LOGINRaeHarold stepped into the hallway first, already talking to Mansfield about the council representatives at the north boundary. Sonya followed them out with Dane, still discussing old correspondence logs and whether anything from Kim might have been archived under Elena’s maiden name. Within a few seconds, the office had emptied enough that I could breathe again.Grant had made it almost to the door before stopping.Julien stopped with him.Neither of them left.I was still standing beside Mansfield’s desk with Linc’s fingers threaded through mine when Grant turned back and crossed the room. There was no hesitation in him now, none of the awkward distance he had been creating before we finally talked things through. He reached for me like it was the most natural thing in the world, one hand sliding around the back of my neck before he leaned down and kissed me.It wasn’t long enough to
RaeElena’s face went pale.Not dramatically. She didn’t gasp or start scrambling for an explanation. The change was smaller than that, a brief crack in the composure she had carried into Mansfield’s office, but I saw it. So did my wolf.Liar.“She got that scar saving you.”For several seconds, Elena said nothing. She sat very still across from me, one hand resting over the other in her lap, and I could almost watch her deciding which version of the truth she wanted to hand me next. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm again.“That was a very long time ago, Aurelya.”I stared at her. “That’s your answer?”“No. I’m saying memories change, especially after this much time.”“My mother told me that story more than once.”“And you were very young when she told it.”I felt every bond around me tighten with my irritation. Grant’s remained warm and solid, Julien’s sharpened with quiet focus, Brax’s flared hot, and Linc’s settled around me with that steadying calm I was beginning to rec
RaeRae-bug.The name landed somewhere deeper than recognition. For a second, I was five again, small enough for Mom to lift me onto the kitchen counter while she cooked, my legs swinging against the cabinet doors while she laughed and slapped my hand away from the cutting board.Rae-bug, leave the strawberries alone.Come here, Rae-bug.Bedtime, bug.Nobody had called me that since she died.My throat tightened before I could stop it, and Elena saw. Something softened in her expression, almost tender, but instead of comforting me, it made my skin prickle. She had been watching for that reaction. Maybe not consciously, maybe not cruelly, but she had known exactly what that name would do to me.My wolf remained rigid inside me.Liar.That was the problem. Elena had already admitted to things a liar should have tried to hide. She admitted accessing Calder’s reports, searching Rav
RaeElena Vicker arrived at Ravenwood before lunch.She did not sneak through the wards, try to contact me privately, or disappear after Mansfield confronted the Vicker leadership with the access logs.She came through the main gates in a black sedan bearing Vicker insignia, carrying council authorization and enough political protection that Ravenwood couldn’t simply turn her around.That bothered me more than if she had run.People who ran usually believed they had something to hide.Elena apparently believed she could explain herself.By the time Mansfield sent for me, Grant, Julien, Brax, and Linc were waiting outside her office when Chrissy and I arrived.Brax lifted both hands. “Before you say anything, we were summoned.”“I wasn’t going to say anything.”“You had the face.”“What face?”“The o
RaeBy breakfast the next morning, Ravenwood had apparently decided the words burned across its outer wards were none of its business.That was the only explanation I could come up with for the way students kept eating, talking, and complaining about assignments as though Frank Rivers hadn’t reached through the academy protections the night before and announced that he knew exactly where I was.I sat beside Chrissy near the end of one of the long dining tables, attempting to eat toast while the Sacred Pack existed as a constant awareness around me. Grant had already left for another security meeting. Julien sat several tables away with Brax, supposedly discussing an assignment, while Linc was behind me talking to two students from his strategy class.Chrissy nudged my plate. “You’ve been staring at that piece of toast for three minutes.”“I’m considering its flaws.”&ld
RaeThe memory of Elena at my mother’s funeral followed me out of Sonya’s office.I barely heard what Sonya said after that. My mind had latched onto the image of a woman in black standing several rows behind Harold while five-year-old me tried to understand why everyone kept telling me to say goodbye to someone who wasn’t supposed to leave.By the time I reached the main academic corridor, I could feel all four bonds without consciously reaching for any of them. Grant and Julien were the clearest now, their claimed connections sitting close and immediate beneath everything else, while Brax and Linc remained unmistakable through the bonds we had already accepted.My wolf nudged toward them.Mate.“I know.”A student walking past gave me a strange look.I sighed. “Still getting used to the whole talking-to-myself-in-public thing.”He sped up
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.
RaeJulien Bennett’s hand remained extended in front of me, steady and patient, as if the weight of the entire courtyard staring at him didn’t exist.For a moment, I didn’t move—not because I needed help getting up, but because of what that gesture meant. Wolves like Julien didn’t involve themselve
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







