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Chapter Five

The next morning, the weight of the previous day's events bore down on me like a heavy shroud. There was no way I could face school, not after what the twins had done. So I decided to feign illness, pulling the covers over my head as Mariah checked on me.

“Stormi?”, Mariah walked into my room and called “Hey what’s wrong?”,

“I don't feel well Mariah”, I lie. I can't possibly go to school. How will I ever face the twins? I'm not sure what their reason behind kissing me was and whatever it was I don't want to find out.

" I know you're lying. Is it the bullying?”, she asked and kissed me on the forehead “Who is it? Tell me and I'll give them a piece of my mind”,

“No it's okay Mariah, no one bullying me I just want to stay home”, I sincerely say.

“Okay. Just rest up," she said, placing a cool hand on my forehead. "I'll be back in the evening. Don’t forget to do the laundry at the pack house."

I nodded weakly, grateful for the excuse to stay home. Skipping school meant I avoided the twins and their inevitable torment, but it also meant facing the Luna at the pack house. She rarely spoke to me beyond giving curt instructions, and her indifference was just as intimidating as outright hostility. She used to be nice but after her younger brother tried to make me touch his privates and told Mariah about it who later confronted the Luna and her brother she hated me. Her brother called me a liar and she believed him. But I wasn't the only one he tried to do it to. When one of the pack members’ daughter came forward about a year later and he was exiled from the park. But I’m used to her by now she needed someone to blame for what happened to her brother and I happen to be that person.

After Mariah left I cleaned up the cabin and took a shower before sitting at the kitchen counter to study.

By late afternoon, I made my way to the pack house. The packed house was a large, stately building where all the important families lived or spent most of their time. Elijah’s family, being among the most prominent, had a significant presence there, and Osagiah’s family because his father was the Beta. I hoped to be in and out quickly, unnoticed.

I slipped inside, the familiar scent of pine and clean linen filling the air. The Luna, Elijah’s mother, was in the kitchen, and she barely glanced at me as I entered.

“Laundry,” she said simply, her back to me as she continued chopping vegetables and continuing her conversation with the other pack women. I nodded, not expecting more. She rarely spoke to me beyond giving necessary instructions.

I sighed as I walked into the laundry room seeing the pile of dirty clothes in the laundry baskets. I quickly got to work and began sorting them according to colors.

Looking at the labeled baskets I made sure not to mix up the clothes especially Isahiah’s. I began with the Alpha’s family’s clothes before doing the Beta’s.

I took in Elija’s scent, his distinctive cologne filling my nostrils, “Quit being a perv Stormi”, I said to myself and continued.

Thinking Elijah was at school, I made my way upstairs to his room to put away his clean clothes. His room was at the end of a long hallway, and as I pushed the door open, I froze.

Elijah stood there, wearing only a pair of sweatpants, his chiseled torso glistening with a sheen of sweat. He turned, and our eyes met, his expression shifting from surprise to something darker.

“You really are a peeping tom,” he said, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth as he walked towards me.

My heart pounded wildly. Elijah was different from the twins. I had harbored a secret crush on him for as long as I could remember. Having him so close, nearly naked, was making my mind run wild.

“I-I’m sorry,” I stammered, unable to tear my gaze away from his intense gray eyes.

He stopped inches from me, his presence overwhelming. “Unlike the twins, I can’t make my hands dirty by touching a runt like you,” he said, his voice dripping with disdain.

I flinched at his words, a mix of shame and longing twisting in my chest. The humiliation burned, but part of me couldn’t deny the thrill of being near him, even if his words were cruel.

“I was just bringing your clothes,” I managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper.

Elijah stepped back, his eyes raking over me with a mixture of contempt and curiosity. “Leave them and get out,” he ordered, turning away as if I were nothing more than an inconvenience.

I quickly placed the clean clothes on his dresser, my hands shaking. Without another word, I fled the room, my heart heavy with a mix of shame and lingering desire. As I hurried down the stairs, I could feel the Luna’s gaze on me, cold and indifferent. I spent the rest of the day in the laundry room and when I finished it was already sundown. Everyone was back and the pack house came alive with the voices and movements of the people that lived here. Thinking of bumping into Isaiah I decided to leave everyone's clean clothes outside their doors.

Back at home, I locked myself in my room, the events of the day replaying in my mind. Elijah’s words stung, but the memory of his closeness, his scent, lingered. I had always known I was an outsider in the pack, but today had driven that reality home with painful clarity.

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