tired of it. “There's something strange going on in this town. Ever since I got here, people have been acting weird around me. And now this! What kind of animal was that outside the door? Why did that man just call me 'the human one'? What the hell is going on?!”

Ava swallows hard, looking miserable. But before she can answer me, another voice speaks up from behind me.

“Maybe I can explain.”