LOGINHe stepped forward, voice guttural from deep in his throat.“Do we really have to do this, Serena?”“Is it useless no matter how I plead?”“I don’t understand. You’ve always liked me. You know I like you too. We only lacked one marking. Why—”He finally admitted it. The first time he had said it.“Just because of that slap?”I nodded without hesitation.“Yes. Because of that slap.”“I loved you once. I have always loved you. Since elementary school. My feelings never needed you to feed them. They grew every day on their own. They lived in the fantasy I built for you. They did not need your attention. As long as I existed, they survived.”“But recently I… I destroyed them myself.”“Why?”He asked like he was sleepwalking.“Because of my left cheek. Every time I saw you, it hurt.”My face showed no emotion. Rowan’s expression finally lost all color.After that, Rowan and Felicity parted ways. I never learned the reason. Felicity soon requested to transfer classes.Rowan changed completel
One day, a girl leaned over.“Serena, I have to ask—does Caelus really have eight-pack abs?”Her eyes were wide and ears flushed.I froze. How would I know that?“I don’t know,” I said.“Don’t lie! He never lifts his shirt in matches. No girl has seen it. He’s so picky!”Her friend nudged me.“I heard from the team captain he has eight-pack abs. You’re the only girl close to him. You must have seen, right?”I thought back. Never lifted his shirt? Not quite. In the med den, he often complained it was hot and tugged at his uniform to cool off.“Maybe… but he’s slim. I never touched him.”“Really? You saw it!” the girl exclaimed, almost jumping. Her friend covered her mouth.“Quiet! Just a glance. None of your business.”My neck stiffened. Gossip like this never bodes well in a wolf pack.Then a crisp snap echoed in the classroom.We all turned. Rowan had crushed his cup. Fragments pierced his palm, blood dripping down his wrist. His expression was calm, as if he felt nothing.Felicity sc
The hall buzzed with low growls and gasps. The scent of wolves rolled over me from every direction, charged with tension, excitement, and a hint of malice.Footsteps rushed toward me. The scent arrived first: cedar, cold iron, and a faint undercurrent of anger. Then a hand gripped my upper arm, pulling me upright.Rowan.“Your wolf blood is surging backward. Did you skip your lunar supplement?” His voice was low, audible only to me. His fingers dug into my arm, claws nearly piercing my skin.“You’re running laps in this state? Do you want to lose control in front of half the grade? Where did you fall? I’m taking you back to the den.”He spoke close to my ear, fast and insistent. My chest felt heavy from the surging wolf blood, and the humiliation of falling made it churn angrily inside me. The smells around me only sharpened my teeth.“I can walk. Let go,” I said, trying to shake off his hand.A low growl rumbled from his throat.“You challenging me now? Smell yourself. Your blood is h
During break, Felicity removed her hair tie and looped it around Rowan’s wrist. The band was braided wolf mane dyed deep red, a mark of her pack. She playfully insisted he keep it on.In class, they passed notes under the table. Rowan sometimes chuckled without care, drawing attention.At lunch, she plucked the fattiest smoked wolf meat from his tray. Rowan let her, lips curling into a smirk.After school, she straddled the back of his bike, arm around his waist. They moved like a pair who had already claimed their marks.Ten years of shared history. At first, I felt a pang of unease, a tightness in my chest. Soon, it dulled. Habits like this could poison and numb.Just as I thought our paths would never cross again, Rowan stopped me at the school gate.“Serena Mooncrest.” His tone was low, complicated. Anger, maybe something else I could not read.“Felicity called in sick today.”I blinked, confused. What did this have to do with me?“And?”“What did you say to her?”I hesitated, then
I would later realize that, at some point, Rowan and Felicity had forged a strong pack bond. Felicity’s Ancient Wolf Tongue scores were the best in the year, and she sat directly in front of Rowan—the front row allocated by bloodline ranking, placing her above me. Every day, she gave him “lessons” in Ancient Wolf Tongue, naturally, and he absorbed them.Rowan had once relied on me to drill him in Ancient Wolf Tongue. Within two weeks of Felicity’s arrival, she had taken over quietly, leaving nothing behind.Felicity also excelled in wolf combat ball, a sport demanding speed, claw endurance, and hunting instincts. She moved seamlessly with the male students, tearing through defenses faster than anyone. Many of them were Rowan’s childhood companions, rolling in mud and hunting side by side. Naturally, she and Rowan formed a closer bond.Rowan’s perception of her changed completely. The girl who had snarled at everyone on her first day became someone sharp-tongued, bold, and genuinely cap
The next day, Rowan Nightshade and Felicity Moore stood in the training field, the whole class watching, and officially announced their bond as mates. Rowan had his arm around her waist, Felicity leaned against his shoulder, grinning like a wolf who had just taken down her prey.I didn’t flinch.Looking back, the signs had been there all along. From the moment Felicity arrived, she integrated effortlessly with the male students. She barely interacted with any females. In her own words:“Honestly? I just get along better with males. They’re simpler. They don’t chatter behind your back. Females? Too complicated. Scent-marking everywhere. I can’t deal with that.”“And they’re too sensitive. Say the wrong thing, and they hold a grudge for months. I swear, I’d rather run with the guys.”Her words made every female student in the class dislike her. Felicity noticed, of course. She smirked at the male students, flicked her silver-gray curls, and feigned helplessness.“Yeah, yeah, I know I sho
I skipped the rest of my classes and left the academy.As I crossed the moonlit woods back to Moonvale territory, my mother linked me.“Serena, what happened?”The pack link must have carried something in my emotions before I could hide it.I stopped under the trees and told her everything. Felicity
Starting the next day, Felicity began paying me what she called “special attention.”One morning, I pulled a pack of moon-white tissues from my bag. The packaging was moon-white, naturally, and Felicity reacted like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen.“Oh my god, even your tissues have to b
The whole class followed her gaze toward me, and my face burned instantly.I loved moon-white. Almost everything I owned was that color: my pale hide backpack, pale carved flask, moonstone hair clips, training clothes, casual clothes, phone case, and charms.People had talked about it since I was li
When Rowan Nightshade’s hand struck my face, I did not understand what had happened at first.The sound cracked through the training corridor of Silvermoon Federal Academy. My body tipped to the side, my teeth aching from the force, and for a few seconds all I heard was a dull ringing in my ears. My







