Chapter 38 38
ARIELLE'S POV
I gulped. The threat was there, unspoken, in the air between us. The image of me packing a bag, of slipping out in the night, was a stupid, dramatic fantasy. But it was also a possibility.
“I don’t want to,” I said, honestly. Then, I added the truth that had been boiling inside me. “But if you force me… I will.”
Her brief, cold smile vanished. Her expression smoothed into something utterly blank and unreadable. She just tilted her head the other way, waiting.
The silence stretched, thick and suffocating. I was at a fixed point now, balanced on a knife’s edge. I didn’t know whether to push more, to beg, or to just turn and walk out in a show of defeated pride.
I made a slight move, shifting my weight as if to leave.
Her voice cut through the quiet, lower now, almost weary. “You don’t know how horrible it is beyond our pack, do you?”
I looked at her. Her face wasn’t angry anymore. It was… somber. She wasn’t just trying to scare me. She was trying to tell me something. A warning, or a piece of a story I’d never been allowed to hear.
I nodded, trying to keep my chin from trembling. “I don’t know. But I’m ready to face whatever is thrown at me outside this pack. I have to be.”
She looked at me for a long moment, her expression unreadable. “I see. Are you trying to be brave now by acting responsible? Is this a new performance?”
I shook my head, a hard, sharp motion. “No. It’s not a performance.”
She stepped away from her desk and came around to stand directly in front of me. The space between us felt charged. “If you go to Seal College, you won’t be favored there,” she said, her voice low and intense. “You won’t be considered an Alpha’s daughter there, you know. Not in any way that matters. You’ll be just another student. A weak one.”
“I know,” I said, meeting her gaze. “And I don’t mind, Mother.”
“And you should know,” she continued, her words like chips of ice, “that I have no influence there. I have no allies in the city’s academic circles. No one will regard you the slightest, even if they know your last name. In fact, it might make it worse. They will see you as a wolfless curiosity. You’ll be treated lowly, considered a hopeless wolfless human.”
The truth of it was a cold splash, but I’d already lived with a version of it my whole life. “I know that, too,” I said, my voice steady. “And I’m still not changing my mind.”
“I see.” She folded her arms across her chest, her posture rigid. She walked back behind her desk, a slow, measured retreat. “If that’s the case, just let me make this perfectly clear to you.” She picked up a pen, tapping it lightly against the wood. “Don’t associate me with your struggles. If things ever get worse for you outside this pack—and they will—I don’t want to be involved. I will not come running to rescue you from bullies or bad grades. And if it goes so badly that you fail, I might not be kind enough to transfer you to another school. You will have burned this bridge. Do you understand?”
It was the coldest, hardest blessing I’d ever received. A permission slip wrapped in a threat. I just nodded, my throat too tight for words.
With that, she bent over the desk. Her signature was swift, a few sharp, angry slashes of the pen on the line. She didn’t look at me as she did it.
When she was done, she slid the paper back across the desk toward me. I reached for it, my fingers brushing the edge. “Thank you,” I managed to whisper. “I won’t… disappoint you out there. I'll submit this tomorrow.”
I turned to leave, the signed letter clutched in my hand like a winning lottery ticket that felt suddenly tainted.
Her voice stopped me at the door. “Think of it well before doing that.”
I said nothing. I just gave a short, final nod and walked out, closing the door softly behind me.
\---
Later that evening, Sheila burst into my room without knocking, her usual style. I was sitting on my bed, still staring at the signed form in my lap, a weird mix of triumph and dread swirling in my gut.
“You’ll never believe it,” I said, looking up at her, a real smile breaking through. “She signed it. She actually gave her consent to study in Seal College. For the first time in my life, my mother is letting me have my way.”
Sheila stopped short, her hands on her hips. “Really?”
“Yes! It’s shocking, right? I mean, after everything she said…”
“No!” The word was a bark. She strode over and nudged me hard with her knee, almost knocking me off the bed. “Why did you make such a hasty decision? You didn’t even tell me you were applying to Seal College! You just went and did it! You made a rash decision because you want to stand against the Luna, and now you’re stuck with it!”
I scooted back, surprised by her anger. “Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I applied. But I definitely didn’t just apply because of my mother. I want to go there. For me.”
“You should do what your mom wants!” she insisted, her face flushed.
“I am not going to a college far away in some random city. Never.”
She looked at me, her anger slowly deflating into a long, worried face. She sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. After a moment of silence, she sighed. “Okay. Fine. I’ll… I’ll join you next year. I’ll have graduated by then. We can be roommates or something.”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling weakly.
“And you better not forget me!” she said, pointing a sharp finger at my face. “I’m your original best friend. Don’t you dare replace me just because you’ll be living in the same city as her.”
“Geez, I know,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Don’t think I’ll forget you, Sheila. I know it’s your insecurity talking. You think me going to the same college as Mandy, and being closer to her than you for the next year, will put some huge wedge between us.”
She denied it immediately, her voice going high and defensive. “I am not insecure! That’s ridiculous! I just think you’re being impulsive!”
What a liar. I could see it written all over her face.
“So,” she said, changing the subject with her usual bluntness. “Now your mother has signed it, what’s next? Don’t tell me you’re actually eager to leave home.”