Chapter 2 Three Alphas one omega

.Ophelia's POV

"This is a mistake," I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt. "All three of you felt something because you felt guilty. That's all it was."

Deus's silver eyes flicked over me, unreadable. "Guilt's for people who have time to waste on it. I've never spoken to you before today, little omega. So tell me why I should feel anything at all."

"Then maybe you're just bored." I kept my chin up with my eyes locked onto his. "Big captain of the Shadowmoor team can't be that challenging.

Damon stepped closer and my chest tightened.

"Friday," he said. "Headmistress gave you until then. We can help you find witnesses. People who saw what actually happened at the cliff."

"Since when do any of you help me with anything?" The words came out flat before i could stop them. They landed exactly where I wanted. Damon's jaw tightened. Guilt flashed across his face before he could hide it. Good. Let it sit there.

Caden moved in on my other side, quieter than his brother but somehow heavier. "We deserve your anger. Every single piece of it. But if they expel you, you lose your place here. And you'll never find out what really happened to your mother."

I froze. The room tilted. "How do you know about that?"

"I remember everything you ever told me," Caden said, voice low like it used to be when we were small. "Back in the garden while Damon was at practice. You said her death didn't make sense. You said one day you'd find the truth no matter what it cost."

Something cracked open in my chest. I could almost feel the sun on that old grass again, the distant sound of pucks hitting the boards, the way his smaller hand had stayed in mine while I whispered things I never told anyone else. Damon was always at practice back then always somewhere else Caden was the one who actually sat still long enough to listen. I hadn't thought anyone was really listening at the time. I hadn't realized until just now that only one of them had been.

"Friday," Damon said again. "Let us help."

"I don't need your help." I pushed past them toward the door, shoulder brushing Damon's on the way. The contact burned as i walked. "I'll find the witnesses myself."

"The whole academy thinks you jumped because of me," Damon called after me. "Who exactly do you think is going to stand up and say different?"

I didn't answer. Because he was right, and I hated that he knew it.

Outside, the hallway was packed. Between classes and hockey practice, the corridor was the busiest place on campus.Omegas ate at separate tables in the dining hall. No one mixed unless they had to.

When the music room door opened and I stepped out, every head turned. Then Damon came out behind me. Then Caden. Then Deus.

A phone clattered to the floor. Someone whispered, "Holy shit."

"There she is… the wolfless freak who thought a cliff would solve her problems."

Clara Voss's voice sliced through the hall like it had every right to.

She paced forward, perfect blonde waves spilling over her designer blazer like she'd stepped out of a magazine. Her Beta bloodlines showed in everything the way the crowd parted without being asked, the way her wolf aura pressed against my skin.

Her eyes flicked to Damon. Something ugly twisted under all that beauty...It was calculation. Like she was already counting how many people were filming this.

"Baby," she said, voice sweet and soothing, "what are you doing with her?"

Damon's face shut down. "It's not what you think."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not." She stopped right in front of me, close enough that her expensive perfume hit me, cloying sweet, like fllowers. "But you should be careful. People might get the wrong idea. Especially after your little performance at the cliff. The Frost name doesn't need this kind of attention right now.. and neither does mine, attached to his."

"It wasn't a performance," I said. "Someone stole my necklace and threw it over the edge. I was getting it back."

Clara laughed. Her entourage laughed with her, the sound loud and ugly. "A necklace. How tragic. Did it match your imaginary wolf?"

The laughter swelled. My cheeks burned hot, but I didn't drop my gaze.

"The necklace with my mother's photo," I said. "The one that disappeared from my locker the same day you just happened to be hanging around the omega wing."

The laughter cut off like someone had hit mute.

Clara's eyes narrowed. "Are you accusing me of something, Omega?"

"I'm not accusing anyone. I'm stating facts. Someone broke into my locker, stole a dead woman's locket, and threw it off a cliff. Whoever did that isn't just a bully. They're a grave robber."

A few students shifted. Bullying the wolfless girl was one thing. Digging up someone's dead mother was apparently a line even this place didn't like crossed.

Clara's smile went sharp enough to cut, but I noticed her hands stayed loose at her sides, her voice steady. She wasn't losing control. She was performing composure for however many phones were pointed at us. "Prove it."

"I plan to."

"Good luck." She leaned in, voice dropping so only I could hear. "No one is going to believe a wolfless freak over the Beta's daughter. You have nothing. And by Friday, you'll be gone from this academy forever." Her eyes flicked, just briefly, toward the nearest phone. "Try not to drag Damon's name through the mud on your way out. Wouldn't want another headline."

She pulled back, beaming like she'd just done me a favor. "Come on, girls. Let's leave the little omega to her delusions."

She reached for Damon's arm like she owned it.

He hesitated.. just one second.

Something hot and reckless flooded my veins.

"Damon," I said.

He turned, matching my gaze.

I pulled the locket out from under my blouse, letting the metal catch the fluorescent light.

"The necklace your girlfriend is so eager to mock?" My voice didn't shake. "It has a crest on the back. The same crest carved into the old oak tree on Frost land. The one where you promised me forever when we were nine years old."

The hallway immediately went dead quiet.

Damon's hand tightened on the strap of his hockey bag until the leather slacked. He didn't look at Clara. He didn't look at the crowd. He looked at the silver locket like it was a ghost.

His mouth opened. Nothing came out.

A low sound escaped his chest. He stepped back, staring at the locket. His expression shifted from shock to fear, as if the crest meant something he couldn’t explain. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Beside him, Caden had stopped breathing evenly. His jaw was locked so tight a muscle jumped under his skin. Whatever this was, it wasn't just a memory to either of them.

Damon's hands were shaking. the strap creaking again under his grip. He looked, for one unguarded second, like a boy standing too close to something that could burn him alive not because it was forbidden, I realized, but because it didn't make sense to him. Something about it had changed since we were nine, and he knew it. He just couldn't say so, not here, not with half the hallway filming.

Deus's silver eyes flicked to the locket, a flicker of something sharp crossing his face before the captain's mask slammed back down.

Clara's perfect composure cracked. "You're making this up."

"Go look at the tree," I said. My voice stayed steady. "It's still there. Our initials. The crest. Everything. Some promises leave marks you can't erase."

I didn't wait for an answer. I turned and walked away.

The crowd actually parted for me this time, like I was someone who mattered instead of the girl they'd been waiting to watch fall. Behind me I heard Caden murmur something low to Damon and Deus's dark laugh echo off the lockers.

My hands were shaking. My heart was slamming against my ribs like it wanted out.

But I had just drawn a war with the Beta's daughter.

And I wasn't finished.

I reached the end of the hallway, paused just before the stairwell door, and spoke without turning around.

"Tell your girlfriend the marks on the tree doesn't lie, Damon. Neither do I."

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