The academy healer patched up my shoulder with minimal sympathy and a lecture about not getting in over my head. I barely listened, too focused on the way my wolf was still agitated, still restless from the fight.
From being so close to Damon Cross.
It wasn't the mate bond—that was reserved for Kade alone. But there was something about Damon, something that made my instincts scream warning even as my wolf was strangely… interested.
I shook it off. I couldn't afford to be distracted by two alpha males. One was already more than I could handle.
When I got back to the stands, Kade was just finishing his second match—a brutal fight against a wolf twice his size that he won with a move so savage the crowd went silent.
He climbed out of the arena, blood on his knuckles, his eyes still gold from his wolf being so close to the surface. When he saw me, something in his expression shifted.
"You're hurt," he said, moving toward me.
"I'm fine. Just a scratch."
His hand caught my arm, gentle but firm, and he pulled aside my torn shirt to examine the bandage on my shoulder. "Damon did this?"
"It's a combat trial, Kade. People get hurt."
"He shouldn't have—" He cut himself off, his jaw clenching. "You're too small to be fighting wolves like him."
I yanked my arm back, anger flaring. "I can handle myself."
"I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying you shouldn't have to." His eyes were intense, searching mine. "There's something about you, Ash. Something that makes my wolf want to—" He shook his head, frustrated. "Never mind. Just be careful, okay?"
Before I could respond, a voice cut through the noise.
"Well, well. The runt survived."
I turned to find Damon approaching, a satisfied smirk on his face. His ear was bandaged where I'd bitten him, and there was a new respect in those ice-blue eyes.
"Barely," I said coolly.
"You've got spirit. I like that." He leaned against the railing, close enough that I could smell his scent—winter and steel and danger. "Most omegas would have submitted the second I pinned them."
My blood ran cold. "I'm not an omega."
His smile widened. "Right. My mistake."
But the way he said it made my stomach twist. Like he knew something. Like he suspected.
Kade stepped between us, his presence suddenly threatening. "Back off, Cross."
Damon's eyebrows rose. "Protective, Thorne? Didn't realize you two were mates."
"We're not," I said quickly. Too quickly.
"Roommates," Kade corrected, his voice hard. "And I don't like you circling him like prey."
"Maybe that's because he smells like prey." Damon's eyes locked on mine, and I saw the predator behind the civilized mask. "But interesting prey. The kind worth hunting."
"Touch him again and you'll regret it," Kade growled.
The air between them crackled with dominance, two alphas on the verge of a challenge.
"Gentlemen." A new voice, smooth and authoritative, cut through the tension. We all turned to find a man in instructor's robes approaching—tall, with silver-streaked hair and dark eyes that missed nothing. "Save your posturing for the arena."
"Professor Hale," Kade said, stepping back respectfully.
The professor's gaze swept over us, lingering on me a moment too long. "Mr. Winters, I presume? I heard about your match. Impressive, for a first-year."
"Thank you, sir."
"Walk with me." It wasn't a request.
I glanced at Kade, who looked like he wanted to protest, then followed Professor Hale away from the arena.
We walked in silence until we were alone in a shadowed corridor. Then he stopped, turning to face me with an expression that made my wolf want to run.
"You're not what you seem," he said quietly.
My heart stopped. "I don't know what you mean."
"Don't insult my intelligence." He stepped closer, and I fought the urge to back away. "I've been teaching at this academy for twenty years. I know when a student is hiding something."
"Everyone here is hiding something," I said, keeping my voice steady. "It's part of survival."
"True. But most students aren't hiding what you're hiding." His eyes dropped to my shoulder, where the binding pressed against my ribs beneath my shirt. "Are they?"
Terror shot through me. He knew. He knew, and now he was going to expose me, and everything would fall apart—
"Relax," he said, his voice gentling. "I'm not going to turn you in."
I stared at him, not daring to hope. "Why not?"
"Because I think you have good reasons for being here. And because—" He paused, choosing his words carefully. "—I knew your mother."
The world tilted.
"My mother?"
"Lyanna Winters. White wolf. Princess of the Silvermoon Pack." His expression softened. "She saved my life once, many years ago. I owed her a debt. And now I'll honor it by keeping your secret."
I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.
"But you need to be more careful," he continued. "Damon Cross is suspicious. And your roommate…" He shook his head. "Kade Thorne is your fated mate, isn't he?"
"How did you—"
"I can see it in the way he looks at you. The way his wolf reacts to your presence, even though he doesn't understand why." Professor Hale's gaze was sympathetic. "That's going to complicate things."
"I can handle it."
"Can you?" He studied me. "Because from where I'm standing, you're one mistake away from discovery. One failed suppressant. One moment where your control slips. And then what?"
"Then I run," I said firmly. "I've been running my whole life. I'm good at it."
"Your mother ran too," he said quietly. "And they still found her. Still killed her."
Pain lanced through my chest. I'd been five when my mother died, when the assassins had torn through our pack, hunting for the white wolf bloodline. My aunt had grabbed me and fled, spending the next fifteen years keeping me hidden, keeping me safe.
Until she'd gotten sick. Until she'd realized she was dying and I'd need to learn to protect myself.
Hence Bloodstone Academy. The last place anyone would look for a white wolf princess.
"I'm not my mother," I said. "I'm stronger."
"I hope you're right." Professor Hale stepped back. "I'll help where I can. But Ashlyn—" He used my real name deliberately. "—the mate bond will only get stronger. Eventually, Kade will figure it out. And when he does, you'll have to make a choice."
"What choice?"
"Whether to trust him with the truth. Or run before he can reject you for the lies."
He walked away, leaving me alone in the corridor with my racing thoughts.
Trust Kade? The idea was insane. I barely knew him. And even if the mate bond made my wolf desperate for him, even if every instinct screamed to claim him—he was still an alpha. Still someone who valued strength and dominance above all else.
If he knew I was an omega, he'd reject me. Just like any alpha would.
If he knew I was a white wolf, he'd either try to protect me—or sell me out to the highest bidder.
No. I couldn't trust anyone. Not even my fated mate.
Especially not my fated mate.
I made my way back to the arena for my remaining matches, my mind made up.
I would keep my distance from Kade Thorne. I would avoid Damon Cross and his suspicions. And I would survive this academy, one day at a time, until I was strong enough to protect myself.
No matter what it cost me.