Alle Kapitel von Shawls Academy: Claw Spirits Battle: Kapitel 31 – Kapitel 40

Leslie POV"Relax, Draken. I didn't choose him over you." I managed to tease, even as the words sent a shiver of fear and uncertainty through me. I wasn't even sure who I was trying to convince — him, or myself.He didn't relax. If anything, his jaw tightened further, and something in his eyes went distant, like he was already halfway to a decision I wasn't going to like."Let me undo the mark, Leslie." His voice was quiet, controlled in a way that scared me more than shouting would have. "You seem so perfect for him. You both are meant for each other, and every single time I see you together, it does nothing but cause me pain."Some part of me wanted to say yes. Some part of me knew I should say yes — it would be easier for everyone, cleaner, the kind of ending that didn't leave three people bleeding. But the word wouldn't come.He leaned closer, and before I could react, his tongue traced around the blood that had oozed from the mark minutes earlier. Gently. Almost reverently, like

Risel POVWalking back to the dorm after the break, I stopped dead in the hallway. Her side of the room was empty. Not just tidied — stripped. Every trace of Leslie gone, like she'd been erased on purpose.She'd moved out.I stood there staring at the bare mattress for longer than I wanted to admit, something twisting hard in my chest before I forced it into something colder, something I could actually use. She hadn't just walked away from our friendship. She'd taken it, packed it up along with the rest of her things, and left without a single word — like six weeks of secrets and late-night conversations meant nothing the moment something better came along.She wanted everything I wanted. Kael. A place at this academy that didn't come with an asterisk. Everything I'd worked for, she just took, like it had always belonged to her.Fine.Let's pay her back, then.I made my way to Giselle's room with something steadier than guilt sitting in my chest. No hesitation this time. No second-gue

Leslie's POV"I have to go, Sylvester."I bolted from the field before he could answer, before he could reach for my wrist the way he always did when he wanted me to stay. The wind chased me between the hedges, and somewhere behind me I heard him call my name once, twice, and then give up.I didn't stop to explain. I didn't even know if I could. All I had was the sound that had ripped through the bond a heartbeat earlier — sharp, wrong, gone before I could place it — and the certainty, cold and absolute, that something had happened to Draken.What could have possibly gone wrong with him. I'd agreed not to speak to any of them for a week — that was the deal, that was the price of keeping the peace, the one condition Alpha Dave had set before he'd let the matter drop — but the silence still ached like a wound that refused to close.Have I done something wrong?I ran before I could even finish the thought. The small, stubborn voice inside me kept whispering that this was wrong, that I wa

Leslie POV "Wait — there's going to be a ball?" I shot up from the bed where I'd been sitting beside Sylvester, my pulse already spiking. How was this possible? Not now. Not when I still had vengeance to claim, threads to pull before everything unraveled in my hands. Every second I spent thinking about dresses and dance cards was a second stolen from the plan — from Mum, from the truth I still hadn't found. "Um, we have to go now, Leslie." Autumn's voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. She and Talia slipped out of the room without another word, leaving me alone with him. With Sylvester. "Why are you panicking about a ball?" he asked, tilting his head, that infuriating calm settling over his features like he had all the time in the world and I had none. "You don't have to go with anyone." "Oh, please — can you just leave? Excuse me." I didn't know why I suddenly felt so raw around him, so exposed, like he could see straight through the walls I'd spent weeks building brick by

Leslie POV "It's okay, Autumn." I hugged her as she wept onto my shoulder — the first time I had ever seen her like this. Autumn was always the strong one, the steady one, the girl who carried a crown's worth of secrets without ever letting it show. Seeing her fall apart made something in my chest twist tighter than it already was. "I knew you were the person I could tell," she said between shaky breaths. "The right person I could trust." She pulled back, wiping her face, and managed a small, watery smile. "So — what about your partner? Who are you choosing?" A sigh escaped me before I could stop it. She was right to ask. A week ago I would have said Sylvester without hesitation. Then Draken kissed me, and everything I thought I knew about my own heart rearranged itself without asking my permission. Was I making a mistake, trying to hold all three of them at arm's length at once? Some nights I told myself it was strategy — keep your options open, keep your enemies guessing. Other n