The news traveled fast.
By the time I returned to my quarters after the Pack Run, my phone was buzzing with messages. Most were from Silvercrest wolves I barely knew—congratulations on my shift, surprise at my wolf's power, questions about where I'd been training. I didn't answer any of them. I set the phone face-down on the desk and stared at the wall.
My wolf was still humming inside me. Awake. Alive. She'd been silent for so long that this new presence felt almost foreign. But it wasn't uncomfortable. It was right.
I pressed my thumb into my opposite palm. The sting helped ground me, pull me back from the strange weightlessness I'd felt since the run ended.
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.
I opened it expecting Kara. Instead, I found Corey.
He stood in the hallway, hands in his pockets, his expression carefully casual. He looked the same—dark hair, sharp jawline, the easy confidence of someone used to being welcomed. But something was off. His aura felt thinner than I remembered. Muted.
"Hadlee," he said, his voice warm. Practiced. "I'm glad I caught you."
I didn't respond. My wolf stirred, wary.
He smiled. "I heard about your shift. That's—that's really great. You look good. Strong."
I stood in the doorway, one hand on the frame, blocking his entry without making it obvious. "What do you want, Corey?"
His smile faltered slightly. "I thought we should talk. Clear the air. We've known each other our whole lives, Had. I don't want things to be weird between us."
Weird. He thought things were weird.
I felt something cold settle into my chest. My wolf pushed forward, her presence solid and certain.
"There's nothing to clear," I said quietly.
His expression shifted. The warmth drained, replaced by something sharper. "Look, I know the banquet was—intense. But you have to understand, I was doing what was best for the pack. For both our packs. Amora's Crescentmoor bloodline—"
"I don't care."
He blinked. "What?"
"I don't care about Amora's bloodline. I don't care about your reasons. I don't care about any of it."
His jaw tightened. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Hadlee, be realistic. You shifted. That's good. But you're still—" He hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "You're still a late bloomer. You're still from Silvercrest. And this Lycan—Maximus—he's using you. You have to see that."
My wolf surged. I felt her power rise through me like fire, and for the first time in my life, I didn't try to suppress it.
"Using me," I repeated flatly.
"Yes." Corey's voice took on a patronizing edge. "He's a Lycan Prince. You think he actually wants a wolf who didn't shift until she was sixteen? A girl the pack called 'almost-Omega'? He's making a political statement, Hadlee. And you're falling for it because you're—" He stopped himself.
"Because I'm what?" My voice was quiet. Dangerously quiet.
"Naïve," he finished. "You always have been. You see the best in people even when it's not there. You spent ten years thinking I—" He cut himself off again, but the damage was done.
My eyes flashed gold. I felt the shift ripple through them, felt my wolf's presence blaze to the surface.
Corey stepped back.
"You're right about one thing," I said. My voice was steady. Calm. Final. "I was naïve. I spent ten years loving someone who never deserved it. But I'm not that girl anymore."
He opened his mouth to respond, but I kept talking.
"Our bond isn't rejected, Corey. It's erased. You're nothing to me. Not a friend. Not a memory. Nothing."
His face went pale. His wolf—what was left of it—whimpered audibly. I heard it through the thin thread of connection that still existed between us, the last remnant of what we'd once been.
I stepped back and closed the door.
I didn't look at him. I didn't wait to see his reaction. I just shut the door quietly and locked it.
Then I leaned against it, breathing hard, my hands shaking.
My wolf settled inside me. Satisfied.
I pressed my thumb into my palm. The sting helped.
But this time, I didn't need it as much.
---
The whispers started the next morning.
I felt them before I heard them—the shift in energy when I walked into the training hall, the way conversations stopped mid-sentence, the sidelong glances that followed me across the room.
I kept my head down and went to my usual spot. My wolf was restless, pacing, but I pushed her back. Not now.
Kara appeared at my side, her expression dark. "You heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Amora's spreading rumors. Through the inter-pack mind-link network. She's saying you used dark magic to seduce Maximus. That a 'wolfless Omega' couldn't attract a Lycan through natural means."
I stopped moving. My hands went still on the practice staff I'd been holding.
"She's saying what?"
Kara's jaw tightened. "It's all over the network. Every pack. Every rank. She's framing it like she's concerned—like she's warning people about dangerous manipulation."
I looked around the training hall. The glances made sense now. The whispers. The careful distance people were keeping.
My wolf snarled inside me, but I held her back. Barely.
"Hadlee." Kara's voice was sharp. "Don't retreat. Don't disappear. That's what she wants."
I didn't respond. I set the practice staff down carefully and walked out of the hall.
I went back to my quarters. I locked the door. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the wall.
My phone buzzed. Messages from wolves I didn't know, asking if the rumors were true. Asking if I was okay. Asking if I needed help.
I turned the phone off.
I pressed my thumb into my palm. Hard. The sting helped.
But it didn't stop the cold certainty settling into my chest: Amora had found a new way to destroy me, and this time, she was doing it where everyone could watch.
