Chapter 4 - The Fallout

Rae

By 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 conversation like he had every right to define it. Every moment replayed in my mind, refusing to settle, leaving me with the distinct, uncomfortable sense that something had shifted around me without my permission.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside, letting it close quietly behind me before I moved any further. For a second, I just stood there, staring at the familiar layout of the room like it might anchor me back into something steady, something predictable, something I could control.

It didn’t.

“Well,” Chrissy said from across the room, her voice light but her eyes far too observant, “that didn’t take long.”

I glanced over at her.

She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, watching me with the kind of curiosity that meant she had already heard half the story from someone else before I ever made it back to the dorm.

“You’re all anyone is talking about.”

“I doubt that.”

“Rae.” Chrissy gave me a look. “You had Julien Bennett walk you back to the dorms.”

I set the box down on my desk. “He walked in the same direction.”

“That isn’t how anyone else sees it.”

I let out a slow breath.

Of course they didn’t.

Julien Bennett wasn’t just another student. He was the future Beta of Ravenwood. One of the four wolves everyone watched. One of the four wolves every girl at this academy practically worshipped.

And somehow, for reasons I still didn’t understand, he had decided to keep talking to me.

“I told him to leave me alone,” I said.

“And he didn’t.”

“No.”

Chrissy’s eyebrows lifted.

“Exactly.”

I opened the box, pretending to focus on the contents instead of the conversation.

“I don’t know why everyone is acting like it’s a big deal.”

“Because it is a big deal.”

I looked up.

“Rae, you’re the only human at Ravenwood Academy. Most people expected you to spend four years keeping your head down and counting the days until graduation.”

That hit a little too close to home.

Because that had been exactly my plan.

Graduate.

Leave Ravenwood.

Leave the wolf world behind.

Build a life somewhere nobody knew who I was.

Somewhere I wasn’t constantly reminded that I didn’t belong.

“I still plan on doing that,” I said quietly.

Chrissy’s expression softened.

“I know you do.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem,” she said carefully, “is that the future Beta of Ravenwood just spent an entire day making it obvious he wants to know you.”

I stared at her.

“He doesn’t know me.”

“He’s trying to.”

“And that’s exactly why this is a problem.”

The words came out sharper than I intended.

I pushed a hand through my hair and looked away.

“People like Julien don’t become friends with people like me.”

“Why?”

A humorless laugh escaped me.

“Because people like me leave.”

Chrissy frowned.

“Rae—”

“No, really.” I looked back at her. “In four years I’m gone. That’s the plan. I graduate, I leave Ravenwood, and I never have to spend another day wondering whether I belong in a pack that doesn’t want me.”

The room went quiet.

I pulled the rabbit from the box and ran my thumb over one of its worn ears before setting it on my pillow.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then Chrissy sighed.

“You didn’t change today.”

I glanced at her.

“But everything around you did,” she continued. “You can pretend it didn’t if you want, but people noticed. Quinn noticed. The whole academy noticed. And whether you like it or not, Grant noticed.”

That one landed.

I hated that it did.

“I don’t care what Grant noticed.”

The lie sounded weak even to me.

Chrissy’s expression said she knew it too.  

“Maybe not,” she said gently. “But I think you’re lying if you say it doesn’t matter.”

I looked away first.

Because I wasn’t sure I could argue with her.

The silence stretched between us, not uncomfortable, just heavy with everything we both understood and couldn’t fix.

I sat down on the edge of my bed, letting out a slow breath as the tension finally started to settle into something dull and constant instead of sharp and overwhelming.

“I just need things to go back to normal,” I admitted.

Chrissy’s smile was small and a little sad.

“I don’t think that’s an option anymore.”

The knock came before I could respond.

Both of us stilled.

I hadn’t been here long enough for anyone to show up uninvited, and the certainty behind the knock left no room for hesitation or second-guessing. Whoever it was, they weren’t unsure about being there.

Chrissy glanced at me, curiosity flashing immediately.

“Are you expecting someone?”

“No.”

The knock came again, just as deliberate as the first.

Chrissy was already moving before I could say anything else, sliding off her bed and crossing the room with the kind of easy confidence that came from not carrying the same weight I did.

“Chrissy—”

“It’s fine,” she said, already reaching for the handle. “Relax.”

That was easy for her to say.

I stayed where I was, my attention fixed on the door as she pulled it open, my pulse picking up in a way that felt disproportionate to the situation but impossible to ignore.

For a moment, all I could see was her back.

Then she shifted slightly, and whatever she saw on the other side changed her expression just enough to make my stomach tighten.

“Oh,” she said.

Not startled.

Not cautious.

Just interested.

“Who is it?” I asked.

Chrissy didn’t answer right away. Instead, she stepped back, giving the person outside just enough space to step into view.

And when I finally looked up, it wasn’t who I expected.

Not even close.