Claws slashed toward me.
A blur cut across the ring.
Fingers locked around Ivy's wrist mid-swing, stopping her strike inches from my chest. Gasps shook the hall.
Kael.
His grin was gone, replaced with sharp steel in his eyes. "Rules are rules, sweetheart."
Ivy yanked, but his grip didn't budge. Her claws retracted with a hiss.
The instructor stormed forward, face red. "Cross! Out of the ring."
"But—"
"No excuses!" His voice cracked like a whip. "Strike with claws again, and you're expelled."
Ivy's glare darted from Kael to me. Pure venom. She jerked free, storming off as whispers surged.
Kael finally looked at me. "Not bad, wolfless." He winked, stepping back.
Heat crawled up my neck. My heart hammered louder than the crowd.
The instructor barked, "Next pair!"
But nobody was watching the next fight. They were watching me.
Tessa met me at the bench, eyes wide. "You realize what just happened?"
"Yeah," I muttered. "Almost got disemboweled."
"No." She gripped my arm. "Kael touched you. He doesn't touch anyone."
I sank onto the bench, trying to ignore the stares, the whispers.
"Why her?"
"She didn't even shift."
"The alphas never intervene."
I buried my face in my hands. This wasn't attention. It was a spotlight I couldn't escape.
By the time training ended, my nerves felt like frayed wires.
Outside the hall, students spilled into the courtyard, buzzing like bees. Ivy leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, her little entourage clustered close. Her eyes burned holes into me as I passed.
Tessa muttered, "She's planning something."
"She already tried to kill me. How much worse can it get?"
"Don't tempt her."
We climbed the stairs toward the East Wing. I caught movement at the top.
Rylan.
He leaned against the railing, arms folded, watching. No smirk, no grin, just silent calculation.
I stopped halfway up. "What?"
His voice carried, low but firm. "Don't mistake Kael's intervention for protection. We don't protect liabilities."
The words cut deeper than claws.
Before I could reply, he turned and walked off.
Tessa exhaled. "Friendly, isn't he?"
I forced a laugh that came out hollow.
By the time we reached our floor, exhaustion dragged at my bones. My wardrobe door still sat jammed with the chair. I didn't dare move it.
Tessa hovered by her own door. "You okay?"
I nodded, lying through my teeth.
She lingered. "They're circling, Aria. The alphas. You feel it, right?"
I hesitated, pulse quickening. "I feel eyes on me. That's all."
She didn't believe me. But she didn't press.
That night, I lay awake long after lights-out. The whispers from the hall replayed in my head. The heat of Kael's grip. The sharp edge in Rylan's words.
And under it all, something else.
A restless scratching, faint but steady, from the wardrobe.
This time, I didn't cover my ears.
This time, I whispered back.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
Then a whisper, softer than breath: Not who. What.
My heart stopped.
The wardrobe rattled once.
I shut my eyes, every muscle trembling.
When I opened them again, dawn's first light had slipped through the curtains.
And the scratching was gone.
For now.