Chapter 7

MORRANA

I stared at the white box on our worn sofa.

The obsidian-blue silk inside probably cost more than my mother and I earned in several months, and that alone was enough to make me uncomfortable. I closed the lid and carried the box into my bedroom, then crossed to the window.

The two wolves were still waiting at the edge of the woods. Their golden eyes remained fixed on the trailer.

I pulled the curtain shut slowly, making sure they saw me do it, and turned away.

Sleep didn't bring any peace. I twisted in the sheets, trapped in a nightmare where I was sitting by a hospital bed, watching my mother's hand turn ice-cold inside my own as her breath stopped.

I woke up gasping, my face wet with tears as my heart hammered against my ribs.

I wiped my face, desperate to pull myself together so I could rush back to the hospital, but before I could even reach for my jacket, an icy voice slid uninvited into the back of my skull through the mind link.

"Morrana, come to my office, now."

It was Principal Brooks, and I frowned as I wondered what could possibly be urgent enough to summon me so early.

By the time I reached his office, I had already prepared half a defense speech in my head. After the fight with Draven, I was expecting angry parents, disciplinary action, and possibly expulsion.

Instead, Brooks sat calmly behind his desk and pushed a manila folder toward me.

"What's this?" I asked, keeping my distance, my voice tight with suspicion.

"Your future, Morrana," Brooks said, gesturing for me to take it. "Your transcript."

I opened it. My grades and AP scores filled the pages, followed by a list of my completed credits.

I looked up, only half understanding what he was telling me.

"You have enough credits to graduate. More than enough, actually. You've completed the state's requirements and then some."

I stared at him in a daze. "You're saying I've graduated?"

"Yes. You graduated early."

I blinked as a wave of suspicion washed over me; the timing was far too perfect to feel like a simple coincidence.

"Why today, Principal Brooks?"

Brooks hesitated for only a fraction of a second. "The numbers don't lie, Morrana. Every single credit in this file is one you earned through your own hard work. And I promise you, this will accompany the strongest college recommendation letter I have ever written for any student in this district."

Only I knew how badly I wanted to believe him, to lose myself in the hope that my own intelligence had finally bought me a ticket out of this pack's tyrannical territory.

But I knew better. It had to be Caius.

What sick game was he playing now?

Still, I couldn't afford to throw away the gift. I grabbed the folder.

"Thank you, Principal Brooks," I said softly, before turning and walking out.

I hurried back to the hospital, but the moment I opened my mother's door, I heard mom's familiar voice filling the room.

"I am not staying here!"

Two nurses stood beside her bed while my mother glared at them, clearly determined to make herself heard.

"I am being kept here like a prisoner!" she shouted. "I have a shift at the diner, so discharge me right now!"

The head nurse turned toward me with a look of profound relief.

"Maybe you can convince her."

I walked quickly over to the side of the bed, gently grabbing my mother's trembling hand.

"Mom, please look at me."

I lifted the manila folder, a genuine smile breaking through my exhaustion. "Look. I finished high school. I graduated early, Mom."

For several seconds, she simply stared at me as tears filled her eyes.

"Oh, my clever girl." She squeezed my hand.

"I knew you could do it. You'll win every scholarship you apply for, Morrana. You're the smartest of all the girls in this valley."

I lowered my head and kissed her knuckles so she wouldn't see the sorrow on my face.

By evening, the doctor returned and tried once more to convince her to stay.

My mother refused.

She signed the discharge papers herself, insisting she couldn't afford to miss another day of work.

I didn't argue anymore and took her home. I helped her into bed, and stayed beside her until she fell asleep.

Only after she had fallen asleep did I begin getting ready, washing my hair twice with the shampoo we usually saved for special occasions before sitting at the cracked bathroom mirror to apply my makeup.

I borrowed a curling iron and worked my hair into long waves before returning to my mother's closet for the box.

The gown was exactly where I'd left it.

I lifted it from the tissue paper and stepped into the cool silk, adjusting the thin straps before fastening the white heels.

Finally, I faced the mirror.

For a moment, I barely recognized myself.

The girl looking back at me wasn't the Omega from the junkyard who had spent years trying not to be noticed. She looked confident, polished, almost like someone who belonged in the world Caius had always kept beyond my reach.

But her eyes were still mine. And my mother's.

Skarre whistled within the corner of my mind. "You look breathtaking," she purred, making my cheeks crimson.

"Okay," I whispered to the empty room, trying to quiet the frantic beating of my heart. "You can do this, Morra."

The bedroom door suddenly swung open without a knock, and Caius Varro walked into the room, casually adjusting the silver cufflink on his sleeve as he began to speak.

"We need to leave. The driver is—"

The words died in his throat as he stopped in the doorway, his entire body going still when his gaze met mine...