This Redhead Needs No Protector

On the day of our graduation photo at the pack academy, I took my usual place beside Kieran. Someone whistled. “Move over! Leave two spots for them. You wouldn’t split up a pair of future mates, would you?” I’d grown up hearing jokes like that. But when Kieran’s arm brushed my shoulder, I still blushed. He didn’t answer. He just looked at the camera. As the photographer told us to smile and cheers broke out around us, I heard his voice, low beside me. “This is exhausting. Can you stop clinging to me?” My smile froze. I was a half-blood in a werewolf pack, born with red hair and unable to hear the pack’s mind-link. But every word he spoke aloud came through perfectly clear. The flash went off. Kieran was the first to leave. He didn’t look back. I stayed on the lawn until the others had drifted away, then slowly made my way inside. A board in the hallway listed where the graduating students planned to go. A few weeks earlier, I’d pinned my application card for Westbridge Academy beside Kieran’s. He wanted to train there for border command. I’d originally been offered a recommended place at Lakeview Academy. An instructor there had reviewed my assessment scores and said I had a talent for tracking. But Kieran had told me Westbridge offered tracking courses too. So I’d changed my application. Now I reached up and took my card down. Chapter 1 When I got back to my seat, Kieran was turned around, talking to the girl behind him. He saw me and asked the way he always did, “Where’s your hat?” I touched my hair. Without the dark gray knit cap, there was no hiding the red I’d been born with. Afternoon sunlight caught the ends, bright as a flame that refused to go out. “Lost it.” He frowned and pulled the curtain beside me shut, blocking the looks coming in from the hallway. “Wait for me tonight. I’ll walk you home.” For a moment, I almost believed I’d misheard him on picture day. Most werewolves in the Blackpine Pack had brown or black hair. My red hair came from my human mother. It didn’t prove anything by itself, but to anyone who knew me, it was a reminder. Half-blood. My father was a full pack member, and I’d lived in the territory all my life. My ID still listed me as a “Dependent Resident.” I could shift, but I’d never been able to access the pack’s shared mind-link. I couldn’t hear territorial alerts. I couldn’t hear patrol orders sent through the woods. That meant I wasn’t allowed to take the forest shortcut between the academy and the residential district alone after dark. Kieran was my registered escort. His name had been on the paperwork since we were fifteen. After school, someone came to get him. He picked up his jacket, reached the door, then looked back. “Wait here a little while. I’ll be right back.” So I waited. Two full hours. I wanted to call him, but my phone had died. Outside, the sky slowly darkened. People left the building one by one. Eventually, even the custodian wheeled her cart away. A teacher passing the classroom stopped when she saw me. “Ivy? Why aren’t you home yet?” She knew about the restrictions on my ID and offered to take me through the checkpoint. I shook my head. “Kieran said he’d come back. I don’t want him to miss me.” She looked at my dead phone, then used her own to call him. Twenty minutes later, Kieran appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath. “I texted you. I told you to go ahead.” I held up my phone. “It died.” He looked at me for a long moment. His lips parted, but in the end, he offered no explanation. “Let’s go.” He barely spoke on the way home. Most of the time, he was answering messages. There was an unfamiliar scent on him. Juniper, mixed with something green and faintly bitter. It hadn’t been there that morning. At the entrance to the residential district, someone called his name. A few people stood beneath a streetlight. One girl wore a pale coat, her blond hair falling over her shoulders. The same scent drifted from her. Kieran hurried over. “What are you guys doing here?” “The place we’re going is nearby. We thought we’d pick you up.” Her voice was bright and clear. I’d heard it plenty of times. Viola Hale. The daughter of a pack council member, and the most popular pureblood girl at the academy. “Give me a minute. I need to walk her in.” A boy beside her gave an impatient laugh. “We’re already in the residential district. You have to take her to the door? She’s got legs.” One of Kieran’s friends explained, “Ivy’s ID won’t get her through the inner checkpoint.” “Isn’t her dad a werewolf? How long is she going to use those rules to keep Kieran on a leash?” The boy glanced at me. “It’s Viola’s birthday, and he still had to come all the way back to pick her up. You think she does it on purpose?” I stood where I was, my fingers slowly curling into my palms. When Kieran came back, I kept my voice low. “Go with them. I can manage the rest.” He hesitated. “You sure?” “I’m sure.” I turned and walked into the residential district. Their voices followed me. “Hey, Kieran. Not taking your little half-blood girlfriend back to her den?” “She’s my friend. Knock it off.” My feet stopped. In all the years we’d known each other, that was the first time he’d been so quick to set anyone straight. People had teased us before. He’d never bothered explaining. Why did it matter now? Because Viola was there? I followed the path deeper into the district. It wasn’t until I reached the inner checkpoint that I remembered the night patrol had already started. The guard glanced at my ID. “Where’s your escort?” “He had something to do. I can—” “No. Wait for him or take the outer road.” I took my ID back. As I turned, my heel caught in a gap in the drain grate, and I went down hard. My palm scraped across the rough stone, burning with pain. I sat there, suddenly unable to understand how I’d ended up like this. Kieran hadn’t always been this way. Our families lived next door to each other. When we were little, he’d hold my hand on the way to the academy. When other kids pulled my hair, he’d step between us. During our first shifting lesson, the other pups had left me on my own. He’d broken away from his group and settled beside me. “Then I’ll be on your team,” he’d said. When had I become a chore? “Ivy!” Quick footsteps sounded behind me. Kieran crouched and helped me off the ground. “This is what you meant by managing?” His voice was sharp, but his hands were gentle as he checked my wrist. Then he showed the guard his ID, took my arm, and led me through the checkpoint. Just as he had countless times before. I looked at his profile, and the hope that had almost gone out in my chest began to glow again. He still cared. I told myself that. At least he’d come back. Chapter 2 That night, lying in bed, I kept thinking about what had happened outside the residential district. It had been Viola’s birthday. Kieran’s was two days later. It wasn’t just the matching scent on their clothes. Even their birthdays were close. The next day, I went to his house. Carol opened the door. “Ivy, come in.” She’d known my mother for more than twenty years and had never let me call her anything as formal as “Mrs.” Kieran called out from upstairs but didn’t come down. “I don’t understand that academy,” Carol said, taking fruit out of the refrigerator. “The Alliance academy entrance exams are only a few weeks away, and they’re giving you all this time off.” She tipped her chin toward the stairs. “He’s had that headset on since he got out of bed.” Before she left to buy groceries, she looked back. “Stay for dinner. Text me if there’s anything you want.” I knocked on Kieran’s bedroom door. He was gaming. When he saw me, he gestured toward the chair beside him. I sat behind him and watched the screen change faster than I could follow. It was a team game. Even with headsets on, they sometimes slipped into the pack link without thinking. I couldn’t hear those exchanges. When we were little, Kieran had made a point of repeating everything aloud. As we got older, he’d gradually stopped wanting me to play. At the end of the round, he lifted one side of his headset. “What brings you over?” I held out the box I’d brought. “Happy early birthday.” “Thanks.” He took it without opening it and set it on the corner of his desk. His phone rang right then. The voice on the other end was loud. “Kieran, get back in. Viola says she’ll carry us. We got crushed all morning. This is our comeback.” “Coming.” He put his headset back on. Then, as if he’d just remembered I was there, he glanced over his shoulder. “New books are on the shelf. Help yourself.” He didn’t look at me again. I sat there, listening to him laugh with the others. For the first time, I understood just how far apart our worlds had become. “I’m heading home.” I thought he hadn’t heard me. Then, as I reached the door, he asked, “You’re still going to Westbridge?” Westbridge trained patrol commanders for the Alliance. It also offered programs in history, medical care, and territory administration. Years ago, he’d told me he wanted to go there. I’d said I would too. “Yeah.” I turned around. “What about you?” “Okay. Got it.” He was already looking at the screen. I wanted to ask what that meant. But my gaze caught on the corner of the bookshelf. He’d moved my present there because it had been in the way of his mouse cord. It was an out-of-print record. He’d been talking about it for months. I’d searched more than a dozen secondhand stores across the east side and spent two weeks finding it. The owner hadn’t wanted to sell. I’d gone back three more times. Now it leaned against the wall, squeezed in beside a pile of empty packaging. Suddenly, I felt as though he’d put me in that corner too. On my way downstairs, I heard his voice from the bedroom. “Westbridge? Don’t want to. That place is dry as hell.” Someone asked something else. He laughed. “I’ll decide when the acceptance letters come.” My hand stiffened around the doorknob. If he didn’t want to go, why ask me? So he’d know where not to go? The door opened from the other side. Carol came in with grocery bags. She paused when she saw me in my coat. “Leaving already? I thought you were staying for dinner.” “No, thanks. I should get some studying done.” I tried to make my smile look natural. She didn’t push. She just looked upstairs and called, “Kieran! You could at least walk Ivy out!” I stepped into the sunshine. The air was warm. My chest felt hollow. Maybe he’d forgotten our promise to go to Westbridge together a long time ago. Maybe I didn’t have to keep it either. The night before the entrance exams, he sent me a message. “I’ll pick you up in the morning.” I stared at it for a long time before replying. “No need. My family’s taking me.” The next morning, my father drove me to the testing center and helped me confirm the registration documents required for half-blood candidates. Then he stayed in the waiting area. I walked through the gates alone. For the first time, at something that truly mattered, Kieran wasn’t beside me. I found my room on the list and started to turn. Someone slammed into me from behind. Chapter 3 My pencil case hit the ground. Pens, erasers, and a ruler scattered everywhere. My admission slip skidded a few feet away. “Sorry. Didn’t see you.” The boy who’d hit me stood beside me, not sounding sorry at all. I ignored him and crouched to retrieve the slip. Just before my fingers reached it, a shoe came down on the paper. He bent over me, smiling at my red hair. “A half-blood applying to an Alliance academy? Can you even hear orders over the link?” “Move.” “Don’t get nasty. I’m just telling you to stop hanging off Kieran.” I looked up. His face was familiar. “Whatever’s between me and him is none of your business.” “How’s it not? He’s got the best chance in our year of getting into patrol command. You have to follow him there so he can keep babysitting you?” I tugged at the paper. He pressed down harder. “You need to learn to stay where you belong. Stop expecting purebloods to do everything—” His shoe twisted. The thin paper tore. A second later, someone shoved him aside. Kieran stood in front of me, his face frighteningly cold. “What the hell is wrong with you?” The boy stumbled, then caught his balance. “I already apologized. It wasn’t on purpose.” Kieran ignored him and bent to gather my things. Then he took the torn admission slip and led me straight to the exam office. The teacher on duty checked my electronic record and printed a replacement. It wasn’t until the intact sheet was in my hands that I realized my fingers had been shaking the whole time. Kieran noticed. “I’ll walk you to your room.” As we passed the boy, I heard him mutter, “Ginger mutt. Really knows how to play the victim.” Then I remembered him. He’d been beside Viola that night, complaining that I was dragging Kieran down. Kieran paused. “Let me hear that again, and you can explain yourself to the disciplinary committee.” He stayed with me until we reached my exam room, then left. For a few minutes, everything had felt like it used to. But his coldness had been real. So had his impatience. I didn’t understand him anymore. Once the exams were over, the whole academy seemed to breathe easier. That evening, I finished sorting my notes and picked up my phone. Viola had posted a photo. A record. The caption read: “A birthday surprise, a few days late. Been playing it all night. Thank you.” I stared at the picture. In the lower-right corner of the sleeve were the small letters I’d etched by hand. Happy birthday, Kieran. It was the gift I’d given him. He’d passed it on to Viola. My eyes burned as I called him. “You gave Viola the record I got you?” “Yeah.” He sounded casual. “We were talking, and it turns out she likes it too. I took it over for her to hear.” My hand tightened around the phone. “I spent two weeks looking for it.” “What?” “The record. It took me two weeks to find a copy.” There was a second of silence. Then irritation crept into his voice. “Ivy, it’s a record. You called just to put me on trial?” “It’s not about the record.” My voice shook. “You could’ve at least told me.” “You gave it to me. That makes it mine. I need your permission to do something with it?” I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. He sighed. “This is exhausting.” The call ended. I sat on the edge of my bed with the phone in my hand, my chest hurting so badly I could barely breathe. The same words as picture day. Exactly the same. After that, we stopped talking. Until our class organized a dinner before graduation. I hadn’t wanted to go. My mother thought I’d spent too much of the year buried in exam preparation and not enough time with other people. She encouraged me to get out and relax. Before we left, Carol told Kieran to come home with me afterward. It was the first time we’d seen each other since the argument. He was in a bad mood the whole way. I tried twice to start a conversation. He gave me “yeah” and “whatever.” So I stopped. The restaurant was noisy. Everyone was talking about patrol exercises, link training, and the group hunts they planned to join over the summer. I shifted more slowly than purebloods, and I couldn’t access their mind-link. During practical training, the instructors had often assigned me to a different group. When they talked about what they’d done together, I had nothing to add. We’d barely sat down, and I already wanted to go home. Then someone suggested truth or dare. The bottle went around a few times before landing on Kieran. He chose truth. The girl across from him grinned. “Kieran, you’ve been protecting Ivy all these years. Do you like her or not?” Chapter 4 The whole table erupted. I stayed very still, my hands clenched beneath it. I didn’t want to embarrass him. I was about to speak when Kieran answered first. “Don’t start.” His expression was flat. “Our families are close. Her residency status makes things complicated, so my parents asked me to look out for her.” He said it so lightly. I couldn’t lift my head. All this time, I’d been the only one who thought his care meant something more. I excused myself to the restroom and stayed there a long time. Only when I was sure my eyes were no longer red did I go back out. As I turned into the hallway, I heard voices from the other side. “Kieran, how are you supposed to get a girlfriend when you’re always tied to her?” “She can’t use the link. She can’t even take the shortcut at night without you. You really going to look after her forever?” “Everyone knows Viola likes you. You’re going to miss out on her over some dependent resident?” “Think about yourself for once.” I stopped at the corner. I didn’t hear whatever Kieran said next. So I wasn’t just a burden. I was standing between him and Viola. Then I should move. I waited outside the private room until he appeared and quietly told him I wanted to go home early. His expression changed at once. “Ivy, can you not do this every time?” I froze. “If you leave now, I have to leave with you. I have friends too. There are things I want to do.” “I’m not asking you to—” “Then why come tell me?” He lowered his voice, but it hurt more than shouting would have. “Do you know how exhausting this has been? Because you’re a half-blood, because you can’t hear the link, everything I do has to revolve around you.” “I’m not your guardian.” “Can you please let me breathe?” I stood in front of him without even enough strength left to explain. What I’d heard on picture day was finally confirmed. I’d told myself he’d only been irritated. But he’d meant it. After a long time, I nodded. “Okay.” “I understand.” I worked to get the rest of the words out. “Thank you for everything you’ve done. I won’t trouble you again.” There happened to be a cab outside the restaurant. I gave the driver the address of the residential district’s outer entrance and asked my father to meet me there. That route took twenty minutes longer than the shortcut. But it turned out I hadn’t needed to wait for Kieran after all. When the acceptance letters arrived, both Kieran and I had done well. Our families arranged a dinner to celebrate. Halfway through the meal, the conversation turned to our academy choices. Carol passed me the roast beef. “Have you decided, Ivy? I remember you and Kieran both wanted Westbridge.” She smiled at her son. “It’d be nice to go to the same place. You could look out for each other. Right, Kieran?” His knife and fork stopped. “…Haven’t decided yet.” Carol was about to ask more when my mother smoothly stepped in. “There’s no rush. They’ll have their own reasons.” Soon the table was lively again. On the drive home, my mother asked, “Did something happen between you and Kieran?” I knew I couldn’t hide it from her. “I just think I shouldn’t always expect him to look after me.” I watched the world outside the window. “It’s not like there aren’t other ways for me to get where I need to go. He was always there on that one, so I never thought to try another.” My mother was quiet for a moment. Then she took my hand. “Ivy, there’s no shame in needing help. But if someone makes you feel you have to make yourself small to accept it, we can ask someone else. Or find another way together.” I finally turned toward her. Her voice was gentle. “When I married your father and moved to Blackpine, I couldn’t hear their link either. I still built a life here.” Later, I paid my enrollment deposit. I spent most of that summer away from home. First I traveled with my parents. Then I visited a few neutral towns that allowed half-bloods to register as independent residents. I learned to plan my own routes and apply for visitor passes. I learned to find people willing to help in places I’d never been. Before the term began, I hurried home to pack, then left again. A few days later, Kieran came to our house. “Diane, is Ivy home? I wanted to talk to her about when we’re leaving.” My mother was surprised. “She’s already gone.” Kieran went still. Westbridge’s freshman check-in was two weeks away. “Where did she go?” “Lakeview Academy.”