"You-"

"It's not up for discussion, Hope. Only one of us is indisposable. That's sure as hell not me."

"You can't chew me out for trying to sacrifice myself, then go and set yourself up to do the same thing."

I shook my head, grinning. "First off, I said that's the last resort. Second, I didn't think you cared so much."

Hope remained silent, looking down and fiddling with her fingers. She shrugged lightly, barely speaking, "you're the only one like me..."

I smiled warmly, adjusting myself so that I was sitting next to her. I gently placed a comforting hand on her leg. Her eyes met mine as I spoke softly. "I'm half the things you are, Hope. My parents may have been a hybrid and a witch, but I don't get to say my father was Klaus Mikaelson, the original hybrid. I don't get to say my mother was Hayley frigging Marshall, queen of the Crescent Wolf Pack, or that my grandmother was the original witch. Only you can. You are the original tribrid. You're special in more ways than one."

The corners of Hope's mouth twitched and I saw that her blue eyes were now sparkling. I must've gotten it through her thick skull that she does mean something more than just the thing that will destroy Malivore.

She hummed lightly in amusement. "I thought you said you were the first tribrid."

I shrugged playfully. "I was joking around then. Just because I was born first, doesn't mean I was blessed with the same gifts as you. Quit selling yourself short, okay? You're extraordinary."

Surprisingly, she nodded. "Okay. But I'm still not letting you kill yourself."

"I honestly don't plan on dying, so we'll do whatever it takes to safely dispose of that thing. We're in it together, yeah?" I held out my pinky finger, smiling idiotically.

Hope rolled her eyes but still locked her pinky with mine. "You're ridiculous."

"I've been told. Now we have a long road trip back to Mystic Falls. Go back and try getting some sleep."

"You too, Mel."

~~~

By the time 10:30am rolled over, we were all surprisingly packed and ready to go. The others may not have been too happy about the lack of information we got, but I was more than pleased that I got to retrieve a decent portion of my things. Especially my box, and additionally, the letters from Hope's parents.

I was going to protect Hope regardless, but now having written confirmation that they'd have wanted me to do so made me feel pretty good. Even though Hope partially hates me for being so strong headed about it.

On the ride back to the boarding school, Ric did more Q&A about whether I could remember bits of what happened that day, but of course I can't. I was unconscious.

I didn't sleep too well last night so I ended up dozing off to sleep during the road trip. By the time I was woken up, we were already parked at the entrance of the school. Hope let me out and closed the door behind me as I went to get my bags out the back of the truck, coming back with more than what I left with.

Sensing someone at the door, I glanced at the school to find the ones that didn't come with us. The vampires and the demon child.

Hope went over to the curly haired boy, kissing him lightly in the cheek. They exchanged greetings before he came over to grab her bag.

"Hi," he said awkwardly. I only modded stiffly in return, watching him carefully as he slowly grabbed the bag.

I saw Hope shaking her head at me, not pleased at the passive aggressive treatment towards her demon man-child. I didn't react: I just passed by her and started towards our room.

I unpacked my now clean clothes into the appropriate drawers, and slid my box under my bed. It's not the most protective palace to out it, but it wasn't exactly like anyone could breach it. Unless it was a Mikaelson or myself. Freya was so kind enough to put a protection spell over it before I left New Orleans. But to do that she also had to use her blood and obviously mine.

After I was settled back into the room, a knock sounded from the other side of the door. I invited whoever it was inside and found that it was Rafael.

"What's up?" I asked.

Rafael shrugged while shoving his hands into his pockets. "Nothing much. You settled in?" I nodded. "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to join me and the other wolves in the gym. It's mostly going to be a bunch of sweaty guys throwing a ball, but..."

"You sure that's best? I mean, you wouldn't want the Malivore hybrid around any of your people. She could eat all do you for breakfast," I smirked, wiggling my eyebrows for effect.

Rafael laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, I'm not concerned about that. Look, I just think you're cool. Everyone else might be a little suspicious about you still but I don't think you're a bad person. Besides, us wolves gotta stick together."

"What about the other wolves though? They wouldn't like me being there."

"They won't have a choice but to give you a chance. I'm their alpha. What I say goes, and if anyone has a problem with it, I'll handle them personally."

I examined Rafael's expression, trying to determine whether he was being serious or not. He was actually genuine, wanting to get to know me before he judged too harshly (a second time). I'd be lying if I said that didn't catch me off guard.

"Yeah, I- that sounds great," I smiled widely. "Let me just get changed into something more appropriate for the gym."

Rafael smiled as well, nodding while surely pleased with my answer. "Awesome. I'll be outside."

He left and closed the door, but I could tell he was actually waiting for me.

Maybe everyone here isn't so bad.

I quickly changed into a sports bra and yoga pants, completed with a tank top and my athletic sneakers I got from my apartment. All was black except the tank top, and I was happy with my attire. I grabbed a scrunchie and pulled it onto my wrist before heading out the door.

Rafael escorted me to the gym, excitedly blabbing about different wolves in the pack. They were moreso warnings about certain ones with attitudes, those that would be passive aggressive towards me, and those with the sex drive of a bunny. Basically, they'd either hate me, tolerate me, or try to fuck me.

I found it hilarious for some reason, honestly.

We'd reached the smelly gym, finding (I think) all the wolves of the school indeed passing a ball around. By the looks of it, though, it was weighted. How much it weighed, thought, I didn't know.

"Jed recently became content with me being in charge, even though I took his position from him. Somehow, he thinks I'm a better leader. He's starting to trust my judgement, so if there's anyone here that would absolutely give you a chance without hesitation, it's him," Rafael concluded his briefing.

I nodded and immediately started searching around for this 'Jed' and match the name with a face. But with everyone being in their own little world, it was hard to make him out.

Rafael wolf whistled, gaining the wolves' attention. They turned in our direction, and a lot of them immediately scowled at the sight of me.

"Listen up!" Rafael yelled, waving them closer. They came hesitantly, mumbling amongst themselves, likely wondering what the hell I'm doing here. Rafael began his speech of sorts when all do them were gathered around. "Obviously we're all aware at the arrival of a new student. Admittedly, very suspiciously, given she turned out to be a hybrid coming from Malivore..." There was a series of whispers that sounded from the crowd, but Rafael quickly shut them up.

"I know y'all aren't open to the idea of welcoming her, but before all else, she's one of us. A wolf. Everyone's so quick to judge her because came from Malivore and given the events of this school, I get that. Thing is we don't know her, and for us to judge her so quick isn't fair. So from here on out, she will be joining us in our activities."

As expected, they erupted into a fit of angry shouting at the announcement. I sighed internally, now feeling wary about being here. I may act like I don't care about their opinions, but Rafael's right. Before all else, I am a wolf, just like them. To be treated otherwise by my own kind actually hurt.

After a few seconds, one of the wolves stepped out of the crowd, taking my side. I looked him over and determined that this must've been Jed. The first to consider accepting me.

"Hey!" he shouted. "The hell's wrong with you? Our alpha is suggesting showing some respect. Yet you all are doing the exact opposite."

"Jed, come on! She's-"

"What? A wolf?"

"She came from Malivore. She can't be trusted!"

Rafael gritted his teeth. "If she was a danger to any of us, don't you think we'd have known by now?"

A blonde boy stepped forward, shaking his head. "All due respect, Raf, the school's been infiltrated before. The staff's been fooled, and we suffered the consequences. People got hurt."

"Isn't this place about second chances?" Jed pointed out. "Everyone's here because they've been kicked out or judged or orphaned- no one here has even given her one chance to prove herself!"

"Melori's not a bad person, nor is she under the influence of Malivore. Trust me, she wants him dead just as much as everyone else in this place."

"But-"

"Cool it, Nate. Alpha's word is final," Jed growled. "We welcome Melori with open arms."

The guy scoffed but backed down, not wanting to deal with the alpha himself. However, another one of them stepped forward, clearly pissed off, "got anything to say, hybrid?"

I shook my head, pretending to be unbothered by the hostility. "Not really. I'm just trying to show my trustworthiness, that's all. It's obviously proven quite difficult by the amount of fragile masculinity around here."

His eyes widened as well as the others, but some of them were amused by my comment. I even noticed literally one wolf girl that's completely all for me being here. The smile on her face actually brought comfort to me.

"I dunno about y'all, but I like this girl," a brunette with insane muscles stepped forward, nodding with approval. "Not that I have much choice, just know I got you, Melori." He was the one holding the weighted ball. He slightly caught me off guard by throwing it at me. It slightly hit my gut, but I was able to catch it pretty okay. And by okay, I mean the weight caught me way off guard.

Judging by how heavy it is, I suspected it was about forty if fifty pounds. Throwing it around makes for a good work out to be honest.

That same fragile wolf scoffed, "can't even catch a damn ball."

I tossed the ball a little from hand to hand, slowly walking up to the boy. Some of the others backed up a little, but he remained in his one spot. "Jack, Jack, Jack..."

"That's not my-"

"Seriously dude, you've gotta get your head out of your ass. It's not a good look in you." Jack Ass, which is now my official name for him, scowled even more. Except now his eyes were black and his irises were gold. He was challenging me.

If only he had the balls to challenge is actual alpha.

I smirked, unfazed, then started balancing the 50lbs ball on my middle finger, directing it at him. "Be careful who you pick a fight with. I'm not here to hurt anyone, but I'll kick your ass if necessary."

"Bring it," he snarled.

Rafael snickered, coming to step between us. He turned to Jed, a devious look in his eyes. "Good old fashioned match?"

"Oh, hell yeah. I'll go announce it." Before I knew it, Jed sprinted out of the gymnasium.

My eyebrows connected as I looked at the alpha. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Anyone can see Caden just challenged you. Those don't go unanswered here. Besides, you're not one to back down, are you?"

"Absolutely not." The wolves oohed excitedly.

"Well, tonight at 9pm, the two of you will fight for dominance. The whole school will be there to watch and place bets amongst themselves. Dr. Saltzman doesn't exactly approve, but it's a fun little werewolf tradition we have here."

The brunette boy that gave me his favor wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Think of it as your initiation. That should be the terms; if you win, you're in, no complaints from any of us. And you'll likely gain the favor of a good number of other students by participating and winning. But if you lose-"

"You're still welcomed," Rafael cut in. "But admittedly it'll be a lot more difficult to gain favor of...well, anyone. Sounds fair?"

"This is wrong on so many levels," I sighed. But as mentioned, I don't give in so easily. "I'm game." The wolves cheered, giving each other high fives. I smirked at Jack Ass, now looking forward to our little encounter.

"I'll see you at 9pm."