Chapter 1 First Day

• The suitcase wheel caught on the stone path, and I nearly went down with it.
• "Move it, four eyes!"
• The shove came from nowhere, hard enough to knock the air out of me. I hit the ground with my palms first, gravel biting into my skin, and my heart slammed against my ribs before I even understood what had happened.
• My glasses. Where were my glasses?
• "No, no, no," I whispered, patting the ground around me, my fingers shaking. Without them, the world blurred into shapes and colors I couldn't trust, and worse, without them, I wasn't safe. Nobody here knew that. Nobody here could ever know that.
• My fingers brushed metal, and I grabbed the frame so fast I nearly bent it. I shoved the glasses back onto my face and sat there for a second, breathing hard, waiting for my hands to stop trembling.
• A group of guys were already walking off like nothing happened, laughing about something else entirely. One of them, tall, broad-shouldered, dark hair pushed back like he hadn't looked in a mirror all morning, didn't even glance back.
• "Are you okay?"
• I looked up. A different guy was crouched in front of me, blond hair falling over his forehead, brown eyes creased with actual concern. He didn't wait for an answer before he started gathering my scattered suitcases.
• "I'm fine," I said, even though my palms were stinging and my pride hurt worse.
• "That's Rhett's cousin, Tobias. He's got main character syndrome and zero manners." He stood and offered his hand. "Sorry about him. Some people around here think the school owes them something."
• I took his hand and let him pull me up. "Does it? Do you owe them something?"
• He laughed, and it sounded real, not polite. "Depends who you ask." He looked me over, not in a weird way, just curious. "First day?"
• "That obvious?"
• "You've got the look. Equal parts excited and terrified." He held out one of my suitcases. "I'm Kian. Student council, tour guide, occasional suitcase rescuer."
• "Wren," I said, and something in my chest loosened, just slightly.
• We started walking, and I had to take two steps for every one of his. The campus stretched out ahead of us, stone buildings with ivy crawling up the sides, the mountains rising green and hazy behind them. It looked exactly like it had in the brochure, except now I was actually standing in it, suitcase handle sweating in my palm.
• "So who's Rhett?" I asked, because Kian had said the name like it meant something.
• Kian's eyebrows lifted. "You don't know who Rhett Calloway is?"
• "Should I?"
• "He's kind of a big deal around here. Future Alpha. His dad basically runs half the pack council." He said it casually, but there was something careful underneath it, like he was choosing his words. "People either want to be near him or stay far away from him. Not a lot in-between."
• "Which one are you?"
• "Neither. I just try not to get in his way." He grinned, easy and unbothered. "So, Wren. Small pack, healer training, guessing you're around eighteen?"
• I blinked at him. "How did you know that?"
• "Lucky guess." His eyes lingered on me a second too long, like he was working out a puzzle he hadn't solved yet. "You've got that look too. Healers always do. Careful eyes."
• I didn't answer that. It felt too close to something I didn't want to talk about, not on my first day, not with someone I'd known for five minutes.
• We reached the front of the grand hall, and the noise hit me first, dozens of voices bouncing off high ceilings, suitcases rolling over marble floors, someone laughing too loud near the fountain in the center. It was overwhelming, but in a good way, like walking into the beginning of something.
• "This is you," Kian said, nodding toward a long desk near the far wall. "Front desk. They'll get you your room key and schedule."
• "Thanks. Really." I meant it more than the words probably showed.
• "Don't mention it." He handed my suitcases over, then hesitated, like he wanted to say something else. "Hey, watch yourself around Tobias. And if Rhett ever looks at you, don't take it personal if he doesn't say anything back. He's not exactly warm."
• "Noted," I said, even though I had no plans to be anywhere near either of them again.
• Kian smiled and turned to leave, already waving at someone else across the hall like he knew half the school by name. I watched him go, feeling steadier than I had five minutes ago, and turned toward the front desk.
• That was when I felt it.
• A weight on my shoulder blades, heavy and deliberate, like someone was staring straight through me. I turned, scanning the crowd, and found him instantly.
• Rhett Calloway stood near the far staircase, arms crossed, not talking to the two guys next to him even though they were clearly talking to him. His eyes were locked on me, dark and unreadable, the kind of stare that made my skin prickle under my sleeves.
• I looked away first. I told myself it didn't mean anything.
• But when I glanced back a second later, he was still watching, and his hand had drifted up to his own throat, right where a chain would sit.
• Right where my amulet sat against my collarbone, warm and heavy, exactly the way it always had.
• Except right now, for the first time in ten years, it felt like it was slipping.