Chapter 2.

"Hayley!" I furrowed my brows as I turned to look at my best friends, Corey and Hayley hearing Corey hiss her name for the umpteenth time. What were they doing?

"What?!" Hayley hissed back, not looking up from her work.

"Do you have sweets?" She rolled her eyes at the question. We were currently in Math class and Corey had yet to be quiet in a thirty-five minute period of time.

"No!" She turned only to glare at him and I laughed softly.

"Izzy!" He turned to me.

"No," I laughed. I looked towards the front of the room hearing a throat clear and my laugh was cut short as I was met with a disapproving look from our teacher. I immediately looked back down at my work to avoid her eyes.

"The pain of being Alpha Ian's daughter." Hayley smirked at me. I frowned. She was right. Everyone expected me to behave really well and excel at everything, I was always more likely to get pointed out than everyone else was. Most of the teachers at the school were part of our pack. A lot of the students were as well.

"I'm starving!" Corey groaned.

"Yeah, we can hear that." Hayley said. I shook my head biting back more laughter. It was true, we could hear his stomach growling softly, every werewolf in our class would be able to.

"Izabella, do you have something to add?" I looked up as Mrs Haynes frowned at me. I stared at her surprised. I had not said a word or made a sound! I glanced at my friends sending a glare their way.

"No, Mrs Haynes." I said looking down as my friends laughed, but she did not acknowledge their laughter.

I could still feel her gaze on me so I was beyond relieved when the bell rang. I grabbed by bag shoving my things into it and ran from class not glancing back at Mrs Haynes. I had no doubt in my mind my father was going to hear from her.

"Izabella!" I heard Corey shout from behind me, even though shouting was not necessary because with our ears I would have heard him if he had whispered.

"Meet you at your car." I called back slipping between the crowd of people.

I hated that my locker was on the other side of the school and most days I ended with Math class meaning I was basically walking against the tide of people trying to head out of the school, which was why I tried not to go to my locker at that time but I had left a reading book I needed in it. I greeted some people as I passed them. I wasn't very popular, it was only a few humans greeting me as pack members did not usually acknowledge me unless my family was nearby. When I finally made it to the hallway my locker was in, most people had already cleared out and there were just a couple here and there.

"Izabella, I'll be over at five!" I turned hearing Tarisa call out, reminding me that we had a pair history assignment to work on and I nodded at her.

"Got it!" I smiled at her before turning to keep walking but I hit someone causing me to fall back onto my butt. They had to be a wolf for me to end up on the floor, and as soon as their scent surrounded me, I knew I was screwed.

"What are you? Blind?!" I looked up at the future Alpha of our pack, Sean before I got to my feet clenching my jaw.

"If I am, then I'm obviously not the only one seeing as you didn't move out of the way." Growing up with my brother Gray and Hayley made me almost never able to bite my tongue which got me into trouble a lot. Kind of like it would right now...

"Don't talk to me like you're on my level. I'll kill you." He glared at me.

I clenched my fist. I had never gotten along with Sean, once when we were nine we got into a very rough fight which resulted in my breaking his arm and him breaking my leg. Needless to say, my Dad and his Dad, Cole; who was our current Beta – the second-in-command leader of our pack, were pissed at us.

"I'm not afraid of you." I said defiantly.

"Oh?" I cried out when he suddenly grabbed me and I was slammed into the lockers hard, "Really?" His warm breath brushed against my cheek as his fingers dug into my arms.

I lifted my fist to swing it into his jaw before kicking him in his shin, his cheek healed just as fast as I had hit him leaving just the thin line of blood that had managed to escape. His eyes flashed to black indicating how angry he was as he grabbed my wrist and twisted them outward. I tried not to show that it hurt as I tried to tug my arms from him, though it did. If he twisted it anymore it would break.

"Don't test me, Freak. Daddy and Cohen are not here to protect you." He said lowly. I knew I should not keep fighting him, but I still tried to break lose which only resulted in his giving a strong twist that made me cry out as my wrists cracked.

"Sean, come on. Alpha Ian's not going to let you off with a warning this time, word has it he's not very happy today. Let's go before you hurt her." I hadn't noticed his friends were there.

Sean's eyes faded back to their grass green colour, the eyes that made so many girls that were in our pack and not swoon, and he was still glaring at me.

"When I'm Alpha, you're the first thing I'm getting rid of, Freak." He let me go before he left with his friends. I glared at his back as I clenched my fist tightly. I hated him so much.

I circled my wrist slowly as I looked down at them. Freak. No one called me that around the older pack members. I was weird. My dark brown eyes never went black, they glowed topaz when I shifted or became angry enough for my wolf to want to take control of us. I had longer canines than the other wolves, sharper claws, and I had little control of my wolf so I shifted as little as possible. It wasn't a secret that a lot of the younger pack members didn't like me at all. I didn't know why. I was different but that wasn't my fault, my parents always said it had something to do with Mom being a witch, except my brothers didn’t have any of the weird traits.

I turned and flung my locker open to get what I had come for and shoving the things I didn't need into it before I began walking down the empty hall. No one dared pick on me in front of my brothers or my father, they were some of the strongest wolves in our pack, my father being the strongest as the Alpha. And even though my brothers were not Alphas they could still take Sean on which was why my father made them teach the jerk along with my Dad and Sean's father.

"What happened to your wrist?" I had just reached Corey's car and somehow it was the first thing he saw. I looked at my pink wrist. The bruises would heal within the next minute and there would be no trace that I had ever run into Sean in the hall.

"Nothing." I shrugged it off.

"Did Sean hurt you again?" He asked, his face serious.

"No." I said.

"Izabella, -" Hayley began.

"Drop it, okay?" I asked annoyed.

"Oh, we'll drop it, Izabella. But Cohen won't." Corey frowned.

"Corey, no. Please -" I was saying.

"Then tell us what happened." Hayley said. I sighed.

"The usual." I said.

"Izabella." I was annoyed that they kept using my full name.

I frowned. "I bumped into him. We fought. He left with Jason and the others." I said.

"And your wrist?" Hayley said. I looked down, there wasn't a spot left. Thank God for my faster than normal healing ability or my parents would have seen it. The only wolves that healed faster than me in our pack were Sean and the other leaders because of the strength they had.

"He twisted it." I said.

"Why won't you just tell Alpha Ian? Or even your Mom, Izzy?" Corey asked.

"I'm not a child. I can take care of myself. Sean's nobody." I said.

"He's going to be Alpha. You can't have a feud with your Alpha." Hayley said.

"I won't. Let's go." I said.

I won't even be in the pack then. Courtesy of that asshole Sean.

-----

I held my breath feeling a weird sensation on my left wrist. It felt like I was drawing on my skin, but I wasn't and I had not since I was ten.

"Izzy?" I looked up and smiled at my eldest brother as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, Cohen?" I asked rubbing my wrist figuring the sensation would go away as recently the sensation seemed to come and go a lot.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"No, I -" I began but sighed, "My wrist just feels funny." I waved it.

"It does?" We looked at Mom who had been standing at the sink as she cleaned a couple of plates. I nodded.

"Let me see, Sweetie." She smiled, I just held my hand out figuring there was no way I could convince her it was nothing because she always got worried about the slightest inconsistencies with us. She took my wrist gently and examined it. I furrowed my eyebrows when she whispered a spell and shut her eyes.

"Mommy?" I whispered wondering why she thought this warranted a spell.

Her eyes opened and for a split second I saw a fearful, shocked look cross her face before it disappeared and she smiled, "It's nothing. Just ignore it." She said.

"But, Ma -" Cohen began but our mother was already out of the kitchen. He looked at me, "I'm not the only one who thinks that was weird, right?" He asked. I nodded. He looked at the door thoughtfully before he smiled at me.

"Wanna make cookies?" He asked.

"Sure!" I hopped off my seat.

"Anyone say cookies? I would like them to be chocolate chip," Cohen rolled his eyes while I laughed as Gray walked in.

"No, and now just because you said that; we aren't making it." Cohen said crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the stove.

"Making what? Cookies? I want cookies. Chocolate chip, please." Adan came in while Cohen rolled his eyes and Gray glared at Cohen. Well, at least Adan said please.

"You two –” Cohen began but we all heard a loud howl from somewhere outside.

"Dad –” Cohen dashed out of the kitchen, "Izzy, stay!" I heard him shout back as the twins and I began to follow him.

"But –” I began.

"Stay," Gray told me. I frowned as he ran out. Adan smiled at me.

"I’m sure it’s nothing, Izzy. We'll be back in a few, get started on the cookies." He said. I forced a smile at him as I nodded and he ran out.

I sighed looking outside where I could see my brothers, like a lot of other wolves, running towards the forest. I looked down at my wrist as it began to burn slightly. That was now… What was happening to me? What happened in the forest? I had a bad feeling about all of it.

-----

Turns out my bad feeling was right; Dad had informed the pack earlier that three wolves had been killed in an ambush in the forest. Including Sean's mother. I hated Sean, but his mother had always been an amazing woman. She was so close to my mom and they spent so much time together, it automatically made me close to her. I had not seen Cole, our Beta, but Dad mentioned that he was absolutely devastated. No one could get to Sean either. I had always heard that losing your mate could kill a werewolf or drive them to suicide, I really hoped Cole would be okay. I felt for Sean too. I could not even imagine losing my Mom. I could not even begin to think about what he was feeling having lost his.

"You alright?" I looked up from the book I was reading as my mom peaked into my room, her eyes bloodshot. Kayla, Cole's wife and mate, had been her best friend all her life. I nodded and scooted over in my bed. Mom smiled sadly as she shut the door once she was in my room and climbed in beside me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered leaning my head on her shoulder.

Heard her sniff softly, she was crying again. "It's okay," she whispered kissing my hair lightly.

"What… happened to them?" I asked softly.

"Attack. We think other werewolves somehow got into the forest." I felt like there was something she wasn't telling me but I brushed it off because I did not want to force her to tell me when she was clearly hurting, instead I shut my eyes sighing. Even though it was an evil thought, I hoped whoever hurt them died an awful death.