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Chapter 120
~Dristan’s POV~
anwhile, Outside Isla’s Dorm
I walked fast, jaw tight, trying to hold back the frustration coiled in my chest. Valerie had ignored .
But that didn’t an I was done. The others were likely already splitting up, ssaging people, trying to find backdoors into her world.
The truth was—none of them had earned the front door yet. And I bet she had equally told the others not to give out her number.
My phone buzzed again. It was a ssage from Axel.
Axel: I asked two girls from her advanced combat group. Neither has it. Apparently, she uses a private chat line. Not linked to the campus network.
Of course she did.
Kai ssaged next.
Kai: Searched dorm records. Her file is encrypted. Clearance locked—council level locked. Sothing’s fishy.
: Well, Valerie is secretive and fishy lol.
Even though I said that, I was anything but smiling. It said or spoke a lot. Right from our first eting, she had always been a mystery.
I tried researching her and not much ca out—simply put... it was too simple.
And when soone’s record at the ti is so simple, it ans there’s sothing buried underneath and let’s not forget her constant excellent grades and results in activities.
Soone as simple as that shouldn’t have such a background of training she did.
She never enrolled in any dojo. She was good—too good.
"She really isn’t playing around," I muttered under my breath.
Then another ssage ca through.
From Xade:Erik says she changed numbers two weeks ago and only gave the information to a few—Isla, Astraea, maybe one other.
Only a few.
"So Erik, soone just there, has her number while we he mates do not? Valerie... tsk you play a dirty ga, mate.
Which ant if Isla and her roommates did not talk, we’d be at a dead end.
Well, that settles it. I typed back.
: Ask Erik for her number.
Xade’s reply was instant...
Xade: He couldn’t give it.
: Really? Does that dried bumpkin want to get a beating?
Xade: Relax. We’ll get it from sowhere else. He seems oddly so loyal to Valerie. I didn’t know but it looked like behind the scene, our mate has been busy making stro nga nd loyal alliances.
: Just get the number.
Xade: Why not use your informant?
: I would not want a report to my dad...
I had started typing when I deleted the text and put a bored emoji before adding, "I wouldn’t want to disturb him for sothing so little; I can get myself.
Xade: Right. Okay, later.
I dropped the phone in my pocket and sighed. Any news that one would be sothing my father would pick on.
I was not scared, but I could not trust him to keep his word, and Valerie’s life would be in danger.
I can’t be around her all the ti and I know the others will be but I hate to rely on others to care for my wom... my mate.
I stopped at Isla’s room door and knocked twice.
No answer.
I knocked again. This ti, the door creaked open slightly, and I frowned.
Empty. None of them was inside. Either they weren’t or just lost in their rooms. I tried calling Isla again but the call did not connect.
I know I shouldn’t have been here, in the female dorms but right now I did not care. Stepping out back, I headed into the hallway just as Kai jogged toward from the other end.
"She’s not there," I said.
"She’ll be back," Kai replied. "But she’s going to be suspicious."
I looked at him. "We’re running out of options."
"She’s not just dodging us," Kai said. "She’s making a point."
I didn’t want to hear it. But he was right.
We were scrambling. And Valerie? She was done waiting.
Kai and I called the group to check on the others.
Kai leaned against the hallway wall. "We underestimated her. All of us."
Xade’s voice crackled over the group call. "Got one lead—Reina from Elira’s squad. Trying her now."
"No leads here," Axel added. "Girls on her team don’t even like talking about her. They respect her too much, maybe because she is good at everything, and Dristan has staked a claim. At this point, he’d make her lose friends."
"Jealous much?" I added.
"Not now, guys," Kai growled.
I heaved a deep sigh. We were falling behind.
And sowhere in that mont, I realized we weren’t just losing access to Valerie.
We were losing her trust.
And if we didn’t fix that soon—we might lose everything to a damn Lycan.
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~Author’s POV~
The mont Xander caught Xade’s voice down the hall, he slowed his steps. He hadn’t ant to eavesdrop, but when the na Valerie dropped, followed by the low frustration in Dristan’s tone—his attention snapped into focus.
They were hunting.
For her number.
Xander slipped into the hallway’s corner shadow, arms folded loosely as he leaned back against the wall, unseen.
He didn’t flinch when the conversation ended, and Xade muttered sothing to himself before heading off. The second his footsteps faded, Xander stepped out of the dark.
Fools.
They circled Valerie like mindless wolves chasing a scent they didn’t know how to track. And none of them had gotten what they were looking for.
Not even him.
That annoyed him more than he liked to admit.
"The guys are right," he murmured under his breath, lips curling into a slow smirk, "but unlike them... I can get it in the blink of an eye."
Xander moved like a whisper through the corridor, his stride unhurried, controlled. He had already noted where Erik had gone—across the north wing toward the smaller dorm library.
It was barely used. Quiet. Hidden. Perfect.
He didn’t bother knocking.
The door creaked open, and warm lamplight bled across the floor from the centre reading table.
"I already told you," Erik’s voice called from within, not looking up. "I’m not giving you the number, no matter what you do to , Xade."
Xander’s smirk deepened.
"How unfortunate," he said softly, voice smooth and calm.
Erik stiffened instantly. His head snapped up, eyes searching the dimly lit corners of the room.
"Y-you’re not Xade," he muttered.
"No," Xander replied, stepping forward slowly, boots soundless against the carpeted floor. "Not even close."
The library wasn’t well lit—just one flickering lamp and a few rays of dusk spilling through the blinds. But it was enough. Erik’s eyes locked onto him, freezing the mont they caught the faint red glow rising behind Xander’s pupils.
Xander didn’t rush. He moved with the precision of soone who never had to hurry. His teeth flashed in a sharp grin as he stopped just before Erik’s chair.
"I’d rethink that answer if I were you," he murmured, head tilting slightly, voice barely above a whisper. "And tell ."
Erik took a shaky breath, his hand trembling slightly on the table.
"I—I told you. I can’t. She trusted . She—"
"Is not here," Xander finished for him.
His hand ca up slowly, fingers long and pale, almost elegant. He gently placed it on Erik’s head like one would console a frightened child.
Erik’s body went rigid.
"Wha—what are you—?"
Xander’s eyes pulsed crimson. "Shhh."
A thin stream of black crept from his fingers into Erik’s skin—barely visible, like a trickle of smoke. Erik’s pupils blew wide before turning milky white, breath hitching once—then stopping altogether. His limbs stilled.
His mind opened.
And Xander stepped inside.
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