Chapter 6 The Library Incident
Malia's POV
I already know three crucial survival tips from Mooncrest College by day three:
1\. Don’t look a pureblood in the eye in the hallway.
2\. The bathroom schedule is a war zone—wake up at 5 a.m. or die.
3\. The mood of Aiden Moonfall shares a direct correlation with the amount of space I take up in our room (which is as little as possible).
I'm failing at number three right now.
"Can you be quieter when you breathe?" Aiden murmurs from his desk, not even glancing up from the pricey laptop he's typing on.
I freeze mid-breath. “Excuse me?”
"Your breathing. It's distracting."
My jaw drops. “What?”
"Breath quieter"
“You want me to……breathe less?”
He finally glances over, one eyebrow raised as if I am the unreasonable one. "Is that a problem?"
Yes. Yes, it is a problem, I want to scream but my hybrid wolf curls tight in my chest, whispering don’t antagonize the alpha, don’t make it worse.
So instead I grab my bag. "I'm going to the library.”
"Good."
I slam the door harder than it needs to be. The hallway is bare, thank the goddess, because my hands are trembling and my eyes are stinging and I’m not going to—no, I am absolutely not going to—cry over Aiden Moonfall’s attitude.
I make it halfway across the campus when I realize I don’t even know where the library is. Mooncrest is massive. Stone towers rise in the manner of ancient castles, linked by cobbled pathways and archways hewn with wolf runes. It’s all so screamingly old money, old power, old bloodlines.
I stroll past the training fields on the students' campus in his athletic shorts, watching them practice shifting—their wolves pulsing out in waves of fur and muscle, sleek and refined. My wolf gives a little whimper at the sight, can hardly shift without using me up for days on end.
I keep walking.
At last I see it — a house with high arched windows and ivy surrounding the walls. The words MOONCREST ARCHIVES & LIBRARY have been inscribed over the door in silver letters that shimmer in the light of the afternoon.
I heaved the heavy wooden door open.
The air inside smells of old crumpled pages, leather bindings and something just a little magical — as if you needed to know the air to understand what this ancient wolf history locked away in ink on pieces of parchment. Ladders slant against shelves that rise to impossible heights.
Students are sitting scattered at tables, some working, some whispering, some just living, in that quiet, intellectual manner that makes me feel like a fraud.
I select a table in a corner in the back, far away from everyone, and take out my Werewolf History textbook.
The chapter is as follows: Hierarchy and the Bond Between Alpha and Omega.
Good. Just what I need.— A reminder of exactly where I don’t belong.
I'm three paragraphs in when someone drops into the chair across from me.
Looking up, I am startled. A girl grins at me, bright and unabashed, sporting wild curly hair gathered into a messy bun and gold hoop earrings that glint. The next thing I smell is her scent: floral, warm, with a hint of mischief.
Beta blood. Strong, but not too strong.
"You're the hybrid, right?" she says, not even lowering her voice.
My stomach drops. "I—"
"Relax." She waves a hand. "I'm July. July Rivers. Before you freak out, I'm not about to turn into a jerk."
I blink. "You're… not?"
Nope." She reclines in her seat, utterly relaxed. "You looked so lost and adorable on the first day that I thought, why not sit next to her? Then I heard you got stuck with Aiden Moonfall as a roommate, and I thought, holy shit, this girl needs friends."
My mouth opens. Closes. Opens again.
July laughs. "You're cute when you're confused."
Before I can say anything, another person shows up: a tall guy with dark skin, defined cheekbones, and the most unpredictable energy I’ve ever encountered. He's got two cups of coffee and a bag of chips.
"July, you can't just ambush people—oh" He stops when he sees me, almond eyes shining. "Wait. You're the hybrid that everyone's talking about?"
I wince. "Like so many others."
"Dude." He puts down the coffees and scoots over into the seat next to July. "I'm Freddy. Freddy Hale. And from this day onward, I am officially Team Hybrid... all the way!"
"Team… what?"
"Team Hybrid." He grins. "Because if the purebloods are gonna be assholes, someone's gotta balance it out."
July snorts. "Subtle, Freddy."
"I don't do subtle." And subtle, that is not.
I look at the two of them, baffled. No one at Mooncrest has ever been this… normal. This kind.
“Why are you being nice to me?” I whisper.
July's face softened. “Because you deserve it. And because this place sucks if you have nobody.”
Freddy nods. "And you’re living with Aiden Moonfall. You're definitely deserving of a medal for that alone."
I laugh in spite of myself. It's small, unsteady.
"There it is," July says, smiling. "See? You’re not as messed up as you thought.”
I feel something in my chest relax. Just a little.
We go on talking for the next hour, well really July and Freddy talking and I listening, gradually acclimating.
They tell me about their classes (July’s in Advanced Pack Dynamics, Freddy’s bombing Lunar Cycles Theory), their favorite places on campus (the concealed courtyard behind the athletics building), and the social stratum I’m already learned the hard way.
"The Moonfall triplets are basically running this place," Freddy says, waving a chip dramatically. "Aiden's the arrogant one. Cian's the quiet, brooding one. She's Rowan's nice one — like, genuinely nice. It’s strange."
“I met Rowan,” I tell them. “He helped me pick up my books.”
July gasps. "Wait. Rowan Moonfall? You were helped?"
"Yeah…"
"Girl." She leans forward, eyes wide. "That’s huge. He doesn’t talk to anybody outside his circle."
"Maybe he felt sorry for me.”
"Or maybe he’s just not as big of an asshole as his brothers," Freddy mutters.
I didn't tell him that Rowan’s kindness seemed… different. Real. Like he looked at me for real, instead of just putting up with me.
July is just about to speak when the doors of the library burst open—and the whole mood changes.
Three girls stroll in like they own the place.
The one up front is breathtaking: long blonde hair, perfect makeup, designer clothes that scream MONEY. Her scent is strong — Alpha blood, pure and confident. The two girls on either side of her are just as polished, but clearly followers.
“That's Lydia Ashford,” July whispers. “And her minions, Dina and Beretta.”
"Minions?"
“Puppets is more precise,” Freddy mutters. Their parents are all high-ranking pack officials. They think they’re royalty.”
Lydia's gaze scans the library—and stops right on me.
She changes her expression. Cold. Calculating.
She whispers something to Dina and Beretta. They giggle.
Then Lydia starts walking toward our table.
My pulse spikes. July and Freddy tighten up next to me.
“Well, well, well,” Lydia purrs, coming to an abrupt halt just feet from us. “The little hybrid. I’ve heard so much about you.”
I do not answer. My wolf shakes, pleading with me to bow, to lower my eyes, to vanish.
But I bring myself to look at her.
Lydia's smile sharpens. “I also heard you’re Aiden’s roommate. That must be… uncomfortable for him.”
“Let her be, Lydia,” July says flatly.
Lydia doesn’t even look at her. "I wasn't talking to you, Rivers."
“Well, I’m talking to you,” Freddy snaps. “So either say what you want or get lost.”
Dina and Beretta move forward to flank Lydia like bodyguards.
Lydia bends down, placing her manicured hands on the table. Her smell rolls over me, intense, dominant, determined to make me feel insignificant.
“Let me be clear,” she says in a whisper. “Aiden Moonfall is mine. We’ve been… close for years. So whatever pathetic little fantasy you’re building in that hybrid head of yours? Get real.”
My cheeks are burning. “I’m not—”
“I don’t care what you are.” Her smile is all teeth. “Keep your distance from him. Keep your distance from the Moonfalls in general, really. You have no business around them.”
She stands tall again, throwing her hair over her shoulder.
“Come on, girls.”
Dina and Beretta trail after her like dutiful shadows.
As soon as they’re out of earshot, I exhale shakily.
“What the hell was that?” I whisper.
“‘That,’” July says grimly, “‘was Lydia marking her territory.’”
Freddy scowls. “Ever Since Aiden – like she’s been obsessed with Aiden since freshman year. Thinks they’re destined mates or some bullshit.”
“But they’re not?”
“No one knows,” July admits. “Aiden doesn’t talk about it. But Lydia behaves as though she owns him.”
I sink down exhausted in my chair.
One more enemy.
One more reason I shouldn’t be here.
July takes my hand across the table and holds on to it. “Hey. Don’t let her get to you. She’s all bark.”
“And if she bites,” Freddy adds, grinning, “we’ll bite back.”
I look at them—these two people who barely know me but decided to stand beside me anyway—and feel something unfamiliar. –Hope.
“Thanks.” I mutter
Freddy glances toward the open door, eyes still smiling. July smiles. “That’s what friends are for.”
Friends.
The word feels alien. Fragile.
But maybe, just maybe. I can survive in the hands of Mooncrest after all.