The Alpha Hale’s smile softened, a calcting warmth glinting in his eyes.


    “Well, it just so happens we’ve got nothing pressing at home today. Why don’t you invite that girl over?”


    Jace Hale felt his stomach sink. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to bring Carmen here-Moon above, if it were that easy, he would’ve done it long ago. But Carmen was not the type toe running just because someone asked; she was all ws and teeth, and she answered to no one.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of Mooncrest, Carmen stood at the base of the lecture hall steps, her phone pressed to her ear. The line had gone dead. No voice, no excuse, just silence.


    Her mood, already simmering, curdled further. With an exasperated huff, she hung up, shoving the device into her jacket pocket and stalking toward the campus dining hall.


    The scent of dozens of wolves-young, restless, and loud-hit her before she even stepped inside. Noon rush. Lines snaked past the counters. Carmen stood in the queue, her sharp gaze fixed ahead, until finally she had her prize: a steaming bowl of beef noodle soup, the broth rich and fragrant.


    She carried it to a shadowed corner, set down her tray, and began to eat in peace. Or she tried to.


    Whispers slithered to her ears from the next table over.


    “Look at her.”


    “Tch. Heard she was some Alpha’s kept whore. Disgusting.”


    “Right? Still has the face to show up here. If it were me, I’d have crawled into a hole by now.”


    “Being kept sounds pretty damn good to me-get paid to lie around? She’s got it easy, and she’s rich. Isn’t that right?”


    Theirughter grated like ws on stone.


    Carmen’s chopsticks paused for the briefest flicker of a moment, her golden eyes narrowing. Then, as if the words hadn’t even touched her, she resumed eating.


    Gossip was old news. Venom had been spat her way for years; she’d built up her own kind of armor. In less than a year, she and Riley would be gone from this ce. These petty jackals weren’t worth her time.


    But apparently, ignoring them only emboldened them. A scrap of scallionnded on her shoulder. Then a clove of garlic. Then a piece of ginger root.


    The scent of onions and broth clung to her hair and skin, invasive and sour.


    Slowly, Carmen set down her chopsticks. She rose, bowl in hand, turned-


    -and in one fluid motion, upended the remaining noodles over the head of the girl behind her.


    A shriek tore through the dining hall, sharp as a wolf’s death cry. Heads turned-those eating, those in line


    -every pair of eyes drawn to the spectacle.


    Noodles clung to the girl’s hair, broth dripping down her face, her expression a mix of outrage and disbelief.


    Carmen dropped the empty bowl onto the table with a dull thud and turned to leave.


    “Carmen! Don’t you dare walk away!” one of the girl’s friends barked.


    She didn’t even nce back.


    Being ignored in front of so many witnesses seemed to snap the girl’s temper. “Are you deaf? You humiliated my friend and think you can just—”


    She lunged, fingers wing for Carmen’s hair.


    But Carmen was already moving. She caught the girl’s wrist mid-strike, her grip like iron, and in a single fluid motion flipped her clean over her shoulder.


    The girl hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud.


    Carmen’s boot came down on her chest, pinning her like prey beneath a predator’s paw.


    “Had enough of your little performance?” Her voice was low, edged with frost.


    The girl wheezed under the pressure, her face flushed crimson.


    Carmen looked down at her, gaze cold and unblinking, the way an Alpha might regard a trespasser on her territory-calm, patient, and promising violence.


    “I—I’m sorry…” the girl choked out, tears springing to her eyes.


    Carmen’s lips curved in a humorless smile. “Pathetic. You need to be beaten to remember your ce.”


    Gasps rippled through the crowd.


    No one had ever seen this side of her-the dangerous, coiled force that lived beneath her polished, academic exterior.


    One wolf in the crowd dared to speak up. “Carmen, that’s enough. Everyone saw. If this gets to the Dean, you could be expelled.”


    “Tell her,” Carmen said with a derisive snort.


    She stepped away, but another voice called after her, sharper, colder. “You hit someone and still think you’re untouchable? You’re not fit to call yourself a wolf.”


    Carmen stopped. Slowly, she turned, each step toward the speaker a deliberate, prowling threat.


    The girl’s bravado wilted instantly. “Wh-what are you doing?”


    8:15 pm S


    s


    Carmen didn’t answer. She simply drew back her hand and pped her hard across the face, the crack echoing off the walls. Then she grabbed the nearest te of cold leftovers and mmed it into the girl’s


    face.


    “This,” Carmen said, her voice a razor-edged whisper, “is what untouchable looks like.”


    Rice and broth dripped from the girl’s chin, her makeup smeared beyond recognition. She was too stunned to even defend herself, her eyes welling as she began to cry.


    Around them, mutters of disapproval rose, but Carmen didn’t spare them a nce.


    Her temper had been a hair triggertely-ever since Riley’s troubles had begun, it had been harder to keep the wolf under her skin from answering insults with teeth.