All Chapters of The Top Boy Is My Mate: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Zarek The moon was too bright tonight. I hated nights like this—nights where there was nowhere to hide, no excuse to drown myself in noise or company. Nights where the world demanded I sit still and listen to the mess inside my head. I leaned back against the oak tree at the edge of the training fields, legs stretched out before me, hands locked behind my head as if that casual posture could disguise the storm brewing in my chest. Cocky. Carefree. Untouchable. That’s what everyone thought of me, wasn’t it? Zarek, the arrogant one. The joker. The one who never took anything seriously. And maybe I’d believed it too, once. But then Zara happened. I let out a low, humorless laugh. How the hell had it come to this? How had I—Zarek, son of the most ruthless bastard of a father, raised in fire—fallen for a girl who didn’t belong to me? It wasn’t supposed to happen. I told myself she was just another distraction, a puzzle to amuse me. But Zara wasn’t a puzzle. She wasn’t even close. Sh

Jace’s POV The Academy felt like a wounded beast. Every corridor carried the faint stench of smoke, no matter how many times the windows were flung open. Cracks spiderwebbed across marble pillars, charred scorch marks stained the ballroom ceiling, and whispers clung to every hallway like cobwebs. The students walked differently now. Some clutched their books tighter. Others glanced at every shadow as if expecting Atlas to rise out of it, laughing. Even the teachers moved with a sharper edge in their steps, determined but wary. The Council had expelled him, the Tribunal would handle his crimes, yet his ghost still haunted the school. And in the middle of it all was Zara. The whispers weren’t just about Atlas anymore. They were about her. That night in the burning ballroom, when I saw her shift, when I saw her stand between Atlas and the rest of us, I realized I wasn’t looking at the broken girl I’d once doubted. I wasn’t even looking at the stubborn girl I thought I knew

Zarek’s POV Graduation. A word that should’ve felt distant, foreign, like something meant for someone else. Yet here I was, standing at the edge of the Academy courtyard, watching as workers draped silver banners across the archways and lined the steps with flowers that matched the school’s crest. The air smelled of anticipation, like ink on fresh parchment and smoke from torches being lit in preparation for the ceremony. Students buzzed around me, laughing, trading robes, snapping pictures with little crystals enchanted to hold moments still forever. It should’ve felt ordinary. Instead, it felt like a closing chapter. And I hated closing chapters. I shoved my hands into my pockets and leaned against the stone railing. From here, I could see almost everything—the rising stage, the chairs lined in perfect rows, the polished podium where Principal Kieran would stand. And there, at the heart of it all, Zara. She was laughing with Jace as they carried extra chairs into place, her ha

Zara’s POV The ceremony ended in a blur. Families surged forward, cameras flashing, voices rising in celebration. I had barely stepped off the stage before Alex barreled into me, wrapping her arms so tightly around my waist that the breath left my lungs. “You did it!” she cried, her braid smacking me in the cheek as she squeezed. “Mira Blackwood, the cursed hybrid who defied fate. That’s going on your résumé now.” I laughed, muffled against her shoulder. “Not exactly résumé material.” “Shut up, it is. You’re basically legendary.” “Legendary pain in the ass, maybe,” Zarek muttered, sliding into our circle. His smirk softened into something else when his gaze flicked to me. “But hey—at least you didn’t trip crossing the stage. I almost placed a bet you would.” “Wow, thanks for the faith,” I shot back, rolling my eyes. Jace appeared then, slower, steadier, his smile quiet but warm. He held my gaze as he spoke. “You walked like you were meant to be there, Zara. That’s all that matt

Zara’s POV The morning after graduation broke softer than I expected. No loud bells, no rushing feet down the dormitory hallways, no announcements echoing through the Academy speakers. Just silence. The kind of silence that didn’t feel empty, but full—like the world was holding its breath for something new. I stood by my window, the curtains brushing against my arm as a breeze slipped inside. The sky was painted with faint streaks of gold and rose, the sun just beginning to stretch its light across the grounds. For once, I didn’t feel the familiar weight pressing down on me, the whisper of curses or shadows from the past. For the first time in years, I felt like myself. I closed my eyes, listening to the stillness. My wolf stirred within, steady and calm, not snarling for control, not raging at boundaries. And beneath her, deep and powerful, my dragon hummed, warm and endless. For so long, I had thought they were warring sides of me—beast against beast, curse against curse. But ma