Chapter 2

The sunlight pierced my eyes. I tightened my grip on my phone and stared at Liam.

He had sharp, sculpted features—classic Alpha lines—but those beautiful eyes of his always held a falsely innocent look. He walked over and, as usual, reached out to take my phone. A habit. A controlling one.

But I had already slipped it into my pocket, pretending to be casual. "I was just talking to my father about where to intern."

Liam's eyes flickered briefly. He smiled at me. "Didn't you say you'd go wherever I go?"

Once upon a time, I would've agreed to anything Liam said.

I forced a smile. "We were talking about where Chloe should go."

At the mention of Chloe's name, Liam's pupils narrowed slightly. His voice softened instinctively. "She likes art. Europe's probably the best place for her. You know, city of the arts and all that."

Funny. I had never told him what Chloe liked. And yet he knew.

A memory surfaced—back in crafting class, Liam had stubbornly insisted on joining me, despite being all thumbs. He'd spent a month making a necklace of camellias, stringing together wolf fangs and silver thread. I thought he'd made it for me.

But now I realized—camellias were Chloe's favorite flower. His preference for Chloe had always been obvious. How could I have been blind to it, hiding behind the illusion of "friendship?"

I looked at him, at the tenderness he didn't even bother to hide when her name came up. My throat tightened.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Chloe's going to Europe."

Liam would probably go with her too.

And I... I would become an Enforcer. A guardian of order. After the trials, we would go our separate ways for good.

That afternoon was combat training. Liam and I arrived at the training hall together. Just as we reached the entrance, Chloe waved at me with a sweet smile.

At the sight of her, the corners of Liam's lips lifted instinctively.

I saw that smile and slowly clenched my fists. I never liked hand-to-hand combat. I only chose this class because Liam wanted to get stronger, and I wanted to support him. But now, it was clear—his desire to protect wasn't for me. It was for someone else in this class.

The coach instructed us to pair off for sparring drills.

I automatically turned to Liam, about to speak, when Chloe beat me to it.

"Liam," she said sweetly, "my partner's out sick today. Can you pair with me? You know, since you're an omega and I'm just a weak Beta, we'd be a good match."

She was lying. She knew Liam wasn't an omega.

I froze. Then I heard Liam respond without hesitation, "Sure."

As if remembering his current disguise, he glanced back at me. He paused—but in the end, his desire to be near Chloe won.

He said to me, "I'll come find you after I'm done training with her."

"...Don't bother." I tightened my fingers and turned toward a burly male student nearby. "Can I pair with you?"

Liam was stunned. His gaze darkened, a faint Alpha pressure leaking into the air.

The boy looked confused. "Weren't you always with Liam?"

"Yeah," I said with a calm smile. "But Liam already has a partner, doesn't he?"

The boy hesitated, glancing at Liam like he was scared of something invisible. "But..."

A cold light flickered in Liam's black eyes. He gave me one long look, then turned away with a faint smile. "It's fine."

The boy finally relaxed.

For the rest of the class, I could hear Liam and Chloe's voices behind me.

"Was that too hard?"

"No, it was really light."

"Then when it's your turn to throw me, go easy, okay?"

"Of course."

Back and forth. Every line answered.

Even when Liam pretended to be weak, he had never spoken to me so gently.

Distracted, I was half a second too slow responding to my partner's move. I stepped back to dodge—but Chloe had somehow appeared behind me. We crashed together, hard.

Before I could react, Chloe cried out, "Ouch!"

The next moment, Liam grabbed my wrist and flung me aside. His Alpha strength left me no room to resist.

He crouched to help Chloe up, then turned to glare at me with icy eyes. "What are you doing? Can't you control your brute force?"

It was the first time I had heard Liam speak to me in that cold, commanding tone. The first time I'd seen such disgust in his eyes.

I opened my mouth to explain, but Liam had already scooped Chloe into his arms and rushed out of the hall.

I tried to follow, but a sharp pain shot through my arm.

I looked down. At some point, one of the floor guards had sliced a gash into my arm. Blood trickled out in thin lines. It must've happened when Liam flung me. I hadn't noticed. And of course, Liam hadn't either.

I went to the campus clinic alone to tend to the wound. Werewolves healed fast, but the cut throbbed faintly, deeper than it should've been.

On my way back to class, I texted Liam, asking how Chloe was.

No reply.

A few Beta classmates told me the instructor needed help moving raw meat from the freezer in the cafeteria for biology class.

I followed them in. As soon as I stepped into the huge walk-in freezer, the heavy metal door slammed shut with a loud bang.

I spun around. Outside, I could hear laughter fading away.

"Enjoy your night in there," one of them sneered. "Liam's orders."

"Wait! Don't go! Open the door! Open it!"

I banged on the door in a panic. But this kind of industrial freezer—no sound could escape it. Not even a werewolf's howl.

Then I felt it. A terrifying chill creeping up my spine. I turned around—and saw the temperature panel flashing. Someone had turned the cooling system to its maximum setting.

Minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit. That was a temperature used for freezing mutated beast meat. Even a werewolf wouldn't last long in here. Sooner or later...I would go into shock.