Chapter 3: The Moonstone Quadruplets

Roxanne woke up and for one blissful second, she forgot everything.

Then it all came rushing back. The wine bottle left behind on Dorian’s dresser. The mate bond snapping into place right before he tore it apart. Arabella’s tears.

She sat up and forced the memory back into whatever box she’d shoved it into the night before.

No more love. No more mates.

Today was the first day of the rest of her life, and she intended to live it that way.

Isla was already dressed, humming to herself while she dug through her closet.

"Morning," Isla said. "We’ve got orientation, then first period. I’ll walk you through everything."

Roxanne got up and started getting ready, grateful for the noise filling the silence.

Isla glanced at her once, just briefly, in a way that said she noticed more than she let on. But she didn’t push.

"Whatever happened before you came here," Isla said, "stays outside those gates."

Roxanne looked at her.

"That’s the deal everyone makes with themselves eventually," Isla added, shrugging like it was nothing. "New school, new start."

Something in Roxanne’s chest loosened, just slightly. Maybe she could actually do that.

As they walked toward the main building, Isla brought up yesterday.

"You know those guys from the supermarket weren’t just some rich boys, right?"

"Here we go," Roxanne muttered.

"I’m serious. They’re the Moonstone quadruplets. Heirs to one of the most powerful royal Lycan families in the region."

Roxanne felt a flicker of something, embarrassment maybe, quickly buried under irritation. "So they’re royalty with bad manners. Great."

"Roxanne."

"What? Being born rich doesn’t mean you get to snatch a drink out of someone’s hand."

Isla pressed her fingers to her temples like she was already exhausted by this conversation, and they hadn’t even reached the courtyard yet.

The courtyard was crowded, students clustered in groups, laughter and chatter bouncing off the stone walls. Then, gradually, the noise dimmed.

Conversations dropped mid-sentence. Students shifted aside, clearing a path without seeming to think about it.

Roxanne followed their eyes.

Four guys walked through the courtyard together, and the entire space seemed to bend around them.

"Lucien Moonstone," someone whispered nearby.

"Roshan," another voice added.

"Liam."

"Kai."

Roxanne studied them as they approached, matching the names to yesterday’s faces. The one who’d fought her over the bottle walked slightly ahead of the others, composed and unreadable. That one was apparently Lucien.

Beside him, a brother with sharp, observant eyes swept the courtyard like he was cataloguing everything in it. Roshan.

Another walked with an easy, relaxed grin, like nothing in the world could touch him. Liam.

The last one said nothing, his expression carefully blank, but his eyes moved constantly, watchful in a way that made the back of Roxanne’s neck prickle. Kai.

"You called them arrogant idiots yesterday," Isla whispered.

"I remember."

"You also didn’t apologize."

"I remember that too."

Roxanne squared her shoulders. She hadn’t known who they were, and honestly, it wouldn’t have changed anything. Nobody got to bully her over a drink and expect a smile for it, crown or no crown.

She refused to feel ashamed.

Then Lucien’s eyes landed on her.

His steps didn’t slow, but something in his expression shifted, a flicker of recognition edged with amusement.

Beside him, Liam grinned outright. Roshan’s eyebrow lifted slightly. Kai’s gaze lingered a second too long before moving on.

"Great," Roxanne muttered under her breath. "They remember me."

The four of them stopped a few feet away, and the students around them practically held their breath.

"The supermarket girl," Liam said, sounding delighted. "I was wondering if we’d run into you again."

"I assumed royalty had better things to do than fight over drinks," Roxanne said.

"You’re the one who refused to let go," Lucien pointed out.

"You could’ve just bought another bottle. There were literally more in the back."

For a second nobody said anything. Then Liam laughed, low and genuine, and even Roshan’s mouth twitched like he was fighting a smile.

Roxanne blinked. She’d expected annoyance, maybe some royal outrage. Not this.

Isla grabbed her arm the second the brothers moved on, practically vibrating. "Do you understand what just happened? The Moonstones don’t laugh at people. They barely acknowledge people."

"They’re not that impressive."

"Roxanne. Their family basically runs this territory. Teachers treat them like royalty because they are royalty. Their combat records are legendary. Nobody talks to them like you did yesterday."

Roxanne shrugged, unmoved. She didn’t want special treatment, and she definitely didn’t want to be known as the girl who got tangled up with the Moonstone brothers.

Unfortunately, it seemed a little late for that.

As she turned to keep walking, something warm pulsed through her chest, faint and unfamiliar.

She stopped mid-step.

It felt like a low hum somewhere beneath her ribs, gone as quickly as it came. Her wolf, dormant for years, had barely stirred.

She pressed a hand briefly to her chest, frowning.

It’s just stress, she told herself. New academy. New life. Of course her body was doing strange things.

She didn’t notice Kai’s eyes cut toward her, sharp and focused, tracking the moment like he’d felt something too.

Roxanne kept walking, unaware.

A cluster of students near the fountain lowered their voices as she passed, not quite low enough.

"That’s her. The one whose mate rejected her."

"I heard her wolf hasn’t even shifted since."

"Imagine being rejected by your own fated mate."

Roxanne’s spine stiffened, but she didn’t slow down, didn’t let her face change. She kept her eyes forward and her pace even, refusing to give them the reaction they were fishing for.

Inside, though, it stung all over again.

She reminded herself why she’d come here. Not to be defined by Dorian’s rejection. Not to let it become the only thing people saw when they looked at her.

Behind her, Kai’s attention sharpened on the whispering students, then back to Roxanne’s retreating figure, the careful way she kept walking despite what she’d clearly just heard.

He said nothing. Just watched.

By the time Roxanne reached her first class, she’d almost recovered.

Almost, until she stepped inside and saw all four Moonstone brothers seated among a cluster of other elite students near the front.

Of course. ℯℯ𝘭.

She took a seat near the back, determined to ignore them entirely.

The professor entered, and the room settled into an easy rhythm of note-taking and quiet discussion. Roxanne kept her eyes on her notebook.

But partway through the lecture, she felt it. Someone watching her.

She glanced up.

Kai’s gaze was fixed on her from across the room, steady and unreadable.

She held his stare for a moment, refusing to look away first. Neither of them blinked.

Eventually she turned back to the professor, telling herself he was probably still irritated about the supermarket. That was all this was.

She had no idea that at that exact moment, Kai leaned slightly toward Roshan and murmured something too quiet for anyone else to catch.

"Who is she?"

Roshan’s eyes flicked toward Roxanne, then back to his brother.

"Roxanne Silver."

That was all. No explanation followed.

But as class ended and students filed out, Lucien watched Roxanne gather her things and disappear through the door, something unreadable settling over his expression.

"Find out everything about her," he said quietly.

The other three exchanged glances, none of them quite able to explain why an ordinary rejected wolf had suddenly become the only thing any of them could focus on.