Chapter 8—Falling

Ravin's POV

I was angry at myself the entire ride back to Darkhowl.

Not at anything that had happened, nothing had gone wrong, and that was precisely the problem. I had sat in a garden with a girl for over an hour and talked about things I did not talk about with anyone, listened to her speak about months of being mocked and dismissed with a quietness that was not weakness but something considerably harder than weakness, and then I had touched her face like it was something I had been doing for years.

I had not planned any of it, and that was what bothered me. I operated on intention, every move I made and every word I said was deliberate and considered and entirely within my control, and the garden had been something else entirely, something I could not put in a clean category, and that irritated me more than I was willing to admit out loud.

I reached the Darkhowl pack grounds just past nightfall and Cord was waiting near the main fire with the expression he wore when he had information he was not sure I wanted.

Sable stood a few feet behind him, sharpening a blade with the focused patience she brought to everything, and neither of them spoke until I dropped onto the bench and gave Cord a look that meant he should start talking.

"Talk," I said, dropping onto the bench across from him.

Cord glanced at Sable, who was standing a few feet away sharpening a blade with the focused patience she brought to everything, then he looked back at me. "Alpha, Kol has been moving."

"Define moving," I said.

"Three territories on the eastern border have reported increased Vespera presence over the last two weeks, not aggressive yet, just visible, like he is reminding people he exists."

I was quiet for a moment. "He is testing borders, seeing who reacts and how fast."

"Should we respond, Alpha?"

"No," I said, leaning back. "Kol knows better than to bring anything near Darkhowl and he has enough sense to understand what that would cost him, so let him make noise on the eastern border because it is not our concern right now."

Cord looked like he wanted to say something else but he did not say it, and I sent them both off and sat by the fire alone for a while, which was something I almost never did because sitting still without purpose had always felt like a waste. Tonight it felt necessary because something had shifted in me today and I had not finished deciding what to do about it.

The curse had been quiet for weeks, my wolf was still present and whole, and the warning I had carried since childhood had started to feel less like a threat and more like something that had misfired and lost its authority. I had stopped waiting for the consequences and started, somewhere along the way, doing something considerably more dangerous instead.

I had started looking forward to tomorrow, and not because of strategy or information gathering or any of the clean rational reasons I had given myself when this started, but simply because she was going to be there and I wanted to see her and I was not going to pretend that was anything other than what it was.

Sleep did not come easy that night.

The next day morning i was back at Draven before first period, slipping through the gates with the ease the routine had already built into my movement, and the school felt different in the morning, louder and more crowded, students moving between buildings with energy that had nowhere particular to go yet.

I moved through it the way I always did, present enough not to draw attention and removed enough to stay in control, or so I told myself.

I spotted her crossing the main courtyard with Nyx, the two of them walking at an easy pace, Elara saying something that made Nyx look sideways at her with what I had come to recognise as her version of amusement. Her hair was loose and I was already walking toward her before I finished deciding to.

She looked up when I was a few feet away and something moved across her face, quick and unguarded, before she settled it back into composure.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi." I fell into step beside her for a moment, matching her pace. "Still on for later."

She looked up at me and the corner of her mouth moved. "Same garden?"

"Same garden," I said, and peeled off from her direction and kept walking and did not look back because looking back was not something I did.

"Except I looked back."

She was already looking away, laughing at something Nyx had said, entirely unbothered, and I stood there in the middle of the courtyard and felt something settle in my chest with the quiet certainty of something that had already been decided long before this moment.

I had spent weeks telling myself I was watching her for strategic reasons, then I had told myself the pull was just the curse making noise, then I had told myself the garden yesterday was simply conversation and nothing more, and all of it had been a lie.

I had fallen for her, completely and without permission and in direct contradiction of everything the curse demanded, I had fallen for the one person I was never supposed to want, the girl I was meant to kill, and every Alpha before me in this bloodline had made the choice the curse required without hesitation while I had stood in the trees the night of the blood moon and watched her hold herself together and walked away, and I had told myself it was strategy but standing here now watching her disappear around the corner of the east building I finally stopped pretending I believed that.

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do about it, and for the first time in my life that uncertainty did not feel like a problem to solve but something I was not entirely sure I wanted to resolve.