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Claire was happy to escape the stench to gulp in great breaths of fresh air in the hallway. She started for the girls' room but her eyes were drawn back down the hall to the locked office door. What was in all those cabinets? Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own as she found herself walking down the hallway. She stopped in front of the door, not even remembering feeling pain in her leg. Should she go in again?
Something very strange is going on in this town and I'm betting some of the answers are right in that room.

A fast, firm grasp on her shoulder made Claire's head whip around. The tall, muscular man behind her reeked of authority, but she didn't recognize him. She struggled not to lash out in defense. Her muscles twitched with the effort.
You're the Omega. Don't attack.
The baritone that accompanied the grip matched the size of the hand. It sped up her pulse.
“
Who are you and what the hell are you doing in here?”

 

CHAPTER 13

“What's Mr. Burrows's car doing at the school at this time of day?” Alek stared at the older-model Chevy, all alone in the parking lot. It was free of the dusting of snow that had started to lightly blanket the town, so he must have just arrived.

“He's the principal, Alek. I'm sure he's here at all sorts of weird hours. C'mon. We need to get over to the park and start on the bathrooms.” Scott's voice sounded equal parts exasperated and frightened. He put a hand on Alek's shoulder. “Leave it alone.”

A shadow appeared in one of the windows, dark except for a faint red glow. When a second shadow appeared, Alek started to move forward. Something was wrong. He didn't know what, but he had to investigate. He was in midstep when Scott grabbed his back belt loop. “Alek, I mean it. You already got your clock cleaned once today. Don't push it. You know Lenny and Nathan are tight. Whatever is going on in there isn't our business.”

He reached back and pulled Scott's hand off his belt and then turned around. “Chill, dude. It wasn't that big of a deal. It was just one punch … didn't even loosen any teeth. I was late and I paid for it. Besides, what good is it to have an Omega if they're not going to watch out for trouble?”

Scott crossed his arms over his chest and let out a hiss. His hair fluffed like blond feathers, high enough to lift his ponytail a fraction. “Oh, yeah. This just
screams
trouble. A principal … in a
school
. I swear to God, Alek—”

A scream came from inside the building. It was a woman, and Alek immediately recognized it as Rachel's. He'd heard it a hundred times in the Ascension challenges. Sometimes in frustration, sometimes in pain when she just couldn't move any faster. Alek moved instinctively toward the sound, with Scott hot on his heels. “Jesus!” he called out after Alek, “Man, no wonder you're going to be a cop. You got some sort of sixth sense about this shit.”

He let Scott believe that without commenting. But this wasn't normal. It wasn't just an intuition, but a seizing of his gut, like the sensation when he was riding Tammy over the cliff.

The front door was locked. He tried twisting it to pop the lock, but it held fast. He was about to race around to the back, when Scott hissed and motioned him over to one of the windows. Principal Burrows stood over the inert form of Rachel, but he was nearly inert too. Alek couldn't help but smile at the sight of Claire holding his fist in a steady grip, seeming not to even be struggling to keep him from attacking again. Her eyes flashed with pale blue fire as she spoke in low tones. “You had no right to punch her. She didn't do a thing to deserve that.”

Nathan Burrows wasn't one to be trifled with. He was as even tempered as they came, but when the black bear shifter got angry, he could do serious damage. He rose to his full height, towering over Claire's slight form, his eyes red with fiery power that made the exit lights seem dim. “I didn't punch her. She'd be dead if I had. She met my eyes in a direct challenge, Ms. Sanchez. That is absolutely
not
allowed by an omega and she knows it. The only reason you're not on the floor beside her is that you're new to town and
don't
understand how things work here. But know this—if you don't let go of my hand and lower your eyes right this second, I will drop you where you stand. You will also
never
work in this school. I don't care whether you're an alpha or the Omega, I am the principal here and you
will
respect me.”

There was a long pause where they stared at each other. Alek watched Claire take a deep breath and then release Burrows's hand. She dropped her eyes to stare at his neck, then spoke through gritted teeth. “I meant no disrespect. But I don't approve of hitting an omega. It's as bad or worse than hitting a child. Alphas are supposed to
protect
the weak and innocent.”

Alek winced, expecting Burrows to backhand her. He actually raised his hand, as though to strike, but then held it at about chest level. “I want you back here promptly at ten o'clock. Just you, not with Ms. Washington. Now go. Leave the dustbin where it is. I'll put it away.”

He turned and walked into his office, shutting and locking the door behind him, leaving Claire staring after him with furrowed brows. Alek tapped on the window just as Claire knelt down beside Rachel. She looked up, surprised. He motioned at the door and Scott made motions like turning a knob. Claire helped Rachel to her feet and supported her weight as they limped toward the door. He was surprised Claire was able to bear Rachel's weight. She seemed to be struggling to walk.

A small vortex of snow swirled as she pushed open the door. It threw their scents right to Alek. Rachel was in pain, but not nearly to the level of the scream he'd heard, which confused him. Claire smelled … well, she smelled
amazing
. The intense cold-metal determination mixed with her natural chocolate-and-fire scent to make an intoxicating cocktail. If she was in pain, it didn't show in her scent. It was hard to clear his head enough to speak. He reached to take Rachel's arm and Scott quickly moved to the bench near the sidewalk, brushing off the snow so they could sit her down.

He squatted down next to the previous Omega and lifted her chin into the small amount of light from the streetlamp a dozen feet away. Burrows had hit her already injured eye, making it swell up and turn a darker purple. “Are you okay? That scream was pretty intense.”

She nodded, her eyes narrowed and angry. “I'm fine. I've learned to scream like a little girl when someone hits me because it makes them stop and wonder if they really hurt me.” She gave a dark smile that made him chuckle. “Fortunately, most people don't use their noses or he would have realized he barely tapped me. Idiot.”

Claire gave the side of her shoulder a little slap. “Rachel! I thought you were really hurt.”

Rachel reached up one manicured hand and gingerly touched her temple before saying ruefully, “Sorry. I really didn't expect you to jump in like that. Nobody else stands up for an omega.” Alek flinched. Would he have done what Claire did? He wasn't sure. “And don't get me wrong. I am hurt. But I've had worse.” She looked up and then reached out to touch Claire's hand. “That was really nice of you. Thank you.”

Claire looked back at the building. “I don't know that I like someone like that running a school with kids, especially human kids. He looked pretty steamed. What do you think he'll do at ten o'clock?”

Rachel just shrugged. “I really don't know. He's never asked me to come to the school when the kids are in class. School is in session today, isn't it?” She turned to Alek and Scott with raised brows.

Scott nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I don't know what he wants either. Maybe a public humiliation in front of everyone? What do you think, Alek? Would Burrows do that? He's always seemed like one of the good ones. Yeah, he comes off tough, because otherwise the kids would run roughshod, but I've never seen him actually hit someone until just now. Weird.”

Alek shook his head, trying to clear his mind. “I don't know.” He turned and looked up at Claire. That was when she noticed his face.

“Ow! What happened to
you
? Your eye looks worse than Rachel's.”

Alek hadn't really thought about the punch since it happened, but when he reached up to touch his face, out of instinct, white lights flashed in his vision. No wonder Scott had been urging caution. “I guess I hadn't noticed. I was late this morning. Lenny slugged me for punishment.” Scott made a noise like a raspberry that made him look over and say, “What? That's what happened.”

The owl shifter rolled his eyes, hands punched down in the pockets of his jacket. “That's not why he hit you and you know it. Just tell her. He's probably going to if you don't.”

Claire cocked her head and Alek felt a sigh slip out. Scott might well be right. Lenny would probably take it out on her too. “I asked Lenny to let you out of the Omega duties. I reminded him it was my fault and asked him to let me serve as the only Omega. It
was
my fault. I really am sorry.”

Her face softened and she reached out to touch his hair. Then Scott added, “Except he didn't ask Lenny, he
told
him. That's when he got slugged.”

Claire let out a small exasperated sound, but didn't stop running her fingers through his hair and smelled proud of him. His scalp tingled so strongly he could barely breathe and he was pretty sure she felt it too if the fluttering of the vein in her neck was any indication.

She moved her hand from his hair to touch Rachel's shoulder. “Rachel, why don't you go home and get your eye cleaned up and then get some rest. I'll stick with Scott and Alek. Think how fast it will go with three of us working.”

Rachel looked up at Scott. He nodded and shrugged. “Fine with me. It hasn't been that long since I did the job. And it will go pretty fast that way.”

She smiled at all of them. “That would be great. It's been a long time since I had a day off to just laze in my jammies. I'll come back and wake you in the morning, Claire. We'll get a jump on the day.” She turned her head to Scott. “You make her sit down every so often. She really hurt that leg.”

It wasn't long before they were all over at the apartment building, getting in Scott's little VW. He glanced at his apartment window. Nothing seemed out of place or odd.

“I normally don't use my car to do this,” Scott said. “But it's the only way we're going to be able to get out to the park and have Claire back again by ten o'clock. Hop in.”

“I've got short legs,” Claire said before he could offer her the front seat. “I'll get in back.” Alek didn't want it to bother him that she didn't ask him to join her in the backseat. But it did. “Is it far to the lake?”

“Not too bad,” he replied. “Only about ten minutes by car. Probably twenty on foot unless you jog the whole way.”

After a few minutes of silence, Claire spoke again. “So, tell me about yourselves. How did you come to be here and growing up in the same house?”

He exchanged a look with Scott, wondering where to start. Scott waved a hand his direction. “You tell it better. I need to watch the road anyway.”

Alek turned slightly in his seat so he could see her. “We're both orphans. I grew up in the Chicago wolf pack. Scott was part of an owl parliament in California. When the snakes attacked, my mom and older sister were killed. Denis and I survived. I don't know about my younger sister. We're still trying to find her.”

“
He's
still trying. I don't know that anyone else has tried,” Scott said. “He's looked
everywhere
. Trust me. You ought to see the
Sonya wall
in his apartment. Photos, letters, maps, hair and skin samples, the whole works. He's relentless. It looks like an episode of
CSI
in there.”

Alek shot him a
look
and that, plus the combination of annoyed scents that likely billowed out in a cloud, shut him up.

He continued without explaining, even though Claire seemed like she was interested. But it wasn't her search or her worry. “Anyway … I wound up in a busload of kids from all over the Midwest. Anyone who survived got shipped to the Boulder pack facility and then sorted to this place. I don't really remember much of the first few months. It was all I could do to keep track of Denis and ask everyone I met if they'd seen Sonya.”

Scott added, “I don't think anyone remembers much about the whole first year. I came on a different bus that picked up survivors along the West Coast. Not many of the original people from Cali are left here. The winters are too hard. I remember shivering constantly when we first got here and it was still summer. I hadn't shifted yet, so I was mostly human. Part of it was sort of cool—pioneer living was fun as a kid. Like camping on a grand scale. Until the cold set in, that is. Building the town kept me warm at first. I shifted that first winter … probably out of sheer self-defense. But I remember that finding food and clothes and building stuff ate up most of the early days.”

They rolled into the parking lot of the park. Scott turned off the engine right next to the bathrooms. Claire nodded. “Yeah, it was like that down south too. There was a lot of us victims and food and housing was a problem.” She noticed when they both looked at her, not understanding what she meant. “I started out human too. I…” She paused and then looked out the window into the darkness. “Was an attack victim. Collateral damage of the snake war. I didn't come from a shifter family. It was just thrown at me. Dealing has been hard.”

“Jeez…” Scott turned in his seat and reached back to touch her knee. The fog-bank scent of sympathy filled the car. The scent turned warm from her gratitude. She reached out and touched Scott's hand, giving it a little squeeze.