LOGINRaeBy breakfast, everyone knew Grant and Quinn had broken up.Quinn had apparently told someone before returning to her dorm, and Ravenwood had done the rest. I heard versions of the story behind closed classroom doors, near the stairwell, and from the floor below as Chrissy and I crossed the academic wing.According to one group, Quinn had caught Grant outside my dorm after curfew. Another claimed Grant had ended things the moment he learned I might possess a wolf after all.A girl inside the classroom beside us lowered her voice. “Maybe Rae wants all four command heirs.”I stopped walking.Chrissy turned back. “What?”“Nothing worth repeating.”She glanced at the closed door. She could not hear the conversation, but my expression told her enough.“We can take breakfast back to the room.”Avoiding the dining hall would have been easier. It would also look like I was hiding from something I had not done.“No. I’m hungry.”“You ate half a piece of toast yesterday.”“Today I’m eating a
GrantQuinn was waiting inside the command residence when I returned from Dorm B.She sat on the arm of the couch in the fitted black dress she had chosen for dinner, her coat folded beside her. Julien, Brax, and Linc were nowhere in sight, which meant they had either gone to their rooms or recognized Quinn’s mood and decided distance was wise.Her gaze moved over me as I closed the door. “You smell like warding herbs.”“I was checking the anchors around Dorm B.”“Of course you were.”The bitterness in her voice had become familiar. It appeared whenever Rae entered a room, whenever someone mentioned the investigation, or whenever Quinn noticed my attention drifting toward the east dormitory.Tonight, I did not have the patience to pretend I missed it.“One of the wards had weakened.”“And Ravenwood has no security officers capable of handling that?”“They were handling it. I wanted to inspect the damage.”“You wanted to see her.”I removed my jacket and placed it over the chair near t
RaeThe warning lingered after Jesse pulled away.Careful.My wolf did not growl again or send another surge of emotion through me. She retreated beneath the moonstone, leaving me with Jesse’s hand against my cheek and the taste of his kiss still warm on my lips.“Tell me you trust me more than him,” he had said.The words felt different now that the kiss was no longer distracting me from them.I stepped back.Jesse’s hand fell to his side. “That wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for.”“I told you I wasn’t going to rank you against Grant.”“I know.” His smile returned, lighter and more careful than before. “I pushed too hard.”The apology came easily enough that some of the tension inside me eased, though my wolf remained watchful.“You did.”“I’m jealous.” J
RaeThe growl followed me back to the dorm.Jesse had not heard it. He had continued discussing the Vicker archives while we crossed the courtyard, unaware that something beneath the moonstone had responded to his promise that I would be safer with him.By the time Chrissy and I reached our room, I had replayed the moment enough times to make the words sound harmless again. Jesse had offered me answers and a temporary escape from Ravenwood. Neither should have upset my wolf.Chrissy dropped her bag beside the desk and studied me. “You’ve been quiet since the courtyard.”“I’m thinking.”“You’ve also been rubbing the necklace.”I lowered my hand from the silver crescent and sat on my bed. The metal had cooled, though the skin beneath it remained tender from the burn.“My wolf reacted to Jesse.”Chrissy stopped untying her braid
RaeThe word stayed with me after the room fell silent.No.I stared at the cracked crescent against my chest and waited for the voice to return, but nothing followed. Mansfield sat across from me in Calder’s office, Chrissy still held my hand, and Calder remained near the door with his arms folded. None of them seemed to realize something had answered Mansfield’s question before I could.I lowered my eyes to the moonstone.Are you there?Silence.The ticking clock on Calder’s wall seemed unnaturally loud inside the privacy ward. I could hear the mechanism turning behind its face, along with Chrissy’s breathing and the faint scrape of Mansfield’s sleeve when she shifted in her chair. Beneath all of it, I listened for the presence that had spoken.Did I imagine you?Nothing answered.Maybe the pain had overwhelmed me. Mansfield had just told me the necklace could break, the s
RaeThe silver crescent rested against my skin as though nothing had changed.The crack remained narrow. The moonstone was still pale. Anyone looking at it from across the room would have seen the same necklace I had worn every day of my life.I could no longer see anything except the cage beginning to open.“What happens if the moonstone cannot contain it?” Chrissy asked.Mansfield removed the wyvern-hide gloves and set them beside the leather case. She took the chair across from me, but t
RaeAnd when I finally looked up, it wasn’t who I expected.Not even close.Brax Weston stood in the doorway balancing two pizza boxes, four sodas, and enough confidence to make it seem like he’d been invited.Chrissy’s eyes widened.Brax grinned.“Good,” he announced. “You’re alive.”I blinked.“W
RaeBy the time I made it back to my dorm room, the box in my hands felt heavier than it had any right to.It wasn’t the weight of the things inside it. It was everything attached to them—the way Sonya had looked at me, the way Julien hadn’t backed down, the way Grant had stepped into the conversat
RaeBy the time classes ended, I understood something I hadn’t been prepared for when I walked into Ravenwood Academy that morning.Being ignored had been easier.At least when I was invisible, people didn’t look at me like I was something to be figured out.Now they did.The whispers had changed.
Rae The Ravenwood Pack had one human.That human was me.Most wolves didn’t bother remembering anything else about me. Not my name. Not how long I had lived on their territory. Just the simple, inconvenient truth that I didn’t belong in their world.Humans didn’t live inside wolf packs.Yet someho







