Luna gave up on sleep around two in the morning.
She sat up in bed and stared out the window. The forest was dark. Silent. No golden eyes tonight. No shadowy watchers.
Just trees and moonlight.
"You okay?"
Nova's voice came from the other bed. Soft. Concerned.
"I thought you were asleep."
"I was. Until you started crying."
Luna touched her face. Her cheeks were wet. She hadn't even realized.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"Don't apologize." Nova sat up and turned on the small lamp between their beds. Soft light filled the room. "You were crying in your sleep. Having nightmares?"
"Not exactly. I had a dream about Miguel. My boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. I don't even know what he is anymore."
"The human boy from your birthday?"
"Yeah." Luna pulled her knees to her chest. "It felt real. Like we were actually talking. He told me things are happening back home. People going missing. Weird animal behavior. He thinks it's connected to me. To my mark."
Nova was quiet for a moment. "Dream-links are real. My sister told me about them. Usually they happen between mates or family. But sometimes trauma or strong emotion can create temporary connections."
"So he really reached me? It wasn't just my imagination?"
"Probably. The question is why now? What triggered the connection?"
Luna thought about the sabotaged equipment. The fight with Darius. The forest encounter. The constant stress of surviving Silverwood.
"Maybe I just miss my old life. Miss being normal."
"Is that stupid?" The words came out small. Vulnerable.
"No." Nova's expression softened. "It's human. We're still human, Luna. The wolf is part of us now, but it doesn't erase who we were before. Missing your old life doesn't make you weak. It makes you real."
Luna wiped her eyes. "Do you miss your old life?"
"Every day. I miss my room. My friends. My parents." Nova's voice cracked slightly. "Even though they didn't want me marked. Even though they tried to hide me when it happened."
"What do you mean?"
Nova pulled her knees up too. Mirror images of each other in the lamplight.
"When my mark appeared, my parents freaked out. My mom especially. She'd heard stories about Silverwood. About students who died during training. About families who lost their children to the wolf world. She didn't want that for me."
"So what did she do?"
"She tried to hide me. Kept me home from school. Told everyone I had mono. She thought if she kept me away from other wolves, the mark would fade. That I'd stay human."
"But that's not how it works."
"No. It's not. The mark got stronger. My wolf got restless. I started shifting in my sleep. Partial shifts. Claws. Teeth. My mom walked in one night and found me half-transformed in bed. She screamed. My dad called Silverwood the next morning."
Luna's chest ached. "Have they visited? Called?"
"No. Not once. My sister says they're scared of what I'm becoming. That they're grieving the daughter they lost. The human daughter." Nova's voice went flat. "They haven't visited once since I got here."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm angry at them. But I also understand. This world is terrifying when you're on the outside looking in. They don't understand wolf culture. Pack dynamics. The mark. To them, I'm just gone. Taken by something they can't fight or fix."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"My parents were different," Luna said. "They knew about the mark. Expected it eventually. But they still cried when I left. My little brother was devastated. And Miguel..." She touched the charm around her neck. "He gave me this. Told me he'd wait. But in the dream tonight, he said he can't. That four years is too long."
"Is he right?"
"I don't know. Part of me wants him to wait. Wants to believe we can pick up where we left off after I graduate. But the other part knows I'm different now. That the girl he loved is gone. Replaced by someone harder. Someone who knows how to fight and hunt and survive in ways humans never could."
"You're still you, Luna."
"Am I? Because most days I don't recognize myself anymore."
Nova shifted position. "How about this. We make a pact. Right here. Right now. We survive this place together. No matter what happens. No matter what rank we get or who tries to break us. We stick together. Deal?"
Luna looked at her roommate. Her friend. This tiny, anxious Omega who'd been terrified on day one but had shown up every day since. Who'd helped Luna navigate rules and hierarchies and dangers she didn't understand.
"Together," Luna said. "Deal."
They shook hands. Then Nova pulled her into a hug. Brief but fierce.
"We're going to make it," Nova whispered. "Both of us. I know it."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because we have each other. And that's more than most students here can say."
Luna pulled back. "You're right. Thank you. For everything. For being my friend when I had no one."
"Right back at you."
They settled back into their beds. But neither moved to turn off the lamp.
"Luna?" Nova said after a moment.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think the dream was real? Do you think people are really in danger back home?"
"I don't know. But I have to find out. Tomorrow I'll talk to Ryder. Or Professor Cael. Someone who can help me figure out if—"
Voices outside interrupted her.
Low. Male. Coming from the courtyard below their window.
Nova sat up. "Who's out past curfew?"
"I don't know."
They both moved to the window. Carefully. Quietly. Keeping the light behind them so they wouldn't be visible from outside.
The courtyard was mostly dark. But moonlight illuminated several figures gathered near the entrance to the training grounds.
Luna counted five. Maybe six. All male. All tall. All moving with the confidence of upperclassmen.
"Is that Darius?" Nova whispered.
Luna squinted. The figure in front was unmistakable. Tall. Broad shoulders. Commanding posture.
"Yeah. That's him."
"What's he doing?"
"I don't know. Having a secret meeting?"
The figures talked in low voices. Too quiet to hear from the third floor. But their body language suggested argument. Disagreement.
One of them pointed toward the forest. Another shook his head. Darius said something that made them all go still.
"This is weird," Nova said. "Why would upperclassmen be meeting in secret? And why would Darius organize it?"
"Maybe he's planning something. Against me. Against other students. I don't know."
One of the figures turned. Looked up toward the dorms.
Luna gasped and jerked back from the window.
"What?" Nova hissed. "What is it?"
"One of them looked up. Right at our window."
"Did they see us?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
They waited. Hearts pounding. Expecting someone to come storming up to their room. To call them out for spying.
But nothing happened.
Slowly, Luna inched back to the window. Peeked out.
The figures were dispersing. Walking in different directions. Disappearing into shadow.
All except one.
He stood in the center of the courtyard. Looking directly at their window.
Moonlight caught his face.
Luna's breath stopped.
Ryder.
Her mentor. Her trainer. The one person at Silverwood she'd started to trust.
He was part of Darius's secret meeting.
"Nova," Luna whispered. "It's Ryder."
"What? No. That doesn't make sense. Ryder hates Darius. Everyone knows that."
"Then why is he at Darius's secret meeting?"
Nova moved closer to the window. Saw what Luna saw.
"Oh no."
Ryder stood motionless. Watching their window. His expression unreadable from this distance.
Then he turned and walked toward the faculty building.
Gone.
Luna and Nova stepped back from the window.
"What does this mean?" Nova asked. "Is Ryder working with Darius? Against you?"
"I don't know. But the equipment sabotage. The constant tests. The way Darius always seems to know what I'm doing." Luna's mark pulsed. Hot. Warning. "What if Ryder's been reporting to him? What if everything he's taught me has been part of Darius's plan?"
"To do what?"
"To eliminate me. Before I become a real threat."
They stood in the dark room. The lamp casting long shadows.
Luna's mind raced. Everyone she'd started to trust felt suspect now.
Ryder. Her mentor.
Darius. Her rival.
Were they working together? Or was this something else entirely?
Either way, Luna couldn't trust Ryder anymore.
And at Silverwood, that might be the most dangerous position of all.