Lorraine’s POV
I stood frozen.
Kieran’s mother, thhe Alpha Queen.... a Ghosthound?
The words rang in my ears like a siren, sharp and disorienting. I turned to Astrid Voss, expecting her to say she was joking, to take it back, to say it was a figure of speech or so tactic to rile Kieran up. But her expression was hard, unwavering.
"She’s a Ghosthound," she repeated, as if the weight of it hadn’t just shattered my entire perception of the Lycan royal family. "And we need her"
Beside , Kieran stiffened. Slowly, so slowly, he turned his head to look at her. His eyes burned, glowing a crimson red, his jaw clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grinding together.
"You keep my mother out of this, Voss," he said, voice low and trembling with barely contained fury.
Astrid didn’t flinch. "She’s not just your mother anymore, Prince. She might be the only match for Aveline. You know it...."
"I said keep her out of this!" Kieran roared, the force of it making the shelves of weapons rattle behind us. Without another word, he stord out, footsteps echoing like thunder in the silent, stunned room.
I didn’t think. I moved. I ran after him, heart pounding, but just as I reached the door, a hand clamped gently but firmly on my arm.
It was Magnus Thorn.
"Don’t," he said quietly, his expression graver than I’d ever seen it. "Leave him be, Lorraine. He needs to get his thoughts straight. Let him breathe."
"But.... he’s hurting," I whispered, my voice breaking. "And he’s carrying it all alone."
"I know," Magnus nodded. "But Kieran Valerius Hunter isn’t just a grieving son. He is.... was a prince, and now, he is the next in line to beco the Alpha King. If what Astrid says is true, then the last Ghosthound standing isn’t Aveline. There’s another. One who ruled beside the Alpha King for years... and has been hiding in plain sight."
My legs trembled beneath .
Astrid walked out of the weaponry room without a word. Her boots echoed softly down the concrete hallway, each step calculated and sure, like a woman with a war plan already mapped out in her mind.
Then she stopped. Without turning back, she said, "Co with ."
I hesitated for a mont, glancing behind at Magnus, at the shelves of weapons that suddenly felt too small for the battle ahead. Then I followed her.
She led through the larhe living room, past the injured students tending to themselves in silence, past the gurney where Felix sat with his head bowed, hands clenched. We reached one of the sterile-looking tal doors labeled dical Bay II. She opened it and walked in. I stepped in after her.
"Close the door," she said.
I did.
The room was clean, cold, too quiet. Astrid sat on the edge of the cot with a sigh that sohow sounded.... heavy. Human. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her sharp expression was still there, but now it was threaded with sothing else, urgency, weariness. She gestured for to sit on the chair opposite her.
I didn’t move at first. I didn’t know what this was. A lecture? A confession? A new twist to an already shattered day?
But in the end, I sat.
She looked at , straight through , like she was studying sothing underneath my skin. Then she said it:
"I need you to convince Kieran to let us bring his mother into this fight."
The words were blunt, heavy, and hit harder than I expected.
I blinked. "What?"
"You heard ." She folded her arms, her voice cool but firm. "Reason with him. Seduce him. I don’t care which thod you use just make him agree. Make him bring the Alpha Queen into this. We need her."
My stomach churned. "You want to use him?"
"I want you to reach him," she snapped. "You’re the only one who can."
I shook my head slowly, heart racing. "He just lost his father. You want to ask him to throw his mother into the sa battlefield that took his father from him?"
Astrid’s jaw tightened. "This isn’t about what we want anymore, Lorraine. It’s about survival. Kieran’s mother isn’t just a grieving widow, she’s a sleeping Ghosthound. A weapon. And if we want any chance at surviving this, we need her awake. Now."
I looked down at my hands. They were still stained with blood. Felix’s. Mine. Soone else’s, I couldn’t tell anymore. The war had already swallowed too many of us. But ask Kieran to throw his mother into it too?
Could I do that?
"You’re asking to break the last piece of him that hasn’t shattered yet," I whispered.
"No," Astrid said. "I’m asking you to give him sothing to fight for. Because right now? Vengeance isn’t enough. Not for what’s coming."
I stared at Astrid like she’d lost her mind.
"What makes you think Kieran would even listen to ?" I asked, my voice quieter than I intended. "At the end of the day... I’m still just a feral gitl, rember?"
Astrid shook her head firmly, her eyes narrowing as though the very idea offended her.
"You’re far beyond being just a feral, Lorraine," she said. "You and Kieran.... there’s sothing about the two of you. So bond I can’t explain, not even with all the knowledge I’ve gathered. He listens to you in ways he doesn’t listen to anyone else. Even . Even Magnus. If there’s anyone who can get through to that hardened lycan heart of his, it’s you."
I looked away, my fingers gripping the cold tal of the chair. I didn’t feel powerful. I didn’t feel special. I felt like a girl who had lost too many people, who had bled too much, who was barely holding herself together. And Kieran, he was hanging by a thread.
"What if I make it worse?" I whispered. "What if I say the wrong thing and push him over the edge?"
Astrid stood up slowly and walked toward . Her voice, for once, softened. "Or what if you say the one thing that pulls him back from it?"
I looked up at her, uncertain, but then I rembered how Kieran had gripped my hand even at the most unexpected monts. How he always was there for , always.
I knew I had to try.
So I stood up
Astrid gave a short nod and opened the door.
We stepped back out into the expansive living room. The others were still scattered about the open space, so resting, others talking in hushed tones. Varya was now sat in a corner wrapping a bandage around her thigh. Felix was slouched against the wall, an ice pack on his swollen cheek, looking just as hollow as I felt.
"Where is he? Where is Kieran?" Astrid asked.
Felix looked up. "He went toward the staircase that leads out"
Astrid’s brows furrowed instantly. "He shouldn’t be able to go out. Only I know the pin code to the entry door."
Her tone changed then, sharp and brisk as she started walking, and I followed quickly behind her. My heart beat faster with every step. Why would Kieran leave? And where was he going?
We reached the staircase and climbed it fast.
Then we saw it.
The massive steel door, the one that sealed the underground hideout completely, was wide open, the tal warped and twisted. The dent in the center of it was huge, like a sledgehamr had ramd through it. But it wasn’t a hamr.
It was a lycan’s fist.
Astrid muttered a curse under her breath.
"He destroyed the damn door," she said, her voice laced with disbelief.
We stepped out of the hideout into the cool air of the woods, the distorted tal door groaning behind us like it resented what Kieran had done to it. I barely noticed. My focus was singular.
Kieran.
"We need to find him," I said, my voice hoarse from exhaustion but still firm.
Astrid nodded without hesitation. "Agreed. He couldn’t have gone too far."
But hours passed.
We combed the woods, moving through thick trees and brambles, calling out softly, watching the wind rustle the leaves without giving us a single clue. Astrid tried to trace his scent over and over again, but every ti she paused to focus, she shook her head with increasing frustration.
"It’s like he doesn’t exist," she muttered once, low and baffled.
The sun began to dip, casting gold and crimson light over the forest canopy. My body was sore. I was tired, my legs heavy, my throat dry. But I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t. Kieran was out here sowhere, hurting, broken, alone.
And I cared too damn much to let him be.
"Just where the hell is he?" I whispered, swallowing hard. "Why can’t you trace him? You’re a Lycan for goddess’ sake...."
"I don’t know, Lorraine," Astrid snapped, a rare hint of raw frustration bleeding into her tone
Silence hung between us for a beat. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palm. The sky had darkened completely now, and the moon was out, full and silver, casting an ethereal glow across the forest.
Astrid sighed, dragging a hand through her hair. "We have to head back. It’s too dangerous to keep wandering."
"No," I said imdiately, stepping forward. "I can’t leave him out here."
"Lorraine...."
"I won’t," I said more forcefully, my voice cracking. "He would never leave , so I wont leave him either"
Astrid was about to say sothing else when it happened.
The moon, already luminous, suddenly pulsed brighter, like soone had pulled a switch in the heavens. A wind surged through the trees, not natural and playful, but cold and ancient. The kind that tasted like death.
I shivered, my arms wrapping around myself. Astrid froze.
"Do you feel that?" I asked quietly, barely breathing.
She nodded, her eyes narrowed. "Sothing’s wrong. This isn’t normal."
The earth beneath us trembled, barely perceptible, but enough to make my heartbeat stumble.
Then we turned.
And he was there.
Kieran.
He stood in the middle of a small clearing we hadn’t noticed before. The moonlight kissed his figure like it had been waiting for him. His tall form was terrifying in its stillness. His eyes... they were no longer red, they were dark, like blood stained crimson with black around the irises, burning with a force I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
And his hair, his beautiful midnight black hair, now had streaks of silver cascading through it like lightning
He didn’t speak.
He didn’t move.
He radiated power.
"Holy helk..." I breathed.
Astrid’s voice was steady but quiet. "He’s done it."
I turned to her. "What?"
She stared at him with a mix of awe and caution.
"He’s attained the total Lycan ascension," she said.
My eyes went back to Kieran.
He wasn’t just powerful.
He looked.... untouchable.
And I had no idea if I should run to him...
....or run from him.
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