Becoming Alpha

“What’s going on?” Meredith asked.



Imogene glared at us. “Shut up.”



I truly despised that girl.



The reporter on screen had hair teased into a big lump on the back of her head, making her look a little alien-like. The banner said her name was Rebecca Nunez. “…have been tracked by the FBI since they crossed the Oklahoma–Texas border. If they continue at the same speed, the killer or killers could be in the Greater San Antonio area in days. Victims have been brutally murdered, throats ripped out and their bodies drained of all blood…”



Nikki leaned into her sister. “So they were right? They’re coming here.”



Wait a second. Drained of blood? They couldn’t be talking about what I thought they were about. Could they? “A vampire?”



Imogene glared again. “Vampiresss.” She went back to watching the TV. “They’re being messy. They want us to know they’re coming.”



“Why would they do that? What would they gain by finding us?”



Imogene swiveled around and shoved my arm.



I just have to hold on a couple more days and then they’ll finally be here. They’ll take care of her.



How did she know for sure that the vampires were coming here? And who exactly were they going to take care of? I had a feeling it was me, but maybe that was narcissistic.



Something she said stuck with me though. My first night here when I’d tried to run away, I overheard Mr. Dawson and Dastien talking about some threat coming south. Maybe it was my fault that they were coming here? Or mine and Dastien’s fault.



That didn’t sit well with me. Especially if Imogene was referring to me in the vision I had.



“Come on. I have a TV in my room,” Meredith said.



Shannon followed us and shut the door. I sat on the fuzzy magenta rug and tried to think rationally, but that proved hard.



Meredith plopped on her bed and grabbed the remote.



“—recommend that you stay indoors after dark. Authorities asked that if you see anything suspicious, call 9-1-1 immediately. The governor’s office released a statement—”



Meredith muted the TV. “The governor’s office doesn’t know squat.” She looked to Shannon. “You think the vamps are planning something?”



“Maybe. Probably. I hope we don’t have to move the school.”



“Move the school?” I asked.



“Every once in a while, bloodsuckers try to find the school,” Shannon said. “But they’ve never gotten this close to any of them. If they actually found us, we’d have to move or else face God knows how many attacks.”



That made sense, but it still seemed like overkill. Not to mention bad timing. I didn’t want to move any farther away from my family than I already had. “How can you be sure it’s vampires?” I asked.



“Throats ripped out. Drained of blood,” Shannon said. “I’m sure even you’ve seen a vampire movie.”



I didn’t like the way she talked to me, but tried to ignore it.



Meredith patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m sure some Cazadores will fix this whole problem before the vamps get anywhere near us.”



“Do vampires and werewolves talk at all?”



Shannon snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. The only time we talk is when we’re killing them.”



Maybe my visions were still off. They definitely weren’t like they were before. Maybe the “they” Imogene had been talking about were werewolves since they were connected with her father. But why would she be thinking about that while the reporter talked about a brutal murder?



If I was right and Imogene had something to do with the vampires, what could I do about it? And who would believe me?



Chapter Twenty-Five



By Thursday morning, I entered full-on-annoyed mode. Everywhere I went, boys followed. And while the boys were busy fawning, the girls were driving me completely mental. If they didn’t stop with their whispering and staring and rude remarks, someone was going to get hurt. I was pretty sure that person would be me, because I’d seen them in martial arts class. But still, it was enough to make me forget that.



Dastien was conveniently MIA. I hadn’t seen him since the meeting with Donovan and Sebastian. I told him to give me time, so it was on me if he was trying to do that. But still. The dude needed to grow a pair.



I tried to distract myself by figuring out what Donovan meant with “getting it settled.” The word “mate” reverberated in my mind constantly. For some reason, it seemed too personal to share with Meredith, so I was on my own with figuring it out. I tried to do more research on the web, but who knew how accurate that was.