LOGINRAGNAR’S POVWhile I was down in that freezing water, the physical numbness was nothing compared to the sharp, tearing pain in my chest.There was a dark truth I had not told Thalia yet. In my pack, if an Alpha wolf finds his true mate and does not mark or claim her within two months, the bond begins to turn sour. The rejection poisons the soul. It causes a constant, dull ache in the heart, and eventually, the Alpha will go completely, violently feral.The two-month mark was dangerously close. I wanted her so badly it physically hurt. Every time I looked at her, my wolf roared beneath my skin, begging to tear through and take what was ours.But no matter how much she froze me out, I swore to myself that I would always stay right by her side to help her anyway. Once we dragged ourselves out of the pool, Miss Lyra gave us no warmth and no rest. She stood over us like a tyrant. “Do not even think about sleeping,” she commanded, her sharp voice echoing off the damp stone walls. “You wi
THALIA’S POVMiss Lyra did not waste any time. The moment the general assembly was dismissed, she led the six of us away from the main field, taking us to a private, enclosed courtyard hidden deep within the training complex. The stone walls here were high and thick, completely cutting us off from the rest of the school. The atmosphere between us was suffocating. Devon kept his distance, nursing his bruised ego and glaring at me from the corner of his eye. Caleb stood like a frozen statue, his dark eyes fixed entirely on the stone floor, while Ragnar kept trying to catch my eye. I stubbornly ignored all of them.Finally, I couldn't take the quiet anymore. I stepped forward and looked directly at our instructor. “Why did you pick the six of us, Miss Lyra? What is the actual reason?”Miss Lyra didn't even look back at me as she took off her heavy outer cloak. “You do not need to ask questions, Thalia,” she said smoothly, her voice chillingly calm. “You will find out exactly why you ar
THALIA’S POVThat night, I limped back to the dorm room carrying a body full of bruises that stubbornly refused to heal. Every single breath felt like inhaling shards of broken glass, a brutal reminder of Miss Lyra’s Alpha speed and strength.I sat on the edge of the mattress, flinching violently as Eileen gently pressed a damp, cold cloth against the cut on my cheek. I hissed in pain, my fingers gripping the bedsheets until my knuckles turned stark white.“Quiet down,” Eileen whispered frantically, her eyes wide with a mix of worry and awe. “The entire hall is quiet. We don't need anyone realizing how badly she thrashed you.”She pulled the cloth away, revealing the dark purple staining my skin. For the next hour, we spoke in hushed tones about everything that had transpired inside Miss Lyra’s private chambers. I recounted the terrifying way the senior board member had forced me into a corner, and exactly what she had said about training me to assume whatever dormant entity was hidi
THALIA’S POV“What exactly are you all doing out here?” Miss Lyra’s sharp voice sliced through the heavy silence of the alleyway.My heart plummeted into my stomach. Instinctively, I tucked my injured arm behind my back, hiding the makeshift handkerchief bandage and the wet, smeared blood on my skin.Ragnar stepped squarely in front of me, his massive frame blocking her view as much as possible. “We were just heading back to the dorms, Miss Lyra,” he said, his voice forced and tight. “Thalia wasn’t feeling well after the gathering on the field.”“Yes, exactly!” Eileen chimed in quickly, her voice a pitch too high as she fidgeted with her sleeves. “She got a bit dizzy from the heat, so we brought her back here for some quiet air.”Miss Lyra didn't buy a single word. She didn’t even look at them. Her icy, calculating gaze remained locked on me, cutting right past Ragnar’s shoulder. “Save your breath, Norales. I have been standing here long enough to see precisely what happened.”She too
RAGNAR’S POVAfter I refused to hit Thalia, she closed the book and then looked at all three of us. “Come on, let's go.” Thalia led us quickly through the shadows, moving toward the very back of the school grounds. She chose a hidden spot right against the pulsing edge of the barrier where the stone walls of the old building blocked us from the main courtyard. No one could see us here.Eileen looked around nervously, her hands shaking as she hugged herself. “I feel like we are committing a crime right now,” she muttered under her breath.Jamie nodded beside her, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “For once, I actually agree with Eileen. This is a very bad idea.”Thalia ignored them both. She turned around to face me, her jaw set firmly. “Hit me, Ragnar,” she commanded again.I took a step back, shaking my head instantly. “No. Absolutely not. I am not going to hit you, Thalia. I cannot hurt my own mate. Do not ask me to do that.”Thalia stepped into my space, reaching up to hold
THALIA’S POVBy the next morning, a sudden wave of excitement and panic washed over the dorms. Word spread rapidly through the corridors that help had finally arrived from outside the barrier. Without wasting a single moment, the entire academy rushed out to the open field, their anxious eyes fixed on the perimeter of the academy grounds.I stood shoulder to shoulder with Ragnar, Eileen, and Jamie at the front of the crowd, our gazes locked on the boundary line.Just beyond the shimmering, translucent dome of energy, several large groups of people had gathered. My breath hitched as I recognized the leading figures standing in the distance. It was my parents and right beside them stood Devon’s parents, the prominent heads of the Beaumont family. They weren't alone. Dozens of powerful warriors from different northern and southern packs had arrived to answer the emergency distress signal. Right before our eyes, several of the warriors shifted into their massive, muscular wolf forms.
THALIA’S POVMy hands shook so violently that I could barely open the wooden door of my wardrobe. It was strictly forbidden to possess any outside communication devices within the academy walls, but I had smuggled in a secret phone before leaving home, keeping it hidden away for an absolute emerge
THALIA [ONE WEEK LATER] The leather trunk sat by the door, packed with everything 'Lucian Ashen' would need for his first semester at The Howling Spire. Formal uniforms, training clothes, books on wolf history, combat theory, and some hidden necessities of my own. I stood in front of the mirror
THALIA Lucian lay sprawled at my feet with wide lifeless eyes. The party was in full swing and I was outside. But this already happened. I had already lived this moment, I chased the assassin, I fell…My fingers instinctively went to my head, there was no injury and no single drop of blood. “Ok
THALIA I was going to fall.My fingers slipped against the wet stone ledge, the rain making everything slippery and far more treacherous. This was insane. This was absolutely insane.But I didn't let go.Instead, I gritted my teeth, adjusted my grip, and jumped down. The grey servant's dress I h







