In Their Shadow: The Daughter They Forgot Chapter 05

In Their Shadow: The Daughter They Forgot Chapter 05

I officially moved into a dorm at Cascadia Lycan Academy.

Outside my window lay the Cascade Mountains, their pine forests veiled in cold mist year-round,

That first night, I lay in an unfamiliar bed and listened to the occasional howl of a distant patrol. For

the first time, I felt peaceful.

Training was brutal, but life was much easier.

No one woke me in the middle of the night to cook.

I didn’t have to walk anyone’s dog, collect their packages, or clean their pets’ cages.

I didn’t have to tiptoe around everyone’s moods and prove I deserved to stay.

Fifteen days passed.

Then Leander called.

A keyboard clacked furiously in the background as he tossed out an order. “Go walk Max.”

“I’m not home.”

He paused. “Aren’t you always in your room?”

“I moved out. Walk him yourself.”

I hung up.

He didn’t call again.

On day thirty, Mirelle called.

“Where did you put Pippin’s clothes? I can’t find them.”

“Then figure it out. I’m not your maid.”

I hung up.

On day forty-five, Corwin called too.

“I heard you moved out.”

He sounded as casual as if he were checking what day it was.

“Yeah.”

Oh, I gave your old room to Nimbus. You weren’t using it anyway.”

He wasn’t asking. He was informing tne.

“Do whatever you want.”

Nothing stirred inside me. I might as well have been answering a stranger.

After that, none of them contacted me again.

And I finally began building a life at Cascadia.

I found a part-time job in the academy archives and saved money between classes.

I also joined Reddit and wrote whenever I had time.

My posts got little attention, but I didn’t care.

I only needed one small corner that belonged to Tamsin.

The first semester passed quickly.

The day before winter break, the dorm began to empty.

My classmates dragged their suitcases home to their packs. I was the only one without a return

ticket.

Greyhaven was more than two thousand miles away.

Even if it had been only two, I wouldn’t have gone back.

I applied to stay on campus.

The next afternoon, my Basic Combat instructor, Briony Mercer, summoned me to her office.

She was in her fifties. Her wolf was gray, and she was notorious for running a brutal class.

When I moved half a beat too slowly in our first lesson, she made me run twelve laps around the training field.

So when she tossed a key ring onto her desk, I could only stare.

“Only one main dorm stays open over winter break,” she said. “I’ve got a spare room in the north faculty cottages. It’s old, but you’re welcome to it.”

Thank you.”

My eyes stung. I could feel the kindness beneath her gruffness.

The faculty cottages stood near the forest north of campus, with snow-covered pines right outside

the windows.

I scrubbed the tiny, bare room from top to bottom.

The day I moved in was my birthday.

I bought myself a small cake and stuck one candle in it.

My phone buzzed on the table. A string of alerts from a news app popped up,

all about Dad.

He had completed another major acquisition. In the photo, the whole family stood beside him,

polished and radiant.

I didn’t open the story.

I turned my phone face down, struck a match, and lit the lonely candle.

The door suddenly swung open.

Briony stood there with a bowl of vegetable beef soup and a thick slice of toasted bread.

Her expression was as stern as ever.

“Wash the bowl and bring it back when you’re done.”

Before I could thank her, she turned away.

Two steps later, she stopped.

She didn’t look back.

“Happy birthday, Tamsin.”

The door clicked softly shut.

I stood there for a long time.

My wolf stirred gently inside me.

It felt as though someone had stroked its head for the first time.

I lowered my head and took a sip of soup.

It was simple and a little too peppery. The first sip caught in my throat.

Still, tears suddenly fell into the bowl.

In nineteen years, this was the first time anyone had remembered my birthday.

Not because I’d reminded them. Not because I’d done something to earn it.

Only because…

It was my birthday.

And I deserved to celebrate it.