Kieran’s POV
I watched in silence as my father marched down the corridor, his long coat sweeping behind him like a cloak of war. Astrid Voss walked beside him, her head slightly bowed in reverence, and a swarm of his guards followed. The air around them remained thick with his fury, heavy and crackling like a storm not yet unleashed. He hadn’t even looked back.
I stood by the door for a mont, just breathing and preparing myself for the storm my father was about to unleash
I turned back toward the room and picked up my shirt, pulling it over my head.
I reached for my jacket.
Then I paused.
A scent.
My nostrils flared slightly
A scent, and it was familiar.
I didn’t need to turn to know.
"The blonde-haired noble," I said coldly.
There was a pause.
Then a voice corrected, "It’s Adrian Vale."
I turned, slowly, and there he was, standing right at the door like he belonged in my space. Dressed in his usual crisp uniform, hair perfectly combed back, and that annoyingly unreadable expression on his face. Arrogant nobles always carried themselves like they were immune to consequence, but sothing in his eyes was different this ti. There was tension. He was here for a reason.
I narrowed my eyes. "Why are you here?" I stepped forward, expression hardening. "And where the hell is Lorraine?"
Adrian’s gaze t mine without flinching. "Lorraine is the only reason I ca to see you," he said, then reached into his coat and pulled out a folded piece of parchnt. He held it out. "Alistair Ashthorne took her. He sent this."
I snatched the note and opened it.
>Lorraine is with . As you well know, the Academy is currently on lockdown.
If you want your lowly little feral back, get a clear path for and my father to escape out of the academy before nightfall, without being caught.
I will be waiting for you under the Willow tree at the Hollow Grounds by 4PM.
Try anything funny, and you’ll never see your weak little feral again.
I read it once. Then again. And again.
Each word carved into like a blade.
My hand clenched, and the note crumpled with a harsh crackle. My breath turned heavy, rage crawling beneath my skin like wildfire. He dared to call her weak. He dared to touch what was mine.
Adrian stood still, watching carefully. There was no smugness now, no sarcasm in his voice—just a quiet understanding of how dangerous this mont could be.
"Where was she taken from?" I asked, voice low.
"She has ran to the lycans dormitory to find out how you were doing. That’s the last ti I saw her. She was alone. No one noticed when she disappeared."
I ran a hand down my face, trying to steady the storm inside . "And you’re just telling now?"
"I only just found out myself," Adrian said. "He sent the note to my dorm. Slipped it under the door"
My father wants the Ashthornes. And Alistair wants to help him escape. Else he’ll kill Lorraine.
My muscles twitcheed, how dare he threaten , how dare he give an ultimatum, and how dare he touch Lorraine
I am going to find him, and I am going to skin him alive.
Lorraine’s POV
Pain.
Not the kind that scread.....no. This pain was crippling. It crawled. It seeped into the marrow of my bones, quiet and suffocating. I was on the cold floor, my body barely recognizable to myself. Every inch of ached, throbbing in tandem with my heartbeat. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even lift my head.
I tried to breathe through my mouth, but even that hurt.
Alistair had nearly killed .
He hadn’t even flinched when he struck —again and again, each blow more calculated than the last. My ribs felt shattered. My left eye was swollen shut. Blood crusted at the corner of my mouth, tallic and bitter. I didn’t even rember when I’d lost consciousness. I only rembered the pain returning when I woke in this place.
A dark room.
No windows. No sound. Only the low hum of sothing electrical in the distance.
And the ropes.
Gods, the ropes.
They weren’t just rough or tight, they had been soaked. Soaked in sothing that made my skin blister. That made my veins feel like they were boiling from the inside.
Wolfsbane.
Every knot dug into like a thousand needles. My arms were bound behind my back, pulled so tight that my shoulders had gone numb. My legs were tied at awkward angles, cutting off circulation. My ankles throbbed violently. The ropes dug into my throat, holding my head in place, just high enough to keep from resting it against the cold floor.
I couldn’t even scream.
Not because I lacked the will.
Because my throat was raw from earlier—when I had.
It was worse than death.
Death would have been rcy.
Here, it was silence and suffering. No clock to tell how long I’d been like this. Minutes? Hours? Days? The only thing I could feel was ti moving through agony. Slow. Cruel.
I twitched involuntarily as another sharp burn flared beneath the rope around my chest. I let out a broken gasp, more like a wheeze. Every breath I took was a battle, and the ropes only made it harder.
He hadn’t just wanted to beat .
He wanted to break
To reduce to nothing. Maybe as a warning. A tool to get to Kieran, cause he had every chance to kill but he didn’t
But I wasn’t broken yet.
I was still here.
f.(r)eewe/bnov\ll
Even if my blood soaked the floor beneath . Even if my body scread for relief. Even if the pain blurred the edges of my mind.
I was still Lorraine Anderson.
And I was going to survive this.
Even if it killed .
I will not be used as a pawn to get Kieran again.
So I shut my eyes tight, willing my wolf to co out.
I need you now, please help ...
But it didn’t answer
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