Chapter 114: Secrets Come Out - Callista's POV

The rest of the first period class passed without any other issues, which I was extremely grateful for. By the time Daine dismissed us, the whispers had already taken on a life of their own. I could hear fragments of them as students packed their things.

They couldn’t stop talking about Riven’s last name or how he was the second son of the Alpha King. The words passed hand to hand like something too hot to hold onto and I knew by lunch, the entire academy would know. By tomorrow, it would have reached every single pack and probably gotten to Riven’s old academy.

Riven seemed entirely unbothered by this. He gathered his books with the same unrushed calm he usually had and as soon as we left the class, he fell into step beside me in the hallway.

Kalley appeared on my other side half a second later.

"So," she said pleasantly.

"Not yet," I told her.

"I wasn't going to—"

"Kalley."

She closed her mouth, then opened it again. “I just think it’s very interesting that my best friend has been keeping her mouth shut about some significant information. I’m being remarkably mature about it, considering what you did. Does Sabine know?”

I grimaced. “Of course, she does, but she is busy with her own life and…I don’t bother her with much.”

Poor Sabine. When I had come home after that night Riven dismissed me, she had been my rock and my only solace. My parents tried, but there was only so much any of them could do. She had listened to me cry and sob to the point that she wanted to shift, so she could go to Riven and end him. I had told her not to, that he was my mate and it would hurt me more.

Though she digressed, she was never quite over it. The longer I suffered, the more distant she got. And now, well, things were tense, especially when my parents told her that they were taking me to the Alpha King’s mansion to see Riven.

We hadn’t talked since.

Riven made a sound beside me that wasn’t quite a life, jarring me back to the present. Kalley’s gaze cut to him with an annoyed expression she reserved for people she wasn’t too thrilled with.

"I'll explain everything," I told her. "Just not in the middle of the hallway with everyone listening.”

She finally accepted this with a nod and peeled off toward her next class. But that didn’t stop the one look she gave Riven over her shoulder, her eyes dragging up his entire length before she whipped her head around.

The moment she was gone I exhaled.

"She'll come around," Riven said solemnly. “Right?”

“She’s glad you are back, because she knows how hard it was on me,” I whispered. “But you’ll have to work for her full forgiveness.”

"Good," he said, something almost like approval in his voice. "You need someone who doesn't just accept things. I take it your sister hates me too.”

“More than you know,” I murmured, catching sight of her at the end of the hallway.

She was watching us both from her locker with a straight expression. But that wasn’t what captured my attention. It was the fact that her nails had shifted into claws and she was gripping the locker door as if she might rip it from its hinges. Her eyes locked onto Riven, turning brighter and glowing. Her wolf was seconds from breaking free.

“We really should be moving,” I said, trying to turn him toward our next class.

He almost asked why before he found her, then he nodded. “Ah, there’s the munchkin now and oh, she’s not happy.”

“Of course, she’s not happy. Now move,” I said, pushing him.

But it was too late. Sabine slammed her locker shut then looked straight at me. For one fleeting moment, I thought she might drop it. Maybe she’d turn around and head to class.

Instead, she started toward us.

“Riven—”

“It’s fine,” he said, his voice low. “I deserve it.”

Sabine stopped a few feet from us, her skin rippling with fur. “If you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

“Sabine,” I murmured, my eyes scanning the hallway quickly. “Don’t.”

“I don’t care,” she snapped. “Consequences be—”

“Sabine Monroe!” A professor yelled. “Are you threatening the Alpha King’s son?”

She glanced at the professor, then back at me. “Everyone knows?”

I nodded, grimacing. “Riven told everyone his true name and now it seems it has spread across the academy.”

She paled at that and went still, but rage was simmering beneath the surface. “I don’t care. If he hurts you, then I’ll finish it. You’re not officially bound with the ceremony yet. There are ways to separate you.”

“It’s in six weeks, Sabine,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “You’ll have to let it go.”

The professor watched her warily. “I suggest you drop it, Sabine Monroe. Or you’ll have to see Principal Wolffe and the Alpha King for threats against his son.”

She growled and looked at the professor, still struggling with her wolf. “He should be threatened. If you knew what he did to my sister and how she suffered after he was supposed to be there, you would be angry too.”

“I understand, but relationships such as theirs are new and hard. There were bound to be some ups and downs, considering how odd it is to find your fated mate before eighteen. Let it go, Sabine,” the professor urged.

“Let it go?” She asked, but it sounded more like a statement than a question. “You want me to let go of the anger? Right?”

Riven finally stepped forward, dismissing the professor’s concerned glance. “I understand you’re mad at me, but I promise you that I love your sister with all of my heart. My only goal is to protect her.”

“Protect her?” She looked at me. “Does he know about the nights I helped you hide your screams as your wolf forced your shift over and over until dawn?”

My eyelids fluttered. “I—”

“You didn’t tell him how I made sure our parents never heard you.”

“Sabine, I didn’t even know that you knew about it,” I whispered. “Or that you kept them from hearing. I thought–”

“You thought that they just miraculously didn’t hear you stifling your cries with a pillow?” She looked me directly in the eye. “I made sure they never heard you.”

Riven turned, looking at me with wide eyes. “You didn’t tell—”

“Later, okay. We’ll discuss this later. You already know that it affected me poorly, so you shouldn’t be surprised that my wolf took it out on me worse than I let on,” I snapped. “Let’s just drop this for now, okay?”