Evaline:
The second day after the full moon was when things finally returned to normal.
The howling in the distance had stopped. The energy in the air—the restless tension clinging to every hallway, stairwell, and hidden forest trail—had slowly faded like morning mist. Wolves were calm again, grounded. Students filled the campus with their usual chatter. Professors resumed lectures with the same mildly exhausted but stern energy they always carried after full moon nights.
And I?
I pretended.
Pretended like I hadn't spent the full moon locked in the library with a wolf who wasn't supposed to want me.
Pretended like Oscar's arms hadn't felt like something I secretly craved.
Pretended like the mate bond wasn't still humming quietly beneath my skin, desperate and alive despite everything he said.
I put my hair up, dressed in my cleanest uniform, and headed to class with the same purpose I used to have before all of this mess. Focus. Learn. Survive.
Forget.
