LOGINAldric's POVA knock sounded on my door and a familiar voice asked. "Orven, the seer, is here, My Lord?"Orven. I'd been waiting to see him for weeks. We agreed he would hasten up with his work because no one could predict when the Dractharis would be back, but I didn't hear from him until now. "Let him in."I pushed the bowl of grapes on my table away and waited for him to step in. Orven entered in his flowing white robe. He bowed his head right away. "My Lord.""Orven," I said. "Sit down. Why did you take so long?""Remember I told you it would take some time to find all the spiritual ingredients needed to make the potions.""Yes. Did you find them?""Yes, My Lord."He eased into a seat opposite mine. Right away, he pulled out a small leather case from under his robe and set it on the edge of my table. It was old. The leather was cracked with age. He unclipped the fastening and opened it.Inside were seven vials. Each one no wider than two fingers. The liquid inside was deep amber
Tyrell's POVI sat at the desk in my office, holding a pen in my hand. There were lots of prescriptions to write, lots of patient's files to go through. I had left my work behind to help Mira look for her friend. Too bad we ended up getting treated like criminals by the guards.I leaned forward and opened one of the files. Just then the clinic door opened. I looked up. Mira came through first, and then Serena stepped in, with Josh beside her.My eyes widened. That's the girl we were looking for!I'd heard noise from somewhere on the campus minutes earlier, but I didn't bother about it. I had too much work on my hands to worry about anything else.I looked at Serena now and understood immediately that she wasn't okay.She was upright, was breathing and her eyes were open. But something was off in the way she carried herself. Too stiff. There was also this confused look on her face. It looked like she had never been anywhere on this campus before."Where did you find her?" I asked Mira.
Josh's POVShe was breathing.That was the first thing I checked. My fingers went straight to her neck the moment I dropped beside her and I held them there until I felt it. Faint and uneven but present. She was on the grassy ground, breathing slowly."Serena." I called. "Serena, look at me."Her eyes were open. That was the confusing thing. She wasn't unconscious. She was looking up at the night sky with her eyes open and her chest heaving. Nothing on her face that suggested she recognised where she was or how she'd got there."Hey." I moved into her line of sight. "Hey, I'm right here. Look at me."Her eyes moved to my face.She looked at me the way one looked at a stranger on a bus. No flicker of recognition. ~This is crazy.~My chest tightened."It's me. It's Josh."She blinked and her lips moved."Where am I?" Her voice was weak."You're at the campus for the Joint Shift Contest," I took her hand carefully. Her fingers were cold. "Do you know who I am?"She looked at my face ag
Caden's POV The guards led us into Parker's office and positioned themselves at the door like they expected us to try and escape. None of us tried to get away. There was no point doing that when we were already cornered. Parker sat behind his desk with his arms crossed. His eyes burned with rage. "Anyone wants to explain what the hell just happened?" he growled. Nobody spoke for a moment. I stepped forward to take responsibility, but Josh cleared his throat and spoke up. "We went looking for Serena." Parker's eyes moved to him. "Outside the campus perimeter? Past curfew? Without authorisation? Do you understand what you're saying?" "Why do we need authorisation from people who haven't done anything useful since we reported her missing?" Josh's nose flared as he spoke. "Josh. . ." Mira tried to calm him down. "Let me talk," he fired back. "We gave you the evidence we found. You said you'd mobilise a search team. You said you'd search the perimeter and beyond. You promised to ma
Mira's POV We met at the garden gate at midnight based on the the understanding we reached in the storage room that if the security team showed no urgency by tonight, we would search for Serena ourselves. The security officers acted even worse than we expected. They didn't conduct any search. No investigation. No announcement to other students on the campus. So we agreed to move. Josh was already at the gate when I got there. He leaned against the gate with hands in his jacket pockets. His eyes had bags under them and his jaws were clenched. He clearly hadn't been sleeping well and he still wasn't taking things easy. I hated that he still blamed himself for not protecting her enough. But what could he have done? He was at his hostel when Serena vanished. He wasn't to blame for the situation. I stood next to Josh and stared into the moonlit sky. We didn't say anything to each other for a moment. Then I turned and looked at him. His eyes were red with unshed tears. "Do you
Serena's POV I'd been sitting against the wall for what felt like hours. My wrists burned from the chain holding them bound. My shoulders ached from being pulled back for so long. I wasn't going to just sit here and wait for whatever they planned for me. ~Think, Serena. Think!~ My shift was still suppressed. I felt a dark force pressing down on my wolf every time I tried to shift. But I hadn't tried everything yet. I hadn't pushed past the pain. I closed my eyes and pulled every bit of focus I had left and directed it inward. At the wolf behind it. I thought about Josh and Mira. They would be so worried about me. I needed to break free from here. I pushed until my head felt like it was splitting open and my whole body was shaking and the pain in my shoulders exploded white and hot. ~Free me now!~ I strained my muscles and let the shift take me. The darkness holding me back slowly cleared. My wolf broke free. I shifted fast. Faster than ever before. My bones rearranged,
Chapter SixMira's POVThe medic pressed two fingers against my ribs. I winced."Breath out," she said. "Slowly."I exhaled. Pain gripped my side like an electric shock.She nodded. "Not broken. But close."Thank Goodness.She moved to my shoulder next. She rotated it carefully and I bit my lip, tr
Mira's POV The crowd pulled back to give us space.I rolled my neck and flexed my wrists. My ankle was still throbbing from the leopard fight. My forearm had a long red scrape from where I had hit the ground. I did not look at either injury. Looking at things made them hurt more.Caden stood acros
Mira's POVJosh rushed over to me. He stepped between me and the Ironridge boy and put one hand on my shoulder. His grip was firm."What are you doing?""I'm trying to make him eat his words."An instructor cut through the crowd before Josh could say something. He was a thin man with permed hair an
Mira's POV We arrived at Ironridge Academy by bus the next day. Josh sat beside me and pointed out buildings to me. He had been here before. The students here were built differently. Not just physically, though that was part of it. It was the way they carried themselves. The confidence. The aura







