Chapter One

It was graduation photo day at Silvermoon Academy, and everyone was streaming toward the main square.

I fumbled my way to Kyle's side, and someone started laughing immediately.

"Look, our future Alpha and his little Omega, together again!"

"They've been inseparable since they were kids — just bond already!"

I'd heard these jokes a thousand times.

But every time, my heart still skipped a beat.

Kyle didn't respond.

Then the photographer raised his camera, and the pack around us chanted in unison. That was when I heard him mutter, low and flat,

"Annoying. Can't she just stay away from me?"

As a werewolf born with weak eyesight, I'd long since learned to read everything around me with my ears.

So there was no way I'd misheard.

After the shoot, I stood there for a long moment before I finally left.

As I passed the academy's notice board, I reached out and tore down the application form.

The one for the advanced academy Kyle and I had agreed to attend together.

I crumpled it in my palm and threw it in the trash.

——

Stella's POV

When I got back to the classroom, Kyle was discussing post-graduation plans with a few other Alphas.

Hearing my footsteps, he asked the same way he always did: "Where are your goggles?"

Sunlight poured through the window onto the desk, stinging my eyes.

I dropped my gaze and answered softly, "I lost them."

He let out a sigh, got up, and drew the curtains shut.

"I'll walk you home tonight."

His tone was no different from usual.

I even started to wonder if that thing I'd heard earlier had just been me being too sensitive.

After school, a few friends called Kyle away.

Before he left, he told me to wait in the classroom for him.

I waited two whole hours.

My communicator had long since died, and the building around me went quiet. I didn't dare wander off on my own, so I sat in the dark, listening to the sounds in the hallway.

Finally, a patrolling teacher passed by and noticed I was still there.

"Stella, it's this late. Why are you still here?"

She knew about my eyes and offered to walk me home.

I shook my head.

I was afraid Kyle would come back and not find me.

Defeated, she borrowed her communicator to contact him.

Twenty minutes later, Kyle finally showed up.

He was breathing a little fast, his brows knit tight.

"Didn't I message you? I told you to head back."

"I never got it."

I held up the dead communicator, a little at a loss.

He looked at me for a moment, then just said, "Let's go."

All the way back, Kyle kept his eyes glued to his communicator, occasionally smiling at whoever was on the other end.

I caught a sweet, cloying floral scent clinging to him.

But when we'd parted this afternoon, he hadn't smelled like that at all.

Where had he been just now?

When we neared the dorms, someone called out to him.

Several sets of footsteps approached from ahead. I couldn't make out their faces, but I caught the same scent.

Kyle strode over to meet them.

"What are you guys doing all the way over here?"

"Victoria's full moon party is right nearby. Of course we came to pick you up," a girl laughed. "Everyone's waiting on you."

That was Victoria.

Heir to a pureblood Alpha family, and by everyone's reckoning the woman best suited to be Kyle's mate.

"Alright, give me a sec. Let me walk her in first."

The moment Kyle's words fell, someone cut in, impatient.

"She's basically at the dorms already. You still need to escort her?"

"She's an Omega who can't even see where she's going. Kyle, you can't be her keeper forever, can you?"

Another one snickered.

"Tonight's Victoria's full moon party. Don't make everyone wait. She's not stalling you on purpose again, is she?"

I gripped the hem of my shirt and didn't know what to say.

When Kyle drew close, I let go of his arm on my own.

"You go. I can find my way back."

He hesitated.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

I turned and headed toward the dorms.

Behind me, the teasing picked right back up.

"What, you're not taking care of your Omega?"

Then Kyle's voice rang out.

"She's just a friend. Stop with that nonsense."

My steps faltered.

It was the first time he'd ever been so quick to distance himself from me in front of other people.

The streetlights ahead blurred into fuzzy pools of light. I could only feel my way along the path, my eyes burning as they welled up.

He'd never been like this before.

When we were kids and I couldn't see the way, he'd hold my hand and walk me home.

When someone mocked me for being a useless, weak-eyed werewolf, he'd step in front of me and warn them to shut up.

So when had I started becoming a burden to him?

"Stella!"

Sudden footsteps rushed up behind me.

Before I could react, Kyle grabbed my arm and steadied me.

"This is what you call finding your own way back?"

His tone was harsh, but his hands were careful, checking to make sure I wasn't hurt.

I looked down at his blurry outline, and that spark of hope inside me, the one I'd thought was about to die out, stubbornly flickered back to life.

Maybe Kyle didn't hate me that much after all.