CHAPTER 30: THE FULL MOON.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Hiro asked in a calm voice.

A cold shiver ran through Angela’s body. It was strange and honestly frightening to hear him speak so softly. Even worse, he wasn’t in her head like usual. That made it harder to predict him.

"Fine. If you want to talk, then let’s talk," Angela said, standing up from her seat.

But before she could take a step, Alex turned sharply and said, "He didn’t say anything to you. Why are you answering him?"

"He did," Angela replied firmly. She was sure she heard him. Everyone else must have heard too. But as she looked around, the confused looks on their faces told a different story.

Oh no. Hiro had done it again. He had spoken straight into her mind.

Her hands clenched as her blood boiled. He was starting another game with her, and she could already feel the headache coming. But this time, she was not going to fall into his trap.

She remembered what Stales told her. Stay calm. Be smart. The Alphas wanted to provoke her. They wanted to use her reactions against her. And so far, she had made it easy for them. Not anymore.

She was going to be careful now. Strategic.

They thought they had broken her, but they hadn’t. If anything, they had made her stronger. She had learned that survival was not always about fighting or shouting. Sometimes it was about being silent and playing the long game.

Angela walked to the front of the classroom and stood there, facing Hiro. She already knew what was coming. He was going to throw the same questions at her again.

"I know you’re hiding something."

"Who is Kaito to you?"

"Are you related to him?"

She had heard it all before. Over and over again. She wished he would stop talking and start investigating properly. If he did, maybe he would see there was no connection between her and Kaito at all.

"I just want you to know," Hiro said, his voice steady, "that no matter how hard they try to protect you, I will find out who you are and how you are connected to Kaito."

Then he stepped closer and added, "Guess what I found this time. Your previous school. I’m going there to get every answer I need."

Angela’s heart skipped a beat. She froze, but forced herself to stay calm. She couldn’t let him see that his words had struck her.

He had found her former school. That meant he had gone through her file. No doubt about it.

"Do whatever you want, Alpha Hiro," she said, her voice cold but steady. "You’ll see that I wasn’t lying."

She remembered what Stales told her—never sound disrespectful. Let them talk. Let them assume. The more uninterested she looked, the more they would believe she had nothing to hide.

"I will, little human," Hiro said with a smirk before turning away and walking out of the room.

Angela let out a deep sigh.

He wasn’t joking. He was really going.

She was going to make sure Hiro never made it to her former school. But what if he did? Principal Jane had helped her get into the All Male Alpha Academy. That woman had risked everything for her. Angela didn’t believe Principal Jane would betray her, not when they would all go down if the truth came out.

After Hiro left, the first lesson had already begun. It was geography. She sat down quietly and tried to focus. But her heart wasn’t in the lesson. Instead, she reached for a sheet of paper and began writing an apology letter. She wanted to make peace with Alex. She folded it and passed it over to him with hope in her heart. She watched as he looked at it, then crushed it in his hand without reading.

Angela felt a sting in her chest. She wanted to speak, to ask him why he reacted that way, but before she could say a word, Alex raised his hand. The teacher looked at him and gave him permission to speak.

"Angel is distracting me. It’s getting irritating," Alex said.

Angela blinked, stunned by the betrayal. She didn’t see it coming.

"Come here, Angel," the teacher called out, his voice already full of annoyance. He pointed her toward the corner of the class and asked her to face the wall. She was embarrassed, hurt, and angry, but she stayed quiet. She reminded herself that this was not the time to explode. She had made a promise to herself that she would do better. That she would control her anger.

Alex hated her now. That much was clear. Soon, he would probably ask for a seat change, and just like that, she would be alone again.

When the class finally ended, the teacher allowed her to return to her desk. Angela felt light-headed and weak as she walked back. She was sweating even though the morning had only just started. She sat and leaned on her desk, trying to steady herself.

"Now we’re even," Alex said from beside her.

She turned to look at him, trying to understand what he meant.

"I wrote you a letter of apology, and you got me into trouble instead," she said. "That doesn’t make us even."

"We are," Alex replied without hesitation. "I’ve been trying to help you since the beginning. And what do I get? Trouble. We lost points yesterday, and it was because of you."

Angela took a deep breath. "I’m sorry about that," she said, and it surprised her how easily the words came out. It didn’t even hurt to say them.

"He apologized, Alex," another voice joined in. It was Stales, walking into the class.

"He did. But that doesn’t change anything," Alex answered as he stood from his seat. The lesson was over for the day, and the students were free to go.

"Forgive him, please," Stales said gently. He didn’t want the tension between them to grow any further.

Angela looked up at Alex, her voice soft but steady. "I’m sorry for everything, Alex. Please give me another chance. I won’t mess it up again."

Alex studied her face for a moment, his brows drawn close together. He was trying to decide if he could trust her words.

"You promise?" he asked.

"Yes. I do."

Alex nodded. "Then I forgive you."

Angela’s face lit up. It wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. Now, only one person was left—Alpha Kaito.

That was going to be the hardest one of all.

"Let’s go to the hostel. Tonight is the full moon," Alex said as he picked up his books. The others around them were already moving to their lockers. "We have to rest and get ready. The human students get the night off too."

"I see..." Angela said with a nod. She walked to her locker and opened it, bringing out the phone Kaito had given her the day before. She hadn’t even touched it since then, but today she planned to set it up properly.

"Don’t come outside tonight once it gets dark," Alex warned as he shut his locker and waited for her.

"What’s going to happen?" she asked, confused by the seriousness in his tone.

"You might get eaten by a wolf," Stales added, his face straight but his voice filled with amusement.

Angela’s eyes widened, her body freezing in shock. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. The boys burst into laughter, clearly amused by her reaction. She didn’t think it was funny.

"You never know what could happen," Stales added, trying to hold back another laugh. "The night is dangerous. Just stay indoors. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Angela replied softly. She nodded, even though her heart was still racing a bit. Together, they started heading toward the dormitory.

Most of the students were already walking to their various houses. As Angela followed behind, it suddenly hit her. She had been kicked out of the West House. She stopped in her tracks. Just like that, the heavy weight returned to her chest.

Alex and Stales noticed she was no longer beside them and turned back.

"Why did you stop?" Alex asked, looking confused.

"She was kicked out of West House by Alpha Kaito," Stales said, guessing the exact reason.

Alex shook his head. "You really don’t run out of trouble, do you? They should have named you Trouble, not Angel. You’re no angel at all."

Angela felt a tightness in her chest. Her throat burned and her eyes filled with tears. "I didn’t know I was going to upset him that much," she whispered, her voice trembling. She hated how things had turned out. She hated how helpless she felt.

"Don’t cry, please," Alex said, his face changing as he noticed her eyes. He looked like someone who was uncomfortable seeing tears. "You can stay in the room tonight. Alpha Kaito won’t be back till dawn. I’ll take his clothes and lunch to him. While I’m there, I’ll talk to him about you. Maybe he’ll soften your punishment. You don’t have to leave West House yet."

Angela’s face brightened again. She was beyond grateful. It had been on her mind all day, and she had no idea how she was going to approach Kaito or even speak to him after everything that happened. Now, Alex was offering to help.

"Thank you so much," she said, meaning every word.

"However," Alex added with a serious look, "I can’t promise that he’ll let you continue sharing the same room with him."

Angela looked away, her heart sinking again. The idea of moving to another room shouldn’t hurt, but it did. She didn’t even want to be Kaito’s roommate in the first place, so why did the thought of leaving that room make her chest feel tight?

She didn’t have an answer.

*****

The rest of the evening went by more peacefully than any other day since Angela arrived at the Academy. For once, there was no shouting, no punishments, no glares from the Alphas. Just quiet.

As Alex had said, Kaito didn’t come back to the room, and she didn’t see him at the cafeteria either. She kept looking around for him without meaning to. Her eyes searched for him every time the door opened, but he never appeared. Where could he be? Why was he staying away? Was he hiding from her or avoiding something else?

She also noticed something strange. The four Alphas were nowhere to be found. Not one of them crossed her path. No taunting, no questioning, no trouble. It should have made her feel better, but it didn’t. Something was off with their sudden disappearance.

Still, she tried not to care.

Evening came quickly, and Angela locked herself in the room. She laid on the couch and spent some time exploring the new phone Kaito had given her. Out of curiosity, she opened the AcademyBuzz site to check what was trending.

Her heart sank.

There was a video of her going viral. At first, she thought someone had posted the real fight between her and Alpha Renn from the combat class. But as she watched, her eyes widened in disbelief. Someone had edited the clip. They used some kind of trick to change her voice and make it sound like she was being rude and insulting to Renn.

She had never said those words.

"I didn’t insult Renn," she whispered to herself as she shut the phone and placed it aside. She laid down again, this time more frustrated than tired. It all made sense now—why Kaito and the rest of the West Pack were angry at her. They believed what they saw.

But she was going to find out who made that video. Someone wanted to ruin her, and she wasn’t going to let it happen.

She was just about to close her eyes and drift off to sleep when she felt a sharp heat deep in her chest. It wasn’t the kind of heat that faded. It was burning, right under her left breast. At first, she thought it was from the cloth she usually wrapped tightly around her chest to hide her body. Maybe it had irritated her skin.

But tonight, she hadn’t even tied that cloth. Kaito wasn’t around, so she hadn’t bothered.

The pain grew stronger. It was unbearable. She stood up and walked over to the mirror, pulling off her shirt slowly. Her breathing became shallow as she looked at the spot on her chest where the pain was coming from.

There it was—the mark.

A small letter C, something she had always known was there. Grace told her it was nothing. Just a birthmark. Something meaningless. But tonight, that same meaningless mark was glowing bright red, and it burned like fire.

Angela stared at it, frozen with fear. Then something else happened.

Her eyes.

They changed.

The brown in them was gone. Now they were glowing red too, just like the mark on her chest. She stumbled back, terrified of the person staring back at her from the mirror. It was still her but not the Angela she had always known. This version of her looked wild, powerful, and not fully human.

She gripped the edge of the sink, trying to calm her breath, when a voice spoke from inside her.

It was calm but strong, and it sent chills down her spine.

"Hello, Angela. My name is Mighty-Storm, and I’m your wolf."