LOGINMy phone buzzed on my desk, pulling me from thoughts of Val's strange scent slips. Cain's message: Virex, my office. Now. I cursed under my breath, my jaw tight. Val had been off all day, his blue eyes avoiding mine, his small frame tense. I heard Cain had invited him to his office, but that's just about it.I didn't know what their discussion was and I doubted Val would've opened up to me about it.Despite that, the bond that has been increasingly annoying kept tugging me towards him. It always made me feel hot and restless, every time I got near him.An effect Raven has never had on me. I refused to believe it has anything to do with a mate bond. Because there was no way in hell my wolf chose a boy for his mate.My father won't stand it. He will probably choke and keel over. Despite how serious the situation was, I couldn't help the smile that tugged at my lips when I imagined my father choking and keeling over after the news.Val was smart, strong willed but his stubborn distrust
I froze on the garden balcony, Raven's words hitting me like a slap. "Let’s not pretend I don’t know a lie when I smell it." Her smirk was cold, as she stared at me with an intensity that made me feel naked, her eyes raking over me like she could see through my disguise. My heart pounded, my hands shaking as I clutched the book Lyra and I had stolen from the basement. She’d caught me, at a very bad time and I didn't know how I would get out of this situation when I was barely holding on. Cain’s close call earlier, his sniff too near, had left me rattled, and now this? I backed up, my eyes narrowing on her."What do you want, Raven?" I asked again, my voice steady but my stomach twisting. She stepped closer, her aura pressing, all alpha confidence and pride."You’re hiding something," she said, her tone low, mocking. "And Cassian’s protecting you. Why?" My breath caught, Cassian’s favor, his lie during the raid, flashed in my mind. The mate bond tugged, warm and unwelcome, but I sh
Cassian’s restless pacing from last night echoed in my head as I slipped into the academy library. “Over here,” Lyra whispered, her flashlight cutting through the dust, her Vesper jacket zipped tight. The basement was a maze of shelves, the air musty with old books and magic. I followed, my boots soft on the stone floor, my eyes scanning for traps. I wasn't sure what was bothering him, but if I could hazard a guess, I’d say it had something to do with me. I was still obsessed with finding out my secret and I could tell it frustrated him that I wouldn't trust him after after his help from time to time.He’d been off all day, his gray eyes flicking to me in the classes we shared together, making the mate bond spark every time.I’d avoided him, my heart racing. Whenever he looks at me like that, my mouth always goes dry, giving me the urge to run to him and spill every little about myself to him. My wolfsbane was running low, my scent slipping more often, and Raven’s smirk from the h
Val’s scent haunted me, that sweet trace slipping through his wolfsbane in the locker room yesterday, his arm warm under my fingers as I wiped away blood. I couldn’t sleep, my wolf pacing, the bond burning like a storm I couldn’t control. Headmaster Rin’s warning rang: “You will fall with him.” I tossed in my bed as I wondered where Val was, the moonlight spilling through the window.Unable to stay still, I climbed to the Observatory Rooftop, the night wind cool, but his scent followed, a ghost that kept me up, my mind racing with flashes of his blue eyes, his stubborn glare.I leaned on the railing, the stars sharp above, when shouts from the Training Deck caught my ear. I peered down, my heart kicking—Val was sparring, his small frame dodging a Vesper student’s swing. Her posture was off, too elegant, not the brute dominance of an alpha. My wolf growled, protective, and I gripped the railing, my eyes glued to her. She moved like a dancer, precise, clever, her Rank 34 earned throug
Raven’s smirk lingered in my mind like a poison, her words “Am I interrupting something?” ringing as I hurried through the academy halls, my heart pounding. From what Cassian told me, she had my confession to Lyra, my secret as an omega, laid bare, and now backups? My wolfsbane vial was nearly empty, my Rank 34 status shaky, and Cassian’s favor loomed. The memory of his voice echoed in my mind, stirring the mate bond, and making my skin prickle even as I dreaded it. If only there was a way to evade his favor. Most of the time, I really don't know what’s going through his mind most of the time and couldn't even think of what I could do to return the favor I owed him.A sharp whistle from the intercom snapped me out of it, Headmaster Rin’s voice booming: “All students to the Bloodline Tower for mandatory aptitude tests. Now.” My stomach dropped. A blood draw could expose my omega scent, and I was out of time to hide.I bolted to the Bloodline Tower, my boots pounding on stone, my blu
I couldn't sleep.That wasn't new. Sleep had been a negotiation since I arrived at Dominion — my body too alert, my wolf too restless, my brain running laps around every close call and every near-miss until my mind shut down from the stress of thinking. But tonight was worse.The bell. The missing student. Severus's face when Cassian put him in the dirt, that specific look of someone who'd wanted to lose, who'd needed a reason to say something he couldn't say standing up.I pulled on a jacket, grabbed my wolfsbane, took my dose to avoid detection or any other close calls, and slipped out.Cassian wasn't around, which meant I was free to do what I wanted without his interference.The rooftop access was technically off-limits after curfew. The lock on the door had been broken since the second week and nobody had fixed it, which either meant maintenance was slow or someone with authority wanted students to have somewhere to go when the walls got too close.I pushed the door open and ste







