Kieran’s POV
Astrid’s voice cut through the air like a blade.
"That’s enough."
But it wasn’t.
Not even close.
My fists were clenched, claws still extended, and my wolf howled for blood. The tight control I usually held, effortlessly, was slipping with every breath. The echo of the doctor’s words kept playing in my skull.
She might not last the night.
My vision blurred red.
She couldn’t die. Not like this. Not in a sterile room reeking of failure and rot. Not because I wasn’t fast enough. Not because I dismissed that instinct in the woods. I should have known. I did know.
I took a step forward.
Astrid didn’t move. "I said...."
I lunged.
My fist sliced through the air like a bullet, aid straight at her skull.
She barely twisted out of the way, the blow grazing her shoulder and cracking the wall behind her.
The scent of dust and blood mixed in the corridor.
Her eyes narrowed. "You’ve lost your damn mind."
I didn’t answer.
I struck again, another blow, this one faster, sharper. She ducked. Pivoted. Her heel nearly grazed my jaw as she turned the dodge into a counterattack, but I caught her leg mid-air and flung her backward into the far wall. The plaster split on impact.
Astrid rolled with it, landing like a cat, barely winded.
She exhaled once. "I’m not your enemy, Kieran."
I dashed forward in a blur of movent, clawing through the space between us. She danced back, bending low under my swipe and twisting sideways as my next blow ca down like a guillotine.
Our speed turned the hallway into a storm of motion, cracks exploded across the walls, tiles split under our feet.
Her power was nothing to scoff at. She was fast, precise, and her footwork showed years of combat training. But I was a Lycan prince.
I was stronger.
I drove her into a corner, a punch aid to end the fight....
But she vanished from under it, reappearing behind with a surge of speed.
"You think you can fix things by killing everyone?" she hissed.
I whirled around, claws swinging, she leaned just out of reach, our faces inches apart.
Her breath was steady
Mine was ragged.
Another attack, another another dodge. My fist slamd into the pillar behind her, splintering it into chunks. She slid low, using my own montum against , and I staggered.
"You think she’d want to wake up to see you like this?" Astrid shouted over the chaos.
"Don’t talk about her like you know her!" I bellowed, charging again.
Our bodies collided, a tangle of fury and precision. My claws grazed her ribs, her elbow jabbed into my collarbone. A lesser opponent would’ve been torn apart by now.
But Astrid....
She was still holding back.
Still trying to reach .
"Enough, Kieran!" she yelled again, breathless now.
I didn’t listen.
I couldn’t.
My wolf was out of control, snarling, pacing, threatening to tear through skin. The hallway trembled from the force of our clash, walls shaking, lights flickering.
And then....
Just as I raised my hand for one final strike.....
She whispered it.
"I have a way to heal Lorraine."
Everything stopped.
My breath caught.
My claws hovered inches from her throat. My pulse thundered in my ears.
"What?" I growled.
Astrid didn’t flinch.
"I said I have a way," she repeated softly. "But you need to stop trying to rip my spine out long enough to listen."
I dropped my hand, my body still vibrating with tension. The scent of plaster, blood, and rage still thick in the air.
I stared into her eyes.
"If this is so kind of ga...."
"It’s not," she said quickly. "It’s real. But it’s dangerous. Forbidden, even."
My fists unclenched.
"Follow " Astrid said
She didn’t wait for a reply, she turned and walked down the hallway, and I followed without a word.
I could hear the shuffle of the doctor and Theron trailing behind us, but I only had eyes for one thing the mont I stepped in to the ergency room with Astrid.
Lorraine.
She lay on the bed, pale as bone, lips tinged blue, her chest barely rising. The wound where Selene drove her hand in was still raw, still bleeding, like her body had simply given up.
I approached slowly, every fiber of screaming to touch her, to shake her awake, to demand she fight like she always did. But she didn’t move. She looked fragile, breakable, nothing like the fierce storm of a girl who had once dared to jump off a building just to defy .
I turned to Astrid, my voice rough. "She’s not healing."
Astrid nodded, her tone steady. "Because her wolf still hasn’t awakened."
"I know," I said. "It’s been dormant, maybe her entire life"
"If we want her to live, we’ll have to wake up her wolf so she can heal herself" Astrid stated
"How do we wake sothing that’s never co forward? I’ve never heard of dormant wolf being awakened before.
She t my gaze, a smug on her lips. "I told you it was a forbidden procedure, didn’t I?"
I clenched my jaw. "I don’t care if its forbidden, if it will save Lorraine, then we will do it."
Astrid exhaled and looked toward the window. Outside, the evening sky was darkening, stars slowly appearing and being the silver moon slowly rising
"Tonight is the full moon," she said quietly. "The academy will be celebrating, distracted by their rituals, their ceremonies, their bloodletting."
She turned back to , her eyes sharp now, calculating. "That’s when you’ll bring her to . To The Hollow grounds, east of the academy."
I stiffened. The Hollow grounds was a forbidden place, ancient, hidden beneath the oldest wing of the academy. A moonlit cavern, long forgotten by most.
"Why there?" I asked.
"Because it’s where the first generation of wolves were born," she said. "Where the first bondings happened, where moonlight touches deeper than anywhere else. We’re going to use the power of the full moon, the ritual of the Hollow, and we’re going to force her wolf to awaken."
"And if it doesn’t work?"
Astrid looked at Lorraine, then back at . "Let’s just hope it does."
My jaw flexed. I looked at Lorraine again, her broken form, her half-dead stillness, and I knew I wouldn’t lose her. I couldn’t.
Astrid’s voice dropped lower, colder. "Make sure you’re there before the clock strikes twelve, Kieran. If you’re late.... the moon’s window will close."
I nodded once, my wolf pouncing beneath my skin
Before midnight.
To the Hollow grounds.
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