The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 19

Escape Plans–1

Escape Plans–1

+25 Point

They remained hidden behind the trees long after the bell faded into the distance, the school noise becoming a distant hum, like a world that no longer fully included them.

Lori sat down on the grass first, pulling Iva with her until they were both seated under the shade, the bark of the old tree rough against their backs. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Iva broke the silence.

“I wanted to tell my parents,” she said quietly, staring at her hands. “I wanted to tell the pack. I really did.”

Lori turned to her slowly. “But?”

“But after everything that happened yesterday… after what my father did, after how everyone looked at me like I was something rotten, Alpha’s decision to mate me in the northern packs…” Iva’s voice wavered, but she kept going. “I know they wouldn’t believe me. They would say I’m lying. Or worse, that I’m trying to manipulate them.”

Lori frowned deeply. “There has to be some way to prove it, right? Some test, some ritual,

something ancient?”

Iva lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I have no idea. Honestly. Everything is so new, I got no chance to speak yet to my wolf. These are wolven secrets. Things that only elders or historians talk about, and even then… I doubt they’d tell someone like me.”

She let out a bitter breath. “And now… considering everything… I’m not even sure I want to risk it.”

Lori’s eyebrows knitted together. “Risk what?”

“Staying,” Iva replied softly. “Staying in this pack.”

The words settled heavily between them.

“The way they treated me,” Iva continued, her voice low but steady. “A pack is supposed to protect its own. To accept all its members. Not just the strong, not just the impressive, not just the ones who bring power, the Elites.”

Her jaw tightened. “But aside from you… and your parents… everyone else avoids me like I carry some kind of disease.”

Lori exhaled slowly, pain flickering across her face. “Oh, Iva…”

She rubbed her hands together, searching for the right words. “That’s not how it should be. And you don’t deserve this. Not even a little.”

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Escape Plans–1

They sat in silence again, the leaves rustling above them.

+25 Point

Then Lori tilted her head, studying her friend carefully. “If you already felt this way… why did you tell

Nick?”

Iva closed her eyes briefly.

“Because,” she said after a moment, “I needed to know.”

Lori waited.

“I am done trying to earn love from people who only value power. I am done shrinking myself to fit

a place that never wanted me. Years of trying, Lori, and yet my own father never fully accepted me.

Lori smiled sadly. “Whatever you decide,” she said, “you won’t face it alone.”

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