From His Luna to His Rival's Mate

Chapter 6

SELENE

Sunlight came through the tall windows of the lecture hall in long, warm strips. The room smelled like old books and fresh ink.

Around me, students filled the seats quickly, talking about weekend plans and tests they hadn't studied for yet. I kept my head down and opened my notebook, trying to focus.

Professor Harlan walked in. He was tall, with silver streaks cutting through his dark hair and eyes that caught every small movement in the room. He set a thick book on the desk and looked at all of us like he was reading something written on our faces.

"Today we begin our study of Bloodlines," he said.

"Every werewolf in this academy carries the blood of the ancient houses. Some lines are strong and well known. Others have grown quiet over the years, waiting for the right moment to show what they were always capable of."

I sat up a little straighter just as a girl in the front row raised her hand. "Professor, can a quiet bloodline suddenly become strong again?"

"Yes." He didn't hesitate. "It can happen through great trauma, a powerful mate bond, or other rare events. Some bloodlines carry gifts that haven't appeared for many generations. That doesn't mean they're gone."

His words stayed with me as he moved through the lesson. He called students forward one by one to speak about their family lines. When his eyes landed on me, my stomach pulled tight.

"Selene Vale," he said. "Tell the class about your bloodline."

I stood and walked to the front. I could feel eyes following me the whole way, including Calder's from somewhere in the back. I kept my shoulders straight and my voice even.

"My family belongs to the Vale bloodline," I said. "It's listed as dormant in most records."

Professor Harlan gave a slow nod. "Correct. The Vale line was once known for its deep connection to the Moon Goddess herself. Ancient texts describe members of this line who could sense the true feelings of others, especially during full moons. But that ability hasn't shown itself clearly for many generations."

A low murmur moved through the room. I walked back to my seat and stared at my notebook without writing anything.

The words kept turning over in my head. 'Could sense the true feelings of others.' Was something like that even real?

When class ended, I packed my books and moved toward the door. "Selene, wait."

Elara appeared beside me with a bright smile, her hand reaching out to touch my arm lightly. "I just wanted to ask, are you nervous about the Lunar Trial?"

The second her fingers made contact, something strange hit me, a wave of heat rushed up through my skin, and with it came a feeling that wasn't mine. Burning jealousy, with something darker underneath it and for one sharp second I saw Calder in my mind, not as myself, but like I was looking through someone else's eyes entirely.

I pulled my arm back fast and blinked, my heart knocking hard against my chest. What was that? I pressed my lips together and told myself it was stress. It had to be stress.

"I'm fine," I said, keeping my voice steady. "I can handle the trial."

Elara's smile didn't move, but her eyes shifted just for a second, before going smooth again. "Of course you can. You always work so hard at everything."

She turned and walked away like nothing had happened.

I stood there a moment longer than I should have. That feeling had been too real to shake off. I rubbed the spot on my arm where she had touched me and stepped outside into the open air, breathing slowly until my chest loosened.

Students moved around me in every direction, laughing, talking, living like the world was completely simple. I wished I could feel that way too.

That afternoon, I sat alone on a courtyard bench with a book open in my lap that I wasn't really reading. Just then a delivery boy walked up holding a large bouquet of red roses.

"These are for Selene Vale," he said.

I took them slowly. A small white card was tucked between the blooms. I pulled it free and read it.

"We need to talk. You can't keep avoiding me. — Calder"

I stared at it for a long moment. The roses smelled sweet, but they made my chest feel heavy instead of warm. I set the bouquet on the bench beside me and looked up.

That was when I saw Kael, he was standing near the fountain across the courtyard, talking with two other students. The sunlight caught his dark hair and the line of his shoulders, which were tight in a way that told me his mind wasn't fully in that conversation.

He must have felt me watching, because he turned and our eyes met.

It lasted only a second, then he looked away and went back to talking like nothing had happened, like I wasn't sitting twenty feet away holding someone else's flowers.

He was still keeping his distance. I didn't know if that made me angry or just tired, I left the roses on the bench and walked to the library.

The library was quiet and cool. I moved through the tall shelves slowly, trailing my fingers along the spines of old books, pulling out anything that mentioned bloodlines or the Vale name. I sat at a corner table and read until the words started to blur. I found nothing I didn't already know.

When I finally stepped back outside, the sun had dropped lower in the sky and the air had turned cooler. I stood at the top of the library steps for a moment, letting the breeze hit my face.

My mind kept coming back to that moment with Elara, the jealousy that wasn't mine, the way it had felt like someone else's emotion had poured straight into me without asking.

I didn't understand it, and the things I didn't understand were starting to pile up faster than I could manage.

By the time I reached the path back to the dorm, I had made up my mind. I was done waiting.

Kael might not want to talk to me, he had made that clear enough. But I hadn't gone through everything I'd already gone through just to stand still and hope things worked themselves out. I wasn't built that way anymore. I would find him, and this time, I wasn't walking away first.