Hollow Street

Three days after the ceremony, Lyra had learned that a rumor could move faster than any wolf.

It followed her through the academy corridors, slid into the seat beside her in history class, and waited for her at the bottom of the stairs. Some students said she was a late bloomer. Others said she had been cursed. A few, bolder than the rest, said she had never been a wolf at all.

Lyra kept her chin up and her face blank. It was the only defense she had.

Her refuge was the library, a quiet room on the third floor where the windows looked out over the ash trees. She had gone there every afternoon since the ceremony, pretending to read while she counted the minutes until she could go home. Today, the peace did not last.

"There she is," said a voice she knew.

Piper Holt leaned against the end of the table, arms folded, her curls bouncing as she tilted her head. Two of her friends stood behind her, smirking like they had been waiting for a cue.

"We heard you have a mate," Piper said sweetly. "A secret one."

Lyra closed her book. "I don't see how that concerns you."

"Oh, it concerns everyone." Piper picked up a pen and twirled it between her fingers. "Mara says she's never seen him. Corin says he's never heard of him. So when are you going to introduce us?"

Lyra's pulse thudded in her ears. She had told the lie three nights after the ceremony, when the second elder came looking for her. The elder, a kind woman with silver in her hair, had asked whether Lyra had been bitten by a rogue, and whether she was sure she had not been changed by something she could not remember. Lyra had seized on the first explanation that would keep her safe. A mate who had not yet claimed her. A late shift. A reason that made her a wolf waiting for her moment.

The elder had accepted it with a sad nod and a promise to keep the matter quiet.

Quiet had lasted about a day.

"He'll meet the pack when he's ready," Lyra said.

"Ready for what?" Piper leaned closer. "Ready to admit he doesn't exist?"

Lyra stood so abruptly that her chair scraped across the floor. Several students turned to stare.

"Go away, Piper."

Piper's grin widened. "Make me."

The library door opened, and the room fell into a hush.

Kaelen Draven stepped inside with two vampire companions trailing behind him. He did not look at the students gathered around the table. He did not look at Piper. His gaze moved across the room with the calm precision of someone who had never needed to hurry, and when it reached Lyra, it stopped.

Everyone knew who he was. The heir to the Draven line, the vampire ruler's only son, a boy who had transferred to the academy with a reputation for cold silences and colder eyes. He had never been seen with anyone outside his own circle.

Now he walked straight toward Lyra's table, and the students parted for him.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked. His voice was low and unhurried.

Piper straightened, suddenly uncertain. "No, Lord Draven. We were just asking Lyra about her mate."

Kaelen's gaze slid to Lyra. For one terrible moment, she was certain he would laugh and walk away.

Instead he said, "Her mate is standing right here."

The silence became absolute.

Lyra's mouth fell open. Piper went pale, then flushed, then narrowed her eyes at the vampire prince as though he had personally insulted her.

"You?" Piper said. "You're her mate?"

Kaelen did not answer. He reached out, took Lyra's hand in his cool, steady grip, and lifted it slightly, as though displaying something he had already claimed. His thumb moved once across her knuckles, a gesture so natural that she almost believed it.

"Is that a problem?" he asked Piper softly.

Piper opened her mouth, closed it, and marched out of the library, her friends scrambling after her.

The moment the door shut, Lyra pulled her hand free.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Protecting you from a public humiliation." He studied her with pale, unreadable eyes. "You're welcome."

"I didn't ask you to lie for me."

"No," he said. "You lied for yourself. I only made it believable."

"Then why would you bother?" Her voice shook. "We've never even spoken."

Kaelen was quiet for a moment. He looked past her toward the window, where the ash trees swayed in the wind.

"Because I know what you are," he said at last, quietly enough that only she could hear. "You are not a wolf, Lyra Vale. And if the wrong people discover that before you understand why, you will not survive the week."

Lyra's breath caught. Every instinct she had built over eighteen years screamed at her to deny it, to laugh, to walk away. But the words hit something deep and hidden, the place where the dreams lived, and she could not summon a single protest.

"How do you know that?" she whispered.

"Because I have seen you before." His jaw tightened. "On the first day of term, you looked at me the way someone looks at a face from a nightmare they have forgotten. I do not think that was an accident."

"Who are you?"

"Someone who needs your help as much as you need mine." He glanced toward the door. "My father's envoy has been asking questions about the wolf girl who never shifted. Tomorrow morning, the whole academy will be at the café on Hollow Street, and your sister will be there with Corin Ashby. The envoy will be watching."

He stepped closer, lowering his voice.

"If we are going to convince them that we are together, we will have to be convincing. Which means you will have to let me hold your hand in public and not flinch."

Lyra swallowed. "And if I refuse?"

His mouth curved, not quite into a smile.

"Then you will be a wolf with no mate, no shift, and no protection, standing alone in front of the one vampire in this city who already knows the truth. I would rather not be the only one who does."

He turned toward the door, then paused.

"Eight o'clock, Hollow Street. Wear something warm. And Lyra, do not let them see you afraid. Fear is the first thing predators notice."

Then he was gone, leaving her alone among the scattered books, her hand still tingling where his fingers had been.