ASHER
The truck ride back to campus was silent. Reed sat on the opposite side, his body angled away from me, staring out the window like I wasn't even there.
We'd completed the mission. Survived the seventy-two hours. Reported the rogue pack activity and the deaths we'd caused in self-defense.
We had met the Dean at a tent set five hours away from campus. He had a relieved look on his face when he saw us but was masked immediately. He had taken one look at us—covered in blood and bruises, exhausted and hollow-eyed and dismissed us without a word.
Now we were heading back to the Academy where everything would go back to normal. Where Reed would go back to hating me. Where I would go back to being alone.
My chest felt tight and empty ike something had been carved out of it and left to bleed.
