บททั้งหมดของ Say My Name, Alpha : บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

The morning mist hung heavy over the central parade grounds, obscuring the jagged pine trees that rose along the borders of the academy’s mountain domain. Cold, biting wind swept down from the high peaks, carrying the sharp scent of damp earth and coming snow. Instructor Reyne stood atop the wooden staging platform, his heavy dark cloak snapping around his boots. "Listen up!" Reyne’s voice boomed across the assembled ranks. "For the next forty-eight hours, you will participate in a wilderness survival and evasion exercise inside the northern forest zone. No rations, no luxury shelters. You will navigate the mountain terrain, avoid designated hunter patrols, and reach the high ridge outpost before the deadline." A low murmur rippled through the cadets. Forty-eight hours in the unforgiving mountain wilderness was a grueling physical test, even for third-year veterans. "You are permitted to operate in two-man tactical teams," Reyne added, his sharp eyes lingering over the front li

Night fell over the northern mountain range like a heavy black shroud. The wind, which had been howling through the canopy all afternoon, transformed into a roaring blizzard. Biting, horizontal snow swept through the dense pine trees, burying the forest floor under thick drifts of white ice. Zade’s breath came in ragged, white plumes. Every step was becoming an agonizing ordeal. The extreme cold, combined with the intense physical exertion of navigating the mountain terrain, had pushed his exhausted body past its absolute limit. Without a single drop of real suppressants in his blood, his biology was fracturing. His internal heat regulation had collapsed entirely—one moment his skin felt like it was burning from the inside out, and the next, a deep, bone-shattering frost set into his limbs. "Zade, over here!" Xander’s voice cut through the roaring wind. Xander reached out, his iron grip catching Zade by the upper arm just as Zade’s knees buckled under the weight of his tactical pac

The blizzard outside continued its relentless assault on the granite cliff, its shrieking winds muffled only by the tight stone fissure of the cave. Inside the small cocoon formed by Xander’s thick tactical cloak and heavy woolen blanket, the bitter frost of the mountain was kept at bay, replaced by a deep, suffocating warmth. Zade lay pressed against Xander’s bare chest, his small frame still catching in faint, residual twitches as his core temperature slowly stabilized. The violent shivering had subsided, but the feverish haze in his mind remained, heavy and thick. Without the cold, artificial shield of his daily suppressants, Zade’s natural biology was unspooling. The walls he had spent years building—the stone-hard indifference, the sharp, lethal pride, the cold distance that kept the entire world at arm's length—were crumbling under the weight of sheer exhaustion. Zade shifted his head, his face dragging against the warm skin of Xander’s throat. He buried his nose directly

The high iron gates of Ironclad Academy loomed through the clear mountain air. Zade and Xander marched side by side down the final stone path, their heavy combat boots crunching in perfect, synchronized rhythm against the frost-covered gravel. They were the first pair to cross the tree line, completing the grueling forty-eight-hour wilderness trial hours ahead of every other cadet team. Standing at the central checkpoint sat Instructor Reyne, flanked by two armed guards and a senior medic from the academy wing. Reyne stood with his hands folded behind his heavy leather coat, his sharp, dark eyes tracking the two top cadets as they approached the boundary line. "Record time, cadets," Reyne barked out, his rough voice slicing through the cold air. "Unsurprising for the top two ranks. Though I must admit, I expected one of you to drag the other back in a stretcher given your supposed hostility." Zade stopped three paces from the checkpoint, his posture straight as a steel rod. He

The quiet sanctuary of Room 101 lasted less than an hour. The late morning sun filtered through the high stone window, casting warm, golden squares across the timber floorboards. Xander sat on the edge of his bed, his broad frame relaxed for the first time in days, his dark blue eyes tracking Zade as he quietly packed away their wilderness gear. The air between them had softened entirely. The terrifying, suffocating distance that had once defined their lives in this small room was gone, replaced by a deep, unspoken current of trust. Then came the soft, almost imperceptible sound. Fsssh. A thin piece of folded grey parchment slid smoothly beneath the bottom crack of the heavy oak door, coming to a rest in the middle of the floorboards. Zade froze instantly, his hand hovering over his tactical pack, his eyes locking onto the paper with sharp, predatory focus. Across the room, Xander’s relaxed posture vanished in a fraction of a second. His blue eyes narrowed into dangerous