Chapter 116: A Unique Note - Riven's POV

Second period was Pack History. I spent the first ten minutes of listening to our professor staring at the same paragraph without reading a single word.

Normally, this would be something I enjoyed, but I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy anything. Not right now.

I glanced to the side. Callista was two seats to my left, which sucked because we used to like sitting together. For some reason, this professor had assigned seating and since it was already that way before we walked in, I knew it wasn’t directed at us.

The bond stayed warm and even, which was the only reason I was staying upright and appearing somewhat functional rather that putting my fist through the nearest wall.

Months, I thought. She had said it so quietly, as if it were some small thing that she had endured months of her wolf literally tearing her apart from the inside and it was…nothing. I thought of her all alone, stifling her cries into a pillow.

I turned the page of my textbook. I had no idea what was on it. The words were blurring together, and it wasn’t because I wasn’t focusing. Tears were burning behind my eyes.

The professor’s voice carried on in an uneven, unhurried tone and I listened just enough to know that I needed to appear attentive. He was calling on students, though he seemed to skip over me. Maybe he could see that I was struggling.

Or maybe I hid it so well that he figured I knew the answer and didn’t want to bother me. I watched as he called on a student who didn’t look like they were paying attention.

At least this wasn’t difficult. I had spent years learning to appear present while being somewhere else, and today that skill was earning its keep.

I probably couldn’t have answered his questions if he had asked, though. My mind kept going back to her, no matter how many times I had pulled myself back.

The thought of her hiding what she did from everyone and thinking she had truly gone unnoticed was…tearing me apart. She had protected me from knowing what i had done to her.

The thought landed somewhere it couldn't be easily moved from. I set my pen down before I snapped it and picked it up again.

Callista's handwriting moved steadily across her notebook from the corner of my vision. She was taking notes and I don’t mean just in appearance. She was actually taking notes and absorbing what the professor was saying while I was sitting here, being completely useless.

I looked at her for one moment longer than I should have. She didn't look up, but the corner of her mouth moved, just slightly.

She knew I was looking. Of course she did.

I looked back at my textbook.

Compartmentalize, I told myself. You can fall apart about this later. Right now there are thirty students in this room, and a demon that has been talking to your mate in her sleep. Pick a problem.

The demon. Ronan. Summoned.

They were all three woven together so tightly that I didn’t know where one began and the other ended. But summoned kept surfacing beneath everything else, because it was the one I still hadn’t found…a solid thought on. Everything else was a solid problem, something tangible, but that one, I wasn’t sure about.

Every time I thought I had reached it, something shifted, and I was falling again.

I wrote the date at the top of a fresh page. Then I wrote nothing else.

It wasn’t long until the end of class when a note landed on the edge of my desk. It wasn’t from Callista. It came from the right side, slid under my elbow with ease. I looked up without moving my head.

The boy two seats over was staring at the board, conveying innocence, but I knew he had done it. He had dark hair and a build that told me he trained regularly. When I noted the little tag on his left chest pocket, I knew he was a third-year student, which meant he was top of the class and needed something more challenging, so they placed him here.

I almost scoffed. What did he want from me?

I unfolded the note under the desk. My eyes widened slightly as I read through it. It appeared word had spread of who I was and there had been four who said they wanted to challenge me, but one had dropped off after hearing my name. Then he included a name for me to worry about.

Alric Voss.

I looked up at the professor, who was still deep in his lesson. When he finished and turned his back to the class, I glanced back down to see the rest.

At the bottom, there was an additional note stating for me to watch my back, because Voss’s father would not let my name stand in the way of his challenge. He wanted to claim Callista as his own.

I read it twice, then I looked up at the boy again.

He was still watching the board. But he tapped his left wrist twice with two fingers. For a moment, I was stunned. It had been a long time since anyone had used the old language to communicate. That signal in particular meant that we were on the same side.

I folded the note and slid it into my jacket pocket, then looked at the front of the class as if nothing had happened.

Alric Voss.

The name didn’t ring a bell. It seemed like I had heard it in passing once. His father had the territory in the far east near the boundary line. I wanted to say that his father’s name was Gregor Voss, and his family was close to the Alpha King decades ago. He had old money and old blood that went back a way.

My jaw tightened. If he had any support, then my biological father might not be able to fight it and I’d have to answer the challenge, though it would be ridiculous.

I picked up my pen and finally wrote something, but it wasn’t notes.

Find out who Voss is.

I stared at my note for a moment, then turned the page over.