LOGINWe got back to the dorm at three in the morning.Adrenaline still running. Photographs that represented our best evidence against Cain. Ronan's perimeter signal said the coast was clear.It didn't take long before we were alone in our room.For several seconds, neither of us spoke.The room felt different after what had happened in Cain's office. Maybe it was because we had finally found something solid enough to fight with. Maybe it was because Cain's office had nearly caught us. Or maybe it was because somewhere between the evidence, the danger, and the way we'd moved together, something between Val and me had shifted again.She dropped her bag beside the bed.I locked the door."Still clear?" she asked."Ronan says we're good."She nodded, then looked at the photographs in my hand."Let's make sure we actually have what we think we have."That was Val.No celebration until the evidence was checked twice.I almost smiled."Desk."She sat down.I followed.We reviewed the photograph
We went at two in the morning.Me, and Cassian. While Ronan ran perimeter from outside. Cain's office was locked with a standard ward—one that I, having studied Soren's book on warding and spent three weeks practicing in my limited free time, could dissolve quietly enough to pass unnoticed.I did it in record time.The ward shimmered once beneath my fingers before fading into the stone.I held my breath.Nothing happened.No alarm.No footsteps.I looked at Cassian.He nodded.I pushed the door open.The office was dark and silent.We slipped inside.Ronan's voice came through the small communication rune attached to my wrist."Clear on the east corridor.""How long?" I whispered."At least ten minutes before the next patrol."Cassian closed the door behind us."Then we don't waste any."Inside, we worked efficiently.Cassian at the filing cabinets. Me at the desk where the clipboard lived. The office was orderly in the way of a man who controlled his environment carefully.Every book
Ronan told me what Raven confirmed to Cain."Where is Val?""Library."I went.I found her in the Den Library, tucked into a corner table with a stack of books.I didn't waste time."Raven confirmed to Cain that your scent is unusual up close."She looked up. Her expression didn't change. But something behind her eyes sharpened."Explain."I pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down."Raven told Val she answered a question Cain asked about you. He wanted to know whether your scent was different when someone got close."Val's fingers tightened around the edge of the book."What exactly did she say?""That your scent was unusual. Different up close.""Did she mention the suppressants?""No.""Wolfsbane?""No.""Anything about my shifting?""No."She released a slow breath."Then he doesn't have enough.""Not yet."Her eyes met mine."Tell me everything."So I did.I told her about the note from Raven's room. About Dessa carrying it toward Cain's wing. About Raven admitting that Cai
I have a gift for being in the right place without being noticed.It wasn't a useful gift in normal situations. Most people would probably call it being forgettable.At Dominion, I'd learned to appreciate it.I was in the Vesper adjacent corridor when Raven's second-in-command, a sharp Vesper senior named Dessa, passed with a folded note that had Cain's office seal on the outside.She moved quickly, but not quickly enough.I noticed the seal first.Then the direction she had come from.Raven's room.I didn't intercept it.Stopping her would have raised questions, and questions were dangerous when I didn't yet know what I was looking for. Instead, I noted the direction it came from—Raven's room—and the direction it was going—Cain's wing.I filed this and went about my day like I hadn't seen anything.But I kept thinking about it.Raven had told Cassian she was done.She'd made that very clear.The public attachment. The declaration at the Iron Circle. The way she'd tried to position he
The infirmary smelled like antiseptic and old bandages.I sat on the examination table while the healer wrapped my ribs. Nothing serious—just bruising, she said. I'd taken worse.She pressed two fingers against the sore spot beneath my left side, and I sucked in a sharp breath.“Sorry,” she said, though her hands didn't stop moving. “I need to make sure nothing is cracked.”“I already told you it's fine.”“And I already told you to stop talking while I examine you.”I closed my mouth.She checked the bruising once more, then reached for a fresh strip of bandage. “No fracture. The swelling should settle in a few days. Avoid sparring until then.”“How many days?”“At least three.”“Two.”She gave me a flat look. “Three.”I sighed. “Fine.”“And no heavy lifting.”“I don't do heavy lifting.”“You're a student at Dominion Academy. You do heavy lifting every other day.”I couldn't argue with that.She finished wrapping my ribs and secured the bandage. “If the pain gets worse, come back. Don
We moved through the final phase of the Hunt toward the Dominion Arena finish point. The forest had started to thin as we approached the final stretch. Through the trees, I could occasionally see the distant stone walls of the Dominion Arena. The sight should have made everyone relax. It did the opposite. Everyone knew the final phase was where teams became careless. After four days of tracking, fighting, and rationing supplies, exhaustion made people slower. Confidence made them predictable. I kept my eyes moving. "How far?" Ronan asked. "Less than an hour if we keep this pace," one of the Solas students answered. Val was several yards ahead with Gwen and the Umbra students. She looked tired, but she was still moving with the same controlled focus she'd shown since the Hunt began. The bond between us was quiet. Not absent. Just quiet. After everything that had happened during the Hunt, I had stopped pretending I didn't notice every small change in it. Then we reached the n
The silence that hung between us wasn’t peaceful. It was thick, stiff and heavy in the very corners of the room like dust no one dared to sweep.Val didn’t answer my question.Didn’t even flinch.Just climbed into bed and pulled the blanket up like I hadn’t asked a damn thing.And that pissed the h
Raven tasted like cherry lip balm and something feminine. She was soft in the way I liked as we locked lips.Her fingers tangled in my hair, her body warm against mine as she shifted on my lap, lips trailing down my jaw. I let my head fall back against the wall, exhaling through my nose as her han
The training grounds were alive with tension. Everybody seemed uneasy on the field. They were about to be introduced to something they've never undertaken so their worry was expected. But weakness was not tolerated.Dominance challenges weren’t just a tradition at Dominion Academy—they were law. I
The great hall buzzed with conversations. It seemed everybody was curious about who they were about to be sharing a room with.And from the look of things, I wasn't the only fresher. There were some people with bags. Obviously they didn't have to run away from their homes to be here.Students gathe







