Expectations
The ride was not silent. Sorelia and his father, Dimitri, spent the entire ride ignoring him and arguing about where Kore got her attitude from. He was grateful they weren’t paying him any attention, but he would have been more grateful if they weren’t arguing.
He hadn’t slept much the night before. The stack of summer reading reports and summaries he had to complete for various people in the pack had kept him up. He dug his fingers into his palm at the memory of the triplets looming over him, eyes flashing, teeth bared.
Get it done, or you’ll regret it.
He looked out the window as the forest passed in a blur. He couldn’t wait until they graduated; then he might be able to breathe a little better. He could deal with Kore’s twin, David. David hated math, and Derek was good at math. He was never grateful, but he wasn’t violent. He was good at school, and since he didn’t usually sleep much, he had a lot of time to study whatever he needed to.
As the youngest of Sorelia’s children and the only one who hadn’t awakened a lycan spirit, his survival depended upon his being useful to the pack. Had he been born just a generation before, he likely would have already been dead if some of the whispers were true.
There was no room for weakness in Moonshadow. No softness. No compassion. Everyone served a purpose, and those who didn’t were disposed of, one way or another.
Derek’s purpose was to ensure that as many of his relatives passed whatever school-related trials they faced. His uncle said he was shaping up to be the pack’s emissary, and Derek almost puked at the thought.
His father, Dimitri, was driving, so they pulled smoothly into a parking spot among the swarm of people heading inside. Frey Shores wasn’t that large, but it was diverse. Every species from humans all the way to muses was represented in a silver of the town’s population because it was on the border between six species’ territories on the northwestern coast of the continent. Hence, Frey Shores’s second name: Six Corners.
Derek climbed out of the car and opened his mother’s door, bowing his head in deference out of habit. She climbed out, not even glancing at him. He closed the door and shivered as a cool breeze swept past.
Derek followed them inside and down the long corridor. The Moonshadow Pack crest was painted on one of the walls as the leading pack of the area and the school’s biggest donor. Derek tried not to grimace as people whispered, staring at him, watching him. He blocked out what they were saying, but he didn’t have to hear them to know.
They were wondering why Derek was so different. Green hazel eyes were the Moonshadow standard was some shade of brown. Short-cropped, dark curly hair gelled stiff, where most of the family had barely a wave, no matter the length. A baby face and all the awkwardness of a young human rather than an adolescent werewolf.
“He’s human,” someone hissed, setting off a peal of giggles.
They reached the counselor’s office. Sorelia and Dimitri swept past the line, straight to the front. The round-faced woman at the main desk looked irritated for a moment before forcing a smile.
“Alpha Sorelia, Alpha Dimitri, so good to see you here.” She gestured down the hall. “Counselor—”
“Who are you?” Sorelia asked, cutting her off. Disdain tinged her tone. “You don’t look familiar.”
The woman cleared her throat. Her smile was tight. “I’m new. Hired just this year thanks to your generous donation.”
Sorelia hummed. “I would have thought they would have had a more discerning eye before hiring a druid. Did we not put a stipulation on our donation, Dimitri?”
“We did.”
The woman blinked. Her smile faltered to something just short of polite. “Counselor Stryder cleared her schedule for you. A witch, if it matters.” Her brown eyes hardened. “Council appointed.”
Sorelia huffed. “We’ll wait for a lycan counselor.”
“Then, I suppose you should consider looking at other schooling options. No lycan in Frey Shores could pass the Council’s mandated accreditation.”
Derek blinked, trying to keep his expression placid. How was that possible? The woman sat with that brittle smile and gestured. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to go over her credentials with you, or would you like Principal Darkhaven to come speak with you about how your donation was spent?”
Darkhaven? A witch was the principal of Frey Shores Academy? He hoped it lasted.
Sorelia snarled. “What was your name?”
“Rowan Stormweaver,” she said, smiling. Then, she looked at Derek. “I hope you get the classes you want, Derek.”
His stomach jolted. He dropped his gaze to the floor. “Thank you, ma’am.”
He turned and followed Sorelia and Dimitri down the hallway, casting apologetic looks at the people waiting and watching them with disdain. His skin started to crawl and tingle with awareness and nerves. He took slow, deep breaths.
He just had to get through registration, the rest of orientation, and the ride back. Then, he could go hide in his room.
Sorelia pushed the ajar door open with no preamble.
The dark-skinned woman seated at the desk with short hair and a long, glinting earring dangling from her ear didn’t flinch or look up. The air seemed to sparkle around her. She was a witch. A powerful one.
Derek could feel his parents’ apprehension, but that didn’t stop them from taking the first two seats as if they were enrolling, leaving Derek to sit on the end. Derek felt sick sitting with the two of them, so close to their general disapproval of his entire existence.
He sat ramrod straight, looking at the floor, trying to appear as small as possible, maybe even disappear if he could. He didn’t even want to breathe too loudly. Embarrassed and mortified, maybe that his parents would do the same thing that they’d done to all of his siblings: choose his classes for him.
Sorelia opened her purse and pulled out a folio.
“I’m Counselor Stryder. How are you today, Derek?”
His gaze shot up. “Just fine, ma’am. And yourself?”
“Exceedingly pleased to meet Kore’s favorite younger brother.”
His lips twitched. His stomach fluttered a little. “I’m her only younger brother, ma’am.”
“Just the same. She—”
Sorelia set a page on her desk. “He’ll be taking these classes.”
Derek clenched his jaw, biting back the protest that would only make the ride home harder and be a waste of time.
There were worse things than having to, essentially, retake all the classes he’d already helped his relatives pass.
“I know you’re slated for placement tests, so we’ll revisit your core classes after you’ve taken them. Any thoughts on electives?”
“Can you not read?” Sorelia hissed.
“Of course,” Counselor Stryder said, looking at Derek. “I’m asking Derek.”
Derek blinked at her, stunned and breathless. A traitorous spark of hope warmed in his chest.
“He’ll be taking band,” Sorelia said. “As you would—”
Derek’s eyes widened as Counselor Stryder turned her gaze on Sorelia.
“With all due respect." Her tone was anything but respectful. "Alpha Sorelia…”

































