"No, no, no—Callum!" I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands fumbling uselessly to stop the bleeding, to do sothing, but it was pouring out too fast.
Too much.
He looked at , dazed, eyes glassy, lips trembling.
"I—I’m okay," he whispered, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay.
Selene stood above us, her hand dripping with Callum’s blood, a wild look in her eyes.
And I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t think.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Everything was happening too fast, too violently, too brutally, it didn’t feel real.
One mont, we were standing together, a wall of the beaten and broken, daring to raise our voices. The next, the world collapsed into chaos.
My scream tore through the air. I hadn’t even seen Selene move, one blink, and Callum was now on the ground, blood gushing from where his arm used to be. The sickening sound of bone snapping and flesh tearing haunted the space around us, but I didn’t hear anything else. My knees buckled under as I had dropped beside him.
"Keep your eyes open, Callum! Stay with !" I cried, pressing my hands against the open wound, but there was too much blood. Too much. It painted my hands, my arms, the concrete beneath him.
He looked at , pain clouding his eyes, but he didn’t scream. He just stared, like he knew this was always going to happen. Like he was already slipping away.
"Please—don’t die. Don’t die because of ."
I didn’t know if I was begging him or the Moon Goddess. Maybe both. I didn’t care. I just wanted him to live.
Then, fingers like steel wrapped around my my throat.
Selene.
She yanked up with one hand, like I weighed nothing, like I was nothing. My feet dangled above the ground, the blood from Callum still dripping down my fingers as I clawed at her grip.
"You’re next, Feral," she hissed, her golden eyes burning with manic delight. "I told you I’d keep my promise."
Her grip tightened. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t scream. Couldn’t even think.
I was dying.
I felt it, the familiar coldness creeping into my limbs, the dizziness, the slow drop into nothingness.
Then suddenly—
A blur.
A snarl.
And I was falling, crashing to the ground, air flooding back into my lungs as I gasped and coughed.
Selene was off .
Because soone had tackled her.
I blinked through tears and pain and blood and saw—
"Adrian?"
He stood between and Selene now, panting, his stance wide, defensive. His body trembled, not in fear, but in effort. He’d just thrown himself at an elite werewolf for .
"You touch her again," he growled, "and I’ll make sure you regret it."
Selene looked... amused. Her lips curled into a cruel smile, and she dusted her uniform off like Adrian hadn’t even fazed her.
"A noble?" she scoffed. "You must be out of your damn mind."
She lunged. Adrian t her halfway.
They collided hard, but it wasn’t a fair fight.
She was stronger. Faster. Trained. Ruthless.
Adrian got a punch in, maybe two, but she slamd him into the ground with such force I heard the crack of bone. He groaned, but still tried to get up again.
"Stay down!" she snarled and kicked him, sending him skidding across the ground like a ragdoll.
"Stop!" I scread, my voice raw.
But Selene was already walking toward again, slow, deliberate, like a predator savoring the final mont before the kill.
"Now, where were we?" she whispered
But before she could actually concentrate on , Adrian ca for her again, pushing her across the courtyard and that seed to have angered Adrian as she began to brutally beat him up.
I crawled back to my feet shaking, heart hamring, eyes darting to everyone fighting around .
This couldn’t be happening. Not like this. Not after everything.
And yet, it was.
Pain pulsed behind my eyes as I stumbled through the chaos. Adrian’s groan barely reached my ears, it was drowned by the ringing in my head, by the screams, the sound of bodies hitting the ground, the crack of bones, the sll of blood.
Then Alistair Ashthorne stepped in front of .
I barely had ti to turn before he slamd against a tree, the bark cutting into my back as he wrapped a hand around my throat. His grip was similar to Selene’s, brutal and final. His eyes glowed with sothing vile. The pressure built against my windpipe and I clawed at his arms, but it was useless.
"You should’ve stayed quiet, Feral," he snarled, his breath hot against my skin. "You should’ve known better than to pretend your life matters."
His hand tightened.
This was it.
This was how I died.
The blood roared in my ears, and the world began to darken. I couldn’t even cry. My arms dropped. My legs gave out. My body was done fighting.
And worse?
My spirit was cracking, too.
I’d led them here.
Led my fellow ferals into a massacre.
Callum was lying sowhere behind , maybe already dead. Adrian had tried to save and was crushed into the dirt for it. Felix and Elise were outnumbered. We hadn’t made a difference. I’d fought so hard, pushed so far, and for what?
For this?
To die choking on my failure?
A wave of sha crashed over .
I am broken.
And then—
A sound.
A swoosh, like a blade slicing through the air.
And everything stopped.
Alistair’s eyes widened in shock. His mouth opened, but no words ca, only blood. It poured from his lips, down his chin, splattering my face as his grip slackened. He stumbled back, confused, clutching at sothing I couldn’t see.
I gasped and collapsed to the ground, coughing violently, struggling to suck air back into my lungs
When I looked up, he was standing there.
Kieran.
Kieran Valerius Hunter.
The Lycan prince.
His expression was carved from stone, cold, dangerous, deadly. He stood over Alistair’s crumpling body like a storm cloaked in shadow. His claws out, long and sharp, dripping with a crimson red liquid..... Alistair’s blood.
The courtyard went still.
The Elites froze.
Even Selene’s sneer faltered.
She stood still.
No one dared to breathe.
Because Kieran didn’t have his usual blank and unreadable expression on his face today.
He was furious. His golden eyes now fiery red.
His eyes scanned the scene, blood, bodies, broken spirits, and then landed on . His gaze on my neck, reddened from Alistair’s strong gripped.
His jaw clenched.
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