LOGINLESSIEI didn’t expect the world to end quietly, but It ended the moment I pushed open that door.At first, I didn’t understand what I was seeing. My brain refused to stitch the scene together—Celeste bent over him, her hand on his chest, Dante slumped and dazed, his shirt half open, steam from a tea cup curling into the air like ghostly fingers.Then Dante lifted his head, and Celeste was too close. Too close. Her fingers were still on him. And he didn’t move fast enough.For a moment I couldn’t breathe. The air thickened, pressing against my ribs like an unseen hand. My wolf recoiled, whimpering deep inside my mind even though I couldn’t make a sound.Celeste turned first. Of course she did. Her face flickered with something—guilt? Triumph? Pity? I didn’t stay long enough to dissect it.Because Dante pushed himself toward me, unsteady, eyes wide.“Lessie,” he breathed. “It’s not what you think..”But the funny thing was for the first time, I did understand. All of it.Every argument
Professor Dante’s POVEverything in my life had always relied on my discipline. My strength. My focus.But now? Now my focus couldn’t even hold a glass upright.It shattered against the wall, spraying shards across the Alpha conference hall. I stared at the glittering pieces on the floor, swaying, unable to understand how the bottle had ended up in my hand. Or when I’d started drinking enough to drown a beast twice my size.My chest heaved.The disease was spreading. I was failing to keep it contained and Lessie was gone.The emptiness she left behind was ripping me apart from the inside.I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping the edge of the table because the room wouldn’t stop spinning. My wolf, usually a thunderous presence, was lying stunned at the back of my mind—dead quiet except for the occasional mournful growl.Every memory of Lessie stabbed like a knife.“Stop thinking,” I muttered, stumbling forward. “Just, stop!”But the universe didn’t care.My foot slipped. The floor tilted.
LESSIE The markings led me like whispers—like someone was tugging a silver thread tied around my ribs, pulling me deeper into the dim, forgotten parts of campus. Every time I blinked, the sigils Ethan had carved glimmered faintly on the ground, glowing just long enough for me to follow before fading into dust.My pulse thudded in my ears. I could feel Dante’s mark burning on my neck again, a constant reminder of everything I was running from. It didn’t feel like warmth anymore, it felt like bondage. My wolf snarled beneath my skin, restless, hurt, torn between instinct and betrayal.“Just breathe,” I whispered to myself, though my voice trembled. “Follow the markings. Focus.”But my heart… my heart was anything but focused.I passed through the side entrance of the old library, a door no one used anymore because the wing beyond it had been closed off for years. The second I stepped inside, the smell hit me—dust, old paper, forgotten magic clinging to the air like frost.I swallowed h
LESSIE I stumbled out of the packhouse. My lungs burned with each ragged breath, my chest tightening. Every step felt heavier, as though the ground itself wanted to trap me, keep me chained to the chaos I was desperate to escape.I could still feel Dante’s presence behind me and it even made me feel worse.“Was I ever enough?” I shouted into the darkness, voice breaking, echoing through the trees. My hands shook, gripping at the fabric of my coat as if I could rip the answers out of it. “Or was I just a distraction while your wolves died and you found comfort elsewhere?”I could feel him behind me, hesitating, the soft footsteps slowing. I didn’t want to hear his excuses. I didn’t want the sound of a voice I once trusted to reach me.“Lessie, no,” his voice cracked, raw and unsteady, full of disbelief and hurt. “I would never—”I whirled around, letting my anger spill through every movement, every tremble of my body. My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms until I t
PROFESSOR CELESTE The village lay quiet beneath the mist, the kind of quiet that made people feel as though the air itself were holding its breath. Perfect. I smiled faintly, allowing my gaze to sweep across the cottages, the narrow cobblestone paths, the children playing in the distance. So much of this world thought themselves simple, ignorant, innocent. I would harvest their naivety like fruit, and it would taste all the sweeter for it.I adjusted the folds of my cloak, letting it fall just so, so I looked every bit the harmless visitor, like a tourist, an outsider marveling at quaint village life. Beneath it, however, I was calculating, feeling for the pulse of their magic, the residue of power that clung to the land. The sacred staff was here, buried somewhere in this village. A relic long forgotten, yet one that could tilt the balance of the battle ahead. Lessie and Dante thought themselves clever, prepared, righteous.My attention snapped forward when a shrill, determined voic
PROFESSOR DANTEHer scream ripped through my room, filled with so much agony that my heart stopped before my feet did.I pushed open the door so hard it slammed against the wall, and the sight that met me nearly brought me to my knees.“Lessie!”She was collapsed on the floor, her body twisted unnaturally, blood pooling beneath her like ink spilling from a shattered bottle. Her skin was pale, too pale, her breaths shallow and broken, each one sounding like it was being torn out of her.My chest caved in.“Shit! Lessie!” I fell beside her, lifting her into my arms. Her head lolled against me, her lips parted as a faint whimper escaped her.Her blood stained my hands instantly.“Lessie, can you hear me?” I whispered urgently, my voice cracking in a way I hadn’t heard since I was a child. “Damn it, Lessie, stay with me.”Her eyes fluttered weakly, but she didn’t speak. Her fingers twitched, barely brushing my wrist before falling limp.I didn’t waste another second. I scooped her into my







