The teacher arrived shortly after, an older woman named Mrs. Rae who was known for being both fair and too tired to deal with teenage drama. She glanced around the room, took attendance without so much as commenting on Ava’s absence, and started her lecture on pack law with her usual dry tone.
The class dragged on. I tried to focus, taking notes, underlining key phrases about blood oaths and rank ascension rights, but my mind kept drifting back to the hallway, to the feel of Ava’s shoulders under my palms, to the wide, stunned look in her eyes when I’d finally snapped.
I hadn’t meant to pin her.
I hadn’t even planned to say anything.
It just… happened.
And now she was gone.
But it wasn’t just the memory of that moment tugging at my brain. Something felt wrong—off, like the silence ar
