He shoved me back.
Not hard enough to knock me down.
Just enough to establish dominance.
“You think you’re better than us?” he demanded.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to,” another cut in. “You walk around like you’re above everyone.”
I stared at him. “I don’t.”
“You train with the Alpha.”
“Because he told me to. I didn't have a choice.”
“That doesn’t make you one of us,” the first one snapped.
I felt the shift then.
The tension in the air thickened. Their shoulders squared. Their stances adjusted.
This wasn’t about conversation anymore.
“It doesn’t make me anything,” I replied carefully. “I’m just doing what I’m told.”
“That’s the problem,” the second one said. “You’re not told to scrub floors. You’re not told to run supply routes. You’re not told to prove yourself.”
