جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 80

Aria’s POV: Lunch had always been my favorite part of the day. It definitely wasn’t because of the food. It meant I could find Jasper. Ever since we’d become mates, I found myself looking for him without even realizing I was doing it. I wanted to see him. Touch him. Just be near him.After everything that had happened lately, I needed something familiar. I left my classroom with my books tucked against my chest and started down the corridor toward the cafeteria. I was halfway there when I felt something strange. A shadow moved at the edge of my vision. I turned and saw nothing. Not even a shadow. I frowned and kept walking.Then out of nowhere, something dropped over my face. A cloth. I barely had time to inhale before a strange scent filled my lungs. My head immediately began spinning.“What…”My books slipped from my arms. I reached for the wall. The hallway tilted. Everything becoming foggy. My thoughts became sluggish. My body suddenly felt impossibly heavy. I tried to pull my ma

Archer’s POV:I didn’t breathe properly until we were outside. Even then, my lungs felt too tight. Aria was safe. That was the only thought I could hold onto.She was walking between Jasper and me, but she barely seemed aware of either of us. Her violet eyes were distant, her face pale, and every few steps her fingers curled into the fabric of her shirt as if she needed to remind herself she was really out of that room.My wolf hadn’t calmed down. Not even close. He paced beneath my skin, restless and furious, replaying the sight of Aria sitting on that floor with those cuffs around her wrists.“She’s safe,” I muttered.“She was taken.” He snarled. “I know.”“She was afraid.” My jaw clenched.“I know.”“You have to stay with her.” I didn’t answer. Because I already knew I would. Whatever was happening between Aria and me, whatever boundaries we’d tried to put between us, whatever mistakes I’d made with Lorie, none of it mattered right now.She needed someone. And my wolf had decided

Lucien’s POV:The Council chamber was silent when I entered. Elder Thorne was chained to a chair in the center of the room. His face was bruised. One eye was swollen nearly shut. His robes were torn from yesterday’s confrontation, but somehow he still managed to look arrogant. That was about to change. The door closed behind me. Thorne looked up slowly. “Blackwell.” I said nothing.I simply walked toward him.His eyes narrowed. “I already told you everything.”“No,” I said calmly. “You told me what you thought would keep you alive.” He swallowed.I stopped directly in front of him. “Those are two very different things.”Thorne shifted against the restraints. “You have no authority to..” I grabbed the back of his chair and pulled it forward several feet. The legs scraped violently against the stone floor. Thorne flinched.I leaned down until we were eye to eye.“You took Aria.”His expression hardened. “She is a danger to this academy.”My eyes flashed red. “You don’t get to decide t

Lucien’s POV: I should have stopped her. Every instinct I possessed told me that. The moment Aria’s fangs pierced my skin, every thought in my mind disappeared.For a vampire, being bitten by another vampire was not something insignificant. It wasn’t something we did casually. A bite carried meaning. Intimacy. Trust. Something deeper than most humans could ever understand. And Aria had just done it to me. I should have pushed her away. Instead, my hand tightened around her waist.Her body trembled against mine as she drank, her fingers gripping the fabric of my shirt as though she needed something to anchor herself. I could feel every swallow. Every tiny movement of her mouth against my throat sent another wave of sensation through me. My eyes slipped closed.Gods.I had expected surprise. Maybe even anger.I hadn’t expected this. The hunger I’d seen building inside her for days was finally gone, but something inside me had taken its place. Something hot and consuming that I didn’t k

AriaJasper knew something was wrong. I had been avoiding his eyes for most of the afternoon, pretending to be interested in whatever book was open in front of me. I could feel him watching me from across the room, though, and I knew eventually he was going to ask. He always noticed.“Aria.” I kept my eyes on the page.“Hmm?”“You haven’t read the same paragraph for the last ten minutes.”I glanced down. He was right. I hadn’t absorbed a single word.“I’m tired.”Jasper leaned back in his chair, studying me. “You’re shutting me out.”My stomach tightened. “I’m not.”“You are.”His voice wasn’t accusing. If anything, it was gentle. That somehow made it harder. He moved closer and reached for my hand.“Talk to me, little nightmare.”I looked down at our intertwined fingers. There were so many things I couldn’t tell him. The blood. Archer. Lucien. The hunger that seemed to have a mind of its own. I felt like I was drowning beneath secrets I didn’t know how to explain.Finally, I whispere