Chapter 13

Elena’s POV

I watch as the pretty woman hands King Harvey the bottle of water. He takes it with polite grace and thanks her with a cursory smile. As she walks off squealing, and her friend runs up to her, I see King Harvey pass the bottle to Beta Tom behind his back.

The cracking of my heart stops, if only for a moment. I manage to blink the tears out of my eyes as I fight off the obvious burning desire to go run up to King Harvey and talk. I want to tell him about how hellish these few hours have been.

I want to tell him that I do miss him too, in an odd way.

I know how terrible it would look if I rushed and go run up to him, like I was going to tell King Harvey that everyone is cruel to me and hoping he would protect me. It would make me look weak.

It would make me look like I am using him for his protection and to push his power around. That I am using him.

I just… I need support and a familiar face. I need someone to talk to and share my experience with.

It would be best to go speak with him, if only for a moment… I decided that I will, even if it is quick.

Before I can go and speak to King Harvey, a bell rings and everyone rushes back to the school. I follow slowly behind. The pretty blond woman and her friend are only steps in front of me. It feels odd.

“Katy, don’t talk about it. The King has already decided to hold a marking ceremony on the night of the next full moon.” The pretty blond woman says.

Katy is the friend of the pretty blond woman who told her to go talk to King Harvey. It was all planned.

Katy sighs. “She is human! She is so weak; she might not be capable of awakening the Fated Power!”

“You are so different, Jane!” Her friend comforts her. “You are the daughter of Beta Harold. If anyone can do this, you can! Compared to that human, only a werewolf like you with a good family background and excellent grades is qualified to be the luna of the pack. If you are the one in the mark ceremony, you will be able to awaken the Fated Power.”

Jane is the woman that tried to give King Harvey the bottle of water. She is my competition… she and every other woman werewolf here.

I can’t sigh or cry, I know they will both hear me. I purse my lips, knowing they are walking in front of me on purpose and are talking loudly about this as well. But they are right, as a human I might not be able to awaken the Fated Power.

With the rest of the students, I walk into an open cafeteria overflowing with students and food. I get in line and wait.

After a few moments of worrying, I collect a tray of food and begin to search for a place to sit.

Will King Harvey regret his decision?

“Human! Where you not taught not to stare?” Katy snaps suddenly with a raised voice.

I stepped back and turned around to see that Katy has pushed a freckled girl to the ground.

“I... am sorry…” She whispers as she moves to collect her tray of food that has fallen all over the floor and stains her clothes.

It looks like she was accidentally hit.

The freckled girl doesn’t get angry, she just apologizes again with a pale and shaking face.

“It is so annoying! Why don’t you humans just get out of our school!” Jane snarls hotly.

Her friend chuckles beside her.

My eyes widen. She is human?

“Forget it,” Katy hisses. “She is just a lowly human being.”

The beautiful woman takes a step towards her and casually steps on the freckled girl’s feet.

The freckled girl grimaces in pain but says nothing.

“Look, look! They don’t even fight back!” Jane chuckles wildly.

As tears stream down the freckled girl’s face, I step towards them. All I can see is my sister as my blood boils.

“Why don’t you apologize to her?” I ask as loudly as I can.

“Apologize?” Jane turns to face me with a lurid grin. “Oh, oh, please forgive me stupid human I am so sorry I stepped on your ugly shoes!”

Stepping towards her, I have no idea what to do or say. I try to lift Jane’s foot from the freckled girl’s foot, and she snaps at me with a mouthful of fangs. I jump back with a gasp.

She could kill me with one bite on my neck!

Despite my fears, I stay where I am. I want to help the freckled girl. She is human like me and doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment. No human does.

“Leave her alone!”

“Human, just because King Harvey likes you doesn’t mean you have any power here! You don’t understand werewolves at all! You are relying on King Harvey to show off! How dare you use King Harvey! Even if you become Luna, you are still a stupid, incompetent Luna! You can’t do it at all!” Jane yells.

My heart squeezes in my chest and stops at her words. I am human and have no power.

I am here because of the kindness of King Harvey, but I am here to train to be a good luna for him and his people. I am doing this for everyone!

I think I can do this, even if it is just to prove her and the rest of the werewolves wrong.

The cafeteria becomes deadly quiet now, then a hush of whispers fills the room. I can hear a few of them saying it would be a shame if I became Luna or any human.

“We would not be able to hold our heads up when gathering with other werewolves if we had a human Luna! How would we want someone like Elena!” A faceless werewolf student says, and the others begin to chime in and agree.

The voices become louder as they continue to talk and add more and more insults. Unable to breathe or think I grit my teeth and force myself to breathe.

The only victory right now is standing on my two feet and not running out of this room. This is an ambush. I must wonder if Jane planned it.

Everyone knows who I am, and she saw me when she tried to give King Harvey the water bottle. I am oddly grateful he didn’t accept it. I wonder if that is a sign of his loyalty to me, as silly as that sounds.

I force myself to stare at Jane with my teeth bared. The freckled girl continues to cry softly, now audible to me. I can hear my sister crying herself to sleep in her, staying quiet not to irritate my dad.

I remember night after night rocking her to sleep and waking up to being slapped in the face by my dad, mad that she and I were alive.

His drunken stupors only proved he thought of us both as mistakes. He had no son to send off to war for pride after the werewolves took over.

There are only two ways for humans to gain respect by werewolves, being a werewolf doctor or dying on the battlefield beside them. Only human men are allowed in their wars.

Jane glares back at me as if this is a game, balling her taloned fists at me and flashing her gleaming fangs with a hiss. She seems more like a snake than a werewolf.

“Humans are not useless! You must apologize for all your bullying and mistreatment today!” I yell at her as I ball my fists at her and mentally prepare to fight her.