That night, I searched for Theo in the Dining Hall during dinner, but he wasn't there, even though the rest of the Darken were.
I made sure to stay far away from them.
"I sort of doubt that he's intentionally avoiding you," Iris said over dinner, clearly trying to make me feel better. "He's probably just busy with something."
"Yeah, maybe." But even if she was right, if he really was just busy, he could have at least said something when we'd seen each other in the parking lot. It was the way he'd turned away from me, like he didn't want to talk at all, that made my stomach twist. It felt personal.
"Hey, can I sit with you guys?"
I looked up to see Vince standing beside our table.
"Sure. Iris, this is Vince. Vince, this is Iris."
"Hey," Iris said with a polite smile.
"I love your sweater," Vince said as he slid into the seat across from her. "What House are you in?"
"The Descendants. You?"
"The Crescents." He stabbed his baked potato with his fork.
Iris's eyes widened slightly before she glanced at me, then back at him. "So I guess I'm going to have to get used to the fact that I now have bad wolf friends."
"Big bad wolves, baby," Vince replied with a wink before digging into his pot roast.
"Actually, I have a question about werewolf sizes," I said.
Vince's head snapped toward me. "Like dick sizes?"
"No! I mean height and weight, you perve," I laughed. "Do female wolves stay average in size?"
"You mean human-sized?" Iris giggled.
"Yes. Human-sized. That's the perfect word for it." I nodded.
"Yup," Vince said. "They don't get huge like male wolves, but they do get muscular and strong as hell. So I wouldn't mess with them."
"Like those girls," Iris whispered.
Four girls walked past our table, and something about them made the air shift. I couldn't explain it, but they radiated power.
The one at the center had long, jet-black hair that fell to her waist. She was around five-eight, slender but clearly strong. Her makeup was flawless, YouTube vlogger level flawless. Everything about her screamed leader. Regina George energy, but deadlier.
To her right walked her complete opposite, a shorter girl with shoulder-length bleach-blonde hair and fair, freckled skin. I recognized her from Lunar Magic 101. Destiny, I was pretty sure.
On the leader's left was a dark-skinned girl with short hair streaked with caramel highlights.
The fourth had soft brown hair with wispy bangs and fair skin. She reminded me a little of Zooey Deschanel.
All four wore matching leather jackets and leather outfits. The leader had on a short leather skirt, the others leather pants. They moved like they owned the place.
They exited the Dining Hall without sparing anyone a glance.
"Who were they?" I asked.
"Those would be the She-Wolves," Vince said.
"The She-Wolves?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. That's what they named their pack. Original, I know." He rolled his eyes.
"They're descendants of one of the strongest all-female packs in the world," Iris explained. "But they're more than that. They're one of the biggest cliques here. Nobody messes with them if they're smart."
"How do you even know all that? You're first-years too."
"People talk," Vince said. "And the leather thing is kind of a giveaway."
"The Alpha is the tall one with the black hair, Jessica Davis," Iris continued. "Blonde is Destiny. Bangs is Nadia. The other one is Crystal."
"I didn't know girls could be Alphas."
"They can in an all-female pack. In theory, a girl could lead a mixed pack, but it's never happened. Not that I know of."
"Trust me," Vince added, lowering his voice slightly, "stay away from them."
"I plan to," I said. "The less wolves I get involved with here, the better."
Milos already wanted me, dead or alive.
The last thing I needed was more enemies.
The next day, Theo did show up to school, proving Rhys right. Wherever he'd gone, it couldn't have been far, probably just an escape.
I spotted him sitting with the Darken in the Dining Hall that morning, but I didn't even consider joining them. The last thing I needed was another lecture from Professor Wickburn. And honestly, I had no idea how to approach Theo after the way he'd turned away from me the night before.
During his class, we didn't speak. He barely even looked at me. Our eyes met a few times, but each time, we both looked away, pretending we hadn't noticed.
And Theo wasn't the only one.
For the next few weeks, none of the Darken spoke to me unless it involved coursework, and even then, their interactions with me were minimal compared to how they treated everyone else. Colton was the only one who touched me, and that was strictly instructional, guiding my hands on the gun during Weaponry class.
The worst part?
As the weeks passed, my body seemed to crave Theo more than it had in the beginning. The silence felt like withdrawal. Not talking to him. Not touching him. Not kissing him. It was like missing something addictive, something essential. I'd think about him constantly between classes, then lie awake at night replaying every moment we'd shared.
What didn't make sense was why.
It wasn't like anything had happened. I hadn't done anything to deserve being iced out.
I kept wondering if Headmaster Black had said something to them. Maybe they'd been warned to back off from me, especially since other wolves, professors and students alike, had started noticing.
Or maybe Professor Wickburn had already sunk her claws into Theo. Maybe she'd told him how she felt, and now he didn't need, or want,me anymore.
I tried not to spiral into worst-case scenarios and focused on my classes instead. But that was easier said than done. It didn't even make sense how hung up I was over a guy I'd only kissed twice.
I felt pathetic.
But I missed him like crazy.
I missed all of them.
Still, I refused to let it show.
Iris, Vince, and I fell into a comfortable routine of eating every meal together. Somehow, Iris managed to convince both Vince and me to join the Track and Field team. So when we weren't in class or hanging out in my private dorm suite, we were usually on the track.
I couldn't get over how fast I'd become. Back in the human world, it took me ten or eleven minutes to run a mile during gym class. Now? Three and a half minutes. And I was getting faster every day.
For the first time in my life, I actually liked running.
It was the only time my mind went quiet. The only time I could push everything away, my parents' deaths, Milos, Theo, the Darken. It was my only real escape.
When we weren't at practice, Iris and Vince usually came over to my dorm. I had the biggest room, so it became our default hangout spot. They stayed over a lot, which helped more than they probably realized. On the nights I was alone, my mind wandered to darker places, what if Milos figured out where I was? Sometimes the fear followed me into my sleep.
Even with Iris and Vince, there was still a space inside me that felt empty.
Maddie.
At some point, I needed to reach out to her, and to Uncle Ryan. They had to be worried sick. They probably thought I'd run away… or worse.
I wanted them to know I was safe.
I just didn't know how to do that without revealing where I was, or the truth about the wolves.
I assumed Uncle Ryan knew about my parents. Maybe he was even a wolf himself.
But I couldn't be sure.
The only people who might know the answers were the Darken.
And I refused to be the first one to break the ice.