CHAPTER 26: Wolves Don't Imagine

Alicia quickly looked away, pretending she didn’t notice the confusion tightening Raymond’s jaw. Her heartbeat sprinted wildly, like footsteps fleeing through a silent, empty hallway.

She swallowed, clutching her blanket as though it could protect her from her own thoughts.

Raymond shut the door behind him, slow but fierce, the sound echoing in the dorm room. His gaze stayed locked on her face, like he was peeling back the surface of her skin in search of the truth she was trying desperately to hide.

“What happened?” His voice was calm… too calm. A calm that warned storms were coming.

Alicia forced a light laugh, but it trembled like leaves in the wind. “Nothing. I just… spaced out.”

She hoped the lie would dissolve into the air and he wouldn’t notice. But Raymond didn’t speak. Instead, he took a step closer, shadows crawling across his handsome features, the kind of shadows that whispered danger.

For a heartbeat, Alicia thought he’d demand answers, questions she had no answers to. But then, he only sighed heavily and turned away, dropping his books onto the desk with a dull thud that carried more frustration than words ever could.

She breathed out the air she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

Everything is normal.

The forest isn’t glowing anymore.

The strange voice is gone.

I’m fine. I’m normal.

She repeated the lies like a broken prayer.

Climbing into bed, Alicia tucked the blanket to her chest, closing her eyes and trying to suffocate the memory of light glowing in the woods… and in her own eyes.

Raymond didn’t spare her another glance. He simply walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

***

Inside the bathroom, Raymond leaned against the cold tiles, chest rising and falling with harsh breaths. His wolf was pacing inside him, claws scraping, snarling, uneasy and alert.

‘Purple eyes’.

He clenched his jaw.

‘Wolves don’t imagine things’.

His mother had told him stories… old stories… of creatures with power surging through their blood. But those were tales pups giggled at by firelight.

He rubbed a hand through his hair in frustration.

‘What exactly are you, Alicia?’

He splashed cold water on his face, anything to stop the racing thoughts.

He needed answers and he knew exactly who might have them.

***

Morning crept in too quickly.

Alicia woke up, blinking at the streak of sunlight slipping across her pillow. She rolled over, the bed across from hers was empty.

Raymond was gone.

She sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“When does he even wake up?” she muttered, expecting no response but still hoping the walls would whisper back.

With a tired groan, she dragged herself into the bathroom for a shower. The moment warm water hit her skin, the memory of last night flooded her again, glowing markings… and a voice calling her.

She shivered despite the heat.

By the time she dressed and collected her books, she convinced herself it didn’t matter. Today, she had class, and she needed to submit an assignment she barely wanted to think about.

After grabbing a quick breakfast from the dining hall, Alicia slipped toward the lecture building, praying she could blend into the crowd like air.

She found a spot near the back, isolated, shadowed, invisible. She just wanted to be by herself.

But of course, fate hated her.

Someone dropped into the seat beside her.

Alicia turned, already annoyed and froze.

It was Kevin.

He flashed a casual smile, dimples deepening, as if he wasn’t the same guy discussing her like some classified secret just yesterday.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Rough night?”

Alicia narrowed her gaze. “Were you looking for me?”

Her voice came out sharper than she expected.

Kevin chuckled and leaned back. “Someone’s cranky.”

She didn’t return the smile. “I overheard you yesterday. Talking about Tracy and me.”

His smirk evaporated instantly.

So she had heard.

Kevin folded his arms, leaning in just enough that his breath brushed her ear, voice lowered to a secret only for the two of them.

“I’m trying to keep you safe, Alicia. You have no idea what’s happening around you.”

Her stomach tightened. “That’s because no one will tell me anything,” she hissed.

His eyes flickered around the room cautiously, scanning faces, was anyone listening?

Then he leaned back again, wearing a mask of indifference. “Sometimes you get dragged into things you never asked for.”

“What do you mean?” she whispered urgently.

Kevin only tapped her notebook with his pen. “I hope you’re ready to present. Our assignment presentation is today.”

She shot him a glare. “You’ll be doing most of the talking.”

He smiled like she had just confirmed something for him.

Her eyes narrowed, she saw his game.

Before she could talk, the lecturer entered the room.

Kevin whispered, “We’ll talk later.”

Alicia made a silent vow.

‘You’re going to tell me everything.

And I know exactly how to make nice guys spill secrets…’

Seduction.

The thought slipped through her mind uninvited, and an unconscious sly smile curved her lips.

***

Raymond’s footsteps echoed down the polished hallway of Moonlined Pack Hospital, the facility reserved for wolves injured in battle or captured trespassers.

He hated being here.

But he needed answers more than comfort.

The guard standing outside the room shifted uneasily as Raymond approached. “She’s hostile,” he warned.

Raymond didn’t pause. “I can handle her being hostile.”

He pushed the door open.

The air inside smelled of silver, sharp, cold, burning.

On the bed, chained by her ankle and wrist with gleaming weak silver chains that will make her weak, lay a girl. Human form restored, but anger still alive in her eyes, Tracy.

She glared at him, hatred blooming like wildfire.

Raymond sat in the chair placed deliberately far from her bed, crossing his legs with the cocky grace of someone who owned the ground he stepped on.

“I have three questions,” he said, voice low and lazy, but carrying the bite of command.

Tracy’s lip curled.

“Who were you with that day?”

“Why were you talking about Alicia?”

“And what else don’t I know?”

Silence.

She stared at him, unblinking. Challenging. Daring.

Raymond’s patience evaporated.

“You have two minutes to answer,” he warned. “Or…”

Her cold laugh cut him off. “Or what? You’ll torture me? You son of a weak Omega.”

His wolf snapped.

Danger exploded in Raymond’s eyes.

In an instant, too fast for human sight, he was standing beside her bed. His hand wrapped around her throat, pinning her head deep into the pillow. Tracy gasped, claws scraping uselessly in the air.

“You don’t speak of my mother,” Raymond snarled, voice unrecognizable. “You will answer. Or Alpha Lancelot will break you.”

Her lungs fought for air. But it wasn’t the choking that made her tremble, it was the name.

Alpha Lancelot.

Fear swallowed her defiance. She shook beneath his grip, eyes wide, pleading.

Raymond released her.

She dragged desperately for breath, coughing harshly.

“Start talking,” he ordered.

But even quivering, she still whispered through cracked lips:

“You’ll get nothing from me. Give up, Raymond.”

His jaw twitched.

“Your loyalty is tied somewhere else…” he murmured, stepping away. “But loyalty breaks when bones do.”

She flinched.

Raymond walked toward the door, anger rolling off him like thunder.

“When I come back,” he said coldly, “you’d better choose survival.”

The door slammed behind him.

Questions chased him down the hall like hungry wolves.

He needed answers.

No guesses.

And he knew only one person who could help him find them.

Alpha Lancelot.

***

Alicia couldn’t focus.

The lecturer’s words were a distant hum, like bees buzzing behind a closed window. Her brain kept replaying Kevin’s warning… Raymond’s suspicious stare… the forest’s glow… and her reflection, purple-eyed and terrified.

What was she becoming?

“Miss Hale.”

Alicia jolted upright. The lecturer stared at her expectantly.

“Your group’s presentation.”

Right.

The assignment.

Kevin stood, cool as ever, and Alicia followed, hoping her legs remembered how to walk. They faced the class, pages in hand. Kevin did exactly what she asked, most of the talking.

Actually, he did all the talking.

He spoke confidently, explaining every detail while Alicia held up their chart silently, nodding occasionally like she understood any of it.

When it ended, the lecturer gave a curt nod. “Good work.”

They returned to their seats.

Kevin leaned closer, voice silky. “Don’t think I forgot our conversation.”

Her throat ran dry. “Good. Because we are finishing it.”

He smiled like he enjoyed this too much. “Lunch?”

She hesitated.

He tapped the seat beside him gently. “You want answers, don’t you?”

She wanted to scream YES.

Instead, she swallowed and whispered, “…Okay.”