"You all noticed?" Her gaze hops between the two of us.
"Yes."
"Is it that obvious?"
His jaw tightens slightly. "We want you to feel safe. Supported."
“We want you to know that we’re here for you,” I add.
She peers at Julian's book, open in front of her as he reappears in the doorway, all movement and brittle energy.
“I forgot to mention there has been another omega death. At Thornwood Academy. I don’t know all the details yet, but I thought you should know.”
9
ELOWEN
He is waitingoutside the bookstore for me when I arrive in Elderwood Hollow.
I panicked after Julian’s announcement. Thornwood is our sister academy. Olivia didn’t die, but another omega death happening so soon after her illness is too close for comfort. Too much of a coincidence. And I couldn’t compartmentalize it enough to convince my brain that it was nothing to worry about. So, I called Gideon Stockwell who arranged to meet me the next day.
With my first heat rapidly approaching, I am worried. Perhaps I’m overthinking it, allowing it to invade today’s peace when I should be focusing on myself, but I can’t switch it off like an overhead light. It’s a trait I inherited from my father, and no amount of chamomile will ever erase it completely.
“We should go inside.” His dark eyes dart around Main Street as though he is accustomed to being followed.
We head to the back of the bookstore and sit at a small table inthe local history section. My eyes skim the spines, the titles blurring into one.
“There’s been another death,” I open the conversation. “At Thornwood.”
His face blanches. “When?”
“Yesterday. I don’t know anything, but there’s a meeting with Professor Robbins in the library tomorrow to put all the Elderwood omegas’ minds at rest.”
“They’re panicking.” Gideon scratches his eyebrow then pushes his hair away from his face. It’s a nervous tell. “It’ll harm their reputation further if students start leaving.”
“What can we do?”
His attention snaps back to me. “Find out what you can from the professor. I’ve been collating information from the other deaths, trying to find the pattern.”
No wonder his eyes look so haunted. He probably hasn’t allowed himself to grieve his sister, and meanwhile, he has made it his personal mission to investigate omega deaths.
“You must miss Iris,” I say.
"She was my twin." His throat bobs when he swallows. "It was her first heat with a newly bonded pack. She died three days later."
"What happened?"
"Standard protocol, academy-supervised suite, pack present for support." Gideon recites facts like armor against emotion. "Her heat ended normally. She was tired but fine. Went back to her room, resumed her studies." He pauses. "Threedays later, security found her collapsed in the library. Dead before the ambulance arrived."
"They said it was natural causes." My voice is tight.
"Cardiac arrest. No prior heart condition. Twenty-one years old and perfectly healthy." Gideon's hands flex. "Administration called it a tragic complication of heat. Paid my family to sign an NDA and accept the official story. Sealed her records."
Something about this sounds off to me. Why would the deceased’s family need to sign an NDA, and why were her records sealed?
"But you didn't accept it." In light of this information, I can understand his determination to get answers.
"Would you?" Gideon's gaze is fierce. "If your twin—yourother half—died mysteriously and everyone told you it was normal?"
