chapter 4

Chapter 4

Naomi's POV

The classroom was as busy as a fucking beehive. Normally, everyone was trying to cram for the final theory exams or talking about who was going to get which pack placement, but today was different.

The air felt heavier than it did when preparing for a storm or something. 

I was sitting in my usual spot, but I couldn't stop my heart from doing gymnastics in my chest.

Every time the door creaked open, I sat up a little straighter. I had tried to fix my hair with a little water from the bathroom sink and had tucked the dirtiest parts of my shirt under my sweater.

I wanted to at the very least look like someone worth claiming.

Then, the Dean walked in, and the room went dead silent. He wasn't alone.

Trailing behind him was the man from the roof. Up close, without the haze of a concussion or the dark of the night, he was almost painful to look at.

He was tall, built like a predator, and carried himself with the kind of effortless power that made everyone else in the room look like a background character.

"Everyone, pay attention," the Dean said, his voice booming with a pride I had never heard before. "We are honored to host an exchange student of immense importance for our graduation festivities. This is Liam Silva Lyon. He comes from one of the most prestigious lineages in the northern territories. Treat him with the respect his rank deserves."

Liam. His name even sounded powerful.

My wolf started pacing around restlessly. 

Mate, mate, mate, she kept repeating, the word becoming a bloody mantra.

I waited for him to look at me. I was leaning forward slightly, my lips parted, waiting for that deep blue gaze to find mine and for the world to stop again.

I was ready for the moment he realized I was the girl he saved, the girl who belonged to him.

But his eyes didn't  stop at the back row.

Liam’s gaze swept over the room with a bored coldness until it landed right on the front row, right on Helena.

She was sitting there looking like a literal doll, her hair perfectly curled and her eyes wide with that innocent sparkle she probably spent hours practicing in the mirror.

When Liam’s eyes met hers, something happened. He didn't  look disgusted or bored. He…..he smiled.

He smiled at her and Helena returned it with a graceful tilt of her head.

Throughout the entire lecture, I was invisible. Liam spent the whole time leaning against the Dean’s desk, whispering things to Helena that made her giggle behind her hand.

They looked like they had known each other for a lifetime. They looked like they belonged together.

I felt a cold, sinking dread settle in my stomach. The high I had been floating on earlier had evaporated, replaced by a hollow ache.

My wolf was getting beyond restless now, her pacing turning into a frantic trot. She didn't  understand why our mate was looking at the monster instead of us.

When the bell finally rang, I didn't  wait for the Dean to dismiss us. I grabbed my bag and bolted.

I couldn't stay there and watch them.

I practically ran all the way back to the small, cramped house on the edge of the pack lands that I was supposed to call home.

Usually, when I walked through the door, my parents either ignored me or pointed at a pile of laundry that needed doing. I was basically their live-in maid who happened to share their last name.

But today, the house was in a state of total chaos.

"Naomi! There you are!" My mother screamed the second I stepped into the kitchen.

She was frantically scrubbing a silver platter, her hair falling out of her bun. "Don't just stand there like a statue! Go wash your face. Use the expensive soap."

"What’s going on?" I asked, glancing at my father, who was currently obsessing over the shine on his best shoes.

"The banquet, Naomi! Keep up!" He snapped without looking at me. "The pack is hosting a grand event tonight. Liam Silva Lyon is our guest of honor, but more importantly, a high-ranking Lycan has entered our territory. An Elder."

"Do you have any idea what that means for our status if we make a good impression?"

I froze. A Lycan? Actual Lycans were rare. They were the royalty of our world, the ancient bloodlines that regular wolves like us only read about in history books.

Between Liam’s arrival and a Lycan Elder showing up, the gravity of the BlackRose pack had shifted. Something big was happening, something I could feel in the air like the taste of copper before a storm.

"You need to look your best," my mother said, grabbing my arm and shoving me toward the stairs. "We can't have you looking like a gutter rat in front of Liam or the Elder. Wear that navy dress—the one without the holes. And for heaven's sake, put some color in your cheeks. You look like you've seen a ghost."

I climbed the stairs to my tiny room, my mind spinning. Liam was going to be there. This was my chance.

Maybe the classroom was just a mistake. Maybe he was just being polite to Helena because she was the pack favorite.

At a banquet, with the bond pulling us together, he wouldn't be able to ignore me.

I pulled out a navy blue dress that was a few years too old and a bit too tight in the chest, but it was the only thing I had that didn't  have a stain on it.

As I pulled it on, I caught my reflection in the cracked mirror. I looked pale.

My eyes looked too big for my face, and the bruise on my jaw from Jax’s kick was still visible, even if I tried to cover it with hair. 

I had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

The way my parents were acting, the way the Dean was hovering over Liam, the way that Lycan Elder was suddenly in town... it all felt like pieces of a puzzle I had not solved yet.

Liam wasn't just an exchange student. No one got this much attention for being a student; he was something else and my wolf knew it. 

She had stopped pacing and was now huddled in the corner of my mind, her ears flattened back. She was scared.

I took a deep breath and tried to steady my hands. This was the night of the graduation banquet, the night everything was supposed to change.

I walked out of my room and headed downstairs. I felt like I was walking toward a cliff, and this time, I wasn't sure anyone was going to be there to catch me.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…… the night my life ended.