Chapter Seven : The Secret Between Them

Rayne held the note between her fingers as if it might catch fire. The words bled through her vision, looping endlessly in her mind.

You don’t belong here. But I’ll find out why.

She stared at it for the third time that morning, her heart thudding in the silence of her shared dorm. Lucian had already gone for the morning drills. She’d been grateful for that. The heat of his gaze had become a second skin she couldn’t shed, and now this? The threat slithered beneath her skin, colder than fear, sharper than suspicion.

Only one person knew.

And if he’d already cracked?

Her fists clenched. She tucked the note into her jacket, slipped out of the dorm, and stalked toward the southern edge of campus—where the second-year recruits usually trained.

Where Jace Moren would be.

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He was there.

Shirt half-unbuttoned. Hair a little too perfectly tousled. Sparring with another Alpha, sweat gleaming along his jawline. The smirk on his lips was as effortless as ever.

It made her angrier.

Rayne didn’t