All Chapters of The Last Hunt: the broken omega : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

ZARA’S POVThey didn’t call it punishment.They never did.They called it adaptive training,a phrase so clean it almost sounded merciful. Almost.The summons arrived before dawn, etched directly into the wards of my door. No knock. No warning. Just a pulse of authority that slid under my skin and settled there like a command my body recognized before my mind could reject it.Selected students are required in the lower arena. Immediate compliance.Kai’s presence flared through the bond instantly.Don’t go alone.I didn’t answer.Not because I didn’t want to, but because the walls were listening, and whatever was coming had already decided to include both of us whether we agreed or not.The lower arena wasn’t meant for learning.It was meant for breaking patterns.The space stretched wide and circular, the floor etched with ancient runes layered over newer technology. Observation decks ringed the upper levels, dark for now, but I could feel eyes behind them, attention humming, eager and

KAI’S POVThey did not escort us out together.That was the first punishment.Guards separated us at the arena doors with professional politeness and eyes that refused to meet mine. Zara did not fight it. That scared me more than if she had. She only looked back once, just long enough for the bond to flare tight and aching.I am still here. She sent.So am I, I answered.The doors sealed between us.The corridor felt longer on the way out. Too quiet. Too clean. The academy knew how to hold its breath when it wanted fear to echo louder than screams.Dr. Voss walked beside me.Not restrained. Not rushed. As if nothing of consequence had just happened.“You should be proud,” she said lightly. “Few pairs survive a stress test like that without permanent damage.”I stopped walking.“Do not call it that,” I said.She turned to me, curiosity sharpening her features.“Call it what it is then.”“You hurt her,” I said, voice low. “On purpose.”Voss smiled. “Purpose is the point.”I stepped c

KAI’S POVMy father was still standing on the fact that I had returned home for the break. There was no point defying his orders again, I needed that space even if it was for a few days to clear my head and just to breathe .The ride home was silent. The hum of the car engine was the only sound, but it wasn’t comforting. It reminded me that I was leaving the academy, the only place where Zara’s presence kept me tethered to something human, something steady. Now, I was returning to a world of sharp expectations of eyes that measured my worth in dominance and obedience, a world designed to erase her from my memory with every command and ritual.I hadn’t wanted to come back, but my father’s threats weren’t empty. They were precise, like the strike of a blade he’d been sharpening for decades. He didn’t just want my obedience. He wanted my loyalty. My submission. And if I refused, he would destroy every part of me that reminded him of my mother, of my choices, of Zara.The estate rose like

ZARA’S POVThe silence in my dorm room was louder than the screaming in the chamber had been.I paced the small rug between my bed and Mira’s empty desk. Five steps forward. Turn. Five steps back. Turn.My skin still felt too tight, buzzing with the residue of the Devourer’s power. Voss had released me."Rest," she’d said, like she hadn’t just tried to psychologically dissect me, but there was no resting.Not when the bond was pulling at my navel like a fishing line hooked into a shark.He’s close, my wolf paced. He’s hurting. He’s burning.A pebble hit the window.I froze.We were on the third floor.I rushed to the glass, unlatching it and sliding it upward. A gust of rain-soaked wind hit my face, carrying the scent of pine, ozone, and… him.Kai was perched on the narrow ledge outside, crouching like a peacock. He was soaked to the bone, his black combat gear clinging to him like a second skin, hair plastered to his forehead.He looked wild. Dangerous.And then he grinned, a lopside

ZARA’S POVThe hallway of Shadowmere Academy had always smelled of lemon polish and old money. Tonight, it smelled of ozone and dread.We moved in a tight formation, a jagged line of three against the dark. The emergency lockdown lights bathed the corridor in a pulsing, rhythmic crimson, turning the familiar paintings of alumni into bleeding spectators.Kai took point. He moved with a silence that was terrifying to watch. He didn’t walk; he flowed, his tactical boots making zero sound on the marble. His handgun was drawn, held close to his chest, the barrel sweeping corners with lethal precision.But I was watching his back.I was watching the way his shoulder blades bunched tight under his black shirt. I was watching the fine tremor in his left hand, the hand not holding the gun. The hand that was fighting a war against his own nervous system."He’s slipping," my wolf whispered, pacing anxiously in the back of my mind. The metal is eating the man.“Sector 4 is clear,” Mira whispered.