THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

EVANGELINE POINT OF VIEW
Friday morning arrives like a funeral march. Each step toward school feels heavier than the last. The binding stone's grip on me has tightened overnight. My wolf is barely a whisper now, so faint I wonder if I imagined her voice.
But I force myself to keep walking. Keep breathing. Keep existing.
The hallways blur past me in streams of color and noise. Students laugh and shout and live their normal lives while I float through like a ghost. Nobody sees me anymore. Nobody cares.
Maybe that's for the best.
First period drags by in a haze. I can't hold my pen steady enough to take notes. The words on the board swim together like fish in murky water. My head throbs with each heartbeat.
When the bell rings, I stay in my seat. Moving feels impossible. Like my bones have turned to lead.
"Miss Cross?"
I look up to see Professor Kane standing beside my desk. His face shows concern that makes my throat tight with unshed tears.
"Are you alright? You look quite pale."
I try to speak, but only air comes out. My voice has abandoned me along with everything else.
"Perhaps you should visit the nurse," he suggests gently.
I shake my head. What could a nurse do for magical poison? For a soul being slowly torn apart?
Professor Kane frowns. "Well, if you're sure. But Miss Cross?" He leans closer, lowering his voice. "Professor Blackwood would like to see you after school today. She asked me to pass along the message."
Professor Blackwood. I know the name but can't place the face. Advanced Magical Theory, maybe? Not a class I take.
"Room 237," Professor Kane adds. "She said it was important."
Important. Everything feels important when you're drowning. But I nod anyway because it's easier than explaining why nothing matters anymore.
The rest of the day passes like a fever dream. In second period, I fall asleep on my desk and wake up to find the classroom empty. In third period, I can't remember walking there. By lunch, eating feels like chewing sand.
I skip the cafeteria entirely. Can't bear to see Ronan sitting there with that cursed stone around his neck. Can't handle watching him laugh with his friends while I fade away like morning mist.
Instead, I find an empty classroom and put my head down on the cool desk. Close my eyes and try to remember what it felt like to be whole.
The bond in my chest flutters like a dying butterfly. So weak now. So fragile. A few more days and it might disappear completely.
Maybe that would be a mercy.
The final bell startles me awake. I must have dozed off again. My neck aches from the awkward position. Drool dampens my cheek.
Room 237. Professor Blackwood.
I drag myself through the emptying hallways. Each step echoes like thunder in my ears. The room numbers blur together until I'm not sure I'm going the right way.
But then I find it. Room 237. The door stands slightly open, warm light spilling into the dim hallway.
I knock softly.
"Come in," a voice calls.
I push the door open and step inside. The room takes my breath away. It's nothing like the other classrooms. Shelves line every wall, filled with books that look older than the school itself. Crystals hang from the ceiling, catching the light and throwing rainbows across the walls. The air smells of herbs and something else. Something wild and ancient.
Professor Blackwood sits behind a wooden desk that looks hand-carved. She's younger than I expected, maybe thirty-five, with silver-streaked hair and eyes the color of storm clouds. When she looks at me, I feel like she sees everything. Every secret. Every fear. Every desperate hope.
"Evangeline," she says, and my name sounds different in her mouth. Stronger somehow. "Please, sit down."
I sink into the chair across from her desk. My legs shake with relief at not having to stand anymore.
"You look tired," she observes.
I almost laugh. Tired doesn't begin to cover it. I feel hollowed out. Scraped clean. Like someone reached inside me and stole all the important parts.
"I know why you're here," Professor Blackwood continues. Her voice is soft but carries weight. Authority that has nothing to do with grades or school rules.
"You do?"
The words come out as a croak. I clear my throat and try again. "I don't understand."
"The necklace," she says simply. "The binding stone that's slowly stealing your wolf."
My heart stops. Actually stops beating for a full second before slamming back to life.
"How do you—"
"Know?" She smiles, but it's sad. "Because I've seen it before, child. Too many times."
She stands and walks to one of the bookshelves. Runs her finger along the spines until she finds what she's looking for. The book she pulls out is bound in black leather and looks ancient.
"The Nightbane family has been using that artifact for generations," she says, flipping through pages. "Controlling wolves who threaten their power. Breaking bonds they find inconvenient."
Rage flickers in my chest like a match struck in darkness. "Then why doesn't anyone stop them?"
"Because power protects power," she says simply. "And because most people don't believe in old magic anymore."
"But you do."
"I do more than believe in it." She turns to face me, and for a moment, her eyes flash gold. Pure wolf gold. "I practice it."
The air in the room shifts. Becomes charged with energy that makes my skin prickle. This woman isn't just a professor. She's something else. Something dangerous and wild and powerful.
"You're not human," I whisper.
"Neither are you. Not entirely." She closes the book and sets it on the desk. "Tell me, Evangeline, what do you know about your bloodline?"
"Nothing. My parents died when I was little. Uncle Marcus never talked about them."
"Mm." She studies me like I'm a puzzle she's trying to solve. "And your wolf? What was she like before the stone began its work?"
I think back to the days before this nightmare started. "Quiet. Gentle. She never really spoke much, even when I was little."
"Or perhaps," Professor Blackwood says carefully, "she was simply sleeping."
"Sleeping?"
"Some wolves are born with power that needs time to develop. Like seeds that wait for the right season to grow." She leans forward. "The binding stone doesn't just suppress your wolf, Evangeline. It's suppressing something much more dangerous."
My mouth goes dry. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that Ronan Nightbane may have bitten off more than he can chew." Her smile turns sharp. Predatory. "And I think it's time we woke your wolf up."
She walks to a cabinet in the corner and pulls out a small glass vial. The liquid inside is deep purple, almost black. It swirls like it's alive.
"What is that?"
"A counter-potion. Something to block the stone's influence temporarily." She holds it out to me. "Drink this, and for a few hours, you'll be free of its effects."
I stare at the vial. It looks dangerous. Forbidden. The kind of thing that changes everything.
"What's the catch?"
"Smart girl." Professor Blackwood nods approvingly. "The catch is that once your wolf wakes up, she may not want to go back to sleep. And if she's as powerful as I suspect, Ronan won't be able to control her with a simple binding stone."
"You think my wolf is powerful?"
"I think your wolf is so powerful that the Nightbanes felt the need to suppress her before she could awaken properly." Her eyes gleam. "I think you terrify them in ways you don't even understand yet."
The vial feels warm in my hands. Heavy with possibility.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because I've watched that family destroy too many young wolves. And because..." She pauses, something flickering across her face. "Because your mother was my student once."
My mother. My heart clenches with old pain and new hope.
"She was?"
"A brilliant witch. A powerful wolf. And a woman who died protecting secrets that could shake the foundations of our world." Professor Blackwood's voice softens. "Secrets that live in your blood, Evangeline."
I stare down at the potion. At the key to everything I've lost and everything I might become.
"If I drink this, what happens?"
"You become who you were always meant to be." Her voice is fierce now. Certain. "And Ronan Nightbane learns that some wolves can't be caged."
My hands shake as I uncork the vial. The liquid smells like lightning and wild roses and something deeper. Something that calls to the empty place where my wolf used to live.
"Will it hurt?"
"Probably." Professor Blackwood doesn't lie or sugarcoat it. "Awakening usually does."
I lift the vial to my lips. The glass is cold against my skin.
"Evangeline," Professor Blackwood says quietly. "Once you do this, there's no going back. Are you ready for that?"
I think about Uncle Marcus. About the dreams he had for me. About the way Ronan looked at me like I was nothing.
About the bond he's trying to destroy and the wolf he's trying to steal.
"Yes," I whisper.
And I drink it down.
The liquid scalds my throat like fire and lightning combined. For a moment, my vision goes completely white. Every nerve in my body screams. The empty place in my chest where my wolf used to live suddenly explodes with heat.
Then, in the roaring silence that follows, I hear her.
My wolf. Awake. Angry. And very, very much mine.