Lorraine’s POV
I blinked, the weight of Astrid’s words crashing into like a cold wave. She wasn’t the killer.
If Astrid didn’t kill that poor feral girl.... then that ans the real murderer had been out there this whole ti. Watching. Waiting. Lurking.
A chill traced down my spine.
We’d gotten it all wrong. I had gotten it wrong. And worse? The killer was still loose, still walking these halls. Still breathing the sa air as Elise, Felix.... and .
No.
I gripped the blanket tighter around my body, the soft fabric suddenly feeling too thin, too fragile, like my illusion of safety had just been ripped away.
"I need to go," I murmured under my breath, barely able to hear myself over the blood pounding in my ears. "I need to find them... make sure they’re okay."
Astrid didn’t flinch. She crossed her arms instead, lips curling into sothing unreadable. "If you want to survive what’s coming, truly survive, you have to shed what’s keeping you weak."
I froze. "What?"
"The ferals," she said coldly. "Those strays you cling to. You want to be strong? Then you have to let go of things that drag you down. Friends. Attachnts. They make you soft. And softness gets you killed."
My heart snapped to attention, rage flaring like a match in my chest. "Don’t you dare say that about them."
Astrid raised a brow. "You’re defending them?"
"Of course I am!" I barked. "Elise and Felix.... they’re not just ’ferals.’ They’re survivors. Like . We’re all we’ve got, and we’ve already made it this far when no one expected us to. I’m not leaving them behind."
"Lorraine...."
"No!" I cut her off, my voice trembling, not from fear but from fury. "You think shedding them will make stronger? Then you know nothing about strength. My strength cos from the fact that I still care. That I still have sothing left to fight for. I’m not like you, Astrid. I won’t beco what you are."
Her expression tightened, the briefest flicker of emotion darting across her eyes
"You’ll regret choosing weakness," she said.
"I’d rather die with them than live as soone like you," I said. "We’re going to survive this hellhole together. To the end."
And as I stood up to leave, the blanket still wrapped around , I didn’t know where the courage ca from, but I felt it.
The fire inside . Not just from my wolf.
From sothing deeper. Older. Wilder.
And I wasn’t going to let anyone take it, or my people, from .
Astrid’s voice followed like a whip crack.
"If you walk out that door, Lorraine, you’re giving up the only chance you have at unlocking your true strength. At surviving the war that’s coming."
I stopped, my hand hovering above the doorknob. The room was heavy with silence, but my heart roared like a storm inside my chest.
I turned slowly, looking her dead in the eyes. "No," I said, my voice low but unwavering. "I’m not giving up on anything."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You’re not my only chance at getting stronger, Astrid," I continued. "You said it yourself, you don’t even fully understand what I am. So don’t pretend you’re the only path I can take."
She opened her mouth to speak, but I kept going.
"If being trained by you ans I have to abandon the only people who’ve stood by , who’ve fought and bled beside , then I don’t want it. Strength without loyalty is just power. And I’m not interested in power if I have to beco heartless to earn it."
Astrid stared at . Her expression gave nothing away
But I didn’t care
I opened the door.
"I’ll get stronger," I said, not looking back. "With or without you."
Kieran’s POV
I moved through the academy grounds like a gust of wind, a blur invisible to the untrained eye. My wolf, restless from the interruption, prowled just beneath the surface, snarling and eager to return to her. But my father’s summons could not be ignored, not even by .
I reached the Villa in seconds, bypassed the guards without a glance, and pushed open the heavy oak doors that led to his chambers. The scent of pinewood and cold tal lingered in the air. He was already waiting.
Seated on the edge of his massive bed, shirtless, the Alpha King looked like sothing carved from stone, ageless, hard-edged, and brimming with unspoken authority. Even now, with all the strength and power I’d gathered, I still felt it, the raw, primal intimidation he carried like a second skin.
"Lock the door," he said without turning.
I obeyed, the click of the lock echoing in the dim room.
"How far have you gone with attaining Total Lycan Ascendancy?" he asked.
The na still sent chills down my spine. Others called it the state of absolute consciousness, but the Lycans had a truer na for it, Total Lycan Ascendancy. It wasn’t just bonding with your wolf. It was becoming your wolf.
It was shedding the divide between man and beast, between flesh and spirit. To ascend ant your wolf didn’t just speak from within, it was you. Every movent, every thought, sharpened. Faster than sound. Stronger than steel. Your senses not only heightened, they expanded, bending to the rhythm of the earth, the breath of the wind, the pulse of the Goddess herself.
Those who achieved it didn’t walk, they ruled. The air grew colder in their presence, the ground shifted beneath their feet, and the world, it bent in acknowledgnt.
Only one wolf had achieved it in this age.
Him.
"I’ve been working on it, Father," I said
"You’ve been working on it...." my father repeated, and the weight behind his voice dropped like iron. "But you’ve been failing."
I said nothing. There was nothing to say. The truth stood in the room, as bare and brutal as the man before .
He rose from the bed like a god. I had seen him tear through armies. I had seen him bring Alphas to their knees with a whisper. Even now, as his son, as a full-grown Lycan male, I still felt the instinct to bow in his presence.
"I can sll the veil between you and your wolf from here," he growled, circling . "It’s like a curtain rotting in mildew. You haven’t pushed through it. You’ve let it fester."
My jaw clenched. My wolf stirred in the back of my mind, restless and irritated, but silent. A long silence passed between us, but he wasn’t finished.
"You lied," he snapped.
"I....." I started, but he cut off with a look thaat could shatter bone.
"You’ve not been working on reaching the State of Ascendancy. You’ve been distracted. Pulled off course like a pathetic pup with a toy in its mouth."
He stopped directly in front of , and for the first ti, I didn’t dare et his gaze.
"What distracts you, Kieran?" he said, low and dangerous. "Don’t tell it’s that feral girl."
My eyes snapped up.
"You know about her?"
"Of course I know about her," he spat. "Did you think your bond with her is a secret?"
He moved closer, so close I could sll the faint scent of blood and steel that always clung to him.
"She’s infected your mind, your focus, your wolf. That feral is a chain around your neck, dragging you down into weakness. And you... you let her."
"She’s not weak." My voice was sharp, unthinking.
He gave a bitter, humorless laugh. "No? Then explain why the future of our kingdom is being jeopardized because my only son is tangled in bed sheets with a weakling, the bloody bottom of the predator chain"
"I didn’t ask to feel this way...."
"And yet you do," he cut in. "That’s the problem. You feel. You hesitate. You sympathize. You were not raised for empathy, Kieran. You were raised for dominance. You were supposed to be the wolf that makes the mountains tremble, not the one pining after a mangy feral girl like a pup in heat."
His words sliced through , but I didn’t move.
Then, he turned his back, walking over to a drawer, pulling out a scroll-like parchnt, sealing it with his crest. I knew what it was before he even spoke.
"In one month, a mating ceremony will be held. Wolves from the most powerful bloodlines will attend. I will choose a mate for you"
"No." The word was a blade sharpened in my throat. "You can’t do this."
He didn’t even turn around. "I already have."
"I won’t do it."
That made him pause. He turned slowly, calmly, until his glowing gold eyes found mine again.
"You won’t?" he said softly. "You think this is a choice?"
I lifted my chin. "I’ll find a way to stop it."
He was on before I could react. One hand slamd into my chest, pinning to the wall so hard the stone cracked behind .
"You only have the right to refuse ," he snarled, "after you reach Total Lycan Ascendancy. When you stand as my equal. When you have conquered your wolf, your instincts, your body, and your bond to the earth."
His voice dropped to a whisper, but it was more terrifying than any roar.
"Until then, Kieran, you’re just a son. You’re not a king. You don’t get to want. You don’t get to choose. You obey."
He let go, and I stumbled forward, chest heaving.
"You think your connection to her is real? That it’s fate?" he said, pacing again. "Do you think the Moon Goddess favors unions with the broken and weak? You are a Lycan Prince, the heir of the bloodline of wolves forged in war and fire. You were not ant to feel. You were ant to rule."
I burned with rage. My wolf clawed at the edges of my skin, but still, it didn’t rge. Still, that veil remained between us.
"I’ll reach it," I said, my voice low.
He tilted his head.
"The Ascendancy?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered, eyes hard. "I’ll reach it in a month. And I’ll surpass even you."
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