Lorraine’s POV,
The hospital room felt... hollow.
Adrian was gone. Dragged away in chains like so criminal, and all we were left with was the echo of his voice and a na that ant nothing, yet sounded like everything.
The Ghosthound.
Felix and I stood frozen in the thick silence, the beeping machines around Elise barely registering in my ears. The sterile air was heavy with tension, laced with the scent of disinfectant and the ghost of wolfsbane. I could still see Adrian’s face, defiant, unbroken, as he shouted those final words before the door slamd shut.
Find the Ghosthound.
Felix slowly turned to , his face pale, jaw clenched.
"What the hell just happened?" he whispered.
I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know either.
I was still trying to breathe. Still trying to piece together how Adrian, of all people, could be accused of sothing like that, and yet still had the clarity, the nerve, to toss us a lifeline in the middle of it.
The Ghosthound.
The na clawed at sothing deep in my chest. Sothing primal. Like it wasn’t just a na, it was a door. A path. A person who mattered more than we could yet comprehend.
"I don’t even know where to begin," Felix muttered, running a hand through his hair. His other hand never left Elise’s. "They’ll kill him, Lorraine. You know they will. They dont give a damn about the powerless in here"
"I know."
I looked down at Elise.
She looked smaller now. Fragile. Her lips had turned a deeper shade of blue, and the bruises that peeked out beneath her blanket made my stomach twist. This academy was poison. It was killing us one by one.
First Elise.
Now Adrian.
Who was next?
I moved toward the bed and rested a hand on Elise’s leg. I didn’t know if she could hear , but I leaned closer anyway.
"Don’t you dare die, Elise. Don’t you give them the satisfaction."
Then I stood and turned to Felix. "Stay with her."
"What?" He looked up sharply.
"Don’t leave her side. Not for anything."
His eyes burned. "And you? Where the hell are you going?"
"To do what Adrian asked."
"Lorraine..."
"I’m going to find out who the hell the Ghosthound is."
He didn’t try to stop . He just nodded and gently brushed Elise’s hair back from her forehead.
And I walked out, already burning with purpose. Because I didn’t care who or what this Ghosthound was.
If Adrian thought they were important...
If Adrian risked everything to say that na...
Then I was going to find them.
So I left the hospital
And I didn’t stop walking.
Not when the wind howled through the academy halls.
Not when I passed guards giving curious glances.
Not when the chill of the morning air sliced through Kieran’s jacket wrapped around my body.
My legs carried with a purpose.
Because if Adrian trusted with that na, The Ghosthound, then I owed him the fire in my lungs and the ache in my bones to find out who or what that ant.
There was only one place I could think to start.
The Academy Administrative Building.
I reached the tall iron doors and glanced around. No one was watching. No patrols. No red-collared Lycans on the prowl.
Astrid Voss’s office would be at the top of the west wing.
When I reached the door, it was locked, of course it was.
But that was fine.
I yanked the pin from my hair, knelt, and jamd it into the keyhole. My fingers trembled as I twisted and nudged, counting the clicks. The last ti I did this was with Kieran, we had decided to sneak into Astrid’s office together cause we wanted to check her out when we were suspicious of her.
Now she was here doing it again, but this ti alone
Click.
The lock finally gave way with a soft snap.
I stood, pushed the door open, and slipped inside.
Astrid Voss’s office was colder than I rembered. Dark wood lined the walls, each shelf cramd with records, ancient scrolls, student files, and old academy archives. The scent of old parchnt and ink lingered in the air like ghosts of forgotten secrets.
There were hundreds. no, thousands of files on the shelf here.
I stepped deeper inside, shutting the door behind .
This... was the brain of Lunar Crest.
Every student that had ever co here, every wolf that ever breathed within these walls, was recorded here. Their origins, bloodlines, evaluations, infractions, transfers, disappearances...
Disappearance.
My heart clenched.
If soone like the Ghosthound truly existed, their na would be hidden in this sea of secrets. And if the Crimson Hunt had roots inside these walls, then this was the place where those roots bled ink.
I didn’t have ti to be careful.
I ran my fingers over the spines of the record files until I found the "G" section.
Ghosthound... Ghosthound...
Nothing.
It wasn’t going to be that easy.
So I stopped looking for the na and started thinking like Astrid.
She’s not sentintal. She’s tactical. If soone as dangerous, or valuable, as the Ghosthound was real, she wouldn’t leave the file labeled under the na.
She’d bury it.
Probably under a false alias. Probably encrypted. Maybe in restricted archives.
I moved to her desk, yanked the drawers open one after another. Inside were sets of keys, sealed docunts, and at the very bottom, a black-leather binder marked "Restricted Enrollnts: Confidential Only."
Bingo.
I opened it, scanning through the papars. There were different nas in each of the papers, though so were scratched out. Others were marked with red seals. But none of them said Ghosthound.
And then one paper caught my eye
It has no na
No pack.
No birth pack. No bloodline. No record of who exactly this person is.
Just a note beside a a passport photograph of a girl, hand written in Astrid’s distinct pen
"Do not assign dorm. No training assessnts. Subject is in holding under special project. Clearance: Director-level only."
I swallowed.
Who the hell was this?
And why did this file feel.... dangerous?
Could this be the..... Ghosthound?
Kieran’s POV
We supersped through the trees like arrows loosed from a bowstring, the bag of herbs secured in my arm and Varya trailing close behind with the rest. The wind slapped against my skin, but I didn’t feel it. Not when every second mattered. Not when the difference between Elise surviving or not was a heartbeat’s hesitation.
We burst through the gates of the Academy and headed straight for the hospital.
We didn’t bother with protocol.
We didn’t ask for permission.
We stord straight to the nurses’ station, and Varya didn’t even glance at them as she grabbed trays, vials, syringes, burners, anything she needed. The nurses looked up, startled, but one glance at , my crimson red eyes, the tension in my jaw, the way I lood just a little too close, and they didn’t dare speak.
Varya had grown up watching her father, the royal lycan physician. Her hands moved with practiced speed. She knew exactly what she was doing.
We didn’t stop until we reached Elise’s room.
Felix sprang to his feet the second the door flung open. His eyes were still red, like he’d barely stopped crying.
I barely stepped inside before I growled, "Where the hell is Lorraine?"
Felix hesitated and my patience thinned.
"Felix."
"She’s gone," he finally said. "Director Voss and Director Thorn ca. They.... they arrested Adrian. They say he’s part of the Crimson Hunt. While he was being dragged away, he told us to ’find the Ghosthound.’ Lorraine ran off. She went to find who the hell the Ghosthound is."
My heart dropped like a boulder crashing through my ribs.
The Ghosthound.
No. No. No.
She wasn’t supposed to know about that. She wasn’t supposed to chase that na. That is a whole dangerous ga
And Lorraine is walking into it.
Alone.
I turned. I was going to find her. Now. I could track her scent in minutes. I could tear through the walls of the academy if I had to.
But then I looked at Elise.
Still pale.
Still barely breathing.
And I heard Lorraine’s voice echoing in my head...
"She has to live."
Dammit.
She’s her friend. Her only surviving female friend. And she might be the only one with answers, as to who the hell is behind tbe Crimson Hunt.
Lorraine is strong. Stronger than before. She can hold her own... for now.
I turned back to the room.
"Start preparing the antidote," I told Varya, my voice low and hard.
She obeyed without a word. The room filled with the sounds of flickering flas, clinking glass, and the sharp scent of crushed herbs.
Felix hovered near the bed, watching with haunted eyes.
"Will this really work?" he asked.
"It has to," I muttered.
It took Varya ten minutes to finish the concoction. Ten long, agonizing minutes.
And then she filled a syringe with the glowing erald liquid and stepped forward.
"Hold her steady," she said.
Felix moved to Elise’s side, one hand over her frail shoulder. I stood behind Varya, watching her every move, ready to react to anything.
She slid the needle into Elise’s vein.
The antidote flowed in.
And we waited.
One minute.
Two.
Her chest rose.
Then nothing.
Three.
Still nothing.
Then, suddenly....
A gasp.
A loud, shuddering gasp ripped from Elise’s mouth as her back arched against the bed.
Her fingers twitched. Her lips parted.
And then...
Her eyes flew open.
Hazel. Wide. Alive.
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