Chapter 3: The Secret Beneath His Skin

Chapter Three: The Secret Beneath His Skin

The moment the lights went out, someone screamed.

A split second later, the cafeteria descended into absolute chaos. Chairs scraped violently against the floor, frantic shouts echoed off the high ceilings, and the sharp sound of shattering glass burst near the far windows.

Darkness swallowed everything.

“Darius?” I called out, my voice swallowed by the noise.

No answer.

Panic kicked my heart into overdrive. I reached blindly for the table, trying to anchor myself, but my fingers found only empty air.

“Darius!”

A hand clamped around my wrist.

Instinct took over. I spun, driving my elbow backward with everything I had.

A palm intercepted it midair, stopping the blow cold.

“Still trying to hurt everyone who touches you?”

Kieran.

Even in the pitch-black, his voice was unmistakable.

“Let go of me!” I demanded, straining against his grip.

“Stop moving.”

“Stop grabbing me!”

“Aria.”

The way he spoke my name cut through the noise, silencing me for a fraction of a second. The arrogant mock in his tone had vanished, replaced by something razor-sharp and deadly serious.

“Someone has locked down the academy,” he said, his breath warm against the shell of my ear. “And unless you want to be trampled by a hundred panicked wolves, you’re going to listen to me.”

I yanked hard against his hold. “I don't take orders from you.”

“Then consider it a suggestion.”

A deafening crash cut him off.

Something colossal slammed into the reinforced cafeteria doors from the other side. Before I could draw breath, Kieran pulled me behind his back, shielding me with his body.

The heavy steel doors shuddered under a second impact.

Then came a sound that froze every wolf in the room into utter silence.

A growl.

It was too deep, too guttural to belong to any student here. My inner wolf recoiled violently, cowering in the darkest corner of my mind.

That isn't a normal wolf.

The growl tore through the air again, followed by the agonizing screech of metal dragging across metal.

Someone whispered, “Rogues.”

Terror rippled through the hall. Rogues were ruthless, packless strays, and Blackthorn Academy’s warding system was built to keep them out. Yet the doors were warping now, as if whatever lurked outside possessed the strength to tear the place down with its bare hands.

Kieran released my wrist and stepped into the open.

His eyes ignited, bleeding a fierce, terrifying red into the shadows.

“Everyone down!” he bellowed.

The Alpha command struck the room like a physical shockwave. Students instantly collapsed to their knees or scrambled under tables, bowing to the raw authority in his voice.

I remained standing.

Not out of spite. Not because I wanted to test him.

I simply couldn't move.

Something buried deep within me flared, fiercely resisting his order. A strange, suffocating pressure surged in my chest an invisible force pushing back against the absolute weight of his Alpha voice.

Kieran turned to me, his glowing eyes narrowing in disbelief. “Aria, get down.”

My knees trembled, straining under the pressure.

They didn't bend.

For the first time since I’d met him, Kieran looked genuinely unnerved.

Before he could speak, the doors exploded inward. Heavy steel splinters flew through the air as a massive black wolf crashed into the cafeteria.

Its fur was matted and caked with dried mud, its eyes were milky white and dead, and dark, corrupted veins crawled across its face like shattered glass. It slammed into the overturned tables, snarling viciously at the students scattering like prey.

Another shadow bounded through the ruined entryway behind it. Then a third.

Three rogues inside Blackthorn Academy.

And they were acting with an unnerving, rabid precision.

The lead rogue lunged toward a female student cowering against the wall.

Kieran moved faster than my eyes could process. One moment he was beside me; the next, he intercepted the beast in midair, driving it violently into the stone floor.

The tiles cracked beneath the force of the collision.

The rogue twisted wildly, snapping its jaws inches from Kieran’s throat. Kieran caught the creature by the back of its neck, his knuckles whitening.

“Who sent you?” he growled.

The rogue answered by sinking its yellowed teeth deep into Kieran's arm.

Kieran’s face transformed. A primal roar tore from his chest as red light blazed from his eyes. His claws tore through his skin, lengthening as his wolf fought to break free. With a brutal burst of strength, he threw the rogue across the room.

It smashed into a marble pillar and crumpled to the floor.

It should have been dead. Instead, the creature rose instantly back to its feet, entirely unfazed by the impact.

That was when I saw it. Carved brutally into the skin of its shoulder was a mark.

A black crescent moon surrounded by three thin, sharp lines.

My breath hitched. I knew that mark.

Not from the textbooks at Blackthorn.

From home.

It was the same symbol drawn on the inside cover of the old journal my mother had kept locked away in the bottom of her wardrobe.

No.

The rogue snapped its pale, blind eyes toward me.

It froze. For several agonizing seconds, it simply stared through me, its frantic breathing settling into a eerie rhythm.

Then, slowly, it lowered its head.

Not in submission to Kieran.

To me.

A bone-chilling voice echoed directly inside my mind.

Found you.

I stumbled back, my heel catching on a chair rung.

The rogue leaped.

I screamed.

Kieran threw himself into the space between us, taking the full brunt of the assault. They slammed into a nearby table, splintering the oak to kindling. Kieran drove a clawed fist into the beast’s jaw, but the rogue clung to him with unnatural, terrifying force.

“Aria, move!” he roared.

My boots felt glued to the floor.

The rogue had spoken in my head. It knew me. And something dormant within my blood was humming in response to its call.

The creature peeled back its lips, whispering in a raspy, broken voice that sounded like grinding stones.

“Blood of the First Moon.”

Every instinct in my body shrieked.

Kieran went dead still beneath the monster.

The rogue pulled back its lips in a sickening grin. “The daughter has awakened.”

A violent shockwave erupted from my chest.

Every window along the eastern wall shattered at once, raining glass into the dark. The rogues were launched backward as if hit by a battering ram. Tables flipped, students screamed, and the last functioning overhead lights burst in a shower of white-hot sparks.

For one terrifying, impossible second, everything became crystal clear.

Kieran on his knees, staring up at me.

Darius standing by the ruined doors, his face drained of every drop of color.

And beneath the skin of my forearm, a brilliant silver symbol glowed like starlight.

Then, as quickly as it had erupted, the energy vanished, leaving me entirely hollow.

My legs gave out.

Before I hit the shattered floor, Kieran caught me. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist, pulling me into his chest. I felt the frantic, heavy pounding of his heart against my cheek.

He was fast. Strong. Ruthless.

And he was terrified.

Not of the monsters that had invaded his school.

Of me.

“What are you?” he breathed into the silence.

I tried to answer, but the world tilted sideways, and the darkness claimed me before I could form a word