5 years prior
Lucas slammed his fists into the heavy bag, each strike echoing through the training hall. Sweat dripped from his hair, stinging his eyes, but he didn’t stop. He needed the burn in his shoulders, the ache in his arms. It was the only thing drowning out the whispers that had been chasing him all day.
He caught fragments of it every time he walked past a group of kids:
“Why would he want a freak like her?”
“They say she put some kind of spell on him.”
“He’s the alpha’s son, you know. He shouldn’t be messing with strays like her.”
It was Ava’s doing, he had no doubt. Word had gotten around so fast that Celia might as well have actually stood in the middle of the lunch hall and announced it.
It wasn’t like anything had even happened. He had just given her a hug.
He threw
