Chapter 7: Defended by a God Alpha

Elara’s POV

His grip was firm enough to stop her completely, and the sudden intervention left Lila staring at him in astonishment.

He did not raise his voice or offer an explanation. He simply held her hand away from me, his golden eyes fixed on her with a displeasure that made even Mara take a cautious step backward.

“Have you lost your mind?” Kairos asked, releasing Lila only after she stopped struggling. “You have instructors, healers, and half the academy standing here. If you believe Elara committed an offence, let the Elders investigate it. You will not settle the matter by attacking her in front of everyone.” His words were not gentle, and he offered me no reassuring glance afterward.

Nevertheless, I could not ignore the fact that he had intervened. The same man who had struck me earlier that day for being the supposed human he did not want had just prevented Lila from doing exactly the same thing.

Lila looked from Kairos to me, and her expression changed. The tears remained on her cheeks, but the wounded look in her eyes gave way to naked disbelief.

“You stopped me because of her?” she asked, taking another step toward him. “Kairos, you know me. You've known my family for years, and you've watched this girl follow me around like a servant. You know what she is. Why would you stand there defending her after she nearly got me killed?” Her voice grew louder with each question until several students began watching them instead of me. Kairos's expression hardened, and he appeared increasingly unwilling to entertain the performance.

“I did not defend her,” he replied. “I stopped you from making a spectacle of yourself. Learn the difference.” He turned toward Valerian, apparently finished with the conversation, and asked the Elders to conduct their investigation before making assumptions about what had happened. His intervention should have settled the immediate confrontation, but it only seemed to deepen Lila's humiliation. She had spent years believing she could command my movements and control how others perceived me.

Now, in front of the entire academy, Kairos had denied her the opportunity to strike me, and everyone had witnessed it. This was more trouble for me… dear goddess.

Lila's composure finally gave way. She clutched Mara's arm again and announced that she could no longer remain on her feet, complaining of dizziness and a sharp pain in her chest. Persene immediately began shouting for the healers, while Mara called Lila's name repeatedly and pleaded with her to keep her eyes open. Before anyone could question whether she needed help, Lila's knees buckled, and she slumped into their arms. The instructors moved aside to make room as the healers approached, and the crowd parted to let them carry her away from the arena.

I watched them take her, unable to decide whether I felt relief or dread. Some part of me wanted to believe she was genuinely unwell, because despite everything she had done to me, I had no desire to see her hurt. Yet I had seen the way she looked at Kairos just before she collapsed. I knew that expression too well. Lila had not received the response she wanted, and she had found another way to make the entire situation revolve around her.

I barely had time to consider it before Valerian called for the security wolves. Two of them approached me, keeping their hands close to their weapons as though I might suddenly attack them. I protested when one took hold of my arm, but the other informed me that I was being detained until the Elders could establish the nature of my abilities.

I turned toward Kairos, hoping he might object to the decision after everything he had said, but he remained beside the platform, his attention fixed on me. Whatever connection existed between us, it had not made him someone I could trust.

“Please, President Valerian,” I said as the guards began leading me away. “I saved Lila's life. I don't understand what happened, but I promise I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. You can't put me away just because I did something nobody understands.”

Valerian listened without interrupting, though his expression did not change. “The academy could not ignore an uncontrolled display of supernatural power, particularly when nobody knew what that power was capable of. Until the investigation was complete, you would be somewhere... secure.”

Dear goddess, I was scared for my life.

The guards escorted me away from the arena and through a side corridor leading toward the older section of the academy. Behind us, the crowd had already begun breaking into smaller groups, each one offering a different explanation for what they had witnessed. I heard the words cursed, wolf… more than once as we passed, though nobody seemed certain what any of them meant. The farther we walked from the training grounds, the colder the passage became, until we reached a reinforced door watched by two security wolves. One unlocked it while the other tightened his grip on my arm.

I had never been inside the academy's holding cells, and I had never imagined that I would be brought here. The guard pushed me through the doorway into a narrow room with a stone floor, a small cot, and iron bars separating me from the corridor. I turned toward him, still hoping he might reconsider, but he shut the door and secured the lock before walking away with his partner. My protests followed them down the passage until their footsteps faded, leaving me alone with the questions I could not answer.

I sat on the edge of the cot and examined my hands again, remembering the silver light that had covered them during the demonstration. I had spent twenty years believing I was human, and there had never been a reason for me to think otherwise. Now the people who governed the academy were treating me as a danger, and even Kairos Vale, who had claimed me in front of everyone, had allowed them to take me away.

I did not know what he wanted from me or why he had reacted so fiercely when Lila approached me, but I knew one thing:

Whatever had awakened inside me had changed my life in a way I could no longer hide...