Chapter 20

Lyra

“I’m not trying to avoid you.” I pulled my arm away and tried to ignore the heat his palm had left behind. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play stupid, Lyra. You’ve been acting strangely for days now, avoiding me every chance you get. Treating me like a stranger.”

His words sent another pang shooting through me, but I deliberately forced the feelings down. Believing that Kael actually secretly wanted me around, that he was actually upset that I had been distancing myself, was part of what led to my death in my past life.

I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

“Believe it or not,” I said coolly, “I do have my own things to deal with.”

“Like running off into the restricted forest in your first week of school?”

I pressed my lips together, trying not to think about the real reasons why I had gone into the forest tonight. Even if I told Kael what had happened, he wouldn’t believe me. He would just assume I was making up lies again for attention.

And he certainly wouldn’t believe that his precious Cassidy had caused all of it.

I cleared my throat. “It was an accident. I just got lost.” I lifted my chin. “Besides, why do you care if I’m distant from you or not? You’ve always wished I would stop clinging to you. Well, here I am, not clinging to you. Shouldn’t you be happy that your freak foster sister isn’t bothering you anymore?”

Kael didn’t respond. Just stared at me as if in shock.

Not wanting to continue this conversation, I turned and retreated into my dorm, quietly closing the door behind me. He didn’t knock or call out, and a moment later, I heard the floorboards creak on the other side as he left.

For a moment, I just leaned against the door, shutting my eyes and breathing deeply to calm myself. The room was deadly quiet save for the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves outside and Bianca’s soft snoring as she slept.

Kael did not care about me like that. The only reason why he was so concerned about getting me out of the forest unscathed and ensuring I didn’t get caught was so he didn’t get in trouble with Celene.

Besides, he was probably only unaccustomed to the lack of flattery. He’d gotten so used to me fawning over him every chance I got that he was likely just confused and disoriented now that I’d suddenly stopped.

For me, it wasn’t so sudden, but rather years and an entire death’s worth of agony that led me to distance myself.

But he could never know that.

By the following morning, the campus was already buzzing with gossip. I could hear the whispers amongst a group of nearby females as I slid into my seat in history class.

“Did you hear? Kael Draven has a new girlfriend…”

“I thought his girlfriend was Cassidy?”

“After the way he treated her at the welcoming ceremony, ignoring her like that, they must have broken up,” another student chimed in. “And he got a new girlfriend already.”

The first student sighed wistfully. “Shame. I guess I should have suspected he’d move on quickly, seeing as how attractive he is, but it sucks that none of us stood a chance.”

I kept my head down, refusing to engage with the gossip. Mostly, I just feared that if I did, everyone would see the foolish blush that heated my face and would accuse me of being Kael’s new “girlfriend”.

Which, technically, I was. Or at least, “girlfriend” was the excuse he used to get us out of trouble.

Of course that would never actually be a reality. And I wasn’t about to waste my second chance at life imagining that it could be. I did not love Kael anymore.

“Hey.” Mia slid into the seat next to me and nudged me with her elbow. “I hear Kael has a new girlfriend.”

Her sing-song voice made me whip my head up. She was smirking. “Don’t you dare,” I whispered.

Mia grinned impishly. “I heard he was seen carrying a girl around last night. How’s your ankle feeling this morning?”

“Fine,” I said, which was true. I’d woken up without an ounce of pain this morning, courtesy of my wolf. That was for the best, because a limp would have given me away already, and I couldn’t risk getting caught for going into the eastern forest.

Mia wiggled her eyebrows, but didn’t press the matter any further.

After class, we headed to lunch together. I picked up a salad and a cup of warm cider in the banquet hall, and Mia and I sat at the far end of one of the long tables—as far as we could get from Cassidy and her other two cronies, who were currently shooting us glares from across the room.

One of the cronies waved her fingers at Mia, who shuddered and looked away.

“What happened last night,” I said, keeping my voice low so only Mia could hear, “are you… alright?”

To my surprise, Mia nodded. “Yeah. I kinda had a feeling that was coming.” She sighed and stabbed at her pasta with her fork. “I recorded them bullying you and they wanted me to delete the footage. When I refused, I figured they would retaliate.”

I swallowed a big gulp of my cider. It warmed my throat.

“You should take the footage to the principal,” I pointed out.

Mia sighed. “I’d like to, but… I feel like it’s not enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cassidy is the daughter of a Beta, and her family paid her way into Ravencrest. If I show the footage to the principal—and I have footage from multiple occasions, not just what happened with you—it might get swept under the rug. And then Cassidy will just come after me tenfold.”

I furrowed my brow, considering Mia’s words. She was right; Cassidy’s family status would likely get her out of trouble, and her reputation at Ravencrest would remain pristine.

“Give me the footage,” I blurted out.

Mia’s dark brows shot up. “Huh?”

“I’ll handle it. Cassidy is my problem, not yours.” I popped a cherry tomato into my mouth. “Trust me. Cassidy won’t come after you.”

“But—”

“It’s the least I can do,” I offered, smiling. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to get back at her for a long time.”

…

By Friday afternoon, it happened.

“My class report is on the history of wolves in the eastern hemisphere,” Cassidy announced to the class as she plugged her flash drive into the USB port on the class laptop. The projector flickered as her presentation popped up.

Only it wasn’t her presentation.

“Professor Kingsley is a fat old fuck,” Cassidy’s voice echoed through the room. “I’m just waiting for him to keel over from a heart attack…”

The entire class gasped. Cassidy’s blonde ponytail whipped her in the face as she whirled around to stare at the projector screen, where shaky camera footage of her and her friends was playing.

Professor Kingsley, sitting at his desk off to the side, was so red he looked like he was about to burst, jowls trembling with fury.

“Cassidy Knox,” the professor said, slowly rising from his seat, “do you care to explain yourself?”