Lorraine’s POV
The truck roared as the tires rolled through the broken forest ground, bumping and swaying as Thorin gripped the wheel with clenched fists. No one spoke. Not a single word. The air inside the vehicle was thick, choked with blood, fear, and everything we’d just lost. My ears still rang from the chaos in the auditorium. My heart hadn’t stopped racing. Kieran’s head was resting against my shoulder, unmoving. Still unconscious.
I hadn’t let go of his hand.
Beside us, Magnus kept glancing down at the prince, concern etched into every line of his face.
"Drive faster," Astrid snapped from the front seat. "We’re almost there."
Thorin didn’t reply. His foot pressed harder on the gas.
We tore through the trees like shadows on the run, the forest closing in on us in every direction until suddenly
"Here," Astrid commanded, pointing to what looked like nothing more than a dense thicket of underbrush and ancient pine.
The truck skidded to a halt, sending a cloud of dead leaves and dust into the air. For a second, I didn’t see anything. Just more trees, more darkness. But Astrid was already moving, her boots crunching over the earth. She knelt by a moss-covered stone wall and wiped it clean with one hand. A tallic glint caught the moonlight.
A keypad.
"This way," she said without turning. "Ergency underground safehouse. Built it five years ago. Just in case a situation like this happens, and it actually did."
Her fingers danced across the keys, and with a chanical hiss, a crack split open along the forest floor. A hidden steel door swung inward, revealing a narrow stairway spiraling down into shadow.
"Move," Astrid ordered.
The first wave of injured students stepped out of the truck. They moved slowly, limping, bleeding, dazed. So were holding each other up. So moved like ghosts.
Varya jumped out next, cradling her arm to her ribs. Her leg was still dragging, but she held her head high. Typical Varya. I glanced back at Felix. He looked like he hadn’t blinked since Elise died, eyes red, face slack with exhaustion.
"Co on," I whispered, looping his arm over my shoulder. "Just a little further."
He didn’t resist. He barely even moved, but I helped him out of the truck. One step at a ti.
Behind us, there was a thud.
Magnus jumped down next, Kieran in his arms.
Kieran’s head lolled back, blood caking the side of his face. His arm dangled, limp. Magnus adjusted his grip, holding him like he was the most precious thing in the world.
"He still hasn’t woken up," I murmured, moving closer.
"He will," Magnus said
Astrid stood at the entrance of the open underground passage, eyes scanning the treetops. She wasn’t just waiting for us, she was making sure nothing followed.
One by one, the survivors moved down the staircase. No one spoke. No one cried. We just moved like people who had seen too much and had nothing left to say.
Varya helped Felix descend beside , even though she was limping herself. Magnus followed, carrying Kieran. Astrid and Thorin ca last, and the steel door hissed shut behind us.
Our footsteps echoed down the steel staircase, swallowed quickly by the thick silence of earth and stone. The air grew cooler with every step, damp and untouched by the chaos we’d escaped above. We descended for what felt like forever, the light from the door above shrinking behind us until it vanished completely, and we were swallowed in black.
Then, a sharp clap broke the silence, Astrid’s hands, and a second later, the lights snapped on with a low electric hum.
My eyes widened.
The space we entered wasn’t a bunker, it was an entire underground world.
A massive, wide hall stretched before us. Sleek, tallic walls glead under rows of fluorescent lights. There were multiple rooms with heavy reinforced doors, each clearly labeled with glowing white signage. The doors had labels of a number of rooms, dical bay, storage room, weapons and explosives, training/gym, food supply locker
My mouth parted slightly in awe.
There was even a fully furnished living space with couches, a kitchen nook, and even a long wooden table with chairs pushed neatly in.
"You planned all this?" I breathed, unable to keep the admiration from my voice.
Astrid stepped past with her usual rigid elegance, her boots clicking against the tal floor. "I like to be prepared for every outco, even the worst-case ones."
I wasn’t sure whether I found that terrifying or brilliant.
Magnus carried Kieran over to the main couch and gently laid him down. The prince looked like he was on the verge of waking up, his brow twitching slightly, lips parting, but his eyes, his damn eyes, stayed closed. I sat beside him imdiately and took his hand again, willing him to stir.
"Why isn’t he waking up?" I whispered.
"He’s probably healing," Magnus said, wiping the blood from Kieran’s jaw with the sleeve of his coat. "That fight with the ghosthound rattled every bone in his body. His wolf is still piecing him back together."
"But Kieran’s strong," I muttered, brushing his hair back. "He always gets back up."
Astrid turned to address the others. "Everyone, find a room and settle in. We’ve got first-aid supplies, dical kits, and basic rations. It’s not a five-star hotel, but it’ll keep you alive."
"I’ll help with the dical equipnt," Thorin added, his voice oddly subdued.
Astrid nodded. "Good. We need to clean everyone’s wounds so it can fasten the healing process."
The survivors began dispersing, so silently heading for labeled doors, others collapsing onto the couches, too dazed to move. Varya led Felix to a small cot in the corner and knelt to tend to his bloodied arm.
I stayed where I was, right beside Kieran.
"I’m not going anywhere," I whispered to him, squeezing his hand. "So don’t you dare leave behind."
His fingers twitched in mine
But his eyes stayed closed.
Kieran’s POV
I opened my eyes and found nothing. Only darkness, cold and endless. No ceiling. No floor. Just an abyss swallowing everything whole, except .
Was I dead?
No.... I rembered. The fight. The chaos. Lorraine screaming my na. Aveline lunging for my throat.
Then Magnus. His hands, fast and ruthless, striking the precise point in my neck to knock out.
So I was... still unconscious?
A familiar scent, mine but not mine, made the hair on my arms stand. I turned.
Soone was walking toward . No.... not soone.
.
Or more precisely, my wolf.
He wore my face, my body, but his aura was deeper, darker, cloaked in sothing primal and ancient. His eyes glead like burning coals, filled with fury and disappointnt.
Before I could react, his fist connected with my jaw, and I staggered back.
"You weakling," he growled. "I gave you the chance. The chance to leave Lorraine, to rge with and attain total Lycan ascension. You could’ve stood toe to toe with the Ghosthound and ended her, but no." His voice dripped with disdain. "You chose love. Love, when you can’t even protect the one you claim to love!"
I wiped the blood from my mouth, rage simring in my chest.
"You think I’m weak because I love her?" I hissed. "She’s the reason I even fight in the first place."
The wolf circled like a predator, teeth bared. "I cannot trust you with Maeryn. You are not strong enough to protect her."
I froze.
"There you go again. Maeryn," I snapped. "Why do you keep calling Lorraine that? Her na is Lorraine. And ever since you took over my body and went to et her, that night, when her wolf finally woke and stood before you, you’ve been different. You’ve been against her us. Why?!"
His crimson eyes narrowed, fury radiating from him. "You don’t understand, you will never understand and yet you would just listen, you are just as stubborn as you are weak!!"
I stepped forward, squaring my shoulders
"You think I’m weak because I chose Lorraine?" I spat. "You think rging with you, giving up who I am, is strength?"
The wolf’s laugh was low, bitter. "You don’t understand anything. Strength isn’t about you. It’s not about your choices or your feelings. It’s about purpose. Power. Duty. All of which you’ve thrown away for a girl who will be the end of you."
I clenched my fists. "She’s not just so girl. She’s my mate."
"You keep acting like I should be afraid of her," I snapped. "But she’s the strongest person I’ve ever t. She’s survived more than anyone in that damned academy. And I will fight for her, for us."
He tilted his head, mock curiosity in his eyes. "You think this is about survival? About strength? This is about the world, Kieran. And you still don’t get it."
"Then tell !" I roared. "Stop talking in in circles and tell why you’re so scared of being with her!"
He stopped pacing. His gaze burned into mine. His next words were ice:
"Because if you stay with her, if you two stay bound, you will destroy everything."
I froze. "What?"
"You heard ," he growled. "The two of you together are a ticking curse. Cataclysm. Fire wrapped in flesh. You will destroy this world... and each other."
My throat tightened. "You’re lying."
He laughed again, but there was no amusent this ti. Only regret.
"Do you think this is the first ti?" he said, stepping close, his breath like smoke in my lungs. "Do you really believe this is the only life you’ve lived? You and her, this bond, it’s ancient. Cursed. You find each other, you fall in love... and then the world burns. You lose control. She loses control. You beco monsters."
I took a step back, heart pounding. "That’s not true."
"It is. And it has happened before. Lifetis ago. If you two continue to remain together, it will happen again, and you will spend an eternity wishing you had listened to "
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