one
AMBER
“How’d a nice girl like you wind up in a fucked-up place like Drakewood?” The driver eyes me from his rearview mirror, his thick dark eyebrows raised in question.
I curl my lip in response, keeping my voice low when what I really want to do is scream, shout, pull the fucking door off this thing and run wildly into the night. “Who says I’m a nice girl?”
“You’re one of the Lucky Steele Seven, right? Everyone knows you girls were raised like princesses.” His sweet, lilting voice makes me sick to my stomach.
I scoff and fold my arms over my chest. Why won’t this guy just leave well enough alone? Yeah, I’m the youngest of the seven Steele sisters, but I’m no princess. In fact, I’m the villain of this story. That’s why I’m headed to Drakewood Academy, a private reform school for wayward alphas. It’s basically a prison for spoiled rich kids and otherwise hopeless cases. Yay me.
Even though I didn’t respond to the driver’s last question, he continues to attempt a conversation. “I thought all you Steele girls were omegas. What happened with you?” Our eyes meet again in the rearview mirror, his dark depths doing something strange to my insides.
I turn my face toward the window and watch the world roll by, ignoring him. Clutching my jade encrusted flower pendant, I silently pray he takes a hint and gives up. I prefer silence over anyone trying to pry into my fucked up life.
Turn by turn, the quiet suburb streets of my childhood transform into dizzyingly busy city blocks. San Francisco—I once thought that I would never leave; now I know I’m never coming back. Even if my family can forgive me for what I’ve done, I’ll never be able to return to the life I knew, the one I’d been carefully groomed to lead.
Yeah, I was supposed to be an omega, or a pampered princess as the driver so aptly put it. I showed the exact same signs my sisters had… or so I’d believed.
Until everything changed.
Two days ago, I mistakenly manifested as an alpha instead of an omega. One moment I was fine and then the next I exploded with rage, lashed out, and changed my whole life as a result.
I can barely remember the moment. A fog clung to my mind, and I lost myself to my unbidden emotions. I still see the blood on the ground. Feel the heat of my tears on my cheeks…
I shiver.
Mother wouldn’t rest until she found a place that would take me away and promise not to talk to the media. If word got out about what I did, she’d have a huge scandal on her hands. But not only that, my life would be over. Funny, she always buried my sisters’ mistakes for the sake of the family, so that we would all receive good pack offers. I’m the only one left now, and she’s still at it, which proves the shit she put us through was always about protecting her image and assets—not our prospects.
The driver clears his throat to draw my attention. What is it with this man? When I glance up, his intense gaze locks on mine. “It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me anything. You just look like you’ve been through a lot. Drakewood isn’t exactly a nice place, and no one attends without a reason. Especially someone like you. Female alphas aren’t very common in general, and they’re even less common at that school. You’re going to be—”
“Would you please just fuck off already?” Seriously, what is his deal? I glower, steeling myself against his attempt at kindness. I don’t deserve it. Because he’s right. No one attends Drakewood because they want to.
I clench both hands into fists, ready to pummel this guy if he says another word out of turn. At least if I beat his face in, it will be proof that I belong with the monsters and rejects at Drakewood.
This stranger is far too interested in me, and even though he doesn’t deserve what’s coming his way, I’m really in the mood to give it to him. Honestly, I’m just tired at this point. It’s been a long thirty-nine hours since the incident happened. I know because I’ve counted every single one of them.
I still remember the look on Violet’s face when she ran into the house and found me sitting in a puddle of fresh blood, face twisted in a toxic mix of anger and confusion—a mix that has since become my default mood.
Right now I’m also fucking terrified, though I’d never admit that aloud. My home life may not have been perfect, but it’s what I knew. I was all set to head to Omega Prep in the fall just like my perfect sisters had before me. There I’d learn the ins and outs of nest-making while also perfecting the art of erotic massage. But no, I made one wrong move and now I’m driving off into the great unknown—and I’m not even holding the fucking steering wheel.
The driver cranes his neck, staring back at me at a stoplight, as if somehow the thought has summoned him. Dark hair, dark eyebrows, but impossibly blue eyes. I can’t tell if he’s tall or short, thick or lanky, but I can see a light dusting of stubble across his cheeks and jaw.
His expression remains neutral, and I find myself wondering what he must think of me. I look every part the sweet, little omega with my curly blonde hair, perky tits, and surgically enhanced pout. I’ve been getting my eyebrows threaded and my lashes extended ever since I got my first period at twelve. I grew up pretty and plastic like a Barbie, acting as a plaything for both my sisters and my mother. All this time though, I’ve been in the wrong box. Turns out, I’m actually a fucking G.I. Jane, only I have no great and noble cause to fight for. Honestly, I’m not even sure I want to fight for myself anymore.
I first started to sense I was different around the age of thirteen. I didn’t think too much of it though, because all of my sisters are unique little flowers. They’ve all grown out of their weirdo phases though and found happiness playing omega to their packs. Even though my oldest sister Violet got pregnant right around my age, she was still always so innocent and naïve about the world. All of them were, even when they thought they were rebelling.
But not me.
I went to bed a sweet, placid omega-to-be one night and woke up the next morning with something carnal flying through my veins. Suddenly I couldn’t get enough of hot men, fast cars, and crazy ideas. I became the wild child, always on the lookout for my next thrill. That alone would have been fine if I hadn’t lost control.
I swear something else lives inside of me and for years my mother has been trying to figure out how to kill it. Well, joke’s on her, because now it’s escaped. I’m not just wild Amber, I’m crazy Amber, killer Amber, Alpha Amber.
Fuck my life.
“Just up ahead, you’ll see the gates to Drakewood,” the driver informs me with that lilting, syrupy voice of his. “Take a good long look, because you won’t be seeing them from the outside for at least a year.”
A heavy stone wall surrounds the campus. I think about how hard it would be to climb up and jump over the ten-foot height of it. Black iron with intricate swoops and swirls adorns the looming gate. Like a gilded cage, thick, tightly spaced bars round out the bottom. For a moment, I wonder if this is meant more to keep its residents within or to keep onlookers out, but then I realize it doesn’t matter. Either way, I’m stuck.