CHAPTER TWO

Talia was the only person in Bournemouth who treated Nessa like she actually mattered.

Publicly, Talia was known as a Black Wolf from the family of the Knox, wealthy, socially accepted, and comfortably placed, but she lacked the arrogant obsession with wolf ranks that consumed everyone else at the academy.

Loud, reckless, and impossible to intimidate, Talia had chosen Nessa as her best friend years ago and had never cared what the rest of the student body thought.

Though last term, they hadn't shared a single class, which was the main reason Nessa had suffered the worst months of her life without Talia there to step in and draw the bullies away.

But hopefully, this session, the schedule gods would be kinder.

Talia's thick dark curls bounced as she threw her arms open dramatically. “Well?” she beamed. “What do you think of my baby?”

Nessa laughed softly, the tension in her shoulders easing a fraction. “It’s beautiful, Talia.”

“I know,” Talia said proudly, before genuflecting dramatically and refusing to give Nessa even a second to guess her news.

"I'm in your class!" Talia blurted out triumphantly.

Nessa gasped, a rare wave of pure joy washing over her before she threw her arms around Talia's neck.

They spun around on the pavement together until Talia gently pushed her back, trying desperately to wipe the huge grin off her face to keep a serious tone.

“Now come on, let's get inside before we’re late on day one,” Talia said, hustling them into the leather seats.

The drive to the academy was the calmest part of Nessa’s morning.

Talia filled the car with constant chatter about the summer break, the engine specs, and the latest academy gossip.

For a brief moment, Nessa found herself actually laughing along.

But the second the sprawling iron gates of Bournemouth Shifter Academy came into view, the ease inside her evaporated into thin air.

The massive wrought-iron gates swung open, and hundreds of high-born students flooded the central stone pathways.

The gothic academy stood in all its grand, terrifying structure, beautiful, cold, and entirely merciless. Talia pulled into the student lot, parked, and together they made their way toward the main academic hall.

Nessa’s heart hammered violently against her ribs as they stepped through the classroom door. Then her stomach dropped straight into her boots.

Sitting near the front row, surrounded by her usual court of admirers, was Isadora Wren.

Her heart dilated, how could she be in the same class as the white wolf heiress again.

Isadora sat near the center of the room, surrounded by a court of girls who looked as if they worshipped the very ground her tailored heels touched.

She was flawless as always, pale-blonde hair perfectly styled, icy-blue eyes sharp with absolute superiority, her posture elegant and commanding.

She was ethereal, untouchable, cruel, and widely rumored to be on the verge of a mate bond engagement to Silver Lycan heir himself, Zane Blackwood.

Isadora had made Nessa’s life unbearable for years.

She rarely dirtied her own hands, but she didn't need to when she decided to target someone.

A single word or sideways glance from Isadora was enough to turn an entire hall against Nessa.

And the instructors never once intervened; how could they, when most of them belonged to lower wolf ranks than a sacred White Wolf heiress?

The minions Isadora controlled had shoved Nessa down stone staircases, locked her in freezing storage rooms, ruined her clothes with silver-dust ink, and left her bruised enough to spend days in the academy infirmary.

Whenever Nessa had thought about reporting it, she was reminded of one brutal truth: no one would ever take the word of a wolfless wolf over an elite White Wolf.

No one cared. She had prayed for a different classroom placement this session, different peers, a clean slate but fate had ignored her once again simply because she was considered a cursed mistake.

How was she going to survive this term without crossing Isadora? Was there ever a day she didn't make Isadora angry just by breathing?

Isadora tormented her for the most absurd reasons:

"I despise that you wear the same academy uniform as me... I hate it when I turn around and your face is the first thing in my field of vision. It brings me bad luck."

In her darkest moment, a secret she had never shared with Talia, she had once climbed up to the academy roof, ready to throw herself off the ledge so everyone would finally be free of her existence.

She had actually jumped... only to somehow survive the fall, left wondering by what cruel miracle she was still breathing.

Nessa moved quietly toward the back row with Talia, trying her best to become invisible. But then the atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.

Whispers broke out, heads snapped toward the door, and two boys walked in.

It was Zane Blackwood and Adrian Mercer.

Nessa’s breath hitched in her throat. Everyone in Bournemouth knew who they were.

Zane Blackwood, the future Silver Lycan king, arrogant, untouchable, and lethal.

The very prince everyone assumed was destined for Isadora.

And Adrian Mercer, his best friend and top Golden Wolf, calmer, highly disciplined, but just as deeply admired.

Neither of them had ever been assigned to her classroom tier before. Why were they here now?

Zane barely deigned to glance at anyone as he entered, broad-shouldered and imposing.

Beside him, Adrian offered a few people an easy, approachable smile that had half the room watching his every move.

Nessa’s eyes lingered on Adrian. She knew him, not closely, but enough to hold onto every interaction they had ever shared.

He had smiled at her once across the chaotic cafeteria.

He had sat at her table on a rainy afternoon and casually snatched a chip off her tray as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

He had stepped in when higher-tier girls tried to corner her in the courtyard, had walked her toward her stop twice, and had even let her ride on the back of his custom motorcycle once, her hands wrapped tight around his waist as the wind roared past.

He had winked at her in the hallway until her lungs forgot how to work.

Adrian had been her subtle lifeline during the previous term, and those small acts of decency had meant the world to her.

Somewhere along the way, she had quietly fallen for him.

Even though she knew boys of Golden Wolf status didn't end up with wolfless outcasts like her.

They dated gorgeous, influential girls, pure-wolves whose families held seats in the royal council.

Still, she couldn't stop her mind from drifting.

Talia nudged her shoulder. “You’re staring.”

Nessa looked down instantly. “I am not,” she lied, trying to pull Talia's sharp eyes away from her burning face.

Talia smirked. “You totally are.”

Before Nessa could defend herself, the instructor walked in and class began.

The lecture started, but Talia leaned close, whispering against the side of Nessa's face,

“There’s a Mouth Riders gathering tonight.”