Chapter 2

Mallory

The next evening, I stood at the ballroom entrance, fingers tight around my bag strap. The carefully brewed tonic was inside — my confession gift.

I'd been rehearsing my opening line all day.

Hey, Crowe. I made a new tonic—

And then I saw him.

He stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by the usual crowd he always drew. Laughter and perfume swirled together into a thick haze.

Crowe wore a formal black tailcoat that fit him perfectly. He didn't need a spotlight — the room's attention drifted toward him on its own.

I started walking forward, but the cheerleading captain, Isabella, got there first.

She cut through the crowd and placed her hand on his arm, fingertips brushing the cuff of his coat. She tilted her head up, smiling, and said something. He leaned down to listen, and his lips curved into a reply.

A beautiful blonde girl. A tall, handsome boy. They looked like something out of a painting. If the boy hadn't been Crowe, I might have smiled at how perfectly they fit together.

But he was Crowe. The boy I'd come here to confess to.

I stopped. The closeness between them drove a needle straight into my chest.

Then, right on cue, someone called out.

"Hey, Crowe!" A guy's voice, loud enough for the whole room to hear. "You and Isabella look pretty cozy — aren't you worried that little Healing Division girl is going to lose her mind with jealousy?"

Laughter broke out.

My heartbeat went heavy. I knew who he meant.

Everyone in the hall knew who he meant.

At this academy, only a wolfless nobody got mocked like this — openly, and without consequence.

Crowe shrugged. He turned toward Isabella, leaned in, and pressed a light but unmistakable kiss to her lips.

An answer, delivered in action.

The laughter turned into whistles and cheers.

Then Crowe straightened, his tone as easy as if he were talking about the weather. "Jealous? What would she even have to be jealous of?"

"Her soothing tonics are decent, but that's about it. To me, she's just a free pharmacist."

He smiled, took Isabella's hand, and stroked her knuckles with his thumb. "I love Isabella. As for that pharmacist — I've never had any feelings for her. Not once, not ever."

He paused.

"Honestly, what would I even want with an eighteen-year-old wolfless nobody?"

That pharmacist. That nobody.

He couldn't even say my name.

Laughter poured in from every direction. I heard someone mimicking my voice, someone else whispering, She actually thought she had a chance, and another saying, No wonder she didn't show up. She would've just embarrassed herself anyway.

The voices blurred together, like heavy stones raining down on my head.

I stood in the doorway, never having stepped inside, and no one noticed me there.

This wasn't the first time I'd been mocked in public.

The shoves in the hallway. The whispers outside the dorm. The sneers in the lecture halls. I thought I'd gotten used to it.

I thought at least one person saw me differently.

But that fantasy only made me more pathetic.

I turned and walked away. Fast.

Same corridors. Same lamps. Same corner where the paint was peeling off the wall.

But tonight, the bag strap felt harder against my shoulder, digging in, making it ache.

My confession gift was still inside.

That bottle. Three weeks of work. An hour ago, I'd been nervous and excited about it — because it was the best tonic I'd ever made, meant for the boy I thought was the best.

Now it was just an undelivered piece of junk. Like me.

I stopped at the stairwell, unzipped my bag, and took the bottle out, holding it in my palm for a moment.

The amber liquid still looked beautiful in the light.

But I shoved it to the very bottom of my bag.

My eyes burned. I tipped my head back and waited for the sharp, needle-like pain in my chest to fade.

I wouldn't cry. I couldn't cry.

If I cried now, the tears would be for Crowe. And I couldn't accept that.

He wasn't the boy I'd built up in my head.

He wasn't worth it.

Music from the ballroom drifted down the corridor, muffled through the walls. I sniffed, slung my bag back over my shoulder, and kept walking.

I went back to my lab and tried to lose myself in coursework, but the whole room was thick with Crowe's scent. Every memory that had once made my heart race crowded in now, laughing at how stupid I'd been.