"Whose dress is that."
Not a good morning. Not a hello. Just Jayden in the doorway staring at her like she'd personally offended his entire bloodline.
"Good morning to you too."
"Daciana."
"I borrowed it."
"From the Westmonts." He stepped inside, closed the door. "You smell like their castle. You've got a bite mark on your neck. And now you're standing in a dress you definitely can't afford." He crossed his arms. "What actually happened last night."
Sable suddenly found her phone very interesting.
"Nothing happened—"
He stepped closer, voice low and shaking. "You let him bite you?"
His hand came up fast — not grabbing, just hovering near the mark on her neck.
"Tell me you didn't let him fuck you."
Daciana's pulse jumped under his fingers. Her body remembered Rodrigo's mouth there, the way she'd arched.
She slapped his hand away. "I didn't. It was a ritual. I said yes to survive."
Jayden's eyes darkened. "You said yes."
Sable cut in. "She stole the money, Jayden. She didn't sell her body."
Jayden laughed, bitter. "That's supposed to be better?"
He looked at her neck again. "You're marked. You smell like him. And you're standing here in his fiancée's dress. Tell me you didn't enjoy it."
Daciana's thighs clenched. She hated how her body reacted — heat pooling low, nipples tightening under the shirt.
"Jayden—"
"Did you sell your body for that money. Just tell me."
"No."
"Because last night you said anything—"
"I said anything to get Sable and you out of there. Nothing happened." She met his eyes. "I stole the money. That's it."
He sat down. Hands on his knees. Quiet for a second.
Then: "Did you take your suppressant last night."
She didn't answer.
"Daciana."
"I forgot."
"You forgot your wolf suppressant." He looked up. "Before spending the night with unmated alphas. At a bachelor party." He pointed at her neck. "And someone bit you."
"It's not a claiming bite—"
"Who bit you."
"It doesn't matter—"
"WHO—"
"Jayden." Her voice came out sharp. "Stop. You're not my father."
"No I'm your best friend and I covered for you ALL morning." He stood up, voice rising. "Made excuses, sent texts, told three different people you were sick — not knowing you were playing house with the family that destroyed ours—"
"That's not fair—"
"Whose dress is it really. Was it to seduce them? Because that's what it looks like from where I'm standing."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"What is going on with you?" She stepped toward him. "Why are you acting like this? Is it because you and Violet broke up? Are you seriously taking that out on me right now?"
He went very still.
"Don't," he said.
"You do this every time you're hurting. You pick a fight with me because I'm safe. Because I won't leave." She softened her voice. "I'm not the enemy, Jay."
Something shifted in his face.
"I just don't like them," he said. Quieter now. "I don't like what you become around them. I don't like that bite mark. And I really don't like that you didn't tell me."
"I know."
and I especially don't like that I'm standing here telling you that and you're looking at me like you already know and you're going to do it anyway."
Silence.
"Are you?" he said. "Going to do it anyway?"
She held his gaze.
"Yes," she said.
His phone buzzed.
His whole face changed. Just like that — all the anger gone, replaced by something softer and stupider and very Violet-shaped.
Daciana caught the screen for half a second.
Don't tell Daciana. Please just come. I'm scared.
"You said you broke up," Daciana said.
"She says she's scared."
"She said don't tell me. I saw it. Those exact words." She kept her voice steady. "That doesn't feel strange to you?"
"She's probably just embarrassed—"
"Or she doesn't want you to finish this conversation."
He looked at the phone. At Daciana. Back at the phone.
He looked at the screen. "She's scared. She wants me to come."
Daciana saw it clearly. The text was perfectly timed, sent to pull him away before they finished. Violet knew exactly what she was doing.
She didn't say any of it.
"Go," she said.
"We're not done—"
"Go, Jayden."
He grabbed his jacket. Stopped at the door. "Don't do anything dangerous without me."
"No promises."
"Not funny."
"Little bit funny."
He almost smiled. Didn't. Left.
The door clicked.
Sable waited one second. "She is one hundred percent not scared."
"I know."
"You didn't tell him."
"He would've stayed." Daciana's phone buzzed. Mass message, academy server.
WESTMONT ALPHA INITIATION TONIGHT. ALPHA TRAINING DRESS CODE NOTHING . BAY BEACH. 23:00. DO NOT BE LATE WOLVES. First ones in the water choose what the last ones do.
She looked at Sable.
"I need the beard."
Sable had opinions about the beard.
"It's lopsided."
"It's fine—"
"Sable," she said.
"Yeah?"
"How waterproof is that thing?"
Sable picked it up. Checked the label. Put it back down. "Enough for light splashing."
"Skinny dipping isn't light splashing."
"You look like a confused theatre kid, Dacy."
"I look like Alex Reed—"
"Alex Reed apparently had a rough week." Sable stepped back. "Turn around."
The chest binding had taken three attempts. The hair was pinned flat under a cap. Hoodie, track pants, men's shoes two sizes too big.
Daciana looked in the mirror.
Alex Reed looked back.
"Okay," Sable said slowly. "Actually. From a distance you might survive this."
"From a distance?"
"Don't let anyone get close. Don't laugh. Your laugh is extremely you." She pulled the cap down. "Drop your voice. Stop going normal register."
Daciana dropped it low. "Better?"
Sable stared. "That's genuinely unsettling. Do that the whole time."
Location dropped on her phone.
Come ready to get wet, wolves.
Sable read it over her shoulder. "Get wet."
"It's an expression."
"Sure it is." She grabbed Daciana's arm. "Text me when you're there. Text me if anything—"
"Sable."
"Go. Destroy them. Carefully."
The beach was dark and freezing.
Thirty recruits stood around a fire pit pretending they weren't nervous. All male. All big. She kept her head down, checked in as Alex Reed, found a spot at the edge.
Rodrigo walked down the sand first. Jacket off, arms crossed, looking like he owned the ocean. Zarek behind him, grinning. Kruze last — steady, face completely blank.
Rodrigo looked over the group slowly.
His eyes moved across each face.
Passed over her.
She breathed.
"First trial," he said. "Everyone in the water. Everything off. Sixty seconds
"New candidates. Swim out to the buoy and back. No shifting. No help. Prove you belong."
Someone near the front said "with our clothes—"
Rodrigo looked at him. The recruit stopped talking. "No Clothes Recruit..Now Everyone Strip"
She looked at the water. At the thirty wolves already reaching for their shirts.
Alex Reed, she reminded herself. Third year. Completely unremarkable.
Her wolf started laughing.