ログインThe Solas strategy meeting droned on.I sat at the head of the table and heard nothing. Just noise. Meaningless words about ranking assignments and upcoming trials. My wolf paced inside me, restless and hungry for something I refused to name.Had been pacing since the rooftop.Since the lab.Since the moment I said those words out loud and watched Val's face do that thing. Disbelief first. Then grief. Then longing, quick and bright, before she stepped back like I'd burned her.I told myself the distance was protection.My wolf told me I was a liar."Virex."I blinked. Headmaster Soren's voice cut through the haze."Your thoughts on the Iron Circle assignments?"I straightened in my chair. "The bracket needs restructuring. Ferox has three top-tier fighters in the same quarter. It's inefficient."Soren studied me. "Noted."The meeting dragged on another twenty minutes. I contributed nothing. Left as soon as Soren dismissed us, my legs carrying me toward the training yard before my brain
I lay perfectly still on my bed, counting Cassian's breaths across the room as he slept. The words from last night kept replaying behind my eyes. You're my mate, Valeria. He'd said it like a confession. And now it was morning, and nothing had changed.I catalogued my exits. The door. The window. The emergency ward line three hundred yards past the academy gates. All of them accessible.All of them impossible.Because running meant leaving the bond behind, and I'd already tried that last night. The wards had burned when I got too close. Or maybe that had been my own body rebelling.I couldn't tell anymore.Cassian exhaled sharply in his sleep. A soft sound. Almost pained.I stayed still.When his breathing evened out again, I slid out of bed. The floorboards groaned under my weight, and I froze, listening. Nothing. I grabbed my uniform from the chair and dressed in the dark corner of the room, pulling my shirt over my head without making a sound.The vial sat on my desk. I reached fo
Val stood near the academy gates like she was about to run away.Again.The sight of her there—small against the massive stone archway, silver moonlight catching the edges of her hair—made something in my chest twist violently. The wards hummed low around the boundary of Dominion Academy, faint silver lines flickering through the air whenever someone got too close. They pulsed with ancient magic, designed to keep threats out.And keep students in.Beyond them stretched Sage Woods—dark, endless, dangerous.Freedom.Or death.Sometimes they looked the same.I leaned against the stone wall near the gate and watched her pace.Three steps toward the wards.Stop.Turn.Three steps back.Her movements were jerky, uncoordinated. Not the calculated precision she usually carried herself with. Every time she moved closer to the boundary, something inside my chest tightened hard enough to make breathing harder. My ribs ached. My lungs burned.The bond hated this.Honestly, so did I.But I could
I shoved the rooftop door open so hard it slammed against the wall. I flinched as cold night air hit my face all of a sudden.But then I turned my face towards the chill. I needed something sharp enough to cut through the panic clawing up my throat.I walked straight to the edge of the roof, gripping the stone railing hard enough to hurt. My lungs dragged in breath after breath, too fast, too uneven.Mate.The word kept echoing.I hated it.Behind me, the rooftop door opened again. I didn’t turn around.I felt him before I heard him anyway.The bond stretched tight between us the second he stepped closer. A wire pulled too hard.“Val—”“Don’t.”My voice cracked.Silence followed.Then slow footsteps stopped several feet behind me. Not too close, but not too far either.Cassian finally understood distance.I laughed once under my breath. It sounded awful. He wasn't as untouchable as he thought he was “Why did you tell me?”He didn’t answer immediately.I spun around before he could. “
The dorm was too quiet. No noise from the hall. Just me, Val, and everything we weren’t saying.I shut the door behind us.The click sounded louder than it should have.Val stayed near the center of the room, tense like she was ready to bolt if I said the wrong thing. Her eyes flicked briefly toward the half-packed bag still sitting on my bed.I noticed.So did she.“Sit down,” I said.“No.”The answer came too fast.I almost argued.Didn’t.Instead, I crossed the room and sat on the edge of my bed, elbows resting on my knees. Looking up at her from there felt wrong somehow. Like I’d handed her control without meaning to.Maybe I had.She crossed her arms. “You said you know what this is.”“I do.”“And?”I exhaled slowly through my nose. “I didn’t want to say it until I was sure.”“That sounds promising.”“I’m serious, Val.”“So am I.”Silence stretched for a second.Then I looked at her directly. “The pain when we’re apart.”Her expression tightened immediately.“The way it eases whe
The first thing I felt was him. Not the bed beneath me. Not the ache in my body.Him. His warm fingers wrapped tightly around mine, strong and steady.My eyes opened slowly. White ceiling. Infirmary lights. The sharp scent of herbs and antiseptic.Then Cassian.He sat beside the bed, leaning forward slightly, his hand locked around mine like he’d decided something while I was unconscious and never planned to take it back.His head lifted the second I moved.“You’re awake.”His voice was rough.I swallowed. “You sound terrible.”“You passed out.”“So dramatic.”Something in his expression shifted. Not amusement. Relief, maybe. The kind that held so much hope. But I didn't want to read too much into it.I tried to sit up. Pain immediately stabbed through my ribs. I wheezed like my breath got knocked out of me.“Don’t,” he said quickly, pressing a hand against my shoulder. “Practitioner Voss said your system overloaded.”“Great.” I winced. “Love that for me.”“You scared the hell out of
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







