CHAPTER 7: Exposed

“I’m Amanda. I already met Kira last night,” said the woman who had seemed worried earlier. She had short hair, a slim figure, and an innocent face. From the way she looked, I guessed she was around twenty. 

“So, you must be Kira?” Vada said, turning to the other girl. 

“Yes!” she answered brightly. She looked just as cute and innocent. 

“We should figure out the rooms,” I said, keeping my tone light. What I really wanted was to lie down. I was still hollow inside, wrung out mentally and emotionally from everything that had unraveled. 

“Uh…” The two of them exchanged a quick look before Kira spoke again. “Amanda and I already took one room, so you and Vada can have the other.” 

“I hope that’s okay with everyone,” Amanda added. 

“Of course!” Vada agreed without hesitation. 

I wasn’t surprised. Sharing a room with me made it easier for her to keep an eye on me. Still, I didn’t argue. They had probably already settled in, and I didn’t want to make things inconvenient. 

Besides, the exhaustion caught up to me. After everything, the betrayal, the stress, I ended up falling ill. I barely did anything but lie in bed and sleep. 

*** 

It was early evening when Vada woke me awake. “You’ve been sleeping all day. You need to eat. I don’t want Alpha scolding me for neglecting you, especially that we’re roommates.” 

I planned to ignore her, but my phone buzzed against the edge of the bed. Her gaze shifted to the screen, where Soren’s name flashed. 

I picked up the call, my voice rough. “Do you need something?” 

“I’ve been calling you all day, Gwen. Why haven’t you answered?” he asked, irritation slipping through his tone. 

I wasn’t about to admit I’d spent the day sick in bed, sleeping through everything. 

“I was busy unpacking,” I replied instead. 

There was a brief silence on the line, as if he were weighing my answer. “That must have kept you very busy… and not because you’re upset with me.” His tone shifted, softening slightly. “I want to apologize for earlier. Muriel does, too. Can you come meet us?” 

I forced myself to act normal. I didn’t want him thinking anything had suddenly changed, so I agreed without hesitation. 

“See you at Luminous…” he said before the call ended. 

As soon as I lowered my phone, Vada spoke. “Aren’t you supposed to marry into the Blackwood Pack? Keeping that wolf close won’t do you any good.” 

Something tightened in my chest. “How do you know about that?”  

My father had promised to keep it a secret. 

Vada avoided my gaze. “I just happened to see the proposal on Alpha Conrad’s desk.” 

I didn’t respond right away. I just watched her steadily, unhurriedly, until the silence began to work on her nerves, and she shifted under my gaze. 

“What?!” she snapped. 

“You were going through my father’s private documents.” I let the observation settle before adding, “Did the Luna put you up to it?” 

“It wasn’t the Luna. She doesn’t even know about your engagement yet. As I said, I just happened to see it,” she insisted. 

I studied her, catching the flicker of unease in her eyes. “You don’t ‘just happen’ to find something like that,” I said.  

Her claws flexed, her body tensing as if she might lunge at me. Before she could react, I let it slide. “But fine! Forget it, don’t breathe a word about my engagement to anyone.” 

The tension left her shoulders, but I knew Vada was hiding something... and whatever it was, I intended to find it and use it to pull her to my side. 

“The whole pack knew you were in love with the next Alpha of Ravencrest,” she went on. “Earlier, I heard he’s chosen a mate here at the university. It’s not hard to guess why you suddenly got sick… heartbreak doesn’t look good on wolves.” 

I clenched my jaw. This vow-maid had a way of saying exactly what I didn’t want to hear. 

“Can you just keep your mouth shut?” I snapped. “He’s just a friend!” 

She only shrugged. “I’m just offering advice, as the eldest in the room.” 

I turned away from her and found something to wear. She was irritating, and yet I could feel, beneath all of it, that her worry for me was surprisingly real. 

I left the room to find Soren, and it didn’t take long to notice Vada falling into step behind me. She said nothing until we reached the entrance of the Luminous, a hall tucked near the garden, its name prettier than I expected for what it turned out to be. 

“Soren asked you to meet him here?” Vada asked, something cautious in her voice. 

“Yes.” 

Vada took out her phone, seemingly checking what the place was for. 

“Gwen!” Muriel had already spotted me. Before I could even take in my surroundings, she had a grip on my arm, pulling me inside. 

The hall was already crowded; students lined both sides of a narrow aisle, watching with that strange kind of anticipation, like an audience that already knew what was about to happen. 

“This is where the truth reveals itself to everyone,” Muriel began. 

She guided me to the center, where a single beam of moonlight poured down from above. 

One of her companions added, “If you lie, the light turns dark red. And if that happens, you’ll have to walk the aisle of shame just to leave this place.” 

The crowd answered with cheers. I scanned the room until I found Soren, standing off to the side with two other members of the Ravencrest Pack, just watching. 

“I didn’t come here for this,” I said firmly. 

“Come on, you’re already here. Soren said you’d do anything for him!” the other woman taunted. 

My chest tightened at her words. 

“Now tell us the truth, Gwen…” Muriel continued. “Two years ago, you made a deal with Soren. It must be devastating now that he’s chosen me as a mate... How much you love Soren, and how furious you are with me right now, Gwen?” 

The question caught me off guard. That promise had only ever existed between Soren and me, and he had already broken it when he chose someone else. But apparently, that wasn’t enough. He had brought me here to be stripped of it publicly, to have whatever remained of what I once felt turned into a spectacle for the entire university. 

I scanned the crowd; some looked at me with pity, others with thinly veiled entertainment. My hands curled into fists, but I forced myself to stay silent.