CADEN
School felt different when I walked through the gates on Monday morning.
Everything looked the same. The same brick buildings, the same clusters of students milling about before the first bell, the same dull hum of conversations I had no interest in joining, but something had shifted.
The air felt heavier, charged with an undercurrent of tension I couldn't quite name. Or maybe I was just projecting.
The weekend had left me raw and unsettled. Zane's words still echoed in my head, a constant reminder that danger lurked in places I couldn't see, and beneath that, always beneath that, was the thought of Ella.
My mate being promised to someone else.
I shoved the thought aside as I made my way through the halls. Dwelling on it wouldn't help, not until I had more information.
The fi
