MasukFor a full three seconds, no one moved. No one even breathed.
Then the arena erupted in the kind of laughter that shook entire bodies. Students hunched over, faces burning as they tried, and failed, to stay quiet.
Up in the stands, Fin turned slowly toward Cael, both of them staring in disbelief.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" he muttered.
Draven's roar cut through the laughter. "WHAT—IN THE MOON'S HOLY NAME—WAS THAT?!"
Millie was still frozen, staring at the
The forest shimmered in silver light, fog curling around the bases of the trees like breath from something ancient and asleep.Nova stood in a clearing.The world felt quiet—too quiet. But she wasn't afraid.Ahead, a golden-eyed wolf stood between shafts of moonlight, its black fur gleaming like wet stone. Familiar. Achingly familiar."Jax?" she whispered, taking a step forward. Her voice cracked with hope. "Is that you?"The wolf didn't move at first. Then, slowly, it tilted its head."Come back to me," she begged, voice rising. "I miss you so much. Please...."The wolf hesitated. Its ears flicked toward her. One step. Then another.Nova's breath caught.But then—black smoke spilled in like ink poured into water. It slithered between them, hissing and alive, growing thicker by the second. The golden eyes disappeared behind it."No...Jax!" she screamed, panicked, like she couldn't breathe.She ran forward, but the smoke slammed into her like a wave. Blinding. Freezing. Drowning."JAX!
"Out of all the times for Jax to not be here." Elias exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Skin-on-skin contact with a mate would speed her healing tenfold. No magic in the realm can mimic that."He prepped a syringe and looked up at Fin. "This is for the fever. It's the same stuff we used on her before. Should stabilize her temperature."Fin didn't respond, watching Elias inject her. Her body didn't even flinch."I am going to take a nap on the couch. I feel like shit," Fin said.Aeron stood beside him, hands on his hips. "Mindlink us if anything changes.""I will," Fin said, already knowing he wouldn't leave her side.The door closed behind them. Silence settled like a thick blanket over the room.Fin moved to sit beside her on the edge of the bed, running his hand gently down her arm, then over the back of her knuckles. Her skin was still cold. Pale. Too still for comfort."You're going to be okay," He whispered, more to himself than anyone else.Xeon murmured in Fin's mind again
Blackness. Total blackness.He wasn't supposed to die now. Not yet. Not while she was still out there— terrified, alone, touchable by that thing.But then—He tasted it.Warm.Sweet.Vanilla and moonlight.It hit his tongue like fire and salvation all at once. He swallowed, and the taste exploded again. Stronger. Deeper. Familiar in a way he couldn't explain, like a memory he never lived but always longed for.Then breath— shallow but real— burned into his lungs.Her scent filled him.The pain came next. Not the agony of before, but a different kind of pain— purging, cleansing. His bones cracked back into place, fire racing down his spine as it healed.Wounds across his stomach closed. The blackness receded like a nightmare at dawn.He kept drinking. His hand found the source, clutching it tighter, needing more.Mine.Her blood poured in like the moon feeding the tide. And he rose.Fin opened his eyes.And there she was.Nova.On her knees, her face pale, her wrist still in his hand.
"Kill him."The cloaked man's voice was cold.The wraithbeast lunged.Fin hurled himself forward, claws meeting shadow in a violent collision that split the earth beneath them. Black blood splattered across the moss, hissing where it landed.Fin: Cael. Aeron. Sterling. I need backup— now!Nothing.Silence.Then a snarl.The beast's claws raked across Fin's side, and he ripped back with his fangs, tearing through what passed for flesh. The creature screamed — a sound that wasn't a sound at all, more like static from another world.Fin: Nova run now!But Nova couldn't move. Something was holding her. Binding her.She looked down. Shadow tendrils wrapped around her paws like chains, humming with unnatural energy. Her wolf struggled, heart hammering, but the more she pulled, the tighter they coiled.The hooded man tilted his head, voice cutting through the chaos. "I said shift."Nova gasped as her body obeyed. Her bones cracked, light flickered, and suddenly— she was standing there, human
The morning light filtered lazily through the clouds as Nova zipped her training suit. Her body still ached faintly from yesterday's training. Draven had really gone for it. But today's mission was quiet. Quick. Just check on Jax, make sure he was still okay, and come back before sparring.She had memorized the mile markers Finric showed her. She thought that was the point — that he was giving her tools so she could make the run on her own this time. It made sense. He was busy. He was Alpha.Just as she was reaching for the door of her room, the mindlink opened.Fin: You better not be leaving without me.Nova: How did you —Fin: Meet me in the usual spot.Her brow furrowed.She went to the usual spot, and there he was standing against the frame with his arms crossed. Dressed in his own hard shell training suit. And clearly not amused."Were you trying to go without me?" he asked."I thought— wasn't that why you showed me those trail markers? So I could find my way back?" she asked g
Fin and Aeron were mid-conversation as they crossed the second-floor walkway of the library, when Fin stopped.Like someone had yanked an invisible chain.Aeron took two more steps before realizing that Fin was no longer beside him. He turned, brows lifting. Fin looked ... off. Rigid posture, jaw clenched, eyes fixed ahead with the kind of focus a man uses when wrestling a wolf inside his own skin.A single bead of sweat slid down his temple.Aeron blinked. "What—"There was no one in front of Fin or in their direct line of sight.Aeron glanced over the railing. She stood in the one slanted beam of sun pouring from the high window, as if the library itself had decided to spotlight her.Aeron glanced back at Fin, curious whether the Alpha could scent her from this distance. He didn't have a wolf himself, but he'd seen wolves pick up faint traces before.But not like this.Fin had gone rigid. Stone-still. A tightness braced across his shoulders, jaw clenched hard enough to crack teeth.







