Chapter 1: Invisible Girl
Seren's POV
I learned to be invisible at Blackthorn Academy.
It wasn't hard. When you're labeled a Surrogate Beta, people stop seeing you anyway. You become background noise, a body filling space in formation drills, a name on attendance sheets that professors skim past without stopping.
Three years I've perfected this art.
I keep my head down in the cafeteria, grab whatever gray slop they're serving, and sit at the corner table near the trash bins where nobody else wants to be. The smell doesn't bother me anymore. Nothing much bothers me anymore.
That's what I tell myself every morning.
"Move."
The command comes from behind me, sharp and cold. I don't need to turn around to know who it is. That voice has haunted me since my first day here.
Kade Ravaryn.
Alpha heir. Future pack leader. Walking nightmare.
I step aside without looking up, clutching my tray tighter. My knuckles turn white against the plastic. The oatmeal sloshes dangerously close to the edge, but I steady it. Wasting food means going hungry, and surrogates don't get second servings.
Kade doesn't move past me.
I feel him standing there, radiating heat and dominance like a furnace. My wolf stirs uncomfortably inside my chest. She's weak, barely present most days, but even she recognizes danger when it's breathing down our neck.
"I said move, Surrogate."
The way he says that word, Surrogate, makes it sound like an insult. Like I chose this. Like I wanted to be the bottom of the hierarchy, the placeholder wolf that exists only because pack training exercises require even numbers.
I take another step to the left.
His hand shoots out, catching my tray. The movement is fast, precise, and completely unnecessary. He tilts it just enough that my oatmeal slides off the edge and splatters across the floor in a gray puddle.
"Oops," he says.
His voice is empty. Not mocking, not amused. Just empty.
That's worse somehow.
I stare at the mess on the floor, at my only meal for the next six hours, and something hot builds behind my eyes. I won't cry. I haven't cried since my first week here, and I won't give him the satisfaction now.
"Clean it up," Kade says.
He walks away before I can respond, his pack of Alpha friends trailing after him like satellites orbiting the sun. Their laughter echoes off the cafeteria walls, bouncing around my skull long after they disappear through the doors.
I kneel down with paper towels from the dispenser near the trash bins. My hands shake slightly as I wipe up the oatmeal. Around me, conversations continue like nothing happened. Because to everyone else, nothing did happen.
This is normal.
This is just another Tuesday.
"Seren."
Luna appears beside me, her tray balanced in one hand while she crouches down to help. Her red hair falls forward, creating a curtain between us and the rest of the cafeteria.
"Don't," I whisper.
"Don't what? Help my friend?"
"You'll get in trouble."
Luna snorts. "I'm a real Beta, remember? They can't touch me."
She says it without cruelty, just stating facts. Luna earned her rank through the trials, proved herself worthy of standing second to an Alpha. We both know the difference between her status and mine.
But she's still here, kneeling on the dirty cafeteria floor, helping me clean up food I'll never get to eat.
That counts for something.
"Why does he hate you so much?" Luna asks quietly.
I've wondered the same thing for three years. Kade's cruelty toward me feels personal, targeted, like I did something to offend him in a past life. But we've never spoken beyond his commands and my silence.
"I don't know," I admit.
"Maybe you remind him of someone."
"Maybe he's just an asshole."
Luna laughs, quick and bright. "Definitely that too."
We finish cleaning and dump the soggy towels in the trash. My stomach growls, angry and empty. Lunch won't come for another five hours. I'll survive. I always do.
"Come on," Luna says, linking her arm through mine. "Thane's class starts in ten minutes, and you know he hates tardiness."
Professor Thane is the only teacher who actually calls on me, who seems to see me as more than just a Surrogate filling space. His ancient pack law class should be boring, all history and tradition, but something about the way he teaches makes the old stories feel alive.
Like they matter.
Like maybe I matter too.
We head toward the east wing, passing groups of students who part automatically for Luna and flow back together after we pass, barely noticing me at all.
Invisible.
Safe.
Alone.
I tell myself I prefer it this way.
I tell myself a lot of lies.
