wolves¹[wyatt lykensen]

.02

POLITICS AND INTIMIDATION

"GREAT NEWS! WE have a brilliant and cheer-tested candidate running for president this year," Bucky exclaimed, earning a small glare from Bree and I. "Me!"

The crowd began cheering loudly for the self-absorbed cheer captain, only making me groan inwardly. I'm sure Bucky is somewhat of a good person underneath all of the sparkles and layers of pom-poms and glitter, but he could be an ass sometimes.

Next thing I knew, Zed came up behind Bucky and pushed him off to the side. "Woo! Zombie strong!" he shouted, raising his hands up. "Hello, everyone! My name is Zed and I will be running for president," he announced, earning cheers from the crowd and us.

"Zed can't steal my spotlight!" Bucky complained. "What about the whole anti-monster thing?" He gestured around the crowd, causing Addison to step forward and scowl at her cousin.

"Anyone can run for president, Bucky," she snapped.

"She actually has a point, Mr. Bucky," the principle pointed out, turning to the boy before dashing off stage with Bucky running after her.

"A zombie president? Ew!" Lacey's face scrunched up.

"Okay!" Zed began. "If you vote for me, I will bring you prosperity and awesomeness!" He gestured outwardly with his arms as he shouted. "Zed, Zed, Zed!" he began chanting, causing the crowd to join in.

"This is what I'm talking about! Who needs Bucky?" I nudged Addison with my hip, earning a grin from her. We continued listening to his speech and what he was promising the student body, cheering him on every few minutes.

"...zombies and—" Zed continued to talk, but Bree pointed through the crowd to the doors that led to the room.

"Werewolves!"

"Um, no," Zed laughed. "Why would we want—werewolves!" he cut himself off and pointed to the door like Bree, shouting and causing the crowd to try to quickly disperse and get as far away from the entrance as possible.

I turned to see the wolves breaking through the doors and running for Addison who had climbed on top of the podium.

"There she is!" one wolf shouted.

"Football team! Defense Z-24!" Zed ordered, pointing to the white-haired girl as they all ran and created a barrier around her. I shoved through them and emerged at the front of the defensive line. "Coraline, get back!" Zed yelled, trying to reach for my arm over the line, but failed and accidentally caused them to shove me forward and stumble right in front of the pack of wolves.

I looked up as I found my balance, meeting the growling face of a boy with a white streak at the front of his hair and a glowing blue stone hanging around his neck. His canines were bared without hesitation, yellow eyes boring into mine, trying to intimidate me.

I gulped nonchalantly, standing up tall. They were threatening us, and I didn't plan on giving them the satisfaction of their intimidation tactics working. If they wanted to strike, they would've done so already, I thought quickly.

"I would suggest backing down. You don't want to pick a fight with me and my pack," he warned, an underlying roughness in his voice.

"I would suggest backing down. You really don't want to pick a fight with the whole town, wolf-boy," I snap back. "Let alone me." At that, I allowed my eyes to glow a vibrant blue color, causing his jaw to slack. "I know about your pack," I said lowly, glancing to the necklace. I had learned about the pack that relied on a mysterious stone to survive when I was little, but I thought they had all died. "Unlike you I don't need a glow necklace to channel power."

He leaned back a bit, carefully turning to the girl on his left. By the way she'd been watching our interaction and how she held herself, I could tell she was their alpha. "Willa, she has a point," he almost growled the words, showing he didn't like the fact. "We can't go to war with the entire town." He moved closer to her. "We'll never find the moonstone if they're on high alert."

"They might not be able to hear you, but I can," I say bluntly, raising an eyebrow as my eyes faded back to brown. Willa glared at me as soon as the words left my mouth. She stood still for a moment while the boy looked to her, waiting for a decision.

"Fine," she huffed. "I hate it when you're right." She stood up straight. "Wolves, stand down." The pack was clearly reluctant to follow the order, but did so anyway. "Sorry," she smiled. "We wolves so admire your town and we just came here to join your school," she claimed happily, making me roll my eyes. I knew that no matter what I said, they would be allowed to attend school here, which just created a new possible problem.

"What?" Bucky stood up, making all eyes go to him. "They can't join our school," he said in an appalled manner.

"Technically, the Forbidden Forest is within the school district," Coach spoke up.

"So, welcome to Seabrook!" Addison exclaimed, giving a smile. It was moments like these I cursed her welcoming and accepting nature.

The wolves smiled and thanked her, but I furrowed my eyebrows at the group. "I don't know what you and your pack are planning, but no one better get hurt. Understood?" I made my words clear and firm, directing them to Willa.

"We don't want anyone to get hurt and we don't want any problems," she said stiffly. "We're just here to join your school and be part of the community."

"I hope that's the truth," I mutter, looking over their pack. I turned back, glancing to see Addison giving me a glare, basically saying to play nice and be welcoming. I let out a huff and stuck out my hand. "Welcome to Seabrook. I'm Coraline," I introduced flatly.

The boy shook my hand swiftly and gave a nod. "Wyatt," he introduced a bit nicer than I had. "This is Wynter and my sister, Willa." Our hands dropped to our sides as Addison skipped over, joined me, and tossed an arm over my shoulder.

"Sorry about Coraline," she apologized sheepishly. "She's just a bit...wary of people that barge in and try to fight the town—but that's in the past!" Her words were rushed out as she gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Right?"

"Sure."