The Good Wife.

Rae

The Ravenwood Pack had one human.

That human was me.

Most wolves didn’t bother remembering anything else about me. Not my name. Not how long I had lived on their territory. Just the simple, inconvenient truth that I didn’t belong in their world.

Humans didn’t live inside wolf packs.

Yet somehow I had spent most of my life inside the Alpha’s home.

It wasn’t because I belonged there.

It was because of a promise.

When my mother died, Luna Sonya Kingston had taken me in without hesitation. She had been my mother’s closest friend, and she honored that bond even after the rest of the pack quietly questioned the decision. Alpha Harold supported her, and between the two of them, the matter was settled.

At least inside the Alpha house.

The rest of the pack had their own opinions.

That was why I woke before dawn every morning.

The house was silent when I slipped down the stairs, the early darkness still pressed against the tall kitchen windows. I tied my hair into a loose braid and moved through the room quietly, wiping down the counters and rinsing the dishes left from the night before.

Technically none of it was my responsibility.

The Alpha house had staff who handled the cooking and cleaning.

Still, I did it.

Living under someone else’s roof meant proving you deserved the space you occupied. It meant giving people fewer reasons to question why you were there.

The coffee finished brewing just as the sky outside began to lighten. I poured it into the insulated carafe and placed it neatly on the dining table where Alpha Harold would find it after his morning run.

Only then did I grab my bag from the bench near the back door.

Upstairs, the house remained quiet.

Which meant Grant was still asleep.

My hand lingered on the door handle for a moment.

There had been a time when mornings belonged to both of us. We used to race down the back steps together, stealing food from the kitchen before running into the forest behind the house. Grant had always been faster than me, but he never let me lose by much.

Before the rest of the pack decided what I was, Grant had simply been Grant.

My best friend.

My favorite person.

The one place in Ravenwood that had ever felt completely safe.

Back then, I thought we’d grow up together. I thought no matter what the rest of the pack saw when they looked at me, Grant would always see me.

Back then, the difference between us hadn’t mattered.

Then he gained his wolf.

Grant had been twelve when he shifted for the first time. The whole pack celebrated like it was a festival. Becoming a wolf meant stepping fully into the world you were born for.

I remembered running outside to congratulate him.

I remembered the way his expression changed the moment his wolf looked at me.

The warmth vanished.

He stepped away like he had suddenly realized I was something dangerous.

After that night, the distance between us grew year by year. The other pack children followed his lead the moment they gained their wolves too.

Before, I had been the strange girl living in the Alpha house.

After, I became the human.

The outsider.

I pushed the memory away and stepped outside into the cold morning air.

Today was the first day at Ravenwood Academy.

Even thinking the words made my stomach tighten.

The academy existed to train the future leadership of wolf packs. Alpha heirs, Betas, Gammas, and Deltas from powerful territories all came here before eventually returning home to lead their people.

Humans were not allowed to attend.

Normally.

The only reason I had been admitted was because Alpha Harold and Luna Sonya had used their authority to force an exception. My mother had been a wolf, and apparently that technicality had been enough for the pack council to approve my enrollment.

It hadn’t made anyone happy.

Which meant I was walking into a school full of wolves who already believed I had stolen a place that belonged to someone else.

I only needed to survive four years.

That was the plan.

Graduate.

Leave Ravenwood.

Leave the wolf world behind for good.

The wolves might tolerate me because of the Alpha and Luna, but I was tired of spending my life feeling like a guest in someone else’s home. If I could earn my degree, find work in a human city, and build a life away from pack politics and werewolf hierarchies, maybe I could finally stop being the human everyone merely tolerated and become someone who actually belonged.

Getting through Ravenwood Academy wasn’t about becoming part of the wolf world.

It was about escaping it.

The academy buildings rose from the forest ahead of me, tall stone walls wrapped in ivy. Students were already gathering across the courtyard when I arrived. Some were hauling luggage toward the dormitory buildings while others clustered in small groups, laughing and greeting friends they hadn’t seen since the previous term.

I slipped through the crowd toward the dormitory lobby.

A large board covered the far wall, packed with room assignments.

It took a moment to find my name.

Aurelya Rivers — Dorm B, Room 214

I stared at it for a second before heading upstairs.

The door to room 214 was already open.

Someone stood near the window unpacking books onto one of the desks. When she turned and saw me in the doorway, her entire face lit up.

“Rae!”

Chrissy Fredricks rushed across the room and hugged me before I could even drop my bag.

I laughed in surprise. “You’re my roommate?”

“Obviously,” she said with a grin. “Did you really think they’d put you with some Alpha princess who hates humans?”

Chrissy had been my only real friend in the pack for years. As an Omega, she had never quite fit neatly into wolf society either. She had earned her place at the academy through grades alone, graduating top of her class at the preparatory school.

Seeing her here beside me felt almost too lucky.

“You think this was arranged?” I asked quietly.

Chrissy’s smile turned slightly sheepish. “Probably. The Alpha and Luna might have… suggested it.”

That sounded about right.

Just like getting me admitted to the academy in the first place.

I set my bag down beside the other bed, feeling a little less tense than I had when I walked in.

“Ready to face the wolves?” Chrissy asked.

I exhaled slowly. “Not really.”

She laughed and grabbed my arm anyway.

The academy courtyard had grown even more crowded by the time we stepped outside. Groups of students filled the open space between the dormitories and the main hall.

That was when someone called out loudly.

“Well, look who decided to show up.”

My shoulders stiffened.

Quinn stepped away from the group gathered near the fountain. Her long dark hair fell perfectly over one shoulder as she approached, her expression already carrying that familiar mixture of amusement and disdain.

Two girls followed behind her.

Rebecca.

Stephanie.

“Didn’t realize the academy was opening enrollment to humans this year,” Quinn continued lightly.

I tried to step around her.

She blocked my path.

“You know,” she said thoughtfully, “this school was built for wolves.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Not strays.”

Rebecca bumped my shoulder as she walked past. The shove was just hard enough to throw me off balance.

Chrissy grabbed my arm.

“Rae—”

Another shove came from behind.

My bag slipped from my shoulder.

I hit the stone courtyard hard on my hands and one knee as laughter erupted around us.

“Careful,” Rebecca said mockingly. “Humans break easily.”

Quinn stepped closer, looking down at me.

“You should really know your place.”

My fingers curled against the stone.

Normally I stayed quiet.

Normally I ignored it.

But today something sharp twisted in my chest as I started to stand.

A cold voice cut through the courtyard.

“That’s enough, Quinn.”

Every wolf nearby went silent.

I looked up slowly.

Grant Kingston stood a few feet away.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Calm in the way only someone raised to lead a pack could be. His steel-blue eyes moved briefly across the scene before settling on Quinn.

Quinn’s entire attitude changed instantly.

“Grant,” she said sweetly, slipping her arm through his.

The motion hit harder than the shove had.

Grant barely looked at me.

“Let’s go,” he said calmly.

Quinn cast one last satisfied glance in my direction before allowing him to guide her away.

Behind him, three more figures followed.

Julien Bennett.

Brax Weston.

Lincoln Adler.

The future command wolves of Ravenwood.

A bitter thought crossed my mind.

If these were the wolves who would one day run the pack, then people like me would always stay on the ground.

Just as I started to push my feet, a shadow stepped in front of me.

A hand appeared in my line of sight.

I looked up.

Julien Bennett stood there, his green eyes studying me quietly.

“Need a hand?” he asked.

For a moment, the entire courtyard held its breath.