^Levi Miller as Dakota James :) 

I couldn't get the new boy off my mind. It wasn't his looks - heck, I couldn't care less about what he looked like - but his attitude. When I came out of class in the English hallway, I saw him do the same further down the hall. He blatantly ignored all the ogling girls and strived forward - his eyes glossed over as if he wasn't even present. 

It was like the boy existed in a world of his own. But he was angry with our world. Beneath his glossed over eyes was something cold and calculating. 

And like Josh had said, there was something off about him. 

"I'm determined to find out what," Josh sighed at recess. 

The three of us were sitting in a circle by the large tree. Alyssa, Josh and I. 

Alyssa asked, "Who do you reckon he'll sit with?"

We ignored her.

"He smelt... nice," I concluded to Josh, "I think it was woodfire and eucalyptus."

Josh shook his head, "I only smelt the woodfire."

"But his smell was strong too."

"Do you reckon he wears cologne?" Alyssa butted in, "Cause sexy men wear cologne, you know."

Josh glared at her, "Shut up. Seriously."

"I could smell him in a hall packed full of other students," I pointed out, "And a druid's sense of smell isn't even as great as werewolf's."

"What are you saying, then?" Josh raised an eyebrow.

"Duh," Alyssa said with the undertone, "That he's not human. Or... not fully anyway," she added, seeing Josh's glare.

"So he could be a wolf, too?"

"Possible," I admitted, "But let's not jump to conclusions. We need to make-"

"Rica!"

I snapped my head in the direction of the interrupting voice. Dakota slid to a stop a few metres away from me. His face read desperate.

"Kota?" I asked, standing up slowly.

My younger brother took a deep breath before stating, "It's Tommy."

I narrowed my eyes, "What did he do?"

Kota began, "He, uh, I-um, just, just come!"

He took off running in the direction of the back oval. I let out a loud sigh before picking up after him. It was more difficult to stay in speed with him because he was quite fast anyway despite his wolf powers but I managed to not let out too much of a gap. I stopped beside him along the forest edge at the back of the school. 

I scanned the line of trees quickly, "What are you-"

He slapped a hand over my mouth in warning. Then extremely slowly, he pointed up. My gaze followed his hand up into the large tree above us. There, on the second bough up, was Tommy. 

With a girl. 

I narrowed my eyes, watching the ordeal. It was clear there wasn't anything romantic going on. They were facing each other, a respectable three feet apart. 

The girl had raven-black hair and bright, dancing green eyes. Apart from the fact that they were out-of-bounds, I didn't see the problem.

I glanced down at Kota, telling him with my eyes, Explain.

Kota stood up on his tippytoes and whispered in my ear, "I'm certain she's a druid."

I reeled back in surprise, widened eyes. I looked back up to the girl and then took a deep breath. I could smell vanilla and eucalyptus from her. 

I shook my head adamantly, whispering back, "There's no pack smell from her."

Kota cocked an eyebrow, "I'll explain later."

He gripped my hand and tugged me back in the direction of the school.

***

"Spill," I ordered Kota. 

After locking my bedroom door he climbed onto my bed with me before beginning, "Her name is Katie Massey. She's in Year Eight, a year younger than Tommy and I. I've known her since Kindergarten."

"And you just only realised this?!" 

"Because last Saturday her smell changed," he emphasised. 

"Last Saturday?" I frowned, putting the pieces together, "The day the new family came to town?"

"So I propose this," Kota murmured, dropping his voice, "The new family is a pack. They aren't registered, don't know the rules and have already bitten a few."

"A few?"

"Sharon Abernathy, Kye Stone and Lea Hart have all had their smell change as well."

"You think they've bitten four people?"

"Exactly."

A smell hiss escaped my lips, "This is not good."

My eyes flashed to meet Kota's. 

Kota shifted the slightest bit back from me, "Wh-what are you gonna do?"

"I need to make sure this is certain," I stated, before something hit me.

Eucalyptus.

"Kota," I stood up off my bed quickly, "What do the others smell like?"

"What?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Their smell, Dakota," I clarified, "What do they smell like?"

"Um," he hummed as he tried to recall, "Kye is... salt and eucalyptus, Sharon is eucalyptus and basil..." his eyes widened as he realised what I was saying, "And Lea is jasmine and eucalyptus."

I took a deep breath before darkly saying, "I guess we found our proof. Come on."

***

"Pack meeting!" I shouted from the living room. 

Mum was in the kitchen with Aunt Liv and Aimee pretty quickly. Kota came back inside with Alyssa and Josh. 

I glanced around, "Where are Dad and Tommy?"

"Tommy's trying to convince the minions to come out of their treehouse," Kota said.

"Your dad's working," Mum frowned, leaning against the couch, "Now what's wrong?"

"Wait for Tommy to get here," I murmured, still in deep thought. 

It was definitely a pack. But it was an unregistered pack. They don't know the werewolf laws and that's a danger to the pack. My pack. Our pack. 

The three of them entered the living room, squealing out loud. Tommy was the first to regain control. My mum handled the other two. I sat on the living room couch, crossing my legs. 

"Well?" Mum sighed, "Out with it, kiddo."

"There's a new pack in town," I said simply. 

I looked at each member of my own pack individually with meaning.

"And they don't know the laws," I added, "We need to stop them."

"Okay," Josh nodded, processing the information, "Who are they?"

I tilted my head to Kota.

Kota began listing them off, "Sharon Abernathy, Kye Stone, Lea Hart, Katie Massey and the new family in town."

"Why are there four random ones?" Aunt Liv asked sharply, "Three druids and a werewolf outside of the pack family?"

Kota and I exchanged a glance. 

"I reckon they're an unregistered pack," I said quietly, "They don't have a pack smell but they all do smell like eucalyptus. A similar smell but not a pack smell."

"So they don't know the laws," Mum concluded, "An unregistered pack doesn't know anything. Which means they're dangerous."

I gave her a sly smile as she came to my conclusion, "Exactly."

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Tommy asked.

I looked to Josh, resigning. 

He narrowed his eyes at me, "What are you looking at me for?"

"You're the soon-to-be Beta," I cocked an eyebrow, "This is your first job. What are we gonna do about it?"

I could say that I did it to help Josh but seriously, I just didn't want to deal with this. It sounded like Class A effort. Once we work out who my Alpha is, half the responsibility will also be taken off of me. 

"Talk to the new guy," Josh shrugged.

We all threw a glare at him.

Josh sighed, "Do you want them to end up like the Red Tribe? I say we do what Crimson Lake did for our parents all those years ago and tell them everything."

I stared into his eyes for a very long moment before nodding slowly, "Yeah. That's true."

"We don't even know who their Alpha is," Tommy argued, "We can't just pull one of them into the forest and demand they tell us."

"We work it out," I answered, "It's obviously none of the outsiders that were bitten."

"And it's not the girl," Kota agreed.

"So it leaves two possible people that we know of."

"Who?" Aimee raised an eyebrow.

"The new boy or his father," I replied.

"We need to work out the boy's age," Josh concluded.

Alyssa jumped at the chance, "I can do it."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

She grinned, "I have connections with people. I'll find out what grade he's in."

"But you can't know his exact age," Tommy argued.

"Easy," she scoffed, "I just first have to find his year group."

She pulled out her phone, unlocking it. She scrolled through something on her phone before stopping at something and tapping it. Then she pressed her phone to her ear. 

Not a moment later.

"Hey Ryan," she began but he seemed to cut her off.

She rolled her eyes, "No. That was totally last month. I'm here for something else."

A pause as we all watched her.

"Forget about that for a moment," she sighed loudly, "I need to know what grade 'new guy''s in."

Another pause and she chuckled, "Not like that at all. But do you know?"

She grinned brightly, "Thanks Ryan!"

You could hear his voice on the other end still talking as she hung up. 

"Well?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Twelfth grade," she answered with a smirk, "He's two years older than the three of us. But you know what that means?"

"He's had his sixteenth birthday," Josh replied.

I nodded. So, "He's their Alpha."

***

Song: Yellow - Coldplay

xx Sharky