Evaline:
Sunday mornings at the council headquarters were usually quieter. Most of the council members took the day to rest unless something urgent required attention.
But I arrived there at nine sharp, dressed in my usual clothes, hair pulled back, and with a calm expression. Or at least that’s what I was showing on the outside.
Inside, I was hollow.
I didn’t sleep well as the nightmares were back. Barely ate in the morning and my head was throbbing. Yet, here I was, pretending like I hadn’t been paraded like a fragile pet by the most feared Alpha in our world.
Since last night, my phone had buzzed several times with calls and messages from Kieran, Oscar, and Draven.
But I didn’t attend the calls or opened their messages. I didn’t need to read them to know what they would say.
"We didn’t know."
"River went too far."
"Are you okay?"
A part of me knew that these three weren’t directly to blame for what River had done. They weren’t the ones who humiliated me in that gilded ballroom. But another part of me, the part that still throbbed with shame and betrayal, couldn’t separate them from him. They were brothers. A unit. Always moving together.
And I didn’t want to hear their apologies if they couldn’t change the truth.
So I kept walking past the buzzes and pings of my phone. Kept working like my bones weren’t aching and my chest wasn’t tight.
River, of course, was already at headquarters when I arrived.
He didn’t speak to me. And I didn’t look at him.
But that didn’t stop me from feeling him. His gaze was relentless, and the air between us was like thin ice over deep water - cracking, threatening to collapse beneath the weight of what neither of us would say.
He passed by me a few times throughout the day, and I sensed the hesitation in his steps. The subtle pauses. The glances. But I never lifted my head.
He had already looked at me enough the previous evening... for the whole world to see.
I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of a reaction now.
It didn’t take long for others to notice. By noon, the entire building grew colder.
The people working in the main administrative wing - the secretaries, the researchers, the junior warriors and assistants - were moving carefully when they passed by us.
They only talked in hushed voices and a few even fumbled their files when they caught the tension thick in the air.
At first, I thought I was imagining it, but by the afternoon, even the low-ranking guards were glancing at us with tight lips and stiff backs. Word had spread, like wildfire through a dry forest.
They didn’t know what happened, of course. But they felt it.
As for the Alphas and Council members? Not a single one of them dared to show their face at the headquarters that day.
They knew what had happened. Some of them had even watched it firsthand.
And no one wanted to be near River Thorne now that he was visibly, undeniably in a bad mood as he stared at the same girl who now wouldn’t look at him. The same girl who walked past him as if he was nothing but a shadow on the floor.
By the time the sun dipped low and the last of the administrative staff were preparing to head out, I finally allowed myself a breath.
So far, this was my hardest day at work, and I was looking forward to returning to the Academy. Back to silence. Back to pretending again.
I had just closed the final report file and was gathering my things when the door burst open.
And Jasper stormed in.
I had never seen him like that before. He was the kind of man who walked like wind - quiet, efficient, almost invisible when he wanted to be. But today, his face was pale and his eyes sharp with urgency. There was no softness in his tone when he addressed River.
"A patrol team’s gone missing," he said flatly, completely missing my presence in the office. "Five of our warriors. They were scheduled to check the borders around Red Hollow."
River’s head snapped up. "When did this happen?"
"Last contact was seven this morning. They were supposed to report back by eleven. We have tried their comms... nothing. No trace of them on radar, and no scent trails near their last known location. It’s like they vanished."
I stilled.
Red Hollow. That was deep in the northern mountains, a forbidden zone
River stood up, his expression finally cracking into something other than that calculated calm he wore like a second skin. "Who led the patrol?"
"Corin," Jasper replied. "And before you ask - yes. I handpicked the team. They weren’t new. They have run that route half a dozen times before."
The silence that followed was crushing.
River’s eyes flicked to me for a brief second before settling back on Jasper.
"Get me the map," he ordered. "And gather every tracker we have. We move within the hour."
"I already have the files in the war room," Jasper said, turning on his heel.
River looked like he was about to follow, but then paused. His gaze flicked back to me again, this time slower.
Something passed in his expression.
I didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
I should have said something. Should have asked what we were going to do. I worked here. I was supposed to be involved.
But my voice was gone.
Everything that had been swirling in me all day - the anger, the resentment, the weight of silent eyes - finally pushed against my chest like a tide, threatening to drown me again.
So I picked up my bag and walked away.
Again.
Just like I had on Saturday night.
I didn’t stop until I was in the car, heading back to Academy. I didn’t check my phone. Didn’t breathe properly until I was back in my dorm.
But the moment I stepped inside my bedroom and switched on the lights, I came face to face with Draven.