LOGIN"What's wrong?" I asked Tomi.He didn't answer right away. His eyes stayed fixed on my phone. "Play it again.""What?""The voice note," he said.I frowned, but pulled it up and played it again. His jaw tightened, and he let out a slow breath."I don't know," he admitted, looking genuinely unsettled. "My wolf just, reacted to her voice. That's never happened before."Tomi came from the Lexingtons, one of the werewolf lineages with a unique inherited ability, something beyond the usual Alpha, Beta, Delta hierarchy. What exactly it was, I had no idea; families like his kept that kind of thing sealed within the inner circle, the Alphas and Betas only. I had only ever find out if Tomi told me himself. But from the confusion still written across his face, I doubted even he knew what had just happened."Do you want me to play it again?" I asked, to be sure.He shook his head. "Don't bother. I'm probably overthinking it. Or it's something else entirely."I smoothed my hand through his hair
Tomi clearly didn't like Dr. Kylian, and I wasn't going to lie about that. "He got me this phone, Tomi. That's why his number is in it."Tomi reached for it. "Would you delete it, if I asked?"I laughed. "Tomi, he's just helping me out."He rolled his eyes. "I just don't love it.""I can't push him away. Not after everything." I softened my voice. "When I had nothing, when I was in one of the worst places of my entire life, broken from Eren rejecting me, running from the abuse I was under in Blackwood, Dr. Kylian was the only one who came for me.” “I don't think I'd have survived my first weeks at this university without him. He got me books, supplies, everything I needed to actually function here. He's been like a guardian angel, Tomi. There's nothing more to it than that. I swear.""You don't have to keep explaining yourself, Lucia. I understand." He sighed. "I just want you safe. And a werewolf from another pack, who also happens to be the university's director, it doesn't exactl
I froze in shock. Did Cassidy's brother know Tomi was a werewolf? Was he a hater, like Xavier had been?The punch had landed clean. "Oh, Tomi!" I gasped from inside the car. Tomi rubbed his jaw with one hand, Cassidy still held firm in the other. "If you don't drop your fist," he said, calm and level, "I'm going to have to drop your sister." Tomi was tall, broad, and if Cassidy fell from that height onto concrete, it wouldn't be a soft landing.Her brother stepped back immediately. "Wait, you're not Xavier?" He squinted. "I thought you were Xavier. That psychopath who's obsessed with murdering werewolves.""You thought I was that scrawny little—" Tomi caught himself, though I'd never heard him swear before, and somehow it suited him. "Sorry. Long night.""Yeah, I guess I had a bit too much to drink," the brother admitted."You and your sister both," Tomi said dryly."Tomi," Cassidy slurred, clinging tighter to him.Her brother's eyes lit up. "Oh. You're the Tomi." He looked him over
"She does?" Cassidy stared at me, completely thrown, and suddenly every eye in the room landed on me, including Tomi's.I scrambled for an explanation. Really, I was scrambling for a lie.Then Cassidy spoke up first. "Lucia got first place in an assignment he gave, whoever won got to be class representative, plus some perks. So she's basically my department's rep now, and I guess that's why she's always in his office. Didn't even know that myself, actually." She shrugged. "Kind of boring, honestly. I was hoping for something way juicier." The person who asked responded. "And since you had no idea," someone pressed, "does that mean her boyfriend Tomi doesn't either?"My heart dropped. This was spiraling."Actually, I do," Tomi said, easy and unbothered. "I picked her up from the lecture building once. I know where she's been."Just like that, whatever momentum the question had built collapsed. I didn't say anything, I didn't trust my voice not to shake but I felt Tomi's hand smoothin
I didn't want Tomi to notice how worried I was, so I kept quiet through the drive, fiddling silently with my hands, hoping. Praying. If anyone from Blackwood found out I was dating Tomi, they would announce it to the whole pack within hours. I couldn't let him get dragged into trouble because of me.As his car neared the campus gate, my anxiety spiked. He parked, and I saw Cassidy waiting, alone.*Where was the person she'd mentioned?*Tomi rolled down the window and waved her over. I got out of the car, unable to sit still, needing to be sure no one else was with her, while also trying not to let him notice how worried I was."Where's the person you said was with you?" I asked, before she'd even reached us, scanning the area."Oh, she left already. Said something came up. You can meet her another time." Cassidy shrugged. "You seem really excited to meet someone from your pack, though. Must be nice, running into people you actually know."*Abigail.* If Abigail had seen me, if she was
I left Dr. Kylian's office feeling only mildly better. Even if I tried telling myself I was fine, he knew I wasn't. I could not even pretend around him, he was too good at reading me. But I had to go. I had promised Tomi a fun night.Would it even be fun, though? Not after what I had just learned about myself.Dr. Kylian had told me to keep it private, not secret, though I understood the distinction was just a kinder way of telling me not to tell Tomi. I had barely started this relationship, and already I was hiding something enormous from him.He didn't deserve that. He deserved better.Back at the hostel, my roommates told me Audrey had already left to meet Tristan. I tried to feel the flicker of excitement I should have felt for her.I didn't feel it at all.I was happy for Audrey. I was just devastated for myself, and I hoped Tomi wouldn't notice.I got dressed, and as I pulled on the clothes he'd bought me, something else clicked into place, Dr. Kylian's endless kindness, the ex







