War Claim (The Claim: Book 3)

Chapter 16 - Chloe (Part 1)

High school wasn't as bad as Chloe had dreaded. If anything, it was a bit better because everyone was a little more mature...

But the senior male wolves were nuts. Was it really necessary to utter threats under their breaths to each other? To challenge each other off of school property? To flex their muscles and attempt to dominate each other?

Maybe when she got older, she'd understand better, but she felt sorry for the humans who had no idea. 

Luckily for them, the wolves tended to avoid confrontations with the human males, except for the super-aggressive human males. There were only a few of them but they definitely caused a lot of friction and wolves knew they had to be careful with their secret identities. Not only would they be expelled for getting into physical fights with humans, but they would be severely punished by their Alphas as well because their supernatural strength would always dominate that of a human's.

They had other ways of dealing with the aggressive human males, but Chloe was lucky enough to not witness anything... yet.

Cliques were again the norm like they were in junior high. Chloe stayed close to her female packmates like before but also made some friends with some of the human females in her classes.

She hated the stares she got. Or rather, the stares her boobs got. Yeah, she was fourteen with double-Ds—nothing she could do about that!

She got jealous glares from other females—both wolves and humans, but not from her packmates. Males as old as seniors were extra friendly, their attentions frequently on her chest. It was difficult to keep her cool sometimes and guide their attention back to her face.

In her first week of school, she already had three juniors ask her out. By the third time, she questioned if they were all friends and trying to see who she'd say yes to.

Stupid humans. She was waiting for her soulmate.

She couldn't blame them but it was still annoying. She was never going to say yes to any of them. The wolves knew that and laughed.

Not all wolves saved themselves for their mates, she discovered. It saddened her but those were their choices and she hoped they didn't regret them later.

Her teachers were okay—some better than others. Overall, the learning environment was positive and as long as she kept her chin up, no one gave her trouble.

During her second week of school, she was walking down the hallway and came across a sophomore human male shoving a smaller human male to the floor.

Without thinking, she interceded. "Stop it. Leave him alone."

The smaller boy's eyes widened while the bigger guy laughed.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Kick my ass?" he taunted.

She stomped up to face him—already the same height as him since he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet. "Bet I could, but then that'll bruise your ego for getting your ass handed to ya by a girl."

He narrowed his eyes at her and she could smell his anger flare. "You looking for a fight?"

"No, but better you and me since we're the same size. Strike me, I dare you," she challenged in a low voice, her muscles twitching, ready to deflect his next move.

Instead, he spat in her face and backed away. "Better go to the washroom and wipe that shit off. Oh sorry, are those freckles? My mistake. See you around, loser," he added to the smaller boy on the floor before he turned and tromped away.

A small crowd had gathered and whispered amongst themselves as one of Chloe's friends and packmates stepped up to her with a tissue from her bag.