Chapter 7- The Girls Are In Heat 2.

Elara’s POV.

I haven’t stopped pacing.

My footsteps keep dragging patterns into the rug, back and forth, back and forth, like if I stop moving, the weight in my chest will crush me.

Claude’s voice still echoes in my skull, rough, angry, disappointed in that way only an older brother can manage.

“Stay invisible, Elara.”

“Promise me.”

My stomach twists. I didn’t mean to pull half the attention of the combat field to myself. I wasn’t even trying to go. Tessa practically dragged me there.

And then—gods help me—Cassian Veyron was there, and for one long, breathless second, he had looked at me like no one ever had.

I should be thinking about Claude, not Cassian. Claude scolding me. Claude looking like he’d explode. Claude practically herding me off the field. Claude’s warning that kept replaying in my head.

But all I can feel is the lingering heat behind Cassian’s stare, the way it sparked under my skin.

I stop pacing and press both hands over my face.

What is wrong with me?

A sharp thud hits the door.

Before I can answer, the knob twists, and Tessa stumbles in.

At first, I think she’s drunk. Her cheeks are flushed, rosy in a way that looks almost feverish. A thin sheen of sweat glistens along her temples.

Her breathing is fast, uneven, and she’s clutching her jacket like she’s freezing, yet her skin looks overheated.

“Tessa?” I blink. “Are you okay? What happened?”

She lifts a hand, tries to smile, and fails. “I’m… I’m fine. Totally fine. Just… ugh.”

She drops the jacket, then immediately picks it up again like she can’t decide whether she wants to cover herself or throw the damn thing across the room. Her hands are trembling.

My chest tightens. “You don’t look fine.”

She laughs, except it comes out strained, shaky, almost pained. “Don’t be dramatic. I’m not dying. It’s just biology being a bitch.”

She tries walking toward her bed but sways. Instinctively, I move forward to steady her.

“Hey…”

“Don’t touch me!” she snaps.

I freeze.

Her eyes widen, horrified. “No, no, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to shout. I just… gods, Elara, I can’t think straight. Everything feels too much.”

She presses both hands to her cheeks. “I’m literally overheating.”

A sick wave of worry floods me. “Do you need the nurse? Should I get someone?”

“Please don’t.” Her voice is breathless as she sinks onto her bed. “Everyone on this floor is like this. Half the girls already ran off with their partners. I swear, if this gets worse, I’m going to climb the wall and scream.”

I blink. “Our… floor?”

“Yeah.” She sighs, lying flat on her back and draping an arm over her forehead. “It’s the moon. First damn week of resumption and the universe decides to mess with the entire female population. Of course.”

My heartbeat stutters.

The moon.

The timing.

Her heat.

The realization hits me like a slap.

“Tessa…” I swallow, “are… you’re not saying…”

She groans into her pillow like I just asked her to recite a speech. “Elara, it’s heat. Heat. I’m in heat, everyone’s in heat, the whole dorm is practically vibrating.”

She waves a hand vaguely. “If you hear weird noises from the hall tonight, please ignore them. Someone already got thrown into a closet earlier.”

Heat season.

Of all the days, it had to start today.

My breath catches. My skin suddenly feels too cold, too normal.

“Oh,” I whisper. “I didn’t realize it started.”

She lifts her head slowly, squinting at me through her flushed haze. “Yeah. Today. Lucky us, right?”

Her gaze sweeps over me.

Then she frowns.

And that frown deepens.

“Wait…”

My heart stops.

Then starts again, fast, loud, suffocating.

Tessa sits up a little, studying me. “Why are you… normal?”

I force my expression still. “Normal?”

“Yeah.” She gestures vaguely. “You’re not flushed. You’re not shivering. You’re not… twitchy.” She squints harder. “You’re not reacting at all.”

My pulse is a loud drum in my ears.

Because I don’t react.

I’ve never reacted.

No wolf. No scent. No cycle.

Nothing.

I swallow. “I… I don’t react fast, Tess.” I force a smile, trying to sound unbothered. “My cycle is slow.”

She stares at me for a second longer, then collapses back on her pillow, exhausted. “Gods, I wish I had your luck. My body’s staging a rebellion.”

Relief crashes through me so hard my knees feel weak. She’s too overwhelmed to question it. Too distracted to notice how tightly I’m holding myself.

But I know.

That was close.

Too close.

I sink down onto my own bed, pulling my knees up, wrapping my arms around myself.

Heat season.

I heard about it in lessons, in whispered conversations growing up. They said it was intense, instinctive, impossible to ignore. A biological storm that every she-wolf went through.

Except me.

I’ve never felt anything. Not a flicker, not a spark.

I stare at Tessa, who’s now curled sideways, her breath hitching in an uneven rhythm.

If today is the beginning…

The girls will change.

The scents will change.

The atmosphere of the whole academy will shift.

And me?

I’ll stay the same.

Everyone will notice.

Students. Instructors. Alphas.

The Triplets.

Cassian.

A cold shiver runs down my spine.

He had looked at me today, intensely, sharply, like he was trying to read something in me.

But he probably didn’t scent anything.

He couldn’t have.

Because there is nothing to scent.

His reaction earlier at the combat field, was it curiosity? Confusion? Or did he already suspect something?

My hands clench into fists.

I promised Claude. I promised him I would stay low, stay invisible, avoid attention at any cost. And on the very first day, the universe decides to drag me into the exact thing I need to avoid.

Claude is so going to yell when he sees me tomorrow.

And if Cassian Veyron, of all people, keeps looking at me like that…

No.

I shut my eyes tightly.

No, I won’t think about him.

Tessa shifts, her voice muffled. “Elara?”

“Yeah?”

She cracks one eye open. “If you hear me cry or scream in my sleep, don’t freak out.”

My heart squeezes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It’s just heat.” She gives me a weak smile. “It’ll pass. Eventually.”

I nod, even though she’s already half-asleep.

But I can’t rest.

Heat season means scents everywhere. Pheromones. Shifts in energy. Instincts flaring.

And alphas sense everything first.

The triplets are alphas.

Cassian might even be the strongest of them all.

If he passes me in the hallway…

If he stands near me…

If he tries to scent me…

If he realizes there’s nothing there…

My secret won’t just be exposed.

It’ll be obvious.

Wolfless. A living anomaly at Lunacrest Academy.

I curl up tighter.

This is bad.

Worse than I expected.

The room goes quiet except for Tessa’s unsteady breathing. Outside, I hear distant laughter, footsteps running, doors slamming, a girl’s gasp and a boy’s low voice. The start of heat season has the academy buzzing.

And I’m in the center of it.

The one girl who doesn’t belong.

The one girl who’s supposed to stay hidden.

The one girl Cassian Veyron looked at like she tugged at something in him.

I take a shaky breath and stare up at the dark ceiling.

This year is going to destroy me.