0012

Rowan’s Pov

The words dropped like heavy lead weights straight into my stomach.

"You want me to do what?" I whispered, staring at Bianca in absolute disbelief.

Bianca crossed her arms, a cold, smug smirk spreading across her face. "You heard me, Rowan. Step down from the first line. Give up your spot before tomorrow's big game. Tell Coach you're injured or burnt out; I don't care how you spin it. Just get off the ice."

I blinked, completely stunned. For a second, I actually thought she was going to demand I stay away from Asher, or humiliate me in front of the whole school, or pack my bags right then and there.

"That's it?" I asked, my voice rising in pitch. "You're blackmailing me just because you want more playing time on the first line?"

"It's not just about playing time," Bianca snapped, her eyes narrowing as her mask slipped for a second, revealing a flash of pure jealousy. "You came out of nowhere, stealing all the attention, taking ice time that belongs to people who actually earned their rank. You don't belong here, Rowan. So you're going to step aside quietly, or I'm walking straight to the headmaster with your scent suppressants."

Anger surged through my veins, hot and sharp, burning away the fear that had paralyzed me just seconds ago.

"No," I said, my voice dropping into a hard, unyielding tone.

Bianca blinked, taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"I said no," I repeated, stepping right into her space. "You think you hold all the cards, Bianca? Go ahead. Run to the headmaster. Tell him an Omega slipped past admissions. But do you have any idea what kind of massive scandal that would trigger for Silvercrest? A public investigation into how an elite Alpha academy system actively discriminates against Omegas and covers up missing student records? It won't just ruin me. It will tear this entire academy apart."

For a split second, a flicker of genuine panic crossed Bianca’s eyes. She hadn't thought about the wider fallout; she only wanted to win her petty little rivalry.

She quickly recovered, narrowing her eyes. "They'll expel you first, Rowan. You'll be the one thrown out on the street while Silvercrest sweeps the rest under the rug."

"Maybe," I said, refusing to back down an inch. "But I'm not giving up my spot on the ice. Hockey is the one thing I've fought for my entire life. I survived everything to get here, and I am not walking away because you're throwing a tantrum."

I turned on my heel before she could answer, walking away with my shoulders squared, though my heart was hammering a million miles an hour against my ribs. I had called her bluff, but I knew she was right about one terrifying thing: if this blew up, I was the one who would take the hardest fall.

The rest of the day dragged by like slow torture.

During afternoon practice, I tried to focus on my drills, but my mind was spinning out of control. Asher sensed it immediately. Every time we crossed paths on the ice, his dark eyes searched my face with intense, overprotective worry. He practically hovered whenever Bianca skated anywhere near our end of the rink, his Alpha aura flaring just enough to keep her at a distance.

If things were different, maybe I would have found comfort in how fiercely he protected me.

Instead, it only made things worse.

Late in the afternoon, as I walked past the main student lounge, I overheard a group of senior Beta and Alpha students whispering near the vending machines.

"Seriously, they look so good together," one girl giggled, flipping her hair. "Asher Knight and Bianca Wolfe. It's practically destiny. Future Alpha and Luna of the Nightfall Pack."

"Totally," another agreed. "Everyone knows they're meant to rule together. It's just tradition."

Tradition.

That stupid, suffocating word hit me like a physical blow. I stepped back into the shadows of the hallway, feeling a sudden, hollow ache open up in my chest. Even if Asher didn't care about pack ranks, even if he looked at me like I mattered... what did it actually mean? He was a future Alpha. I was a hiding Omega. We lived in two completely different worlds, separated by walls built generations ago. If we tried to cross them, we would both get crushed.

By the time evening rolled around, I couldn't bear the thought of going back to the suite and facing him. I wandered around the cold campus for hours, hiding out near the empty exterior bleachers just to delay the inevitable.

When I finally pushed open the door to Suite 301, the warm smell of takeout food hit me instantly.

I froze in the entryway.

Asher was sitting on the living room floor by the coffee table. He had two boxes of pizza open, and two classic hockey movies already queued up on the television screen. He looked up the second the door clicked shut, his expression entirely devoid of anger or demands. Just a quiet, heavy softness.

He didn't ask where I had been. He didn't demand to know what Bianca had said to me in the dining hall.

Instead, he stood up slowly and walked over, handing me a paper plate with a slice of pizza.

Asher looked down at me, his crystalline eyes completely clear of judgment, and said the words that nearly made me break right then and there:

"You don't have to tell me what’s hurting you tonight, Rowan... but you're not spending the evening alone."