Chapter 6
1335 Words
“Who are you, Rory?”
His voice didn’t sound angry. Just… confused. Hurt, even.
I sat frozen, back straight, heart rattling like a prisoner in its cage. The room was dim, but his eyes cut through the shadows. That golden Alpha gleam. And the worst part?
I knew I couldn’t lie to him. Not now.
I opened my mouth—then closed it again. My throat felt dry.
“Why are you asking me this?” I whispered.
“Because something’s off about you,” Kael said, sitting up fully. “And I didn’t want to believe it at first. But after that spark during training, the way you flinched when I touched you… the way you ran off…”
I didn’t know what to say. Everything inside me screamed run. But something else, something deeper, told me to stay.
“Kael…” I paused, then bit my lip. “I can’t tell you.”
His jaw tightened. “Then it’s true. You’re hiding something.”
“I’m protecting myself.”
“From what?”
You. From you.
“I don’t expect you to understand.”
He exhaled sharply, swinging his legs off the bed. “You’re not who I thought you were. I trusted you.”
That one stung. Because I had trusted him too.
I looked away, trying to swallow the ache in my chest.
“I’m still me,” I said quietly.
“No. You’re someone I don’t know at all.”
His words were a knife. And they hit deep.
Before I could stop him, Kael grabbed his jacket and stormed out.
I sat there in silence, breathing slowly to stop the tears from forming. I couldn’t cry. Not now. Not when things were spiraling this fast.
Riven had warned me I was slipping. And now Kael—my roommate, my friend, maybe something more—was one step away from discovering everything.
I couldn’t let that happen. If the Academy found out I was a girl… if the Head Alpha thought I was compromised…
I’d be dead before morning.
Sleep never came. I just lay there, listening to every creak of the floorboards, every howl outside the walls. My thoughts raced through worst-case scenarios like a carousel I couldn’t get off.
At dawn, I forced myself to get up, throw on my uniform, and head to breakfast.
Kael didn’t show.
Neither did Riven.
I sat in the hall, picking at my food and faking calm as I scanned every face. The other cadets laughed, argued, flirted—just another normal morning for them.
For me? It was like walking a tightrope over a pit full of wolves.
I was halfway through a piece of bread when someone slammed a tray down across from me.
Riven.
“Good morning to you too,” I muttered.
“You need to get it together,” he said under his breath, leaning in. “You’re drawing attention.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Gee, thanks. Didn’t notice.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I,” I snapped. “Kael knows something’s up.”
Riven didn’t even flinch. “Does he know who you are?”
“No. But he’s suspicious.”
“Then stay ahead of him,” he said. “Or I’ll step in and handle it.”
I glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You want Kael alive, right?”
I clenched my fists under the table. “Don’t touch him.”
“Then don’t give him a reason to dig.”
Before I could respond, a loud bang echoed through the hall.
The doors burst open and two enforcers rushed in, dragging a student between them—bloodied, bruised, unconscious.
Gasps filled the air. Chairs scraped. Whispers flew.
“What happened?” I whispered.
Riven’s jaw locked. “That’s Cadet Nolan.”
“He’s in our year,” I murmured. “Quiet. Keeps to himself.”
“Not anymore,” Riven said grimly. “They found him sneaking near the east tower. Restricted zone.”
“So what? That’s a punishment?”
“He wasn’t just sneaking,” Riven said. “He was meeting someone.”
I blinked. “From the resistance?”
“Or worse.”
My stomach churned. I watched as Nolan’s body was dragged away like trash. No one moved to help. No one dared.
That could be me.
That could be Kael.
I left the hall without finishing my meal. My head buzzed with questions. Why was Nolan meeting someone? Who? Was the resistance really that close?
Back in the dorm, Kael still wasn’t there.
I paced the room, then stopped at his bunk. His jacket was missing, but his notebook lay on the pillow. I hesitated.
Then picked it up.
I flipped it open, scanning page after page of training notes, sketches of strategy formations… and then one line that made my heart stop:
“Rory isn’t who he says he is.”
Below it, a list of suspicions. Gaps in my stories. Moments I slipped up. A sketch of the exact expression I wore when our hands touched.
He was keeping track.
“Looking for something?”
I spun around.
Kael stood in the doorway, arms crossed.
“I—” I dropped the notebook like it burned me. “I was just—”
“Snooping?” His voice was cold. Sharp.
“No! I swear—Kael, I was worried.”
He stepped closer, face unreadable. “Why? Because you think I’m going to tell someone?”
“I don’t know what you’re going to do,” I said truthfully. “But I… I’m scared.”
His expression shifted just slightly.
“Of me?”
“Of everything.”
We stared at each other, the silence stretching between us like a taut wire.
Then he said, “You owe me the truth.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it could get us both killed.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Curiosity? Fear?
“I’m not your enemy,” he said. “But if you keep pushing me away, I won’t be your friend either.”
That hit hard.
I watched him turn and walk back out the door again—twice in two days.
This time, I didn’t follow.
I waited until nightfall to slip out of the dorm. The halls were quiet. Too quiet. I stuck to the shadows, heading for the courtyard where Riven said to meet if things got messy.
He was already there, smoking something sharp-smelling and leaning against the statue of some long-dead Alpha.
“You look like hell,” he said.
“I feel worse.”
“You ready to talk?”
“About what?”
“Your decision.”
I crossed my arms. “I’ll do it.”
“You’ll join the resistance?”
“No,” I said. “I’ll help you stop them.”
Riven smirked. “Good. Because you just agreed to betray people who wouldn’t think twice about slitting your throat.”
I swallowed. “Charming.”
He handed me a folded map. “First assignment. A list of names. People we think are involved. Watch them. Don’t get caught.”
I tucked the paper into my sleeve. “What about Nolan?”
“He’s not talking.”
“Then he’s dead, isn’t he?”
Riven didn’t answer.
He didn’t have to.
We parted ways, and I crept back into the dorm before curfew. Kael was asleep—or pretending to be. I crawled into bed, bones aching, mind racing.
I had made my choice.
Now I had to survive it.
Just as I was about to close my eyes, Kael’s voice cut through the silence.
“I heard you leave tonight.”
My breath caught.
“I didn’t follow you,” he added. “But I almost did.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.
“I don’t know who you are, Rory. But I’m going to find out.”
- Writer
