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Seren let them talk.

She held her head high and walked with the grace of someone untouchable, who felt nothing at all. She seemed too mature for a twelve-year-old.

Every day, she came to school.

She studied.

She trained.

She left.

Nothing more.

But she wasn't alone.

Elder Graider, one of the school's tutors, had taken an interest in her photography.

"You have an eye for it," he had told her, adjusting the focus on her Nikon. "Not just the subject. The story behind it."

Under his guidance, Seren had begun exploring the school's landscape through her lens—capturing things that no one else seemed to notice.

The fleeting shift in the clouds before a storm.

The way the light touched the stone pathways at dusk.

The loneliness of a single bird perched on an empty branch.

Draken and Astrid were kind, trying to include her in small ways. They had her over for dinner, and tried to get Hagan's attention on her.

But none of it reached Hagan.

Though the days at school were cold and quiet, Seren had settled into a rhythm.

Every morning, she trained with the rest of the wolves, her body growing leaner, faster, more precise. The others still didn't offer her friendship—but among the budding female warriors, a quiet, unspoken respect had begun to take root.

They noticed how she kept up.

How she never complained.

How she never backed down, even when outmatched.

They didn't speak to her. But they didn't mock her anymore either.

Even Garrik—gruff and guarded—had started to keep a closer eye on her matches, his sharp gaze ensuring that no one used full wolf strength against her. Whether it was out of fairness or a grudging sort of recognition, she didn't know.

All of them—except Lia.

Lia watched her with predatory eyes, cool and calculating, like a wolf waiting for an injured deer to stumble. She didn't respect Seren. She didn't even seem to see her as a threat. Just as something that didn't belong. Something she would eventually crush.

And then there was Veyr.

Not cruel.

Not kind.

He said nothing.

But he watched her.