All Chapters of Impersonating My Brother At The Alpha Academy: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

LYRA’S POVPain was the first thing that found me. It wasn’t a quick, sharp thing anymore. It was a heavy, throbbing beast that had made a home in my stomach. It felt like someone had sewn a hot coal inside my gut and left it to burn.My eyes were glued shut. I tried to lift my hand, but it felt like it was made of lead. My brain was a foggy mess, spinning with memories of black caves, the smell of sulfur, and the sound of Killian screaming my brother's name.Rowan.The name hit me like a splash of freezing water. I remembered the mine. I remembered the jagged iron sliding into my skin. And I remembered the feeling of Killian’s hands on my hoodie, pulling it up to find the wound.My heart gave a violent jerk in my chest. He knows.He knows, Lyra, my wolf whispered. She sounded tired, her voice a soft echo in the back of my head. He saw us. The mask is gone.I forced my eyes open. The light in the room was bright, making everything look blurry and white. I blinked a few times, my breat

LYRA’S POVThe boots I wore felt heavier than usual. Every step through the stone halls of the Academy was a reminder that I was still walking in a dead man's shoes. Or rather, my brother’s. The binder was tight around my chest again, making my breath short, and the heavy cloak I wore felt like a cage.I was tired of being Rowan. I was tired of the grit, the dirt, and the deep, rough voice I had to use."Follow me," Killian said.He didn't look back. He didn't even slow down. He was walking ahead of me, his shoulders broad and his gait full of that Alpha power that used to scare me. But now, it just felt like a tether. He was leading me away from the dorms, away from the training grounds, and toward the old observatory tower that had been boarded up for years."Killian, where are we going?" I whispered, looking over my shoulder. "If the Head Master finds us out here after curfew...""He won't," Killian said, his voice a low, warm rasp. "Trust me, Lyra."The way he said my name...it wa

LYRA’S POVThe lunch hall was behind me, but I could still feel the heat of sixty pairs of eyes burning into my back. My skin felt too tight for my body. My heart was thumping so hard I thought it might actually snap the chain of the ring Killian had given me.That kiss. It wasn't just a kiss. It was a declaration of war against every tradition this Academy stood for. Killian had claimed me in front of everyone...the instructors, the heirs, and most importantly, Silas.I didn't head for the dorms. I knew I wouldn't be able to sit still in that small room without losing my mind. Instead, I ducked around the back of the gym, heading for the muddy path that led toward the lower training pits. It was a place where the air felt a bit thinner, away from the constant noise of the other boys.I just needed to breathe. I needed to remind myself how to be Rowan again, because for thirty seconds in that hall, I had completely forgotten the mask. I had been Lyra. I had melted into Killian like a

LYRA’S POVThe dorm room felt suffocating...four walls pressing in, every creak of the floorboards a potential betrayal. My fingers shook as I fumbled with the laces of my training boots, the courtyard outside alive with the steady thump-thump-thump of boots and barked counts from the other heirs. They had no idea the clock was bleeding out for me. Five days. Five fucking days until Silas ripped the lie away and delivered me to the Council in chains.A deliberate, bone-deep knock...three slow beats...rolled through the wood. My pulse slammed against my ribs. I cracked the door and Killian was already moving, sliding inside like smoke, bolting it behind him in one ruthless motion. He didn't speak. He simply braced his back against the door and devoured me with those molten-gold eyes. Sweat darkened his shirt in patches across his chest and shoulders; his hair was wrecked from the pits. He looked like a man who’d fought all day and was still starving.“I couldn’t stay away,” he said, vo

LYRA’S POVThe bottom of the wooden wagon was hard, cold, and smelled like a hundred years of rotten oats and wet dog. I was buried under four heavy burlap sacks filled with grain, my face pressed against the rough floorboards. Every time the wagon hit a rut in the dirt road, my head bounced against the wood, sending a jolt of pain through my jaw. But I didn't move. I didn't even breathe when I could help it.I could still feel the phantom heat of Killian’s hands on my face from the woods. My chest felt like it had been hollowed out with a rusty knife. Leaving him there...standing alone in the dark to face a pack of Alphas who wanted his head...was the hardest thing I had ever done. But Silas’s hand was firm on my shoulder, shoving me toward the Academy’s rear loading docks where the supply wagons prepped for dawn."Stay down," Silas had hissed, his voice like gravel grinding together. "If you move, if you sneeze, if you even think about poking your head out, we’re both dead. I’m goin