Kalen filled the doorway, arms crossed. "So. How long are you planning on gracing us with your presence?"
I didn't look up from my mug. "What's it to you?"
"Just calculating my suffering. Is this a week-long sentence? Or a life term?"
I finally turned to face him. "You don't have to talk to me. In fact, let's make a pact: you pretend I'm not here, and I'll do the same for you."
A muscle in his jaw twitched. Not a smile. Something more dangerous. "You've changed, Liora."
"And you're exactly the same." I shot back. "Still taking up all the oxygen in a room."
Another beat of thick silence.
Then his voice dropped, losing its edge. "You smell different."
Every nerve in my body went tight. "Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Say it like that. Like I'm some pathetic, broken thing you're inspecting."
He had the decency to look thrown, just for a second. "I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to." I turned my back on him, but I could feel the low, dormant thing in my chest stir. My wolf. She didn't trust him, but the silence between us now wasn't hatred. It was… recognition. And that was so much worse.
"Stop pretending you give a damn now, Kalen."
"I don't," he said, too fast.
But I'd heard it—that tiny hitch in his breath before he answered. And the memory of his look from last night, the one that held something other than contempt, was a splinter in my mind.
I fled to the woods that afternoon. I needed to breathe air that wasn't saturated with him.
These trees were ancient, their bark gnarled and thick. The place felt old, like it had seen things. I stopped at a creek, my boots sinking into the bank. My reflection stared back: a mess of curls, crooked glasses, a body that was both strong and soft. A body that had never been right.
Not a wolf. Not just a girl. Something in-between.
A twig snapped behind me. I went still, every sense screaming. "Who's there?"
Silence. Then, the crunch of footsteps retreating.
The school hallway was a gauntlet. I kept my head down, my backpack strap digging into my shoulder. I was a ghost here. Or a monster. I wasn't sure which.
Then I passed them. The cheerleaders, a perfect, glittering huddle.
One, a blonde with a venomous smile, didn't bother to whisper. "God, look at the size of her. What, do they not have mirrors where she's from?"
The words were a physical blow. I froze, my face burning.
And then I heard it. That laugh. Kalen's laugh, deep and unmistakable, coming from the center of their group.
The world tilted.
I forced myself to turn. He was leaning against the lockers, surrounded by them. Our eyes met across the crowd. His smirk didn't falter.
"Got something to say, Liora?" he called out, his voice slicing through the chatter. The whole hall seemed to quiet.
"Just admiring your fan club," I said, my voice tighter than I wanted. "Do they follow you home, or do you kennel them after school?"
A few people gasped. His smirk vanished.
One of his friends, a lanky guy with a sneer, chimed in. "Yeah, I heard she eats for five. No wonder she's built like a brick house. Who'd ever want to claim that?"
Kalen's eyes flicked to his friend, then back to me. He didn't say a word to stop him.
That was the real answer, wasn't it?
All the air left my lungs. I turned and pushed through the crowd, my heart a frantic drum against my ribs. The walls felt like they were pressing in. Exiled from my pack, and now a walking joke in this new town. There was no bottom to this.