Lorraine’s POV
The mont Director Thorn stepped back, Astrid Voss moved forward again, her heels clicking sharply against the polished stage like the slow ticking of a bomb. Her composure was perfect, as always, chin high, lips painted blood-red, and spine rigid. But even she couldn’t fully mask it.
She hated him.
The tightness in her jaw. The slight flare in her nostrils. The way her hands curled by her sides before she forced them into place. Every motion scread it, Astrid Voss did not like Magnus Thorn. At all.
Her eyes flicked briefly toward him before addressing the crowd again, her voice crisp and clipped.
"That will be all for now," she said, her tone cool. "You may now return to your scheduled classes. The Lunars for this month will be distributed to your respective rooms before you return from class today."
The students began to rise, murmuring among themselves as they shuffled and stretched, the energy tense but electric. Another month. Another ga. Another threat.
Astrid continued, her gaze narrowing slightly as her next words rang out clearly across the auditorium.
"Except the Lycan Prince, Lorraine Anderson, and Felix Beckett, remain behind. You will be receiving your Lunars directly, since there is currently no... assigned room to deliver them to."
There it was again. That subtle bite in her voice whenever she said my na. Like I was dirt stuck to the bottom of her boot.
Felix shifted beside . He didn’t flinch, he never did, but I saw the way his hand tightened into a fist on his knee, jaw ticking. I knew what he was thinking. Sa as . No room. No dorm. How the hell are we going to survive this?
"Co on," Adrian muttered from beside , clearly reluctant to leave. "Let stay."
I turned to him, forcing a calm I didn’t feel. His brows were drawn together, his golden eyes filled with that sa protective fire that always flickered when things got dangerous around .
"I’ll be fine," I said gently, touching his arm. "It’s just a Lunar handoff. Besides...." I glanced at Felix and gave a tiny smirk. "He’s here."
Adrian didn’t move.
"I’ll be fine," I repeated, squeezing his hand once before letting go.
Reluctantly, he stood, eyes dragging slowly from to Felix, then to the stage. He didn’t trust them. I didn’t either. But he gave a small nod and turned, moving with the crowd as the students began to pour out of the auditorium, their voices buzzing low and wary.
And just like that, it was only us left.
and Felix in the very back row.
Kieran Valerius Hunter, the Lycan prince, still seated in the front like a statue carved from pride and silence, his back straight, his hands resting easily on the arms of his chair. He hadn’t turned around once. Not when Astrid nad as the prey. Not when the entire auditorium twisted to devour with their eyes. Not even now.
He hadn’t looked back.
Not even once.
And up on the stage, Astrid Voss and Magnus Thorn remained. Like twin shadows, one carved from ice, the other from blood and fire.
Astrid turned to Magnus slowly, her posture still proud but the fire in her red eyes blazing
"Why are you still here?" she asked, her voice sharp, icy, and entirely lacking pretense.
Magnus Thorn arched a brow, that smug glint never leaving his face. "Why does it matter? Don’t mind , Astrid. Go ahead with whatever little thing you planned to do. I’m just observing, rember?"
But Astrid wasn’t having it.
Her heel clicked against the wooden stage as she took one step closer to him, her expression stormy. "Everything you said today was completely out of line," she hissed. "You arrived less than twenty-four hours ago and already you’re barking orders, altering class schedules, enforcing punishnts, and you didn’t even have the courtesy to inform first. This is my academy. You don’t get to walk in and start tearing down its structure like so barbarian on a rampage."
Magnus gave a soft huff of amusent, folding his arms across his massive chest. "Still haven’t changed a bit, Astrid," he said, shaking his head. "Still obsessed with control. Still pretending this ss of a school is functioning."
Her jaw clenched. "This isn’t a ss. It’s order. And this is how it has always beem. We weed out the weak. We build survivors."
"No," Magnus said, a little quieter now. "Your survivors are weaklings too, you are raising them to be exactly the coward you used to be"
For a mont, the tension between them felt thick enough to strangle the room. I didn’t dare move. Felix had straightened beside , his hand casually resting on the seat in front of us, but I could feel the tension in him too. Even Kieran, unmoving as he was, seed like stone stretched too tightly.
Magnus gave a soft sigh and stepped back. "I’ll leave for now. But we’ll talk later, Astrid. This conversation isn’t over."
He turned, but just before stepping off the stage, his gaze slid across the auditorium, tto .
And for a mont, it stayed there.
Lingering.
Studying.
Almost... curious.
Then he gave a faint nod.... to Kieran, and strode out of the auditorium, the doors thudding softly closed behind him.
Astrid stood stiff and silent for a breath, her lips pressed into a thin line.
I exhaled slowly, realizing I’d been holding my breath.
And now, it was just the three of us again.
. Felix. Astrid Voss. And him
Astrid turned to us slowly, that sa cold amusent etched into every angle of her face. She descended the steps from the stage, her heels echoing sharply in the now-empty auditorium, and ca to stand before us.
Without a word, she reached into the pouch hanging from her waist and handed a stack of Lunars to Felix. Then another to .
"One hundred Lunars each," she said simply, then turned and handed the final bundle to Kieran, who still sat like stone in the front row. He took it without looking at her or speaking a single word.
Astrid’s gaze flicked back to , her eyes narrowed slightly. "Our training starts tonight, Lorraine. I trust you still rember our deal?"
I almost scoffed aloud. Training. She wanted to train , after just putting a bounty on my head like I was nothing more than rabid prey. But a deal was a deal.
She had helped .
She got the CCTV footage of Elise’s abduction when no one else would lift a finger. I owed her. And I was never one to go back on my word, no matter how much it cost .
I lifted my chin. "Yes. I rember."
Astrid gave a satisfied nod, like she’d expected to fight but was pleased I hadn’t.
Then Felix spoke up. "Where are we supposed to stay now? The feral dorm’s been sealed off."
Astrid didn’t even blink. "The feral dorm was closed because you lost all your dorm points. Where you sleep, where you exist for the rest of your ti here, that’s your problem. Figure it out."
"That’s not fair," Felix snapped, fists clenched. "You expect us to survive out there with nowhere to go and a bounty on my head?"
"Life itself isn’t fair," Astrid said coolly. "And it’s far worse when you’re weak. This place doesn’t care about what’s fair. It cares about who can rise triumphant against the unfairness."
I rembered her earlier words.... everything can be bought here, if you have enough Lunars. I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"You said anything could be bought in this academy," I said. "What if we want to buy the dorm back with our Lunars?"
Astrid tilted her head at , and for a second, I saw sothing like faint surprise flicker through her gaze before it vanished again. She let out a humorless laugh. "Smart, Lorraine. But do you have enough Lunars for that?"
I stepped forward. "How much will it cost?"
She didn’t hesitate. "Three hundred Lunars. That’s the rent for one month."
Felix reeled. "That’s insane! Where are we supposed to get that kind of money from? We just got one hundred each!"
But I touched his hand lightly, grounding him the sa way he’d done for earlier. He turned to , brows furrowed, but I was already pulling the leather pouch of Lunars from my pocket.
"Trust ," I said.
Then I took Felix’s Lunars gently from him and added them to mine. Two hundred in total. I held it out to Astrid.
"Take it. That’s two hundred. Give us the dorm now, we’ll find a way to get the rest of the hundred before the day ends."
Astrid stared down at the pouch. Then she let out a dry chuckle and shook her head. "This isn’t a charity organization, Lorraine. It’s full paynt or nothing."
I stepped forward. "But...."
The sharp sound of movent stopped cold.
Kieran stood.
After sitting there like a damn statue through the chaos, through Astrid and Magnus’s clash, through the announcent that put my head on the chopping block, he rose, tall and imposing as ever.
Without saying a word, he strode over to Astrid, reached into his pocket, and handed her his own pouch of 100 Lunars.
"Add mine to it," he said flatly. "It’s not like I have a place to stay either."
And then, without looking at , without waiting for Astrid’s reply, Kieran turned and walked straight out of the auditorium.
Not once did he glance back
He just.... gave up all his Lunars. Just like that.
Even Astrid looked mildly stunned.
But she didn’t comnt. She simply accepted the pouch and nodded once.
"You have your dorm back," she said. "But only for one month."
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