LOGINMordred's PoV:The wind bit at my knuckles as I idled the bike outside Kianna’s dorm, the engine’s low rumble the only sound cutting through the late-afternoon gray. December cold had settled in hard, the kind that sneaked under your jacket and sat on your chest like a warning. I killed the ignition and pulled off my helmet, running a hand through hair that was probably a mess. My heart was doing something similar—thumping too loud and too fast. I hadn’t felt this nervous since the night I first asked her out using fake dating as an excuse, back when everything between us was new, electric and uncomplicated.I’d texted her this morning on impulse, after another sleepless night haunted by the Boss’s warnings and the ticking clock on her birthday. “Can we talk? In person. No agenda, I just miss you.”Her reply had taken three hours before it came with a simple, “Okay…but just talking.”Now here I was, boots planted on the cracked sidewalk, staring at the dorm door like it might open
Kianna's PoV:I sat cross-legged on my bed in the dim afternoon light, the dorm room feeling smaller than usual, like the walls were inching closer with every breath I took. Lesley was out at a study group, leaving me alone with the quiet hum of the radiator and the faint chatter of girls down the hall. My phone lay beside me, screen dark, but my thoughts were loud—too loud.Two days. It had been exactly two days since the hotel after-party, since Kristen Hale crashed back into my life like a memory I’d buried too shallow.I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Not in the obsessive, heart-fluttering way I used to think about Maddox before everything turned toxic. This was different—deeper and filled with old memories. Kristen was the boy who’d shared stolen berries with me behind the pack house, who’d held my hand during thunderstorms when the alpha’s howls made the younger pups tremble. He’d been scrawny then, all elbows and green eyes too big for his face. Now he was tall, solid, w
Maddox's POV:I bolted upright in bed, the sheets tangling around my legs like they were trying to hold me down. The room was pitch black except for the faint glow of my phone on the nightstand, buzzing insistently. I glanced at the clock, it was exactly 2:47am. Who the hell calls at this hour? My heart raced with a mix of annoyance and that low-grade paranoia that had been my constant companion since the videos dropped. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, as its cracked screen felt cool against my palm. It was a call from an unknown number, but I knew who it was. The Boss. That gravelly auto-tune voice had become a nightmare soundtrack.I swiped to answer, pressing it to my ear. "What?" I snapped, my voice thick with sleep."Maddox," the distorted voice drawled, calm as ever, like he was calling to chat about the weather. "Hope I didn't wake you. But this couldn't wait till morning."I rubbed my eyes, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The hardwood floor was cold und
Mordred's PoV:I slumped on the edge of my bed, the thin mattress creaking under my weight, staring at the cracked screen of my phone like it might suddenly come alive and explain everything. It was well past midnight, and the apartment was eerily quiet—too quiet. The kind of silence that presses in on you, broken only by the distant hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen and the occasional car horn from the street below. My room was a mess: clothes piled on the floor, empty energy drink cans scattered across the desk with posters of old rock bands curling at the edges from the damp. But right now, none of that mattered. The events of the past few days had me wired, my mind racing in circles that led nowhere good.The Vipers’ garage still haunted me—Rico’s story about Diego, that poor bastard who’d taken help from a stranger and ended up manipulated, arrested and now screaming in a psych ward about voices giving him orders. It hit too close. Ever since that auto-tuned call at the
Maddox's PoV:I paced the length of my bedroom like a caged animal, the plush carpet doing nothing to muffle the thud of my footsteps. It had been three days since that goddamn post exploded on the school forum—three days of whispers in the halls, sidelong glances from teachers, and my phone blowing up with "concerned" texts from so-called friends. The videos were everywhere now, not just the forum but screenshotted and shared on group chats, even popping up on some local gossip pages. “Maddox the bully.”“Maddox the fake.”‘Maddox the mayor's disappointing son.” And still, no clue on who was behind it.I'd checked the anonymous profile a hundred times…ShadowExpose. No bio updates, no new posts, just that one damning thread hanging there like a noose. Views in the tens of thousands. Comments piling up: "Knew he was trash,""Emily deserves justice," "What a hypocrite." I'd reported it to the forum mods, but they were a joke—some student-run thing with no real power. And the Boss?
Kianna's PoV:I lingered on the terrace longer than I meant to, the black card burning a hole in my clutch like a secret I wasn't sure I wanted. The city lights blurred as my mind raced—who was that girl? How did she know so much? And what "price" was she talking about? The cold seeped through my dress, finally chasing me back inside. The ballroom was even more chaotic now, the music pounding harder whilst bodies pressed closer on the dance floor. I wove through the crowd, scanning for Lesley.I found her near the bar, arm slung around Marcus's shoulders, both of them laughing hysterically at some inside joke with a group of college kids. She spotted me and waved wildly. "Kianna! There you are! We're heading upstairs—sleepover after-party in room 512. You in?"I hesitated. A hotel room full of strangers? After the weirdness in the bathroom, my instincts screamed to go home, curl up in bed, and pretend the night never happened. But the thought of the empty dorm room—of sitting alon







