“What’s with you?” Forrest whispers.
I wish I knew. He doesn’t seem to be moved in any way by the silver-haired girl. It seems unfathomable to me, but then he didn’t have that little staring contest with her down by the lake. I doubt he even noticed her.
Now that I have a clear image of her, head to toe, I think I see the problem. I can’t smell her wolf, but that doesn’t mean she’s as young as I assumed. It appears she hasn’t shifted yet, and now it makes sense, the soft mockery that followed her through the room, the snickers and filthy looks she’s getting though she hasn’t done anything to earn them, at least nothing I’ve witnessed. They hate her for who she is and what she hasn’t done.
And I can’t understand why I’m still thinking about her. I rouse myself out of my thoughts to find my father staring daggers at me. Probably wondering why my mind is wandering now of all times, when what we need is to make friends with these other packs and join forces before we’re completely wiped out.
Yet just as I’m about to turn my attention to the front of the room, where the alpha raises his hands to get our attention and call for silence, I can’t help but throw one last glance at the girl and a flash of recognition races through me when I find her already staring in my direction. Now I know the act down by the lake wasn’t an act at all. Instead of her eyes darting away and embarrassment flushing her fair cheeks, she does just the opposite. Lifting her chin, she maintains eye contact like she’s daring me to look away first.
Something dark stirs inside me. I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge, and I won’t now, no matter how much her pack seems to hate her.
5
LILI
It’s him. The one from the lake. I didn’t get a clear look at him back there in the dark, but I’d know his scent anywhere. He’s tall, broad, and muscular, with a jaw sharp enough to cut glass and eyes that threaten to pierce me. He doesn’t have the decency to pretend that he doesn’t recognize me—or at least to pretend he wasn’t so obviously waiting for me to get out of the water so he could see me naked, that is, until I slipped.
I don’t know why I can’t keep my eyes off him. Maybe because he was willing to stand there while I practically drowned. If that’s how they do things in his pack, it’s amazing anyone has survived. Around here, if we spot another wolf in trouble, we help them.
Unless that wolf is me, but that’s a different story. He had no way of knowing who or what I was. How much of a disappointment I am. He didn’t care that I needed help—no, he was too interested in watching me, probably making bets with himself to see how long it would take for me to go under and stay there.
He’s nothing. Nobody. Even if he is standing next to a man who’s clearly the alpha. I can smell it on him, but it’s more than that. It’s the energy that radiates off him, energy I sensed back at the lake. Is he the alpha’s son? That might explain why he thought my near drowning was entertaining. Probably gets off on watching weaker wolves struggle. He’s going to have a great time hanging out with my pack, if that’s true. They already have something in common.
“You have no right to be here!!” I look over my shoulder to find Hannah with her friends. Bitches. All of them stare daggers at me from their spot further back in the meeting hall. I know it gets under their skin that I’m up here with my parents, but it’s more of a formality than anything. I am the beta’s daughter, and the fact that I’m the pack outcast isn’t something Daniel wants to advertise to the whole world. We have to look united, even if we aren’t.
I guess Hannah didn’t get the memo. She won’t even pretend to be civil for the sake of looking good in front of the alpha. Her nose wrinkles like she smells something terrible before muttering something to one of her brainless friends, who laughs before sharing it with somebody else. She knows I’m watching—because what would the point be otherwise—and arches an eyebrow. You want to do something about it?
And that wolf is witnessing all of this. Him and the one next to him. They have to be twins, and both of them are already attracting a lot of attention from the other females. I can practically smell their hunger in the air, and it’s enough to gag me. No, they can’t help but reveal their arousal, but still. They need to improve their standards or something.