Heidi blinks, struggling to process Sierra’s claims. "I’m... I’m not a pornstar."
"Oh, really?" Sierra’s grin stretches wider.
Maribel covers her mouth like she’s shocked. "Ohhh, this is good."
"With what I’ve got on my phone," Sierra says, tapping her nail against her screen, "I don’t think you’re not one."
The double negative tangles in Heidi’s head, but all she can focus on is the sudden chill in her chest. "What are you talking about?"
Sierra’s smile goes slow. "I’ll show you tomorrow. During the awakening ceremony. Only if..." She leans in, her breath brushing Heidi’s ear. "...you hold up your end of the deal. You know—the one thing you promised to do."
What she promised? Heidi wonders. Hell, the pompous bitch didn’t even tell her what she wanted!
"I didn’t promise anything. You never told me what you wanted me to do."
"Oh, but I will." Sierra’s laughter is wicked, and her friends echo it, each one sounding like a bad imitation of a witch from a children’s story. "All will be revealed tomorrow, little Omega. So you’d better buckle up."
With that, Sierra shoves her backward, making Heidi stumble. However, she manages to catch herself before she falls. The girls turn to leave, but not before Ginny kicks Heidi’s shin and Ivy shoves Junie hard enough that she hits the lockers. Then they’re swaggering down the hall like they own it, their laughter trailing behind them.
Heidi stands there for a second, heart pounding and scalp throbbing where Sierra yanked her hair. Junie straightens, wincing as she rubs her cheek. "What the hell was that?"
"Welcome to the elite class," Heidi mutters, brushing herself off. But inside, it’s a storm of confusion, anger, and the slow burn of humiliation. She doesn’t know what Sierra has on her phone, but the way she said it...
Something tells her tomorrow is going to be worse. And she hates that she’s right.
Junie tilts her head, giving Heidi the kind of pitying look people reserve for lost puppies or freshly dumped girlfriends. "It seems you’re cursed to attract trouble in Duskwind," she says, hands on her hips like she’s diagnosing a serious, incurable disease.
Heidi puffs out a breath. "The only curse I have is the Alphas noticing me. If it weren’t for that, I might as well have been invisible."
And she means it. Before that humiliating first-day scene, no one cared whether she existed during her one-week stay. She could have blended into the cafeteria wall like an old noticeboard no one reads. But no, the four most dangerous, most untouchable wolves in Duskwind High just had to ruin that.
She keeps her voice low as they walk through students lingering in the hallway. "Sierra hates me because the Alphas gave me attention on my first day — even if it was the worst attention ever, when she’s been trying for years and couldn’t get them to so much as glance in her direction."
Junie’s eyebrows shoot up. "Ohhh," she sucks her teeth, drawing it out like she’s savoring a piece of gossip. "Now it makes sense why she’s so pissed at you."
Heidi shrugs. "Doesn’t make sense to me. What’s so special about the Alphas’ attention?"
Junie’s whole demeanor changes. Instantly, her shoulders drop, her gaze goes glassy, and her lips curl into a dreamy smile that makes Heidi want to throw a dictionary at her.
"I know I called them jerks," she gushes, clasping her hands like she’s about to recite poetry, "but imagine the power and respect that would give you. Not just in school, but in the entire pack. People would... worship you."
"Yeah," Heidi mutters, "I’ll pass. I’m not exactly looking to acquire power through them."
Junie gives her a pointed look. "It’s easier to, though. So why not?"
"Because," Heidi says firmly, "they don’t care about measly Omegas like us."
Junie considers that and nods slowly. "Fair point."
They’re nearing the end of the corridor when something clicks in Heidi’s mind... Darien. Right. Their deal.
She glances at Junie. "I should go now."
Junie steps aside to let a pair of seniors pass, their laughter echoing off the walls. "Yeah, you probably should." She leans in like she’s sharing a state secret. "One last piece of advice, if I were you, I’d steal Sierra’s phone and find out what that pornstar thingy was all about."
Heidi blinks like she doesn’t understand even when she does. "What?"
It’s just easier to pretend than to acknowledge how hard that mere statement made her heart skip. Argh, fuck you, Sierra! She bellows in her head.
"You heard me. See what she’s hiding. Could be useful." Junie grins like she just gifted Heidi a lottery ticket
And just like that, she peels off toward the stairwell, waving over her shoulder as if she didn’t just plant a seed in Heidi’s brain that’s now sprouting unsettling little vines.
Left alone, Heidi frowns at the tiled floor. Pornstar thingy.
Her mind unhelpfully supplies several interpretations, none of which she wants to think too hard about in a public hallway. The question digs at her like a splinter under her skin, but she shoves it into the mental folder labeled Later Problems.
Right now, she has Present Problems to deal with. Like Darien. Like helping Darien find traffickers before they do something awful to whoever they’ve snatched. Or worse, before they get to her. She doesn’t even want to consider the fact that they could already be trailing her right now.
What if they’ve caught her scent and are just waiting for her to be alone enough to get grabbed? Her instincts scream like an alarm in a locked room, rattling her ribs, but she shoves the noise down hard because fear slows you, and slowing down right now is how you get caught.
There’s resuming her slavery for Morgan and Grayson too... which, frankly, might be worse than dealing with traffickers.
She adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder and exhales slowly. Every step she takes down the hallway feels like it’s leading her into the jaws of something big and sharp-toothed.
... because it is.