The days after the claim settled into a strange new rhythm.
I was no longer the girl people whispered about in the gaps between classes. I was the future Alpha’s recognized mate—the outsider Beta who had stood in the pack hall and not been sent away. The shift was visible everywhere. Students who used to look through me now tracked my movements with cautious attention. Ranking wolves who had dismissed me outright gave thin, measured nods in the hallways. Even the teachers carried a slightly different tone when they said my name.
It should have felt like victory.
Most of the time it just felt like learning to breathe under a heavier sky.
Tristan remained the constant at the center of it. He no longer moderated the way he stayed near me. His hand found the small of my back in the courtya
