Chapter 71.

Sandy’s POV.The suffocating humidity of the wildlands clung to my skin like a second layer of dirt, but it was nothing compared to the toxic rage scorching through my veins.Every step I took away from the stadium clearing felt like dragging heavy iron chains through wet mud. My lungs still burned from the humiliating loss on the trail, my legs trembled with fatigue, and the sharp memory of Lucas’s cold, detached eyes echoed in my mind like a physical blow.“Maybe I was wrong.”The words repeated on an agonizing loop behind my eyes, each repetition driving a fresh spike of humiliation into my chest. He had looked at her. He had looked at Ravenna—that pathetic, wolfless parasite—with the exact same hungry, possessive desire he used to reserve only for me. I had given up everything to secure my place at Lucas’s side. I had aligned my high-grade Beta lineage with his ambition, spent months cementing our status as the academy's undisputed power couple, and constructed a future where I re

Chapter 72.

Ravenna’s POV.The morning mist hung thick and heavy over the northern ridge, clinging like wet wool to the towering pines surrounding Green’s secluded off-campus cabin. Outside, the bitter chill of the wildlands howled through the ravine, but inside, the quiet warmth of the hearth kept the dark, cozy space entirely untouched by the freeze.I sat at the wooden table near the window, a warm mug of spiced tea cupped tightly between my palms. My eyes quietly tracked Green as he moved around the narrow kitchen space. He had discarded his rigid, heavy professor’s coat across the back of an armchair, wearing only a dark, close-fitting knit sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, exposing the thick, corded muscle of his forearms and the faded silver scars lining his skin.Without the cold, untouchable demeanor he wore like heavy armor at the university, he looked strikingly different. Stripped of his academic authority and the suffocating hierarchy of the lecture hall, the sharp, d

Chapter 73.

Green’s POV.The shadowed stone corridors of the faculty wing were usually silent at this hour, but the suffocating metallic scent of pure, unhinged Alpha rage hung heavy in the air.I didn't need to hunt for him. I smelled Lucas’s sweat and fresh blood long before I reached the arched doorway leading into the lower training courtyard. The raw, vibrating pulse of Ravenna's bond was still humming under my skin—calm, unyielding, and completely unbroken—yet the faint memory of another male crowding her space in the archive hallway made the Lycan blood in my veins boil with lethal intensity.Lucas stood near the shattered edge of the stone fountain, wrapping a strip of dark linen around his bleeding knuckles. His chest heaved in ragged, furious gasps, his gray wolf form clawing violently just beneath his skin as he glared at the dirt.I stepped out of the archway shadow, making no effort to mask my approach."Your posture is sloppy, Mr. Lucas," I said, my baritone voice echoing off the da

Chapter 74.

Lucas’s POV.The heavy oak door of my private quarters slammed shut behind me, the violent impact echoing off the stone walls like a gunshot.I stood in the center of the dimly lit room, my chest heaving, my lungs burning with the lingering, suffocating stench of Professor Green’s ancient aura. My knuckles were split open, dripping fresh crimson onto the dark rug, but the physical sting was nothing compared to the blistering, toxic humiliation searing through my chest.“You are a weak, arrogant boy playing with a title your father gave you.”His cold, mocking words repeated on an agonizing loop behind my eyes, each syllable driving an iron spike directly into my Alpha pride. He had stood there, towering over me in my own pack territory, parading his superior power while throwing my past failures straight into my face. He knew about the rogues. He knew about the night I rejected Ravenna. He knew every dark, pathetic detail of my past, and he had used it to completely strip away my dign

Chapter 75.

Green’s POV. The silver signet ring resting cold against my collarbone vibrated with a sharp, rhythmic pulse—the secret, urgent frequency reserved strictly for royal emergencies within the Lycan High Sovereign. I had barely unlocked the heavy timber door of my private residence, stepping across the threshold after a long, exhausting day at the university, when the signal flared. I paused in the dim entryway, setting my briefcase on the side table. I hadn't even taken off my coat. I turned back toward the secluded stone terrace behind my residence, pulling my coat tight against the biting midnight wind that whistled through the jagged mountain ravine. The scent of pine and crushed ice filled the night air, but beneath it lay something far heavier—the unmistakable static of impending conflict. Moving out from the deep shadows of the ancient pine canopy, Vanguard—my most trusted inner-guard operative—bowed his head low, his dark face tight with restrained panic under the dim, cold moon

Chapter 76.

Ravenna’s POV.The small, cramped kitchen of our lower-tier pack housing smelled faintly of boiled tea, damp stone, and the cheap disinfectant my mother brought home from her shift at the hospital.I sat at the worn wooden table, absently peeling the paper label off a tin of soup while my mother moved quietly between the stove and the small sink. It was one of those rare, fragile mornings where the quiet routine felt almost normal. The morning light barely filtered through the high, barred window, but inside, the air was warm. After the relentless, brutal pressure of the university and the quiet, secret moments spent in Green’s cabin over the past two days, being home with my mother felt like stepping out of a storm.She washed a few tin cups, her shoulders slightly hunched from years of hard, unappreciated labor as a hospital aide. "You look tired, Ravenna," she murmured, her voice soft and laced with that familiar, maternal worry that always made my heart ache. "You’re working your