Chapter 89: What Feels Like Home

Astrid

I woke before my alarm and stayed still beneath the covers, listening to Moonshade slowly waking outside, footsteps in the corridor, a laugh quickly shushed. I should have gotten up.

Instead I stared at the wall, because every time I closed my eyes I saw the second Eliza, still and watching, at the end of that hallway.

An illusion changes what you see. Something else changes what you believe you saw.

I didn’t know which one scared me more. My eyes drifted toward the book hiding the note. I didn’t need to look at it again. The words were memorized.

Then I felt it, warmth pressing gently against my senses. Reed. Xander. Awake, waiting.

I closed my eyes again, hoping to buy myself a few more minutes.

"If you’re pretending to be asleep, you’re doing it badly," Xander said from outside the door.

Ivy groaned. "It’s too early for him."

I threw a pillow over my face. "Go away."

"Good morning to you too," Xander said, offended.

Ivy lifted her head, hair a mess, looking between me and the door. A slow smile spread across her face. "Are you hiding from your own mates?"

"No."

"That’s embarrassing."

"I am not hiding."

"Then open the door."

I groaned and got up.

Xander leaned against the wall outside, Reed beside him, and the moment I saw them, the anxiety in my chest eased, warmth moving through the bond despite myself.

"Missed me?" Xander asked, catching my expression.

"Don’t ruin it," I said, walking past him.

"I definitely ruined something."

Reed fell into step beside me, studying me carefully. "Did you sleep?"

"Enough."

"That’s not an answer."

"Neither was the question."

He blinked. "What does that even mean?"

"Exactly."

The dining hall buzzed with the usual noise, students still gossiping about the Integration Challenge, someone arguing over an assignment. Ordinary. I needed ordinary.

We sat, Xander immediately reaching for my plate. I slapped his hand away.

"We’re mates," he protested.

"Congratulations."

"That means we share things."

Reed silently moved something from his own plate onto mine, the exact thing Xander had tried to steal. Xander stared at him. "Favoritism."

"You have food."

"Not the good food."

I ate, smiling at Xander’s outrage, and laughed, a real laugh that surprised me with how good it felt.

Ivy joined us a few minutes later, glancing between the three of us. "Do you people ever sit normally?"

"Define normally," Xander said.

"She has one of you on each side like you’re guarding a national treasure."

"She’s valuable," Xander said, pleased.

Ivy’s playful expression faded slightly as she looked at me. "You really didn’t sleep."

"I’m fine."

"Nobody who says that is ever fine."

Both twins turned toward me at once, and I immediately regretted answering.

"You’re quieter," Xander said.

"You’re annoying."

"See?" he said to Ivy.

Reed didn’t push further, but something closed behind his expression, quiet rather than angry. I felt a small twist of guilt. He’d noticed I was keeping something back.

Class continued as usual, the professor calling on me unexpectedly, someone behind me muttering about how I never got anything wrong.

"Frequently," I said, glancing back.

Josh caught up with me in the hallway. "Morning, suspicious person."

"Can you stop telling people?"

"No promises," he said, grinning.

Eliza gave me a small nod, warmer than before. Criston watched from a distance.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"I hate when people say that."

His mouth twitched. "I know."

I turned and saw Estelle, laughing with two other girls, doing nothing suspicious at all. For a second, old instinct kicked in, watch her, maybe she knows. Then I made myself stop. She looked up, and our eyes met. I didn’t accuse her. I gave a small nod and kept walking.

Later, Xander disappeared with Josh for something unexplained, leaving Reed and me alone on one of the quieter paths. We talked about nothing important for a while, until he said, "You’ve been quiet."

"Have I?"

He looked at me.

"Okay, maybe."

He didn’t push right away, which somehow made it harder. Finally, "Something is wrong."

"I’m fine."

He stopped walking. I turned back.

"Astrid."

Just my name. My resolve softened. "I don’t want you worrying."

"You’re afraid."

"I’m not."

He waited. I sighed. "Okay. Maybe a little."

He stepped closer without touching me, giving me space. "Then let me worry."

"That’s exactly what I’m afraid of," I admitted. "The moment something happens, everyone decides I can’t handle it. I’m the weak girl. The girl without a wolf. The girl everyone needs to protect. I don’t want being your mate to make that worse."

He didn’t deny it immediately, and I appreciated that. "I don’t always know where protecting you ends," he said, "and smothering you begins."

"I know I can be overprotective," he added.

"Can be?"

"I’m learning."

I smiled despite myself, then let it fade. "I don’t want to be controlled."

"You won’t be."

"You can’t promise that."

"No," he admitted. "But I can promise I’ll listen when you tell me I’ve crossed the line."

That meant more than I expected it to.

Xander found us a moment later, stopping when he saw our faces. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"We’re talking," Reed said.

"That’s worse," Xander said, but his amusement faded fast once he actually looked at me. "What’s going on?"

I looked away. He didn’t tease. "Astrid," he said, quiet now.

I had a choice. Keep hiding it, keep the investigation separate, keep pretending I didn’t need them.

Or trust them.

"I need to tell you both something," I said.

Reed’s posture changed immediately. Xander’s eyes narrowed.

"Don’t panic," I said quickly.

"I don’t panic."

"You panic loudly," Reed said.

"I react loudly."

I told them everything, not rushed, letting the reactions land as they came. The sabotage. Our team being targeted. Reed’s expression hardened. The warning note. Xander’s jaw tightened. Eliza’s stolen pass. The magic on the note. Josh’s scent trail that vanished into nothing.

And finally, the second Eliza in the corridor.

"You saw her?" Reed asked.

"The real Eliza was beside me the whole time."

Xander’s amusement disappeared completely. "And you didn’t tell us."

"I didn’t want you to think I was imagining things," I admitted.

"You could tell me the moon started talking to you," Xander said, stepping closer. "I’d still listen first."

A small laugh escaped me despite everything. Reed took my hand, warmth flooding through the bond.

"You don’t have to understand what’s happening before you come to us," he said.

My eyes stung unexpectedly. I looked between them, and for the first time since finding that note, I didn’t feel like I was carrying it all alone.

Xander moved to my other side, our shoulders brushing, the warmth between the three of us settling around me completely.

I didn’t have answers. I didn’t know who was behind any of it, or why someone wanted me away from Eliza, or what exactly I’d seen in that corridor.

But somewhere between Reed and Xander, I was starting to understand that I might have finally found something like home again.