로그인Hi Readers, Are you loving the simple chapter? But what exactly might be bothering Alex? Can anyone guess it?
Alex's POV:The dorm room was quiet when I closed the door behind me.I stood in the middle of it for a moment without moving. The evening was settling outside the window and the Academy was doing its usual thing of continuing regardless of what any individual inside it was processing and I stood in the quiet and let the day land on me properly for the first time since it had started.Semifinal. Lost.Rolf and Blake in the final.The forest task and Maya moving under Rolf's direction and the look Rolf had given across the clearing and everything that look contained.And then the afternoon in Maya's room. The film and the chips and the energy drink and Blake's shoulder four inches from mine for two hours and neither of us moving away from it.I sat on the edge of my bed.The thing I had been not thinking about directly moved to the front now that the room was quiet enough to let it.Alpha heir.That was what I was. That was what I had been trained toward since before I could properly a
Blake's POV:The movie was Maya's choice and therefore it was something with dramatic music and people making terrible decisions in beautiful locations and Lyra watched it with complete composure while Maya provided running commentary on every terrible decision as it happened.Alex sat beside me on the floor with his back against the bed and his energy drink mostly finished and his shoulder approximately four inches from mine and neither of us moved to change that configuration at any point during the film.This was the thing about what we had not said in the room yet.There was a conversation that needed to happen. A specific one. About Rolf and the semifinal task and the way Maya had moved under his direction and the look Rolf had given me across the forest clearing when his team found the third flag and he had glanced at Maya beside him with that cold particular awareness that said he knew something about her that he had decided was useful.I knew what he knew.Or I knew enough of
Lyra's POV:The knock came again.Three times. Deliberate. Patient.Maya and I looked at each other in the specific way that two people looked at each other when they were both wearing significantly less clothing than was appropriate for receiving visitors and one of them had a father with wolves stationed outside the building."How fast can you move," Maya whispered."Faster than you apparently," I whispered back.We were already in motion. Maya grabbed the oversized t-shirt from the back of her desk chair and pulled it over her head in approximately one second. It covered everything that needed covering and then some, falling to mid-thigh, and she smoothed it down and shook her hair out and looked at me.I looked at myself.Black sports bra. Black boxer shorts."Dressing room," Maya said."Obviously," I said.I moved.The dressing room door was narrow and the interior was slightly cramped with both of our things in it from earlier and I folded myself behind the hanging clothes and p
Maya's POV:The dorm room was quiet when I came back from the forest task and closed the door behind me.Quiet was good. Quiet meant nobody was in the corridor asking questions about the scratches visible on my arms or the way I was holding my left side with slightly more care than usual. I had managed the task. I had done what was required under Rolf's leadership which had been efficient and cold and completely without warmth but professionally competent in a way I could not argue with.He had won.Of course he had won.I sat on the edge of my bed and looked at my arms.The scratches from the forest task were more than I had let on during the briefing. The terrain had been rough and Rolf's approach to navigation had prioritized speed over caution and I had taken two branches across the right forearm and one longer one across my left shoulder that was going to need proper cleaning. On top of last night's injuries which were mostly healed but still present in the specific way that heal
Alex's POV:The task briefing happened at the forest edge at ten sharp.Coach Vega stood at the boundary marker with a tablet and the expression he wore when he had designed something he found adequately challenging and was waiting to see if the people in front of him were going to prove him right.The four teams stood in loose formations behind their respective Alpha heirs. I could feel Leo Silver behind me without looking. His pack energy was familiar in the way that Silver pack energy was always familiar, clean and structured, but carrying underneath it the specific quality of someone who was acutely aware that he was standing behind the Alpha heir of the pack his boyfriend belonged to. Complicated was the correct word for that situation and I had agreed with Rafe's assessment and was managing it accordingly.Rolf stood to my left with his team and Maya was at his right shoulder and she was holding her posture with the specific deliberateness of someone who had decided their body l
Alex's POV:The dining hall smelled like eggs and coffee and approximately forty people pretending they had slept properly.I had not slept properly.I had slept for exactly ninety three minutes which I knew because I had looked at the clock when I lay down and looked at it again when my body decided ninety three minutes was apparently sufficient and woke me up with the cheerful efficiency of someone who had not received the memo about last night.I walked to the breakfast line.Every step communicated its feelings to me directly and specifically and I received the feedback with the expression of someone who was not going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing it.The ribs were a three. The forearm was a two. Everything else was a comprehensive record of the previous twelve hours that I was going to have to carry through what was apparently a semifinal task day and I was going to do it without complaint.I collected a plate and moved toward a table.Each step.Every single one.I k
Lyra’s POV:The academy bell rings sharper than I remember.It echoes across the courtyard and settles into my bones. I pause at the edge of the training grounds, fingers curled around the strap of my bag. The stone beneath my boots feels cold, solid, real. Midnight Academy has not changed much in f
Alex’s POV:The academy does not sleep after blood is spilled.It only pretends to.Morning comes, but the air feels heavy. Like the walls remember what happened last night. Like the ground still holds the echo of claws hitting stone. I walk through the corridor slowly, my steps careful. My ribs ach
Alex’s POV:Even though Blake's wolf is calm, his breathing is wrong.I notice it the moment I step inside my dorm room. The air feels heavy, like something is pressing down on my chest. Blake is standing near the window, his back stiff, his hands clenched so tight his knuckles look pale.“Blake,” I
Blake’s POV:The summons comes at noon.Not shouted. Not announced.Just a sealed message slid under my dorm door with the council crest pressed into black wax.My wolf reacts before I do.It lifts its head. Not aggressive. Not afraid. Just aware.That alone tells me this is not routine.I read the







