Chapter 6: Confusion at its Best

Aurora’s POV

I glance back once before turning the corner. That new guy Rowan, I think I heard someone whispering, was staring. Not just casually, but like he’d seen a ghost. Or like he was trying to figure out how I existed.

Weird! But also.. something else. Something I can’t name.

For a second when our eyes met, my stomach flipped. Not in the gross “I forgot my homework” way. In the “what the hell just happened to my lungs” way.

I shake it off and follow Ember to English class. Probably just nerves. Or maybe Zander is messing with my head again. But for some reason, that boy’s eyes felt like they saw straight through me.

Confusion is a slow burn. A dull ache that goes to the back of your mind that turns into a scream.

And lately, I can’t tell if I’m losing my mind.. or if something is seriously wrong with the world around me. It started the moment Rowan walked into Ridgewood High.

That cute polo shirt, those too-serious eyes. The way he looked at me like I mattered in some way I couldn’t possibly understand. And now, three days later, he’s still doing it.

Not in a creepy way. Not in a “new guy who doesn’t know boundaries” way. More like.. he’s trying not to stare but can’t help himself.

And when we do talk which is rare but happening more often than I expected he’s kind. Patient. Warm. Nothing like I imagined someone like him would be.

In contrast, Zander Blake has been more of a nightmare than usual. He hasn’t just gone back to ignoring me. He’s targeting me again.

Sharp words disgusted looks. “Accidentally” wink wink knocking over my books. That old sarcastic edge is back in his voice, the one that always makes me feel small.

It’s like I hit some invisible switch in him and whatever tiny, strange kindness I saw in him last week is gone without a trace.

Maybe it was never there to begin with. Maybe I just imagined it.

But I can’t help noticing how both of them act weird around each other like they’re circling each other without ever touching. Like two magnets pointed the wrong way, repelling each other with every step.

And I’m stuck in the middle, with no idea why. It happens again at lunch.

I’m sitting in the courtyard, headphones in, textbook open trying to pretend I’m actually focused. Lilly bailed for a student council thing, and I was grateful. I need the quiet. That’s when I see him.

Rowan!

He’s across the quad, standing by the vending machines, talking to Ben Rivers and some of the other football guys. He’s wearing that stormy expression again, all brooding jawline and unreadable eyes.

And then he looks up. Right at me and automatically I freeze on the spot.

It’s not just the way he looks at me, it's how I feel when he does. Like he notices more than anyone should. Like there’s a secret buried between us I haven’t been allowed to know yet.

He starts to walk toward me. Slowly, intentionally, and eyes never leaving my own. But before he can reach me, a tray of food slams down across the table from me, making me jump.

I rip out one headphone and glance up to see Zander. Slouching into the bench like he owns it. Fork in one hand arrogant smirk on his face like always.

“What’s up, Freakshow?” he drawls, stabbing a piece of chicken. “Reading your little dirty books again?”

My heart sinks. Not this again please, my mind can’t take it anymore today. “Go away, Zander.”

He hums in response. “Rude. After everything we’ve been through.”

“Like what? You've been a jerk to me for six years straight?”

He just smirks and tilts his head, like he enjoys the sound of my irritation. I glance past him. Rowan is watching, eyes narrowed, fists clenched at his sides.

Zander follows my gaze and turns his head slowly, spotting Rowan mid-stride.

“Oh,” he says, voice darkening. “So that’s what this is about.”

“What?” I ask, confused.

He leans forward, lowering his voice to something quieter. Dangerous. “You think that guy’s your knight in shining armor or something? He’s not, he's not even close to what you think.”

“I don’t think anything,” I snapped. “I barely know him.”

“Exactly,” Zander mutters. “And you’re better off keeping it that way.”

“Why do you even care?” I demand. “You hate me, remember?”

Something flashes in his eyes. Something wild and raw. And for a second just one I swear I see pain. But then he blinks, and it’s gone.

“I don’t care,” he lies. “I just don’t want some other idiot thinking he’s got a shot at my punching bag.” Then, with that, he gets up and walks away, leaving his tray and my shattered mood behind.

Later that day I’m at my locker when Rowan appears beside me like a shadow.

“Hey, Are you alright?” he says, voice deep and soft.

I didn't jump this time. I surprised myself. So I turn around and look right into his deep blue eyes.

“Hey,” I reply, brushing hair from my face. “You saw that, huh?”

His jaw ticks. “Yeah.”

“You don’t need to protect me from him,” I say quickly. “Zander’s always like that. It’s nothing new.”

“It’s not nothing,” Rowan says, and there’s something dangerous in his voice. “He shouldn’t talk to you that way.”

My throat tightens. “Why do you care?”

He hesitates for a beat too long. “I just do,” he says finally. That answer should make me suspicious. But it doesn’t. Instead, I feel my heart flutter like a traitor in my own chest.

He shifts, like he’s about to say more, but the warning bell rings and we both flinch. “I’ll see you in Algebra,” he murmurs. And then he’s gone, leaving a question burning in my head:

Why is the new guy so interested in me and my bully is talking to me? It feels like the people who hated me yesterday suddenly care more than they should?

Zander’s POV

I watch from the far end of the hallway, hidden behind the corner of a locker bay, leaning against them with the rest of the shadow fangs.

I see Rowen and he’s with no other than her. Standing there with confidence. Leaning in like he belongs there like he belongs with her. His stupid smile is all relaxed charm, and what’s worse is.

She smiles back, that smile of hers, that beautiful smile I longed to see. The one I’ve only ever seen in glimpses when she thought no one was looking.

My chest tightens. The pain is sudden and sharp, like someone drove a blade through my ribs and twisted. I press a hand against the locker beside me to keep steady.

Don’t show it. But Zee—my wolf—isn’t interested in control right now. Mine, he growls not just voices in my head but It’s a claim, savage and wild and undeniable.

Shut up, I snap back, clenching my jaw hard enough to hurt. He doesn’t back down. He never does when it comes to her. And I hate it. I hate all of this. Because I can’t stand her.

Can I? I’ve spent years trying to convince myself of that. Years mocking her, pushing her away, icing her out, just to make sure she stayed as far from me as possible.

But I knew even then. Before I shifted, before my wolf Zee came into my life. I knew something about her was different.

She made my skin itch. Made my fists clench. Made Zee restless long before I understood what that meant. Every time she was near, I felt like I was coming apart.

So I buried it and crushed it and dug a trench so deep between us I forgot which side I was standing on. I told myself she was weak, annoying and too ordinary a human even.

But she’s not, she never was and now Rowan’s here. Breezing in like some perfect storm. Acting like he already owns her like she’s his.

He leans a little closer to her locker, and she laughs at something he says. Her laugh is soft and musical to my ears and it kills me.

I hear every word they are saying to one another, thanks to my wolf’s hearing. He boosts with confidence. Like he’s already figured out the ending and doesn’t care how we get there.

But he doesn’t know her, not in the way I do. I may be her bully but I’ve watched her for years. He doesn’t know the way she hugs her books like a shield when she walks past a crowd.

He doesn’t know she bites her bottom lip when she’s thinking too hard or that she chews on her pen caps in math class when she’s pretending she’s not lost.

He doesn’t know she used to sit on the library windowsill before school and stare out at the football field like she was waiting for something.

Something—or someone—that never came. He doesn’t know that it was me. And maybe I didn’t come because I was too much of a coward.

Or too broken. Or maybe because I was afraid that if I got close, I’d never be able to walk away again. Because I think I knew even before the moon claimed me that she was already mine.

And I’d never be enough for her. The thoughts hit hard and fast, the kind I’ve spent years avoiding. And now they’re boiling over, bubbling beneath the surface like lava with nowhere to go.

I feel it building. That heat and the rage. Zee is right there with me, pacing in my chest, snarling at the idea of Rowan’s hands anywhere near her.

Mine. Ours. Claim her now.

“Shut up!” I hiss under my breath, slamming my shoulder into the wall as if pain could distract me. My beta flinches at my outburst, looming at me like I’m crazy. I shoulder-check him hard, not even looking.

My heart is pounding, not from hate nope not even closer but pure jealousy. From the ache of seeing her look at someone else the way I wanted her to look at me. The way I convinced myself I didn’t care if she ever did.

I round the corner and storm down the hallway, feet pounding, breath ragged. I don’t stop walking until I shove the doors to the gym open and disappear into the empty bleachers.

The echo of the doors slamming behind me feels like thunder, but it still doesn’t drown out the sound of her laugh in my head.

The way she looked at him the way she didn’t look at me. My fists clench, nails digging into my palms.

If Rowan wants a war.. He just declared one and I’m done hiding in the shadows. Aurora you have another thing coming and I will no longer hold back.