-Jaden-

"My stomach hurts," I gasped with tears in my eyes. "I just keep imagining Jack running to his father, and – and...!" I started laughing again.

"Mm, old man Thorn isn't going to do shit about it," Tilly spoke, tousling her hair.

"Oi, you two are way too relaxed about it," Arch muttered. "Thorns have strong fighters too."

"It's too bad their alpha family is full of pansies," Tilly snorted. "I don't understand why Alpha Rayleigh is letting them stay in this town."

"For the comical value?" I spoke, wiping my eyes dry. "I can't keep up with my dad's whims."

Arch sighed again, but kept his mouth shut. Sometimes the guy had no sense of humor whatsoever. Yes, the Thorns shouldn't be taken lightly, but they were no match for us. They wouldn't start a war just because the Alpha's dimwit son got his nose fixed by Tilly.

We stepped into our classroom ten minutes late. Our teacher, Mr. Bentley, looked up from his papers and gritted his teeth together before lowering his gaze again. "You're late..." he mumbled.

"Sorry," Tilly spoke without actually sounding apologetic. Mr. Bentley peered at her over his goggles, and I could tell he wasn't pleased to see what Tilly was wearing – which was pretty much nothing, as usual – since there was a dress code. But he said nothing.

I held back a laugh. Humans. They had no idea what we were, but they instinctively knew not to cross us. When the little incident with Jack happened, I knew there had to be at least a couple of teachers who saw us, but they stayed away like the good little lambs they were. Even now, Mr. Bentley wanted to give us detention or at least yell at us – it was written all over his face – but he didn't.

"Turn to page seventy-three," he just said, and opened his laptop. "Take your time reading the first page thoroughly."

I spent a few moments trying to decide if I should even grab the book from my bag. Mr. Bentley looked at me over his laptop, but didn't say a word. Oh, he was boiling. I decided not to take the book. It was too much fun to annoy the poor teacher. What made things even better were Tilly, who was too busy checking herself in her pocket mirror, and Arch, who was checking out one of the girls on his right. Neither of them was paying any attention to the class.

I turned to look at Mr. Bentley, who was now staring at me with an intense gleam in his eyes. Then, he slowly lifted up his right fist, with only his index finger stretched out. He pointed somewhere down, and he started lowering that hand slowly. First, I thought he was trying to intimidate me to get my book, but then I realized he just pressed something on his keyboard.

That click echoed through the room, but I doubted anyone else noticed it. I waited for a moment, but nothing happened, of course, except that he turned his gaze away. For a second there, I thought I saw a small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, but it was gone really fast.

"The hell is his problem?" I muttered silently in boredom, and grabbed my phone so I could pass some time.

A minute later, someone knocked on the door, and Mr. Bentley went to open it. Now he was definitely smiling.

"Mr. Hanson! Thank you for dropping by."

"Mister..." Tilly straightened her posture.

"...Hanson?" Arch said with wide eyes.

A tall man stepped into the room when Mr. Bentley stepped away from the door, turning to look at me.

I slouched back in my seat, and crossed arms over my chest. "Oh, you bitch..." I murmured, glaring at the teacher. He had a victorious smile on his stupid face.

"Class, I'd like you to meet our new vice principal, Mr. Hanson," Mr. Bentley said, turning to face the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Tilly whispered in my ear.

"What does he mean, vice principal?" Arch spoke in my other ear.

I just sighed. Mr. Hanson greeted the class, and turned his attention to me. "Well, well, well. Matilda Ackley, Joseph Archer and Jaden Abner. The Three Aces," he spoke our names, turning his gaze from me to my friends. "In my office. Now."

Crap, crap, crap. Mr. Bentley was winning this one. A human had outsmarted me. What an embarrassment. Although, this was a cheap trick. I wasn't even aware that we had a new vice principal, so I had walked straight into Mr. Bentley's trap. He had sent a message to Mr. Hanson. That was what he did on his laptop.

I really didn't want to stand up. I didn't want to give that satisfaction to him. But, on the other hand, I really didn't want to get on Mr. Hanson's bad side. Well, these people knew him by that name.

We knew him as Beta Ryder. My father's best friend and his right hand.

Tilly and Arch didn't move a muscle. Those loyal bastards were getting into deep shit if I didn't get up on my feet and follow Beta Ryder, because they weren't going to do so without me.

"Fine," I said, and stood up, and grabbed my bag. Tilly and Arch followed my example, and together, we walked out of the room.

Beta Ryder was silent while he walked us to his office, which was close by. It was nearly empty, when we stepped inside. There was only a few, small boxes on the desk, but nothing else. I stopped in front of the desk, Tilly on my left, and Arch on my right.

Beta Ryder closed the door, and walked in front of us, sitting down on the edge of his desk.

"So. Did you have fun last night?" he asked.

"Is that why you're here?" I asked without answering.

"Yes," he nodded. "You made fool out of your pack. We decided that you might need stronger guidance than what these humans can give."

"Well, thanks for dropping by, but I think we'll manage here without a babysitter," I said, knowing that wouldn't make a difference.

"How did you even get the job?" Tilly asked.

"Magic," Beta Ryder smirked.

"How long are you going to stay here?" I asked.

"As long as I feel like it," he shrugged.

I squinted my eyes. I should have seen this coming. Well, not this, but something similar.

"You will be the next Alpha. You can't behave like this," Beta Ryder spoke and stood up. "You are setting a bad example for the younger pack members. You offended a lot of people last night by running away. Humans in this town are getting more and more aware of us because of you three! And you are picking fights with the Black Thorns! You can't go around acting like a child, because you're not one anymore!"

I had only one thought going on in my head: watch me. I decided not to say it out loud though. I didn't say anything, actually.

"And you two," he continued, looking at Arch and Tilly. "This is still Alpha Rayleigh's pack. Not Jaden's. I am glad to see Jaden has friends like you, but you are not his Betas yet. Besides, you are supposed to keep him from doing anything stupid, not causing more trouble."

"You don't know anything about the things we've stopped him from doing," Tilly replied with her head held up high. "And you never will."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about! You have no respect towards your higher-ups. Jaden isn't your leader, Rayleigh is. Things are way out of hand with you three, and that stops now! You are not the kings of the world!"

"Yet," Arch corrected him. I almost couldn't stop myself from laughing.

Beta Ryder just stared at him. Then, he sighed. "You will learn. That is why I'm here now. You all have detention after school, and you better show up. I don't want to be the bad guy here, but you're not giving me much choice."

"Fine," I said, earning disbelieving look from Tilly. Arch, on the other hand, didn't even flinch.

"Get back in you class and stop acting like fools," Beta Ryder commanded, and we immediately slipped out of the scene.

Once the door was closed, and Beta Ryder couldn't hear us anymore, Tilly slapped my arm. "Detention? Really?"

"Yes, really," I grunted. My good mood was long gone.

"We're not actually doing it, right? I'm not staying here longer than I have to," she continued. I didn't reply to her. Neither did Arch.

Beta Ryder's door was suddenly opened, and we all turned to look back at him.

"I forgot to mention that we do have a dress code, Tilly," he said. "You will dress accordingly from now on."

Then, he shut the door again vanishing behind it.

"The hell I am," she laughed. "And we're not going to detention. There's nothing they can do about it either."

"If we don't show up in detention, they can separate us," Arch spoke quietly – so he, too, understood what Beta Ryder meant by saying, you will learn. Being separated from my friends – I couldn't even think about it.

"Hah! Over my dead body," Tilly said confidently.

"They can throw us out of the pack," I said, but my mood was suddenly rising again.

"The Blue Moon is such a lame name anyway," Arch smirked, patting my shoulder.

"They can chase us out of this town," I continued.

"I've always wanted to see France," Tilly replied with a dreamy voice.

I laughed and shook my head. "Let's just act nice for now, until we get Ryder off our back, okay?"

"Fine. Let's do detention then," Tilly sighed. "But I'm not changing how I dress!"

"On behalf of every guy and at least a couple of girls in this school: I hope you do not," Arch said.

I just laughed at the both of them. It wasn't hard to feel like the king of the world with the two of them by my side.