Novels by Delight J

LESSIE The markings led me like whispers—like someone was tugging a silver thread tied around my ribs, pulling me deeper into the dim, forgotten parts of campus. Every time I blinked, the sigils Ethan had carved glimmered faintly on the ground, glowing just long enough for me to follow before fading into dust.My pulse thudded in my ears. I could feel Dante’s mark burning on my neck again, a constant reminder of everything I was running from. It didn’t feel like warmth anymore, it felt like bondage. My wolf snarled beneath my skin, restless, hurt, torn between instinct and betrayal.“Just breathe,” I whispered to myself, though my voice trembled. “Follow the markings. Focus.”But my heart… my heart was anything but focused.I passed through the side entrance of the old library, a door no one used anymore because the wing beyond it had been closed off for years. The second I stepped inside, the smell hit me—dust, old paper, forgotten magic clinging to the air like frost.I swallowed h

LESSIE I stumbled out of the packhouse. My lungs burned with each ragged breath, my chest tightening. Every step felt heavier, as though the ground itself wanted to trap me, keep me chained to the chaos I was desperate to escape.I could still feel Dante’s presence behind me and it even made me feel worse.“Was I ever enough?” I shouted into the darkness, voice breaking, echoing through the trees. My hands shook, gripping at the fabric of my coat as if I could rip the answers out of it. “Or was I just a distraction while your wolves died and you found comfort elsewhere?”I could feel him behind me, hesitating, the soft footsteps slowing. I didn’t want to hear his excuses. I didn’t want the sound of a voice I once trusted to reach me.“Lessie, no,” his voice cracked, raw and unsteady, full of disbelief and hurt. “I would never—”I whirled around, letting my anger spill through every movement, every tremble of my body. My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms until I t

PROFESSOR CELESTE The village lay quiet beneath the mist, the kind of quiet that made people feel as though the air itself were holding its breath. Perfect. I smiled faintly, allowing my gaze to sweep across the cottages, the narrow cobblestone paths, the children playing in the distance. So much of this world thought themselves simple, ignorant, innocent. I would harvest their naivety like fruit, and it would taste all the sweeter for it.I adjusted the folds of my cloak, letting it fall just so, so I looked every bit the harmless visitor, like a tourist, an outsider marveling at quaint village life. Beneath it, however, I was calculating, feeling for the pulse of their magic, the residue of power that clung to the land. The sacred staff was here, buried somewhere in this village. A relic long forgotten, yet one that could tilt the balance of the battle ahead. Lessie and Dante thought themselves clever, prepared, righteous.My attention snapped forward when a shrill, determined voic

PROFESSOR DANTEHer scream ripped through my room, filled with so much agony that my heart stopped before my feet did.I pushed open the door so hard it slammed against the wall, and the sight that met me nearly brought me to my knees.“Lessie!”She was collapsed on the floor, her body twisted unnaturally, blood pooling beneath her like ink spilling from a shattered bottle. Her skin was pale, too pale, her breaths shallow and broken, each one sounding like it was being torn out of her.My chest caved in.“Shit! Lessie!” I fell beside her, lifting her into my arms. Her head lolled against me, her lips parted as a faint whimper escaped her.Her blood stained my hands instantly.“Lessie, can you hear me?” I whispered urgently, my voice cracking in a way I hadn’t heard since I was a child. “Damn it, Lessie, stay with me.”Her eyes fluttered weakly, but she didn’t speak. Her fingers twitched, barely brushing my wrist before falling limp.I didn’t waste another second. I scooped her into my

LESSIE I felt Ethan long before I ever heard him.It started as a pressure in my chest—soft at first, then growing, tightening, twisting like invisible fingers trying to pull something out of me. I didn’t tell anyone. Every time the pressure came, his name would flash through my mind like a warning I didn’t yet understand.And then the nights began. The first time, I thought it was a dream. The second time, I knew it wasn’t.I jolted awake with my hand clutching my throat, my breath caught halfway between a scream and a whisper. “Lessie…” His voice echoed inside my skull, as clear as though he stood right beside my bed.My heart slammed painfully against my ribs. I scanned the shadows of my room, eyes darting from corner to corner.“Ethan?” My voice cracked.No reply. But the cold remained. And the air smelled like him.I dragged my legs out of bed, pacing the room, fingers trembling as I pressed them into my scalp. I wasn’t losing my mind. I wasn’t imagining it. I knew Ethan’s voice

PROFESSOR DANTE The pack hall shook with every impact.Snarls echoed off the stone pillars as skeletal wolves lunged at me from all sides, their hollow eye sockets glowing with poisonous green fire. Their ribs clattered with every movement, bones scraping bones, claws dragging gouges across the wooden floor.My claws extended with a crack, my muscles tightening as another skeletal wolf sprang straight at my throat. I caught it midair, slamming it into the ground so hard its spine shattered. Bone fragments scattered across the floor like shards of glass.“Stay down,” I snarled.Another one lunged from behind. I whirled, grabbed its jaw, and ripped its skull clean off. The body collapsed into dust.But there were more.Six of them circled me now, moving in perfect, unnatural silence. The fog in the hall thickened, coiling around my ankles like cold fingers trying to drag me down.I roared and charged.Two wolves leapt first—one toward my legs, the other for my shoulder. I spun low, let