He stands on shaky legs, the golden warmth of his irises fading to dull bronze. “You ruin everything you touch, Wildfire.”
The nickname cuts deep. I choke as earth-shattering disappointment crushes my ribs, threatening to pierce my heart.
Alistair turns away, our magical tether weakening as he retreats.
A flash of white light blinds the area as Headmaster Loreander teleports in, joined by an alpha I’d recognize anywhere—Thaddeus Dire, the head of the Dire Mountain packand Alistair’s father. The man who’s hated me from the moment we met.
“She’s a hybrid,” Alistair says coldly, addressing his father. “Do what you want with her.”
The betrayal cuts deep. Alistair knew what I was all along, and just like he’d said, he never told anyone. He kept my secret. He kept mealive.But now, everything’s changed. We’ve seen what I really am.
No more than a fated mistake.
“Alistair—” My voice is raw, and we both flinch from the sound.
He clenches his jaw and avoids looking my way. “I’m done, Sienna. Whatever this is between us is over.” He walks away with a permanent reminder of tonight on his skin while I’m left to suffer alone. The burn on my neck ignites, simultaneously healing itself and scorching the new skin, but it’s not the fire that leaves me gasping for air.
It’s Alistair’s sorrow overflowing from his heart into mine.
Chapter 24
Sienna
While the headmasterand his advisory council consisting of the topmost leaders within the magical community convene in an emergency session, I stand in the very same rotunda where the headmaster and I first spoke upon my arrival at the academy. My emergence as, in Alistair’s words, “not only a hybrid, but anit,” has caused an uproar.
No one can agree on what to do with me.
The falling snow outside has finally ceased, blanketing the grounds in a perfect sheet of white. I stare out into the cold and wonder what the others are doing. Are they still in tonight’s Mating Games, or were they pulled out early like me?
Revyn should have woken up by now and freaked the fuck out that I’m not there. Alistair and Callum...
Sighing, I step past the magical barrier that keeps the winter chill from the castle and let my bare toes sink into the powder snow. I don’t know how either of them took the news of my new shifter form. Callum didn’t seem phased, which makes one of us, at least, but I’m pretty sure Alistair will never forgive me for ruining his pretty face.
Especially if it costs him finding a better mate.
A tragedy. I roll my eyes and wrap my arms tightly around my chest despite no longer feeling the cold. Shifters naturally run hotter, but ever since my last shift, it’s as though my body’s rejected the notion of ever cooling down.
I feel like I could burst into flames at any moment.
Voices rise behind the double doors to the adjoining conference room, and I block them out in favor of the howling in the distance. If it weren’t for the looming threat of my expulsion—or worse—I might actually consider this moment happy. In the valley after my pack’s death, I spent countless moons wandering, searching for someone—anyone—like me.
When a shifter showed up with tumbling autumn locks and a dimpled smile, I thought I’d been saved from a lifetime of loneliness...and in a way, I had.
Just not by him.
Closing my eyes, I stop the memory from resurfacing. Those first few moons with Revyn were rough. It took an entire season for me to trust him. But he kept coming back from his hideout on the other side of the valley, and I kept letting him get closer and closer until there was no more room without the other in it.
Things are far from perfect, and I’m nowhere near comfortable in my situation, but being surrounded by other people provides a sense of peace I hadn’t realized I needed.
Going back to the wilds now will leave me even more desperate for a pack than I already am.
Heavy footsteps climb the spiral staircase leading into the castle, and I glance over my shoulder to find the guard stiffening as someone approaches. “You can’t be here,” the guard says, but whoever is standing in front of him clearly doesn’t give a fuck.
“Out of my way.”
A bolt of lightning strikes my heart, doubling its beat.
Alistair steps around the guard’s broad shoulders, his eyes immediately locking onto me. Rather than venture in mydirection, he takes a hard right and assumes a post against the far wall, directly opposite me. Leaning against the stone, he crosses both arms and ankles with a glare, the heat of his gaze stoking the fires inside my soul.
