Alle Kapitel von The Guardian's Mate: Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 70

Sophia Pov The morning sun cracked through the heavy overcast sky, but it offered no real warmth to the academy’s central courtyard. After the bloodbath at the logging yard last night, the air felt thinner, sharper, charged with a static current that made the hairs on my arms stand up. The student body was huddled in tight, whispering clusters, their eyes darting toward the heavy wrought-iron gates every time a car drove past."Did you hear?" Emma murmured, leaning over our shared desk in the advanced history seminar. Her blue eyes were wide, the dark circles under them proof that neither of us had slept a wink. "They found bodies near the old sawmill. The police are calling it a 'wild animal culling,' but my dad said the forensics unit was barred from the site by the council.""I know," I breathed, keeping my eyes fixed on the empty chalkboard at the front of the room. Ethan hadn't returned to his quarters until four in the morning, his clothes reeking of ozone, silver nitrate, and

Ethan Pov The concrete floor of the underground training facility was freezing, but the heat radiating from my skin was enough to warp the air.I drove my bare fist into the heavy leather punching bag. The five-hundred-pound column of sand and iron shavings exploded outward, the reinforced canvas ripping open with a deafening report that echoed off the reinforced concrete walls. A spray of coarse gray sand rained down into the puddles of my own sweat."You’re going to run out of equipment before the sun goes down if you keep that up."Nathan was leaning against the steel weapon rack in the corner, a clean towel draped over his good shoulder. He looked exhausted, the skin beneath his golden-brown eyes dark and hollow from the midnight clash at the sawmill, but his gaze was sharp. Too sharp. He had been tracking my scent for the last three hours, watching me destroy half the training circuit without saying a single word."We don't have time to replace gear, Nathan," I grunted, my voice

Damian Pov The damp gloom of the old boiler room beneath the gymnasium reeked of rust, stagnant water, and the pungent iron tang of my own enforcers' blood.I kicked a shattered wooden crate out of my path, the splintered pine disintegrating against the concrete wall. My jaw was still throbbing where that freak, Adrian Vale, had deflected my strike yesterday. It wasn't a physical bruise—my eastern Alpha blood would have knit that together in seconds. It was a burn. A deep, chemical ache in my marrow that tasted like zinc and old silver."You're late, Lawson," I spat into the shadows.A low, vibrating rumble answered me from the darkness near the primary steam intake. The shadows didn't just part; they seemed to deform around Ethan’s massive frame as he stepped into the pale beam of a single halogen bulb.He looked monstrous in the subterranean light. His leather tactical jacket was unzipped, revealing the thick, corded muscles of his chest, and his right hand was still heavily bound

Sophia Pov The shattering of a porcelain mug against the courtyard's cobblestones instantly ruptured the morning air."Watch where you're going, freshman!" a senior beta snarled, his eyes flaring a hostile, territorial yellow as he stepped over the spilled coffee. The academy grounds were always tense, but with the lockdown dragging on, the pack lines were snapping at anything that moved."Sorry, my bad," a smooth, unfamiliar voice replied.I turned from the library steps, my hand dropping instinctively to the strap of my bag. Standing in the center of the walkway was a new transfer student. He was remarkably handsome—tall, with a loose, athletic build and a mop of sun-bleached blond hair that contrasted sharply with the grim, dark-clad Guardians patrolling the perimeter fence. He wore the academy uniform with an effortless, casual defiance, his blazer slung over one shoulder."Are you okay?" Emma asked, stepping forward from beside me before I could pull her back. She reached down,

Sophia Pov The clinical white lights of the academy’s medical wing didn't flicker, but the air beneath them was vibrating so violently that the glass vials in the cabinets rattled against the steel shelves."She isn't here," Nathan whispered, his voice a low, ragged rumble that sounded like grinding tectonic plates. He was standing in the center of the examination room, his massive hands gripping the edge of an empty, blood-stained gurney. The heavy leather wraps on his forearms were shredded, his knuckles raw and dripping dark crimson onto the linoleum floor. "I brought her in. I had my hand on her neck. I went to get the Alpha prime blood to stabilize the venom, and when I came back... the window was shattered. She’s gone.""Nathan, breathe," I pleaded, stepping toward him, my own hands shaking so hard I could barely clasp them together. The metallic, bitter tang of rogue venom and fresh human blood was thick in the room, suffocatingly dense. "Who took her? Did Lucas come back?""I