登入Elara's POVBy evening, they still weren't back, i sat on my bed for a while and tried to work on the remaining questions from the assignment, but the focus that carried me through the afternoon wasn't there anymore.It was fine. People had evenings. Freya and Nyx went places and did things and came back when they were ready, and there was nothing unusual about that.Except they usually let me know.I checked my phone twice in a row. Nothing from either of them.I put the phone face down on the bed and told myself to stop checking it.The room felt quieter than it normally did in the evenings, the particular quiet of a space that was meant to hold three people and was only holding one.I looked at Freya's side of the room, the jacket on the back of her chair, the half-finished water bottle on her desk. I looked at Nyx's neatly made bed, the book closed on the nightstand at exactly the right angle.I closed my notebook, set it on the desk, and stayed sitting on the edge of the bed for
Elara's POVThe problem on the page stared back at me for ten minutes and I was not making progress."This doesn't make sense," Freya said, her pen tapping against the edge of her notebook in the particular rhythm that meant she was stuck and starting to feel personally offended by it."It does make sense," Nyx said from across the table, not looking up. "You're overcomplicating the middle step.""The middle step is the entire problem.""The middle step is three lines. Look at the formula again."Freya looked at the formula again with the expression of someone who would very much like to argue but suspected the other person might be right.My own version of the problem sat open in front of me, slightly different numbers, equally difficult, and I worked through it slowly, line by line, in the way that occasionally produced the right answer through sheer stubbornness.The three of us spread out around the corner table we always claimed in the back of the classroom when the seat assignme
Lyris's POVThey were exactly where I expected to find them. Kia and Evan trained together every evening in the eastern clearing when nothing else demanded their attention, the way they always did, two bodies moving in the kind of perfect synchronisation that came from spending every day of their lives as each other's sparring partner.I watched them from the edge of the tree line for a moment before I stepped out.They saw me at the same time, the way they always registered things, and stopped.Kia tilted his head. Evan said nothing, which was his default, and waited."I need to talk to both of you. Tonight. Now."Neither of them argued. They never wasted time arguing when something actually important was being put in front of them, which was one of the reasons I chose them.We found a quieter corner of the territory, away from the rest of the pack's movement, and I laid it out without circling around it.I told them about Elara.Not everything, just what they needed. That she was th
Lyris's POVThe bruising was mostly gone now.The shoulder still ached when I turned a certain way, a dull reminder that sat at the edge of awareness rather than demanding it.The marks across my ribs faded to the point where I could breathe without thinking about them.Physically, I was nearly back to where I was before the forest.Mentally, I was somewhere else entirely.I spent days turning the plan over in my mind, the one Kol and I agreed on before I fully recovered, the one that seemed clean and logical when we outlined it across the table in his office.Create a diversion. Something large enough to pull Ravin out of the school and keep him occupied long enough for Elara to stop waiting and go looking for him on her own.And then, when she left school grounds alone and without his protection, we would be there.The longer I sat with it, the more the cracks showed.It was not a bad plan. It was a plan that relied on too many things happening in the right order, at the right pace,
Elara's POVMidterms were the kind of thing that crept up on you without announcing themselves, and somehow it was always a surprise when they arrived even though they appeared at exactly the same point every term.We were sitting at one of the tables in the common area, the three of us, books and notes spread out between us in the organized chaos that passed for studying when you were also talking about everything except the actual material."I feel like final term is going to destroy me." Freya turned a page without reading it."Final term is going to be fine. Midterms are the part that's going to destroy you.""That's a fair correction."Nyx looked up from her notes with the mild, considering expression she used when she was about to say something practical."We need to start actually preparing now. Not next week. Now. Because if we wait until the last two weeks like last time, it's going to be the same outcome as last time.""Last time was fine." Freya kept her voice mild."Last t
Nyx's POVMichael had found us this quiet little corner tucked away from the usual hangout spots, the trees grew thick here near the wall, giving us a nice pocket of shade and privacy that felt like our own hidden world.There was a low bed pressed against the wall, the kind meant for quick rests during training. We were on it now, just the two of us, and everything else seemed miles away.Michael lay back with one arm tucked behind his head, looking completely at ease like he always did. I sat beside him with my legs folded under me, soaking up the calm."How are your studies going?" he asked, staring up at the bits of sky visible through the leaves."Pretty good," I said. "Final term is ramping up, but I'm handling it."He smiled. "I can't wait to be finished with all this.""You say that every week.""Because it's still true every week." He turned his head to look at me. "Have you decided on a college yet?"I shrugged a little, picking at a loose thread on my sleeve. "Not completel
Ravin's POVThe pull hit me without warning, right in the middle of watching two of my warriors settle a dispute on the training ground.My hand was at my chest before I understood why, and my wolf went completely still inside me, the way it only did when something had its full attention. I had fel
Elara's POVThe lunch hall was loud the way it always was on Fridays. I was staring at my food and not eating it when Professor Aldric walked to the front and clapped twice.The noise dropped."The annual forest camping trip begins today. Buses leave at four. Attendance is mandatory."The hall erup
Elara's POVI noticed him during second period.He was sitting three rows ahead of me and two seats to the left, not doing anything particularly noticeable. Just sitting there, head slightly angled toward the front of the class, pen moving across his notebook. But there was something about the way
Ravin's POVI told myself I was gathering information.That was what I called it the first night I stood in the treeline beyond the academy fence and watched the students move between buildings. I came back the second night. And the third.By the fourth I had her routine mapped. She left the dormit







