RANK

Chapter 2

Nya burst through the glass doors of the building like she was trapped in a balloon with old air in it. She was hoping for some cool breeze but it was a smoldering hot day with not a cloud in sight.

Alpha Vince had a heavy presence, and his glare could kill like a blunt force object. The way his harsh gaze landed on her, it was as if she were caught red-handed in the middle of every bad thing she's ever done. She breathes the fresh air deeply. She has never felt like that before. He was so... Intimidating.

"Hey." She feels a weight on her shoulder and spins around coming face to face with Malina. They were best friends, actually more like sisters. When she was nine Alpha Greyson rescued her from the human world. He brought her to the pack grounds and introduced her to his daughter. They have been inseparable ever since. "How did it go?" She was so worried about it, unlike Nya, who knew whatever was going to happen was going to happen no matter how she felt before but she probably should have been worried.

"You didn't tell me Alpha Vince was going to be in there?" A warning would have been nice. She could have mentally prepared herself- not that it would have made a difference.

Malina looks back at the building with a crease between her brows and back at her. "He was in there?"

"Yeah... he interviewed me." The last thing she wanted to do was worry her sister but it was the truth and they should prepare for it. She  was hanging on high hopes that her mate by some miracle was going to let her stay."What's the worst thing that could have happened?"

"You flashed your eyes at him." She says like she wasn't surprised one bit.

"Not on purpose Lee..." She was warned repeatedly not to let that happen, begged, and pleaded with. Made to understand that if he knows about her glitch, she wouldn't have a chance in hell of staying with the Darks. But she just couldn't control it.

"He hates when wolves have a lack of control."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Excuse us." A couple exits the doors behind them and they realize that they were in the pathway. They step aside and move to a bench that was towards the side. "That's it then." Malina's glistening gaze falls to her lap. "And it took so much begging to get him to even consider."

"You should be smiling right now. He finally asked you to marry him. Whether I get to stay or not shouldn't matter."

"How can you say that? You're all I have Ny... you're not just some low-ranked wolf to me, you're my family."

Her mind circled round and round on what she could say that would make sense at this moment. Lucky for her, Beta Bent's voice comes over the speakers on the top of the building. He orders all of the Slays to report to the training field.

"Come on." Hand in hand they walked right down the road, across from the arena where the training field was. There was a line of wolves and stations set up to test individual skills such as speed, agility, stamina, and strength, and signs posted for where each rank belonged.

She gives her sister a goodbye-for-now glance and joins the seventeen other Ranked 4s waiting in line. She drifted into deep thinking. Where was she going to go? She didn't know much about the human world. Her experience in it wasn't good, and her flashing eyes made her a monster that couldn't hide amongst them. The sound of someone calling her name interrupts her thoughts.

She looks on the line of rank 3s across from her. "Watson." She smiles gently. A member of her pack and her forbidden love. After Lee, Watson was her best friend and her self-designated protector. He was of medium build, was boyishly handsome, and super sweet. She has been in love with him for years but with her rank being 4 and his 3, it was against the rules, so friends it would have to remain. "Hi." She mouths. He was a calming sight after Alpha Vince.