Chapter 13 The Mentor's Challenge
Ryder caught Luna after breakfast the next morning.
"We need to talk. Privately."
Luna's guard went up immediately. After seeing him at Darius's meeting, every interaction felt suspect.
"I have class."
"You have me. I already cleared it with your professors. Come on."
He walked toward the forest trail. Luna hesitated. Going into the forest alone with someone she didn't trust seemed stupid.
But refusing would raise questions she couldn't answer. Not without admitting she'd been spying.
She followed.
They walked in silence until the academy buildings disappeared behind trees. Then Ryder stopped and turned to face her.
"Yesterday was a disaster."
Luna's face burned. "Thanks for the reminder."
"I'm not trying to embarrass you. I'm trying to help you. You lost control during a simple grappling exercise. That's unacceptable."
"I know."
"Do you? Because from where I'm standing, you don't take this seriously. You think you can wing it. Rely on instinct and raw power. But that's not enough. Eventually, your lack of control will get someone hurt. Maybe you. Maybe someone else."
"I said I know."
"Knowing and fixing are different things." Ryder's voice softened slightly. "Luna, you have incredible potential. More than any first year I've trained. But potential means nothing if you can't harness it. Control it. Direct it when and where you need it."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I want to set a challenge. Personal. Just you and me. No other students. No faculty watching. No pressure from Darius or anyone else."
Luna's mark tingled. "What kind of challenge?"
"Pack coordination exercise. It's normally done with full teams. Five or six wolves working together. But we're going to do it with two. You and me."
"What's the exercise?"
"Hunt simulation. I'll be prey. You'll be hunter. You have to track me through the forest, anticipate my movements, and corner me before I reach a designated safe point. If you succeed, you prove you can control your wolf while under pressure. If you fail, we keep training until you can."
Luna studied him. Looking for signs of deception. Manipulation.
"Why would you help me? After yesterday, most mentors would just give up."
"I'm not most mentors. And you're not most students." Ryder's expression was unreadable. "I told you before. I don't care about your bloodline. I care about results. Yesterday was a setback. Today is a chance to prove it was a fluke."
"And if someone sees us? Thinks we're breaking rules by training alone?"
"I cleared it with Sterling. This is official mentor business. No one will question it."
Luna wanted to believe him. Wanted to trust that this was genuine help.
But the memory of him at Darius's meeting wouldn't leave.
"When do we start?"
"Now. I'll give you a ten-minute head start to get into position. Then I run. You have until sunset to catch me. The safe point is the old stone ruins about three miles north. You know where those are?"
"No."
Ryder pulled out a small map and showed her. "Here. Ancient structures. Pre-academy. No one uses them anymore. If I reach those before you catch me, I win. If you corner me first, you win."
"What do I get if I win?"
"My respect. And proof that yesterday was just nerves. Not lack of ability."
"And if I lose?"
"Then we do this again tomorrow. And the next day. Until you succeed."
Luna took the map and studied it. Three miles through dense forest. Multiple paths. Dozens of places where Ryder could hide or change direction.
This wasn't going to be easy.
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Good. Get in position. I'll start running in ten minutes."
Luna moved off the trail into deeper forest. She found a spot with good visibility. Climbed a tree to get height advantage.
From here, she could see multiple game trails. Any direction Ryder ran would be visible at some point.
She checked the map again. The ruins were north. But there were two main paths and a dozen smaller ones. Ryder could take any of them.
Luna closed her eyes. Let her wolf rise. Just enough to enhance her senses.
The forest came alive. She could hear everything. Smell everything. Birds in the canopy. Mice in the underbrush. Deer moving somewhere distant.
And Ryder. His scent. She'd know it anywhere after weeks of training together.
Ten minutes passed.
Luna heard him move. Fast. He'd shifted. Full wolf form. His scent trail blazed clear.
She dropped from the tree and took off after him.
He was fast. Faster than she'd expected. His trail wound through thick underbrush, doubling back on itself, crossing streams to break the scent.
Luna's wolf wanted to shift fully. Chase him as wolf, not human.
But that felt like cheating. Or maybe like giving in.
She stayed human. Let her senses guide her but kept control of her form.
The first mile was chaos. She lost his trail twice. Had to backtrack. Wasted precious time.
But then she started thinking like Ryder would think.
He'd trained her. He knew how she tracked. Which meant he'd avoid her obvious choices.
Luna stopped running. Studied the map. There were two routes to the ruins. The fast route along the ridge. The slow route through the valley.
Most prey chose fast routes. But Ryder wasn't prey. He was testing her.
He'd take the hard route. The one that required more skill to follow.
Luna changed direction. Headed for the valley path.
Within minutes, she picked up his scent again. Stronger. Fresher.
She'd guessed right.
Her confidence grew. She moved faster. Let her wolf guide her movements without fully shifting.
The valley path was treacherous. Steep slopes. Loose rocks. Easy to slip and fall.
But Ryder's scent stayed strong. He wasn't trying to lose her anymore. He was testing if she could keep up.
Luna pushed harder. Her body moved with wolf grace. Leaping obstacles. Navigating terrain that would've tripped her a month ago.
She caught sight of him ahead. A flash of gray fur between trees.
Close. So close.
The path forked. One direction continued north. The other curved west.
Ryder's scent went west.
But that direction led away from the ruins. Away from his goal.
Luna hesitated. Trust the scent? Or trust logic?
She remembered something Ryder had taught her weeks ago. Prey doubles back. Creates false trails. Makes you think they're going one way when they're actually going another.
Luna ignored the scent trail. Went north.
Five minutes later, she spotted him again. Running hard toward the ruins.
He'd laid a false trail. Trusted she'd follow her nose instead of her brain.
But Luna had outsmarted him.
She cut across rough terrain. Taking risks. Moving faster than safe.
The ruins appeared ahead. Crumbling stone walls. Ancient archways. Ryder was close. Less than fifty yards from the safe point.
Luna's wolf surged. She let it. Partially shifted. Claws. Speed. Strength.
She closed the gap. Leaped over a fallen log and landed directly in Ryder's path.
He skidded to a stop. Still in wolf form. Gray fur. Gold eyes. Larger than she'd expected.
They faced each other. Both breathing hard.
Luna shifted back to human. "Caught you."
Ryder shifted too. "So you did."
"Do I win?"
"You tell me. Did you maintain control?"
Luna checked herself. Fully human. No residual claws. No gold eyes. Just normal girl catching her breath.
"Yes. I stayed in control the whole time."
"Even when you partially shifted at the end?"
"Even then. I chose to shift. Used it strategically. Then shifted back when I didn't need it anymore."
Ryder's expression softened. Almost smiled. "Good. That's progress. Real progress."
"So yesterday was a fluke?"
"Yesterday was pressure. Public embarrassment. Darius pushing your buttons. Today proves you can control your wolf when you're focused. When you're not letting emotion override training."
Luna's chest swelled with pride. She'd done it. Succeeded. Proven herself.
"Thank you. For this. For believing I could do it."
"Don't thank me yet. This was one exercise. You need to maintain this level of control during combat. During challenges. During pack politics. Can you do that?"
"I'll try."
"Trying isn't good enough. You need to commit. Fully. No half measures."
"Okay. I commit."
Ryder nodded once. "Good. Let's head back. It's getting late."
They walked back toward campus. The sun was setting. Painting the sky orange and red.
Luna felt lighter than she had in days. Like she'd proven something important. Not just to Ryder. To herself.
She could control her wolf. She could succeed at challenges. She could survive Silverwood.
They reached the forest edge. Academy buildings visible ahead.
"Luna," Ryder said quietly. "Whatever you're worried about. Whatever's making you doubt me. We need to talk about it. Soon."
Luna's stomach dropped. "I don't know what you mean."
"Yes, you do. You've been different since the Moon Circle. Suspicious. Guarded. If something's wrong, I need to know."
"Nothing's wrong."
"You're lying. I can hear it in your voice."
Luna wanted to confront him. Ask about the meeting. About Darius. About everything.
But not here. Not now. Not when she was exhausted and vulnerable.
"Later. We'll talk later. I promise."
Ryder looked like he wanted to push. But he nodded. "Okay. Later."
They parted ways at the dorms. Luna climbed the stairs to her room.
Nova was at her desk. "Where were you? You missed dinner."
"Training with Ryder. In the forest."
"Alone? Is that allowed?"
"Apparently. It was a challenge. I won."
"That's great! See, I told you you'd bounce back from yesterday."
Luna collapsed onto her bed. Every muscle ached. But it was good pain. Earned pain.
She closed her eyes.
Behind her eyelids, she saw flashes of the challenge. Running. Tracking. Shifting.
And something else.
A shadow. In the trees. Watching.
Luna's eyes snapped open. "Nova, do you have your phone?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Check social media. Student accounts. See if anyone posted anything about me today."
Nova pulled out her phone and scrolled. Her expression changed. "Oh no."
"What?"
"Someone recorded you. During the challenge. Posted it to the private student network."
Luna's blood went cold. "Show me."
Nova turned the screen. A video played. Shaky. Zoomed in from distance. But clearly showing Luna. Partially shifted. Chasing Ryder through the forest.
The caption read: "Eclipse wolf can't even complete mentor exercises without losing control. How long until she hurts someone?"
The video had dozens of comments. Most of them negative. Some outright hostile.
Luna's mark burned. "Who posted it?"
"Anonymous account. But Luna, look at the angle. Whoever filmed this was following you the whole time. They knew where you'd be. What you'd be doing."
Someone had been watching. Recording. Waiting for Luna to slip up.
And when she hadn't, they'd twisted the footage to make it look like she had.
Luna's hands clenched into fists. "It was Darius. Had to be. He's trying to discredit me. Make people think I'm dangerous."
"Or it was someone working for him."
"Either way, I need to figure out who. Before they do worse."
But deep down, Luna already knew.
This was just the beginning.
Darius's next move wasn't a single strike. It was a campaign. Social. Political. Designed to isolate her. Turn other students against her.
And it was working.