Chapter 22: Partners

Wolf Control class started that morning with the instructor announcing a practical exercise before anyone had fully settled into their seats.

"Pairs," he said. "This isn’t combat. One of you will trigger heightened instincts. The other helps maintain control. You’ll switch roles halfway through."

Roxanne hoped, quietly, for Isla.

"Roxanne Silver. Lucien Moonstone."

The room reacted instantly, a ripple of whispers, a few girls looking openly annoyed. Liam spun around in his seat.

"Congratulations, Roxanne. You’ve been assigned the boring brother."

Lucien gave him a look that could have frozen water.

"I was hoping for Isla," Roxanne muttered.

Liam pressed a hand to his chest. "Cruel."

Lucien ignored him entirely and walked toward her. "Come on."

She followed, unenthusiastic about being paired with the single most serious person in the entire academy.

The exercise required one partner to deliberately heighten their senses while the other helped guide them back to control. Lucien began explaining the process.

"I understand," Roxanne said.

He kept explaining.

"I said I understand."

He studied her for a moment. "Fine."

"What?" Roxanne raised a brow.

"You don’t like being helped."

"I don’t like being treated like I’m helpless." She frowned.

Something in his expression shifted slightly. "I didn’t say you were helpless."

She paused.

"I said we’re partners," he added.

That caught her off guard. He wasn’t making her feel weak. He was making it clear they were supposed to work together, not that he was carrying her through it.

"Fine," she said. "Partners."

They began. Roxanne heightened her senses first, and for a few seconds everything stayed manageable. Then the sound of the room pressed in harder — students breathing, shoes shifting against the floor, heartbeats she had no business hearing. Her body tensed, the memory of the last time this happened rising fast.

"Look at me," Lucien said.

She stared into his deep brown eyes.

"Breathe."

"I am breathing."

"Not properly."

She glared at him. He remained completely unbothered.

"Five seconds."

She inhaled.

"Four."

She followed his voice instead of the noise.

"Three."

Her shoulders eased.

"Two."

The pressure behind her ribs started to settle.

"One."

Silence, finally, in a way that felt like hers again.

She looked at him. He hadn’t touched her. Hadn’t overpowered anything. He’d simply stayed steady until she found her way back.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"You did the hard part."

That mattered more than she expected. He wasn’t taking credit. He was handing it back to her.

Then it was his turn.

Roxanne assumed it would look effortless on him. He was the eldest. The disciplined one. The brother who always seemed to already know what to do.

But when he heightened his senses, she noticed something small. His jaw tightened. His fingers curled at his sides. He was fighting something too.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine."

"You’re doing that thing."

"What thing?"

"Pretending you’re fine."

He looked at her, and for once she got to use his own words against him.

"Breathe," she said.

He almost smiled. "You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

She guided him through the same count, watching his shoulders drop as he followed it. When he opened his eyes again, she smiled.

"See? You survived."

He looked at her for a long moment. "So did you."

Neither of them said anything else. It wasn’t romantic, not exactly. It felt more like they’d both let something show that usually stayed hidden.

When the bell rang, Liam appeared almost instantly. "So? How was your romantic little bonding exercise?"

Roxanne nearly choked. "It wasn’t romantic."

Liam looked at Lucien. "Did she just say it wasn’t romantic?"

"It wasn’t," Lucien said, gathering his bag.

Liam looked genuinely disappointed.

"You’re making it romantic by talking about it," Roshan said quietly.

"Leave them alone," Kai added, not even looking up.

Roxanne glanced between all four of them. "Why are you all like this?"

"Like what?" Liam asked.

"Annoying."

"Our best quality."

She rolled her eyes, though she was smiling by the time she turned away.

Isla had to stop by another classroom before their next class, leaving Roxanne walking alone — until Lucien fell into step beside her, heading the same direction.

"Do you always take everything this seriously?" she asked.

"Someone has to."

"Is that because you’re the oldest?"

He didn’t answer right away. "Someone had to be."

That told her more about him than anything he’d said all day. Being the eldest wasn’t a title he wore lightly. It was something he carried, constantly, without complaint.

"You don’t have to act like everyone’s guardian all the time," she said.

He looked at her. "Neither do you."

She went quiet, because he wasn’t wrong. She’d spent weeks pretending the rejection hadn’t gutted her. Pretending the fall hadn’t terrified her. Pretending none of it touched her at all.

Lucien didn’t push her to admit any of it. He just kept walking beside her, and somehow that felt more honest than if he’d asked her outright.

They reached the hallway outside her next class, and Dorian was suddenly there, stepping into their path.

He looked at Roxanne, then at Lucien walking beside her, and something in his expression shifted.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"About what?"

He hesitated, clearly thrown by how flat her voice had gone.

"I just wanted to check if you’re okay."

"You already asked me that."

"I know."

"Then why are you asking again?"

He didn’t have an answer.

The bell rang, cutting through the silence before it could stretch any longer. Roxanne stepped around him.

"I have class."

Lucien stayed beside her, saying nothing to Dorian, offering no reaction at all — which somehow made it worse for Dorian than if he had.

Dorian stood in the hallway and watched the two of them walk away together, side by side, easy in a way that had nothing performative about it.

For the first time, it truly settled in him that Roxanne wasn’t waiting for him to come back.

She’d already moved on without needing his permission to do it.