Chapter 4 SHADOWS AND WHISPERS

The rogue was gone.

No broken branches. No scent I could follow. Just that weird shift in the air-the kind that makes your skin crawl-telling me I wasn't alone out here, even if there was nothing to point at.

I crouched behind a fallen tree, hands buried in the dirt, soil packed tight under my nails, listening for... something. For what, I didn't know. A breath. A growl. The crunch of leaves. Something.

But nothing came.

I stayed crouched longer than I needed to. Not because I thought it would come back, but because part of me didn't want to return. The second I crossed back into Blackfang's perimeter, it would start all over again. The whispers. The glances. The weight.

It was easier to be a ghost in the trees.

But I stood. My legs ached. My boots were soaked. My fingers were stiff with cold.

Milo was pacing by the treeline when I finally stepped through. His eyes scanned my face instantly, checking. Not for injuries-he knew I'd tell him if I was hurt. He was looking for the deeper kind of damage. The kind that didn't bleed but didn't go away either.

"You okay?"

"It was gone before I got close. Too clean. Like it knew how to hide."

He rubbed a hand over his face. "Of course it did. Why would we ever catch a break?"

We walked back in silence. It stretched long, but not empty. Milo and I had the kind of quiet that filled space, rather than sucked the air from it.

The closer we got to the pack compound, the heavier it got. My shoulders tensed. My gut twisted. I could feel them before I even saw them.

Eyes.

They tracked us from the steps of the mess hall. From behind windows. From half-open doors. Nobody said anything. Not out loud. But the way they looked-like I was something they couldn't name, but had already decided was dangerous?

It was worse than words.

"You feel that?" I asked under my breath.

"Yeah," Milo said. "They're starting early today."

"They think I brought the rogue."

He didn't answer.

He didn't have to.

Inside the mess hall, things didn't improve. Forks froze halfway to mouths. Conversations dropped to a low buzz. I kept my head down and moved to a corner table. Milo followed.

We sat. I picked at a piece of bread. The room moved on, but not really. Everyone kept one ear turned toward us.

"Let me guess," I said. "They think I'm cursed again."

Milo took a bite of something gray and called it food. "They never stopped."

"No, but this is worse. Before, I was a disappointment. Now they think I'm dangerous."

"They're scared."

"Of me."

He nodded. "And what they don't understand."

I looked around. "They think I'm some kind of omen. Like I was born wrong and now the whole pack's going to pay for it."

He gave a soft snort. "They should be grateful. Maybe something needs to shake this place up."

I wanted to believe him.

But I remembered Brin's face last week. The fury. The way she smiled when I stumbled. I remembered the way Alpha Kade looked through me like I was a stain on the floor. I remembered every time I walked into a room and felt it tilt, just slightly, as if my presence threw off the balance.

It had always been this way.

"They'll never stop seeing me as the cursed girl," I said. "The wolfless one. The orphan. The mistake."

Milo leaned forward. "You're more than that. They just don't know it yet."

"What if they're right? What if I was never supposed to survive that night? What if something inside me is broken?"

"You think being broken means you're less? It means you're still standing. That's what scares them."

I didn't answer. I didn't have the words.

We sat in silence for a while. I didn't eat. Milo kept pretending his food tasted better than it did.

When the training sheet went up, my name next to Brin's didn't surprise me. Of course it was Brin. It was always Brin when someone wanted to send a message.

Milo read it, winced. "You going to make it through this one without hospital time?"

"That depends. Is Brin aiming for a knockout or just public humiliation?"

"Both. Definitely both."

I laughed, but it was hollow. My hands were already sweating. My legs felt slow.

On the mat, Brin stretched like a predator. Her smile was all teeth.

"Look who showed up. I figured you'd be too busy playing bait for rogue strays."

I rolled my shoulders. "Sorry to disappoint."

"You always do."

Kade's voice cracked across the field. "Begin."

Brin came in fast. She always did. Left jab, right hook. I dodged the first, blocked the second, but her knee caught my ribs. Air left my lungs. I staggered.

"Still soft," she sneered. "Still slow. You don't belong here."

I circled her, keeping my feet moving. "Then take me out. Prove it."

She lunged. I dropped, sweeping her legs. She hit the mat hard. The air whooshed out of her lungs.

Gasps rose around us. I ignored them.

Brin bounced up fast, fury in her eyes.

"You think that means anything? You're still nothing. No wolf. No bond. You're a hole in the pack."

The words stung. More than the hits.

I met her stare. "Then why do you keep trying to break me? If I'm nothing, why do you care so much?"

She froze for a breath. Just one.

Then swung again.

I ducked, turned, let her momentum carry her forward. She stumbled. I didn't chase her down.

I let her fall on her own.

Later, Milo found me near the well. It was old and cracked. I liked it because no one else came here. Maybe they thought it was bad luck.

Fitting.

He tossed me a bottle of water. "That was the cleanest takedown I've ever seen."

"She'll come back harder."

"So will you."

I didn't answer.

He reached into his jacket. Pulled something out. My mother's pendant.

My breath caught.

"Where?"

"Behind the training shed. It was just there. Like someone left it."

I took it from him. My hands shook.

"I haven't seen this since the night they died."

He watched me. "Someone wants you to remember."

I stared into the trees. Wind rustled the leaves. Then-movement.

Eyes. Watching. Still.

Then gone.