Elora’s POV
“I wasn’t ignoring you, I was just—” I stopped.
Declan raised a single brow, and the excuse died in my mouth.
He wasn’t stupid.
Of course he knew.
“Why are you hiding all the way over here?” He speared a piece of vegetable off his plate.
I couldn’t help a laugh.
“I’m not hiding.”
“You’re sitting alone.
In the corner.
Behind a plant the size of a small tree.” He nodded at the ridiculous potted monster beside me.
“That’s textbook hiding.”
I laughed harder, meeting those curious brown eyes—though my fingers still held a faint tremor from Sabrina’s blood-drawing glare an hour before.
There was something about Declan that unknotted me.
He wasn’t cold or arrogant or quick to judge like the rest of the Lycans.
He was just… normal.
“So.
First day.
How’s it treating you?” He popped another bite.
“Already plotting your escape over the gates?”
“If they’d open them.” I cracked a smile.
“From what I hear, you’re doing fine.
Better than fine.” He grinned.
“First day, and you’ve already got a trial with the Elite Team?”
I stared at him, thrown.
“How do you know that?”
“Are you going to eat?” he asked instead, eyeing my untouched tray.
“How do you know about the Elite Team?”
He leaned back, chuckling.
“Student council.
Word travels fast.
And the Elite Team is not nothing, Elora.”
He reached across, stole my fork, and stabbed it into a piece of pasta.
“Hey—” I protested.
But my mouth opened anyway when he brought it to my lips, and I let him feed me.
He watched me chew while I tried to swallow the fact that everyone here already knew my business.
Every hallway in this place gossiped about every other.
Which was one more reason to be careful around Varek.
Declan offered another bite.
I took it without thinking.
“I’m on the team too,” he said, grinning.
“So we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
Relief loosened something in my chest.
The idea of Declan being there made the whole thing feel less like walking into a lion’s den.
“What are they like?
The people on the team?”
“Most of them are decent.” He talked around a full mouth.
“There’s me, Varek—”
“The Lycan Prince is on the Elite Team?” A cold thread wound down my spine.
Declan gave me a strange look.
“Obviously.
He’s one of the best.”
I bit my lip and tried to keep the panic off my face.
Of course Varek was on it.
Why wouldn’t he be?
The whole school called him their golden boy, and golden boys belonged on teams like that.
Declan huffed a laugh, misreading me.
“If you’re scared he’s going to bump into you again—don’t be.
Varek likes to poke at people.
Don’t take it personally.
It’s just how he is.”
Just how he is.
He’d flattened me on my first day and named me four-eyes before I’d even stood back up.
I forced the smile.
“Oh, I’m not worried about him.”
Declan held my gaze a second too long.
And from the easy confusion on his face, I understood something: his best friend hadn’t told him about the bond.
He had no idea.
Varek hadn’t told him because he was ashamed of me.
The same reason I hadn’t told Hazel.
We were each other’s dirty little secret.
“You know,” Declan said, “the high teachers need about ten seconds to decide if someone’s worthy.
So you must be a seriously good healer.”
The exact thing Helena had said, watching the doubt on my face.
“I hope so,” I murmured.
“If you’re on the team, you’ll know my brother.
Garrett?” I said.
Declan stopped mid-chew, a piece of vegetable falling right back onto his tray.
“I had no idea you two were related.” He blinked.
“No way you’re from the same pack as that.”
A laugh slipped out of me.
“That’s exactly what I thought about your sister and your precious Lycan Prince.”
He shrugged, chuckling.
“Fair.”
Coming from anyone else, the jab about my family might have stung.
From Declan, it didn’t.
It never did.
“I hope my sister’s not making your life hell in that dorm.
She can be a lot.”
“Meh.” I rolled my shoulders, brushing off her performance this morning.
“She’s barely ever there.”
Because she’s with Varek.
Before either of us could say more, someone shouted for Declan across the cafeteria.
“I’ll catch you later.” He stood, circled the table, and ruffled a hand through my hair.
“Stop it.” I laughed, swatting him off.
“See you around, beautiful.” He winked and jogged off to his friends as they filed out.
Beautiful.
That was a long way from four-eyes.
His company had been a small warmth, but the second he was gone, my head went straight back to Varek.
Knowing he was on the Elite Team drained whatever lift Declan had given me.
Just picturing us in the same room made me nauseous.
Why did it have to be him?
Of everyone in this academy, why had the Moon Goddess pointed at him?
I’d walked in terrified of the team for a dozen other reasons.
Now there was only one.
I still hadn’t rejected him.
And I knew—knew—he’d turn my life into a slow-burning hell if I didn’t.
I had to deal with the bond before I so much as set foot near that team.
The rest of the day blurred by, and after a long stretch in the library I finally dragged myself back to the dorm.
“Hey!” Hazel called from the couch, sprawled with her phone, texting through a huge smile—her mate, probably.
She flicked her eyes to Sabrina’s shut door, and I got the warning.
Sabrina and Chloe were back in the dorm.
For once.
“Hey.” I dropped down beside her.
“How was your day?”
“Fine.
Yours?”
I let my bag hit the table and groaned.
“Long.
So long.”
She laughed and sat up.
“You look like you crawled off a battlefield.”
“Feels like it.” I rolled my eyes.
She had no idea.
“Don’t tell me you’re already thinking about dropping out.”
“Dropping out?” I flopped onto my back.
“Never.
Just a long day.”
She leaned over, brows up.
“You’ve got that look.
Something’s eating you.”
I hesitated.
The whole tangle sat right there behind my teeth—the festival, Varek, the bond, the kiss, the Elite Team mess.
Where would I even begin?
“Really.
It’s nothing.”
She didn’t buy it.
But she didn’t push, either.
“Well.
If you ever need to vent, I’m here.”
“Thanks.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her.
I did.
But something about all of it made me want to hold it close.
Next to her fairytale, my story was just embarrassing.
“So,” she said, “I heard some news.”
“What news?” I sat back up.
Her grin turned sly.
“About… the Elite Team?”
Declan really hadn’t been exaggerating.
Everyone talked about everyone.
“How did you hear about that?”
She tossed her phone onto the table with a laugh.
“Are you kidding?
It’s all anyone’s saying!
First day of school and you’ve already got a trial.
That’s huge, Elora.”
“It’s been a few hours,” I exhaled.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“You’re not going to screw it up,” she said, firm.
“Some of the girls told me what you did with those fish.
You’re talented.
You’ll fit right in.”
She made it sound so simple.
If only the Elite Team were the only thing keeping me up at night.
My phone buzzed against my thigh.
An email notification.
I opened it, and my stomach dropped through the floor.
Elite Team Trial — Two Days From Now.
Two days.
My trial was in two days.
No.
No, no.
The calendar rearranged itself in my head.
Two days to reject Varek.
And Sabrina was in her room right now—which meant this was the window.
It had to be now.
I didn’t have a choice.
“What’s wrong?” Hazel laughed.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s nothing.
I just—I need to run out for a bit.” I shoved off the couch.
I reached for an excuse and stopped myself.
I didn’t want to lie to her again.
“I have to talk to someone.
Won’t be long.”
She nodded, curious but kind enough not to dig.
“Okay.
Don’t be out too late.
Curfew.”
“I know.
I’ll be quick.”
I walked out of Lunar Hall and cut across the dark campus, all the way to the Combat, Strategy and Leadership Hall, where I knew Varek would be.
How did I know?
Varek was a name that traveled.
A few days in, and I’d already overheard exactly where he lived and which room was his.
I pulled my hood low, checked the near-empty corridor for eyes, and climbed the stairs.
There it was—the big dark door at the end of the hall, his name mounted on it, precisely as the girls had described.
Large.
Black.
Built to intimidate.
Just like him.
The closer I got, the louder the part of me screaming to turn around—but I made myself keep moving.
I hadn’t come this far to lose my nerve on the threshold.
I had to reject him.
Simple as that.
I stopped in front of the door and breathed.
What if he wouldn’t talk to me?
What if he slammed it in my face?
Too late to run.
Before I could talk myself out of it a second time, I balled my fist and knocked.
Once.
Twice.
An eternity.
The door swung open, and I whipped my guilty fist behind my back.
Varek stood there.
Shirtless.
Skin damp and faintly gleaming, like he’d just walked out of the shower.
His scent hit me before anything else—clean, sharp, intoxicating—and my head went light.
I caught my eyes wandering somewhere they had no business being and dragged them up to his.
He looked back, cold but unhurried, like he’d been expecting me all night.
His eyes narrowed.
“Four-eyes.”