“What do you think you’re doing here?” he snapped in her ear.

“Hudson, please, I just need—”

He slammed the locker door in front of her, almost closing her fingers inside it. “You know the rules. You are not allowed to walk down the same hall as me.”

“I just need to get—”

He knocked her books out of her hands, and they smacked down onto the floor. She kneeled down to start picking them up.

Hudson started to laugh. “That’s where you belong, you know that. On the ground beneath me.”

He squatted down so that he was close to her so that she could hear him, as he whispered into her ear, “You’re nothing, understand? You’ll always be nothing to me.”

“Yes, I’m nothing,” she whispered.

He stood back up and looked down at her with disgust.

“Stay there until I’m gone. I can’t stand the sight of you,” he told her before he turned and walked away.

Amanda sat on the ground next to her locker, rocking herself back and forth, chanting quietly, “I’m nothing.”

Her eyes popped open as she jolted up in a sitting position and took a deep breath, looking around she realized she was in her new dorm room and not back home at her high school.

It was just a dream. She sighed.

“Hey, are you okay?” Amanda heard from her roommate, Tabitha, from across the room.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a nightmare,” she told her.

“Well, take a deep breath and relax. Today starts the first day of classes. You’ll already be anxious as it is,” she told Amanda before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

Amanda nodded and adjusted the covers that were on her.

The first day of college.

Tabitha was right. She was already going to be filled with anxiety just from making sure that she found all her classes, then learning what expectations each professor was going to have in each class.

Amanda decided that it was better for her to get up and start the day early. She had a self-mantra that she repeated to herself consistently, “I am somebody. I’m not nothing. I’m worth something.” She looked at herself in the mirror as she continued to chant the mantra in her head. She could no longer see the skinny twig that she was all throughout high school. Puberty finally graced her with its presence. She had more of a figure now, and just before school started, she decided to cut her long hair that was stringy and thin to her shoulders to help it look thick and healthy. She was happy with her transformation. Just one more way to say goodbye to her old self and hello to the new her. This Amanda wasn’t going to let others determine her worth. No longer was she going to let anyone bully her the way Hudson did. She shook his name out of her head. No, she was no longer that shy, awkward girl that let everyone walk all over her. No longer would she be the butt to their jokes. She was going to meet new people and have new experiences. Especially first experiences. She smiled to herself in the mirror before grabbing her shower caddy and making her way down to the bathrooms.

Amanda walked back into her dorm room to find her roommate Tabitha still sleeping in her bed.

Amanda shook her head but smiled. She had already learned her lesson from yesterday when she tried to wake Tabitha up early to go out to breakfast and see the campus. The girl loved to sleep and hated to be disturbed.

She looked at herself one more time in the full-length mirror before heading out to get some breakfast and a coffee. Just a Sip Café was a quaint little coffee shop that sat on the corner just before you turned onto the campus. Amanda walked into the café and found herself in a pretty long line. She looked at her phone to check the time and figured she had enough time to wait. After a minute or two, she noticed the line moved pretty quick.

“Hi there! What can I get you?” she heard the petite woman behind the counter ask her.

“Hi, can I get a large mocha latte and a blueberry muffin, please?” Amanda asked.

The woman looked at her for a moment while she entered her order into the register.

“Have you been here before? I swear you look familiar,” the woman asked.

Amanda shook her head. “No, actually it’s my first time here. I’m starting at the college; it’s my first day,” she said as she slightly blushed.

“What’s your name, sugar?”

“Amanda.”

Once the order was completed, the woman smiled and said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Amanda. I hope I’ll see you in here again.”

“Thank you. I’m sure you will.”

Amanda moved out of the way and went to wait for her order. When she picked up her order, she headed for the door. Once outside, she got the weirdest chill that went down her body. She looked around but saw nothing. She continued to make her way onto the campus. As she was walking, she accidentally ran into what felt like a wall and jumped back so that her coffee wouldn’t spill all over her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there,” she heard a thick accent say to her.

She looked up to see a very handsome tall guy looking down at her and smiling. He had dirty blonde hair that he had tied back and the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen. She laughed to herself a little. Dang, he was hot.

“It’s my fault. I must’ve not been looking where I was going,” she said to him with a slight smile.

“Maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime,” he said before turning and continuing the way he was going.

“Mm-hmm” was all she could get out as she watched him walk away.

Wow, who was that? she thought to herself.

She turned and started to head to her first class of the day. She was excited to be in this class since she'd heard that Professor Warren was not only a great teacher for English but was also a looker. When she entered the class and saw a lot of girls, she guessed the rumors were right.

She walked over to a section in the classroom that was vacant and sat down, getting herself organized and ready for the class. Her body shivered again when she felt someone standing next to her, and the hairs on the back of her neck started to rise.

“Well, if it isn’t my lucky day,” the husky voice said.

She knew that voice. It was the voice that sent chills down her spine and made her body tingle with anxiety. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down, before looking up and into the eyes of her high school bully, Hudson Harlow.

Staring into those hazel green eyes, Hudson didn’t know how to feel about seeing the girl he'd tormented all throughout high school. As much as he wanted to not care about this girl, his wolf had ulterior motives as he continued to scream 'mate!' inside his head. Why was the goddess being so cruel to him? He was going to be Alpha of his pack; he needed a wolf by his side to be his Luna, not a human. As far as he knew, every Alpha before him had a wolf as their mate. This could risk everything that he had been working for.

Still, as he continued to stare at the girl, he noticed she looked quite different than she had a few months ago. At first, he almost didn’t even recognize her until she tucked her hair behind her ear, and he saw the scar on her neck. He knew that scar well. He should because he gave it to her their junior year. He didn’t mean to hurt to her, but that’s what happens when dealing with a human. They don’t heal the way a wolf does. Had she been a wolf, her wound would have healed, and he wouldn’t have a constant reminder of how much he hurt her that day. That’s what seemed to piss him off the most. It wasn’t so much her looks; even when she was skinny and awkward, she had a cuteness to her. But it was the fact that she never tried to hide the mark he gave her.

“What are you doing here?” he heard her say.

He shook his head as he came back to the present. “Attending class. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in college, come to class and learn?” He sat in the seat behind her and leaned forward to whisper into her ear. “Won’t this be fun.”

Amanda stood up from her seat and turned to look at Hudson before saying, “You can try to play your little games like you did in the past, but they’re no longer going to work on me. I’ve changed. The almighty Hudson Harlow can’t scare me anymore. So go find another girl to torment. ” She leaned over to pick up her bag and started to look for another seat. Her hands were shaking, and her heart was racing, but she had a smile on her face because she finally stood up to him. She started to make her way up the stairs when she bumped into someone.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” she said as she looked up to see the handsome older man in front of her.

“I hope you’re not leaving already?” he said to her with a smile.

She shook her head as a shy smile spread across her face. “No, just looking for a different seat,” she said as she moved aside to let the older man pass by.

“It’s usually better in the front, is my suggestion. But I might be biased since I am the professor,” he said as he made his way down the stairs and headed to the front of the class.

Amanda sucked in a breath. Yep, she now understood why all the girls wanted to be in this class. She still picked a seat further up and tried to stay out of sight from Hudson’s glare, which she could feel the entire time she was talking with the professor. Once seated, she looked around the room and found that Hudson was still staring at her. But it wasn’t his normal glare that he was looking at her with, but something different, something more. She looked away and turned her focus on the front of the class. For a moment there, she almost felt desire and need coming from that stare. But that was ridiculous.

Hudson continued to stare at Amanda who was now across the room from him. She had taken him by surprise when she spoke in a voice he had never heard from her. So confident. He didn’t know whether to be turned on or pissed off by this new attitude. To him, she would always be timid little Mandi, the one girl he could control any way he wanted to.

He could hear a faint whine coming from his wolf because she was so far from him now.

Oh, stop it. She’s still in the same room, he told his wolf.

But he knew why he was whining. She was so close to us before, so close he could almost touch and feel that static current that ran between them. He wanted to know what it would feel like when he touched her with his gentle touch. But would she let him? He knew he was cruel to her for the last four years. But now? Now it would be different because she was his mate, and he needed her.

“Good morning, class. My name is Professor Warren, and this is English 103. If you could please take a syllabus and then pass it down the row and back so that everyone gets one. We will go over the outline of what I have prepared for this semester. If you look, I have also provided a reading list of the books that we will be reading in this class. I look forward to getting a chance to talk with all of you,” he said with a charming smile.

There was a sigh that was heard throughout almost all the girls. Amanda giggled softly. The guys in the class just groaned with frustration.

As Amanda continued to take notes in class, her heart started to palpitate, and her body started to tingle. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. She could feel the burning of Hudson’s stare on her. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of looking over at him, but there was something inside her telling her to do it. Just look over there, just this once. And like a fool, she did; she looked over at Hudson. Looking into those light blue eyes that used to intimidate her. But now, there was something else. She had never seen anyone look at her the way he was looking at her at that moment. She turned back in her seat and focused on what the professor was discussing. But she wasn’t paying attention—no, all her attention was now spent on making sure she didn’t look back at Hudson for the rest of class.

Hudson smiled as he continued to look at Amanda. He knew he was getting to her. Especially when she started to bite on her bottom lip. He wished he was biting on that lip.

Wait, what?

Hudson ran his hand through his hair as he turned back in his seat and tried to listen to the professor.

His wolf’s feelings for his mate were getting the best of him, and he needed to get a grip on his wolf before he did something he might regret.