Chapter Two: Too Late

Ezra looked away first.

Too late.

Vivian saw it. So did Bianca.

I stood frozen in the entrance hall with my fingers wrapped around my suitcase handle, trying to understand why my sister’s Alpha suddenly smelled like storm rain and cedar smoke.

For one strained beat, no one spoke.

Then Vivian laughed, light and perfectly placed, the kind of laugh that told everyone else there was nothing to notice.

“There you are,” she said, crossing the hall towards Ezra. “Father said the council had kept you.”

Ezra’s attention flicked towards the open doors before she reached him. By the time Vivian stood beside him, his expression was unreadable again.

“They did,” he said.

His voice was deeper than I remembered, rough enough that I felt it somewhere beneath my skin.

My wolf shifted uneasily beneath my ribs.

I pressed one hand to my stomach.

Stop it.

Vivian slipped her arm through Ezra’s with the ease of long practice. She had stood beside him since we were children, on the training fields, at pack ceremonies and in every conversation about the future of Black Moon Ridge.

Vivian and Ezra. Future Luna and future Alpha. A match the pack had approved so often it felt like fact.

So why did Ezra’s scent make it difficult to breathe?

Victor’s gaze moved from Ezra to me, then back again.

“Aurora,” he said.

I flinched before I could stop myself.

Ezra’s attention returned to me immediately.

Victor’s gaze shifted between us.

“Your room is prepared,” Father continued. “You will have thirty minutes to dress for dinner.”

Thirty minutes after seven years away.

How generous.

“Yes, Father.”

Vivian’s smile sharpened. “I left something suitable on your bed.”

Suitable.

Bianca looked down to hide her smile and failed.

My cheeks burned, but I lowered my eyes before either of them could see it clearly.

“Thank you,” I said.

The words tasted bitter.

I reached for my suitcase again, but someone stepped forward before I could lift it.

Luca Reed had been standing near the great hall doors.

I had not noticed him there, which seemed impossible. Luca had always been difficult to miss, even as a boy. Warm brown eyes, a crooked smile and the kind of ease that made everyone else seem too tightly wound.

He picked up my suitcase as though it weighed nothing.

“I’ll show her up,” he said.

Victor looked displeased. “That is not necessary.”

Luca grinned. “Probably not. But I’m feeling useful.”

Ezra looked at Luca.

Luca met the look without losing his smile. Whatever passed between them, I could not read it.

“Come on, Aurora,” he said. “Before dinner starts and we all have to pretend silverware choices are fascinating.”

I had to bite back a laugh.

I followed him up the staircase, aware of every stare against my back.

Halfway up, I made the mistake of glancing down.

Ezra was still watching me.

Vivian was watching him.

And Bianca was watching me.

By the time we reached the second floor, my chest felt too tight.

Luca glanced at me. “Still breathing?”

“Barely.”

“That counts.”

“Does it?”

“In this house? Absolutely.”

A small smile escaped me despite everything.

Luca saw it and looked far too pleased with himself.

“I remember you,” he said as we turned down the east hall. “You used to hide in the library curtains.”

“I did not hide.”

“You absolutely hid.”

“I read.”

“Behind curtains.”

“They were peaceful curtains.”

He laughed, and the sound eased some of the pressure in my chest.

It had been a long time since anyone in Black Moon Ridge had laughed with me instead of at me.

We stopped outside a familiar door at the end of the hall.

My old room.

For a moment, seven years disappeared.

I was eleven again, standing in this same hallway while Victor told me boarding school would make me stronger.

He had not hugged me goodbye.

Neither had Vivian.

Luca lowered my suitcase beside the door. His grin faded when he saw my face.

“You okay?”

I nodded too quickly. “Yes.”

He did not believe me. He was kind enough not to say so.

“Dinner is in thirty,” he said. “But if you need to run away, the back stairs still creak on the third step. Avoid that one.”

I blinked. “You remember that?”

“I remember all useful escape routes.”

“Why?”

His grin returned. “Because Ezra and I were terrible children.”

At Ezra’s name, my wolf pressed against my ribs again.

Luca’s smile faded. He had always seen more than I wanted him to.

“Did something happen downstairs?” he asked.

“No.”

“That was very quick.”

“I’m tired.”

“That is the second lie you’ve told me in five minutes.”

I looked away.

Luca waited for a moment before speaking again.

“Black Moon Ridge has a way of making people feel smaller than they are,” he said gently. “Don’t let it.”