Chapter 24

Lyra

Cassidy was immediately expelled and sent home from Ravencrest after the incident. Once she was gone, other students came out about how much they couldn’t stand her and how glad they were that she was gone.

Her bad behavior quickly became the talk of the university, and even her friends who had once bullied me disbanded and went their separate ways, no longer wanting to be associated with her memory.

For a few short weeks, life was good.

Aside from Bianca always hovering around, no one bothered me at school. I was able to keep my head down and focus on my classes, which was always my main goal. I had to focus on passing my Alpha courses, after all, if I wanted to obtain the unsealing ritual from Ronan.

During those weeks, I also kept my distance from Kael. If I saw him heading my way, I would usually slip down another corridor or keep my nose in a book like I didn’t feel those dark eyes staring at me. We never talked, and I never gave him a reason to meddle in my personal life.

The only time I had no choice but to interact with him was in my combat training class, of course, seeing as how he was still the teaching assistant. Those days were the most uncomfortable, but also the most important—if I didn’t pass that class, then I would never be designated Alpha.

But Kael didn’t make it easy. He still didn’t think that I would be able to pass the class on my own, and all he ever cared about was his reputation, so he constantly worried that I would sully the Draven name when I failed.

It didn’t matter how well I held my own or how insistent I was that I could do it. He thought I was weak, and because I refused to drop out of the class, he would usually try to find a way to force me.

Some days, he would simply claim I looked sick and would make me sit out. Others, he would just go so hard on me in our drills that I would nearly collapse with exhaustion.

I liked those latter days, though, because they pushed me to improve. I could feel myself getting stronger each week, finally making up for years of having a suppressed wolf.

It was early on a Monday morning, the first Monday of October, when I walked into class. The air was particularly crisp and cool that day, the gray sky promising rain later on. My kind of day—the kind of day in which I could spend the afternoon in the library with Mia, the one place Bianca never seemed to follow me.

When I entered the training room and set my bag down by the wall, I found that the other students had already gathered around the sparring mats and were murmuring amongst themselves. I jogged over to join the group and was just standing on my tiptoes to see what was going on when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned to see two female students watching me. One was brunette with a nose ring and the other was a petite redhead.

“You must know, right?” the brunette asked. “Who Kael’s secret girlfriend is?”

I resisted the urge to groan out loud. This again? Seriously?

Kael’s “mysterious girlfriend” had been the talk of Ravencrest since that night he’d been caught carrying me, and that was weeks ago. I’d hoped that everyone would finally stop talking about it, but the rumors only got worse after Cassidy left. Some people even speculated that Kael’s new girlfriend staged the entire incident with Cassidy to make her leave so they could be together.

It was all bullshit, of course. But it also wasn’t my problem if people were gossiping about Kael’s dating habits.

I shrugged. “No clue. Kael and I don’t talk like that.”

The redhead looked unsatisfied. “Surely he’s said something to you.”

“Nope.” I turned to look back at the sparring mats in the center of the ring of students. Kael had just walked in and was taking attendance, and to my surprise, Luca was standing beside him in a teaching assistant’s uniform.

My brows lifted in question when Luca looked my way, and he simply smirked and wiggled his fingers at me, making me roll my eyes.

“Hmph. I still think it’s that Bianca girl,” the brunette whispered to her friend, nodding toward the classroom door. “I mean, she’s already a good match for him, being the Alpha daughter of Stoneridge pack and all, plus they’re both so good-looking.”

Right. A match made in fucking Heaven.

I glanced over at Bianca, who had just entered the room. Her eyes flicked to me and she waved, smiling, but it was Kael who she was really looking at as she sauntered across the room and came to stand beside me.

I didn’t comment on the fact that the way she was primping her tits in her sparring t-shirt or the makeup she’d obviously put on today made her look ridiculous. It wasn’t my business. If she and Kael wanted each other, then more power to them.

It would just make it that much easier to reject Kael as my mate when I finally unsealed my wolf.

“Alright, everyone line up,” Kael said, clapping his hands together to draw everyone’s attention. “You’re drawing lots today; if you draw a stick with the number ‘one’ on it, go to Luca’s sparring group. If you draw a ‘two’, you’re in my group.”

Everyone lined up obediently and drew sticks. Bianca shoved ahead of me unceremoniously and drew hers. Her little squeal of delight when she drew Kael’s group was audible across the room, making those two girls from earlier whisper to each other. Thankfully, I drew Luca’s group.

“Thank the Goddess,” I muttered under my breath as I walked up to Luca. I’d done well to avoid Kael so far over the past few weeks and really wasn’t in the mood today to hear him try to convince me to drop out of this class for the millionth fucking time.

Luca flashed me that signature smirk of his. “What, not interested in pairing up with your favorite brother?”

“Adoptive brother,” I corrected, crossing my arms over my chest, “and no, not particularly. He’s always trying to tell me I should drop out of this class.”

“In his defense, a wolfless’s chances of passing this class are slim to—”

I flashed Luca a withering glare before he could finish, and he held his hands up in surrender, snapping his mouth shut. “Point taken. Maybe you’ll do just fine, wolf or no wolf, if you keep up with that attitude.”

I couldn’t help but smile faintly at that. “I’m glad to know someone has at least a little faith in me.”

Luca hesitated, then parted his lips as if about to say something more. But before he could, a shadow passed over us. Stiffening, I turned to find Kael standing behind me. His gaze passed over me, lingering briefly on the number “one” stick I was holding in my hand, before he jerked his chin toward Luca.

“Luca, switch with me.”

“What? Why?” Luca looked between the two of us, noting the way Kael’s gaze remained locked on mine.

“Just switch.”

I clenched my fist, but Luca nodded and patted my shoulder before walking away to join the other group on the opposite sparring mat. Bianca, standing next to the mat, looked like she was about to pop.

Kael’s eyes never broke from mine as he leaned in close enough so only I could hear him when he spoke.

“Now you’re in my group, Lyra.”