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I shook my head. Who cared what I looked like. I needed to find Selena, and this was a big campus. I hoped she didn’t sleep as late here as she had at home. Goddess willing she would join some of these college students on their little jogs with their fat, squishy shoes and flashy outfits. At least she’d be getting some kind of training, even if it was a pathetic human sort of exercise.

But how could she stand the smells here? I couldn’t help but flare my nostrils. Even in my human form, the life scent of forest and ocean were masked by synthetic, human smells—coffee and grease and… what was that?Rotten egg? No, Selena knew their name for it. Sulfur? Something to do with the oil fields and the algae and seaweed swept in from the coast.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my sister, trying to pick up on her trail of yarrow, honey, and desert rose. I found it, threading with the other smells of the campus, and took a cautious step forward to follow it.

There seemed like far too few humans for how big this place was. My path led me to an enormous structure with white columns and wide stone steps. A nearby sign told me this was the library, and there she was! I found my sister, looking for all the world like she totally belonged there. She was relaxed, chatting with another young woman, all smiles and good humor.

I watched her for a while. She looked… perfect. My heart yearned to go to her, to hug her, to tell her everything, to ask her–

Selena’s companion noticed me watching them. She had thick auburn red hair, and her broad smile slackened the moment our eyes met. Something in the air shifted, and I detected hints of sugar and cinnamon from her. An odd scent.

My sister, noticing her friend’s distraction, turned toward me. Her smile vanished too.

I took a breath, blew it out, and stepped forward.Have courage.

I approached awkwardly, holding my hand up with forced nonchalance. “Hey, Selena.”

She turned to her friend, dismissing her with a quiet, “I’ll see you later, Kat.” Kat hesitated, but with a confident nod from Selena, she headed up the stairs into the library. We watched her go in silence. Then Selena turned the full force of her glare on me. “What do you want?” she snapped. “I’m not going back.”

Something about her suspicion made me sad, and I absently scratched my arm in shame. “No, that’s not it.”

My answer eased some of the tension in her shoulders, but she crossed her arms, waiting.

I took a deep breath. “I… need your help.”

She blinked. “My help?”

I was overwhelmed with how much I missed her, and how much I needed her, and my words tumbled out. “I… I made a mess. You remember Cersey? That witch, who lives on the island in the river? I went to her place. I met her. She is super creepy. I know Mom said we should never, but…” I gave her a shiver-shrug, a twin thing, or at least it used to be. “I went before the Blue Flower Moon. It was insane. I made abargainwith her.” I was babbling.

Selena stood quietly, her face a mask of equanimity.

“The pack iscursed, Selena. Alpha Nathaniel’sgone. And now Orion is to bealpha. I need to find some way to reverse the curse.”

I had to make her understand. She was uncharacteristically sober and even-keeled. I was the one keening, coming apart. I wrung my hands, searching her face for some sort of acknowledgment.

Her features softened as she stepped toward me, taking both my hands and holding them as we did when we were girls. “Slow down. It’s going to be okay.”

The rushing in my ears stopped. I could feel my twin again. I could breathe.

I squeezed her hands, tears pricking at my eyes, and nodded once.

She didn’t blast me with questions or accusations. Instead, Selena led me to a small cafe on campus. We sat in a secluded corner booth, and I let everything out. I told her everything, why I went to Cersey in the first place, the potion, the amulet, the freaky wolf that attacked Orion, what Jesse said, what happened to Nathanial, and how Cersey said I was herbeloved friend. How Orion had ended it, and that he was right to do so. My cheeks burned with shame, but the purge felt right. Selena didn’t interrupt, she just listened intently to my story with her hands folded.

When I was finished, she asked questions.

“So you think Cersey cursed you with that potion? You think that potion made Orion your mate?”

I couldn’t look at her. Mortified, I said it again. “I am so sorry, Selena.”

To my utter surprise, she actually laughed. “Don’t be.”

I was confused. I looked around.

“Hey,” she softened her tone and leaned in. “You did nothing wrong. You were in pain, so you looked for some help.”

Relief washed through me. But maybe she didn’t hear me right, so I tried to clarify, “But I let my obsession with Orion–”

“But you are wrong about something,” she interrupted. I shut up.