School fallout

RAVEN

I woke up to my phone exploding with notifications.

My alarm clock read 6:47 AM. I'd slept three hours, still wearing yesterday's blood-stained clothes, the silver chain cold against my wrist. Dominic was five rooms away, hooked to an IV that was supposedly flushing the silver from his system.

The notifications kept coming.

"OMG did you see the video???"

"Is that really you at the ice arena?"

"My dad said there was a gang fight. Were you there???"

I opened I*******m and my stomach dropped.

Someone had live-streamed the entire fight. Twenty-three thousand views and climbing. The video showed everything—wolves shifting, Theo shooting Marcus, me with claws extending from my hands.

"No no no." I scrolled through comments.

"CGI is getting so good"

"Obviously fake but cool effects"

"Blackridge hockey team doing some viral marketing thing?"

"That's Raven Carter from my English class lmao"

Thank God most people thought it was fake. But some comments made my blood run cold.

"I know what I saw. Werewolves are REAL."

"My uncle is Silverfang. This is pack business. Delete this."

"Everyone in that video is in danger. This breaks the Covenant."

I threw my phone across the room just as someone knocked.

"Raven?" Mom's voice. "You need to get ready for school."

I opened the door. "You're insane if you think I'm going to school today."

"You have to maintain normal appearances." She looked exhausted, like she'd been crying all night. "The video is already out. If you hide, it makes it real. You go to school, act normal, and everyone will think it's a hoax."

"Dominic is dying downstairs!"

"Dominic is stabilizing. And Marek is on his way." She grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to me. The supernatural world has rules. One of them is: never confirm what humans suspect. You go to school, you take your calculus test, you sit through lunch like nothing happened. That's how we survive."

Twenty minutes later, I was in Jax's truck heading toward Blackridge High. The silver chain tucked under my sleeve, makeup covering the dark circles under my eyes.

"This is a mistake," Jax muttered. "You should be at the compound where it's safe."

"Nowhere's safe." I watched familiar streets roll past. "Marcus can get to me anywhere. At least at school there are witnesses."

"Human witnesses don't mean shit to wolves."

We pulled into the parking lot, and every head turned. Students stared at me like I was a ghost. Or a celebrity. Or both.

I climbed out, head high, and walked toward the entrance.

"Raven!" A reporter shoved a microphone in my face. "Can you comment on the video from last night? Were you involved in the incident at the ice arena?"

"No comment." I pushed past.

"Is it true you're dating Theo Blackwood? That this was some kind of viral marketing stunt for the hockey team?"

"I said no comment!"

Jax grabbed the reporter's camera and crushed it with his bare hands. "She's a minor. Back off or I'll make you back off."

We made it inside, and the whispers followed me down the hallway.

First period, chemistry. Mr. Peterson didn't even pretend to teach. He just played the video on the projector.

"Can anyone explain the special effects used here?" He froze the frame on my clawed hands. "This is actually quite sophisticated."

The girl who'd given me the chemistry answer yesterday—the wolf—raised her hand. "Practical effects, sir. Probably prosthetics and clever camera work."

"Exactly." Mr. Peterson nodded. "A good reminder that not everything on social media is real."

I wanted to melt into my desk and disappear.

Second period, AP Government. Mrs. Chen, no relation to Marcus, I hoped—made us debate the ethics of viral marketing versus misinformation.

"Some would argue," she said, looking directly at me, "that deliberately creating fake content undermines public trust. Others say it's harmless entertainment. Thoughts?"

I stayed silent while my classmates argued around me.

Lunch was worse.

The cafeteria went quiet when I entered. Every table, every conversation, just stopped. Then someone started clapping.

Then another person.

Within seconds, the entire cafeteria was applauding like I'd done something heroic instead of nearly dying on camera.

"Epic special effects!" someone yelled.

"Can you teach me how to do the claw thing?"

"Is Theo Blackwood really that good a fighter or was that staged?"

I grabbed a tray and fled to the courtyard, finding an empty table behind the gym where no one could see me.

"Mind if I sit?" Theo appeared with his own lunch, bruises barely visible under concealer. "Figured we could hide together."

I gestured to the seat across from me.

We ate in silence for a minute before he spoke.

"Marcus gave me until tonight to choose sides. Join him or die with your pack."

"What are you going to do?"

"Haven't decided yet." He picked at his food. "My whole life, I've been Silverfang. It's all I know. But watching him last night, what he did to you, to Dominic..." He looked up. "My father would have hated what Marcus has become."

"Then honor your father. Fight with us."

"If I fight with you, I'm dead. Marcus will kill me himself." Theo's blue eyes were haunted. "But if I fight for him and he wins, I have to watch him bind you against your will. Force the mate bond completion. Essentially rape you through pack magic."

I flinched at the blunt words.

"Yeah." Theo's voice was bitter. "That's what it is. Doesn't matter how he dresses it up in tradition and ritual. You didn't consent, therefore it's rape. And I won't be part of that."

"So you'll fight with us?"

"I'll fight against him. There's a difference." He stood, collecting his tray. "And Raven? After tonight, assuming we survive, I'm leaving Blackridge. New identity, new life. Can't stay here after betraying my pack."

He walked away, leaving me alone with my untouched lunch.

The afternoon dragged. English Lit felt surreal, discussing Romeo and Juliet while my own forbidden romance played out in real life. Physics made no sense. Calculus test was a blur.

When final bell rang, I found Jax waiting by his truck.

"We need to make a stop before heading back," he said.

"Where?"

"Garage on the east side of town. The guy your mom called, Marek, he works there."

Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to a rundown auto shop that looked abandoned. Jax led me inside, past stripped cars and rusted machinery, to a bay in the back where a single light burned.

A man sat beneath a vintage motorcycle, only his legs visible.

"Marek?" Jax called. "Diana said you could help."

The legs didn't move. "Go away."

"We need information about Raven's father. About what she really is."

"I said go away." The voice was gravel and ice.

I stepped forward. "Please. Tomorrow night I shift for the first time. Marcus says he's invoking rights as regent until I come of age. I need to know if that's legal. If there's any way to fight it."

The legs went still. Then slowly, the man rolled out from under the bike.

He was maybe thirty, maybe three hundred. Hard to tell. Dark hair, darker eyes, and skin so pale it was almost gray. When he stood, he moved wrong—too fluid, too careful, like every motion hurt.

"You're Diana's daughter." Not a question. His eyes raked over me, and I felt dissected. "You look like her. Your great-grandmother. Same eyes. Same defiance."

"You knew my great-grandmother?"

"I loved her." The words were flat, emotionless. "I died for her. And she bound me to protect her bloodline until another like her was born." He moved closer, and I realized he cast no shadow under the harsh garage lights. "You're what I've been waiting for. The Alpha Supreme's daughter who carries the old magic."

"What old magic?"

He grabbed my hand, the one with the silver chain, and his touch was ice-cold. "This binding. It's not just pack magic. There's witch craft woven through it. Blood magic. The kind that requires a sacrifice to break."

"What kind of sacrifice?"

His dark eyes met mine. "Life for life. Someone has to die to break this chain. And it has to be someone you love."

The garage spun around me. "That's.....there has to be another way."

"There isn't." Marek released my hand. "I've spent a century studying these bindings. They're unbreakable except through death. Either Dominic dies tomorrow in combat, freeing you through trial by combat loophole, or someone else dies tonight and breaks the chain through sacrifice."

"Who?" My voice was barely a whisper. "Who would have to die?"

He looked at me with something like pity. "Someone whose life is magically bound to yours. Family, mate, or someone who's pledged their life in service." His hand passed through the solid metal of the workbench, proving what he was. "Someone like me."