Chapter 6 Riley's POV

Riley’s POV

Unpacking was quick work when you didn’t own much. A few folded shirts into the dresser, my notebook laid carefully on the desk, and the single photograph tucked beneath my pillow where it would greet me at night.

Across the room, Harper moved with the ease of someone who already belonged here. Her books were stacked in neat towers by size, her comforter spread smooth, a soft tune humming from her lips like she had done this a hundred times before.

“You’ll get used to it,” she said suddenly, glancing back at me.

I looked up. “Used to what?”

“The looks. The whispers. The way people act like you’re radioactive if you don’t have a family crest stitched into your DNA.” She smirked, snapping her wardrobe shut.

My chest tightened. “So you’ve noticed too.”

“Trust me.” She dropped onto her bed, cross-legged, her braid sliding over her shoulder. “I’m human. My dad’s a successful businessman, rich enough to buy me in, but money doesn’t change blood.

Not a wolf or an heir, that makes me a curiosity at best, disposable at worst.” She paused, then added casually, “Besides, I grew up in Silverwood. I know how the game’s played.”

Her bluntness startled me. People here seemed polished, rehearsed. Harper wasn’t.

“So you survive by being invisible?” I asked.

She smiled, but it was edged with steel. “Sometimes. Other times? You survive by being louder than they expect.”

I found myself laughing, the sound breaking the tension in my chest.

“Alright,” Harper said, slipping into a mock-serious tone, “here’s your crash course in Silverwood survival.

Rule one: keep your head up. If you look like prey, someone will treat you like prey.

Rule two: don’t argue with professors, they’ve got memories like traps.

Rule three: learn the campus layout fast. Being late here? That’s blood in the water.”

She ticked the rules off on her fingers, each one delivered with a sharp grin. Then her voice lowered.

“And then there are the people you don’t cross.”

I leaned forward without meaning to.

“First: the Queen Bitches. Serena Vale, Tessa Crowe, Maya Sterling. Serena’s the general, icy, ruthless, perfect down to the last eyelash.

Tessa’s her echo, second-in-command, cruel but not clever. And Maya…” Harper’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“She’s the pretty one who hides her claws until you’re bleeding. She’s human, like us. Which makes her worse.”

The knot in my stomach tightened.

“And then,” Harper continued, her voice barely above a whisper, “the heirs. Damien Blackthorne, Cassian Voss, Lucien D’Arco, Jaxon Crowe. They don’t just rule Silverwood. They are Silverwood.”

Her tone carried something between awe and warning.

“Damien’s the Alpha-in-waiting, cold, magnetic, untouchable. Cassian’s his second, the charmer with teeth, he’s unreadable and dangerous.

Lucien watches everything, he’s the quietest and youngest, but don’t mistake that for harmless. And Jaxon…” she gave a small shake of her head.

“He’s the blade. The warrior heir. The one people swear was born already soaked in blood.”

I hesitated. “I… already met them.”

Her head snapped up. “You what?”

“After assembly. Cassian tried something. Damien shut him down.”

Harper stared at me like I’d grown horns. “You talked back?”

I shrugged, though my pulse thudded at the memory. “What was I supposed to do? Play dead? And let them tear me apart?”

She collapsed back onto her pillows with a groan. “Oh, Riley. They are going to eaat you alive. No one mouths off to the heirs.

People don’t even breathe around them.”

“Too late.” I muttered

She sat up aaagain, studying me better with something between disbelief and admiration.

“You’re either incredibly brave or stupid.”

“Maybe both,” I admitted.

For the first time, her grin wasn’t just friendly, it was fierce. “Good. Silverwood needs someone who doesn’t roll over.”

Something inside me uncoiled. Maybe for the first time I wasn’t completely alone in this place of wolves.

The dining hall looked like something out of a medieval epic, vaulted ceilings, chandeliers dripping with crystal, banners of silver and deep green lining the walls.

Long tables stretched into infinity. Humans kept to one side, shifters to the other, an invisible border that no one dared cross.

My tray rattled in my hands. Harper noticed.

“Relax. No one’s throwing you to the fire pit,” she whispered. “Not yet, anyway.”

Comforting.

We were halfway to a neutral table when the air changed. A ripple moved through the room, conversations dimming like lights snuffed out.

“They’re here,” Harper murmured.

The Queen Bitches entered as if they’d choreographed it. From Harper’s description, it was easier to identify who was who.

Serena Vale at the center, platinum hair gleaming, red lips curved in a blade-sharp smile. Tessa to her right, pink-streaked hair swinging, and Maya to her left, curls bouncing as she laughed at something that wasn’t funny.

They looked less like students and more like predators dressed in silk.

Serena’s eyes swept the hall, and caught on me. She slowed. The others followed her gaze, and suddenly the three of them were gliding toward our table.

“Oh no,” Harper whispered. “Fresh meat.”

Serena stopped in front of me, her perfume sharp, her presence heavier than it had any right to be. “You must be Riley Walker.”

My throat tightened. “That’s me.”

“Our scholarship star.” The words dripped with venom.

Tessa leaned in, her whisper stage-loud. “I heard she came straight out of a trailer park.”

Maya giggled, eyes gleaming. “Tragic.”

Heat flared in my cheeks, but I forced my grip steady on the tray. “Funny,” I said evenly. “I heard this school was for the best. Guess I’ll find out if that’s true.”

A ripple of muffled laughter ran through nearby tables. Serena’s smile froze, just a fraction, but enough.

Her gaze lingered, cold and cutting. “Careful, Walker. Hope is fragile here, and it breaks so easily.”

With a turn sharp as glass, she was gone, her shadows following in her wake. The dining hall exhaled again, noise swelling back to life.

I dropped into the nearest seat, pulse thundering. Harper slid in beside me, eyes wide.

“You’re incredible,” she whispered. “I have a feeling things are going to get interesting this year.” She smiled.

I stared after Serena Vale, my jaw tight. “Maybe it just will.”

But one truth burned through me. Day one, and I’d already made enemies.