By the time Ethan's pupils had settled back into something that looked human, the classroom was long empty.

  He opened his eyes, drew in one last slow breath, then pushed his chair back. The legs groaned quietly against the floor.

  I pulled the zipper of my backpack shut with a force that resembled punishment.

  Ethan stood without looking at me. For a second I thought he might say something else. Instead, he walked to the door, shoulders tight again, and stepped into the hall.

  I followed a few seconds later and found him standing just outside the classroom, already in position beside Lara.

  It felt like watching someone forcibly unhook a wire from one outlet and plug it into another. His attention, all that focus that had been pointed at me in the classroom, clicked back toward her.

  I gave him a look, but he ignored it. His jaw tightened only a fraction before his head turned toward Lara as she said his name. Their shoulders aligned by some unconscious lupine choreography that was still beyond my understanding. They looked like they belonged to a world I didn't even have a map for.

  Something in my chest flickered.

  The sensation was so petty and ridiculous that heat rushed to my face. Shame climbed up my throat.

  You don't get to feel like this, I told myself. He is literally barely holding it together because of the stupid chemical mess your existence caused in his brain. He has a fiancée. You have a feral wolf dad in a barn. Get a grip.

  I dug my nails into my palm until it hurt.

  This isn't about him, I told myself again, harder. This is about all of it. The woods, the barn, my very existence. Every system that defined my life has been ripped out and rewired. Of course I am going to latch onto any illusion of normal that exists.

  "Kelsey, walk," Nell said quietly at my side. "We're clogging the hallway."

  Right. I swallowed and moved.

  The three bodies slid back into formation. Ethan and Lara walked slightly ahead, their steps eerily matched, Nell and I forming a second line behind them. To anyone watching, this probably looked like a golden quartet of perfectly arranged high school hierarchy.

  Some kind of weird werewolf ABBA.

  I almost laughed at the thought, then caught myself.

  Students parted, slipping to the sides to let us pass.

  At the corner of my vision I caught sight of Tess's boyfriend again, Nell whispered his name was Ryan, leaning against a locker next to her. His arm was slung casually around her shoulders, but there was nothing casual in his eyes.

  His gaze flicked to me first, pupils dilating, nostrils flaring once. Then, when Ethan was not looking his way, Ryan's attention slid to him.

  The look was quick but too intense to be casual.

  Before I could pin it down, he dropped his head, lips brushing against Tess's hair. She giggled, too loud. They both stepped away, letting us pass.

  Back in the courtyard, at the edge of the old stairs, we ran into Matt and the same pattern repeated.

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  Eyes. Inhale. Pupils. Then a fast glance toward Ethan's back.

  Something predatory moved behind them. Not outward hostility, not exactly. More like… assessment.

  I didn't know enough to interpret it, but I knew I didn't like it.

  None of them stared for more than a second. None of them said anything. On the surface, it didn't look like much. But somehow it felt important.

  I glanced at Nell. The grim expression on her face told me she was noticing it too, even if she hadn't said anything. In this situation, it would probably only make matters worse.

  Ethan didn't seem to notice, his attention too focused on not looking at me.

  We made it through the morning like that. Class. Hallway. Trio waiting. Movement as a unit. Rinse and repeat. By lunch, my nerves were frayed like broken cello strings.

  At the cafeteria, we all sat together. Ethan and Lara shared one side of the table. Nell and I took the other.

  I barely tasted the cheese sandwich I'd made myself back home. Lara gave it a quick, mocking glance.

  "School food not to your liking?" she asked in a honeyed voice, with a razor-sharp smile.

  Ethan's head snapped toward her so fast I gasped. His eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. Lara's eyes slid to him, equally narrowing, as she simultaneously stuck out her chin in defiance. Or challenge.

  Nell cut in before it could escalate. "School food sucks. It's not Kelsey's fault we all settle for this slop they call stew."

  Lara's mouth stretched into a wide, lazy Cheshire-cat smile. Her gaze fixed on me as she said, "You're right, Nell. It's about time we start eating something fresh."

  The way she said fresh made my blood turn cold.

  Ethan bristled, his eyes blowing black like the universe between stars. His hands clenched on the table as he strained to keep his shoulders from trembling.

  Eyes shot in our direction. Whispers hummed all around us.

  This was bad. This was very bad.

  "It's good that you mention it," Nell said, her tone too calm. "I think my brother could use something fresh too. Why don't you two go on a run tonight? Ethan?"

  Seconds ticked.

  Ethan's jaw clenched. Unclenched. His gaze darted to me. I held it, watched his nostrils flare, the amber in his eyes pulse.

  Beneath the table, my hands groped the hem of my vest.

  Damn it, Ethan, hold it together.

  Then he exhaled, shoulders lowering a bit. "Yes." He faced Lara. "It sounds like a good idea."

  I expected to feel relief. A part of me did, while another part sat under the weight of something I didn't have a name for.

  A run.

  A run meant… the other form. It meant… woods.

  Elise's words echoed inside my skull: You can't go in there. It's a hunting ground.

  "Excellent." Lara grinned, her eyes staying on me in a way that was perfectly deliberate. "It's a date."

  I gritted my teeth. In that moment, I wanted to punch her in that smug face. But I knew I risked both losing a hand and triggering a full pack war, so I pushed it down.

  It wasn't that I didn't understand why she was being so mean. I had no doubt she saw me as the culprit for her "disciplinary measure," or whatever the hell that was. She knew it was me who'd spilled the beans about the bathroom incident despite the warning.

  I was lucky she'd stopped at this. For now.

  The thought sent another wave of chills down my spine, along with the beginnings of a migraine.

  By the time the last bell rang, my head pounded.

  Outside, the afternoon light was thin and pale. The parking lot looked almost exactly like it had that morning. The same scattered cars. The same groups. The same gap in the middle.

  "Text me when you get home," Nell said, like a general issuing orders. Her gaze flicked to Ethan then settled back to me. "I need to know you arrived home safely. Got it?"

  "Got it," I said.

  She gave me a curt nod and drifted off toward a group of girls arguing about something.

  Lara and Ethan stood near my car, not close enough to touch, but within each other's orbit. Lara said something I didn't catch, then peeled away to join Tess and Irene, who were waiting by the curb, that awful, sickening smile all over her face.

  I slung my backpack into the passenger seat and rounded the hood to the driver's side.

  Before I opened the door, I felt it. That prickling sensation at the back of my neck. I didn't need to look up to know where it was coming from.

  Ethan stood near the edge of the lot, hands in his pockets, watching me. His posture was deceptively relaxed, but his attention was laser-focused. His pupils were not as blown as earlier, but they were still too big, too dark.

  The instant our eyes met, something carried across the distance. A tiny vibration under my skin. The same tug as that morning, muted now, but still there.

  My hand tightened on the door handle.

  He remained still, only inclining his chin a fraction of an inch, like a silent check-in.

  You okay?

  I nodded, barely, and got in the car.

  As I drove out of the lot, the sensation of his gaze followed me. It stayed there, between my shoulder blades, all the way down the road until the school drowned behind the trees.

  Only then did it slowly fade.