Chapter 30 Lost

?SERAPHINA

“Phina bPhina /b“I gasped, standing beneath the icy spray of the shower. My body trembled bas /bI bmoaned /bthrough clenched. teeth, pain raking through me. I knew it had only been half an hour–far too early for this to pass–but the heat flooding my blood and bmy /bwolf’s growing need were driving us both to the brinkb. /b

Phina whimpered weakly in my mind. She was fighting just as hard as I was, holding herself back from the primal urge threatening to consume us.

My knees buckled.

I copsed to the cold tile bfloor/b, panting. “Just a little longer…” I murmured. “I’ll be over bsoon/b..

Truthfully, I didn’t know if this trick would work. But I couldn’t give up, not now. It had to bwork/b.

The pain was bunlike /banything I’d ever known. My vision blurred, my mind clouded with fog. It felt as if something was tearing my soul from bmy /bbody.

Desperate to stay conscious. I dug my nails into my arm, pinching and scratching at my skin. “Don’t faint..” I whispered to myself, though my voice was already fading, cracked and hollow from the strain.

I fought to stay bawake/b–minute by agonizing bminute/b–clinging to the cold, the sting, the pain. Time dragged on until, slowly. 1 began to notice a change. The fire in my blood dulled. The ache in my bones eased. The haze in my head began to lift.

My lips were chapped, my limbs numb, but I leaned against the shower wall and let the water wash over me. The worst of it bwas /bpassing. My heat was ebbing away.

Yet I couldn’t move. My muscles had blocked /bup, every inch of me sore and broken. My vision remained blurry, and my awareness dimmed. I only meant to close my eyes for a second–but sleep imed me before I could stop it.

When 1 next opened them, my heart lurched.

Footsteps.

We passed out! Phina yelled, panicked.

Morning blight /bwas already slipping into the room, band /bsomeone bwas /bapproaching.

I scrambled upright, my body bstill /bweak, and darted for my clothes. The pain bhad /bsubsidedpletely, my heat was over. bPhina’s /bbvoice /bconfirmed it. She was back. Whole,

I wrapped my chest btightly/b, slipped into the Academy’s uniform, and spritzed on perfume to mask my scent. Then I threw open the door and rushed into the hallway….

Only to find it empty.

I froze, puzzledb. /bI was certain I’d bheard /bfootsteps. But now?

Nothing

“Even if we imagined it,” Phina said, her bvoice /bsteadier now, “those footsteps woke us up. If we hadn’t heard bthem/b, we might not have woken up in time

She was right. Real or not, that sound had jolted me bawake/b–and bspared /bme from disaster.

Just then, the Academy’s bmorning /bbell rang

exhaled deeplyb, /bbstill /btrying to steady my heartbeat as I made my way toward the dorm The bnight /bhad been the most terrifying of my life. bBut /bno one knew.

And that was what mattered.

Back in the room, the others were already bawake/b. Finn was stepping out with a towel slung over his shoulder when he bspotted /bme and blinked in surprise. “You showered already!”

Chapter 30 Lost

+8 Pearls

Relief swept through me.

They hadn’t noticed I’d been gone all night.

“Yeah, woke up early.” I replied with a small smile.

Reed shot me a cold re, and Cassius wasn’t much better. I ignored them both as usual–and thankfully, they didn’t linger. But then my attention shifted.

Ronan

He sat on his bed blike /bit was a throne, calmly buttoning his shirt. His gaze locked on mine the moment our eyes met.

My pulse stumbled.

The memory of his touch the way his nearness had sent my heat spiraling out of control… it all surged back, unwee and far too vivid. I forced myself to look away, tearing my gaze from his.

This Alpha.. I need to stay far away from him. He’s more dangerous than I imagined.

And now, only the two of us were left in the room.

If I turned and left suddenly, it would look suspicious–maybe even cowardly.

bSo /binstead. I walked to my bed, grabbed the dirty mattress, and headed for the exit under the guise of disposing of it

Anything to escape those eyes.

The rolled–up mattress was heavier than it looked, awkwardly pressing into my hip as I made my way toward the bback /bof the Academy building. The air was thick with early heat, but the inner courtyard offered a small slice of calm. This was where old bedding and broken furniture were left for the Academy’s cleaners, some unseen force that whisked it all away by morning.

1 dropped the mattress with a tired sigh, brushed my hands, and turned back toward the bdormitory /bbhalls/b.

But halfway through the walk. I hesitated.

“Was it the left hallway or the bone /bnext to it?” I looked around confused.

Wolves had a great sense of direction but this time I bwas /bnot able to tell.

The corridors looked identical same stone archways, bsame /bmossy corners, same rows of tall windows bleeding in slivers of golden light. Same bpale /bwalls, same torches flickering with benchanted /bmes, same sharp scent of cedar and fresh linen.

I turned left instead of right, then veered down one corridor. And then another.

Ten minutes passed.

The air here felt, different. Quieter. Almost sacred.

My boots echoed softly over the stone floor as I passed a row of polished wooden doors, all identical, all perfectly spaced and immactely kept. No nametes. No bnoise/b. No bsigns /bof life.

A long line of doors ran along one side, each dark wood carved with ancient symbols. bDorms/bb? /b

Alpha instructors, maybe? I wondered, slowing my pace.

“bWhy /bis no one bere?” I wondered and looked around as if I could ask for someone’s help to bget /bbback /bbto /bwhere I belonged but

there was no one

My fingers skimmed along the wall as I passed door after door, until one caught my eye. The door was slightly bajar /bWas someone in there? I could ask them for directionsb. /b

“Hello, is someone inside?” I called and got only silence. bI /bknocked this time, “Hello!”

I waited for a half of the minute and again no response.

Chapter 30 Lost

+8 Pearl:

Looking around for a sign of life, I pushed the door open, “Hellob, /bsorry for my intrusion. Curiosity tugged harder than caution but I bwas /bcautious bas /bwell. I peeked in and then slowly stepped in,” I am lost. Can I….

My words caught in my throat and I gasped.

It was beautiful. The room was absolutely bstunning/b!

Arge, sunlit bedroom unfolded before me, so unlike the bare–bones quarters we students shared. The stone walls were smooth and warmed with amber–toned lighting.

bA /bbking/b–sized bed rested bin /bthe center, draped in rich navy linens. The scent here bwas /bclean but masculine–leather, forest.

bA /bbprivate /bbbath /bwas visible through the archway on the side.

This was someone powerful. Respected. High–ranking.

It was luxurious. Silent. Sacred

Whoever lived here wasn’t just someone, they were bimportant/b.

But it was too clean band /bno one was here. “Could it be a guest roomb?/bb” /bI wondered.

My gaze swept over the space as I stepped deeper bin/b, drawn toward therge desk near the window where an open bancient /bbook rested.

“What is bthis/b?” 1 grew curious. Goldb–/bscripted. Handwritten. I leaned in, scanning the bodd /bnguage that stirred something oddly familiar in my chest. A name wasn’t etched on the bcover/b. No photos, no scent. Nothing gave away the identity.

My fingers hovered over the spine, then unsessfully I tried to read it but I could read one word. ‘Rogue”

My hand froze. Rogues?

The memory of those rogues in the ruins shed in my mind. Was this book about rogues? Who were they? Why were they

Then bsuddenly /ba voice came like smoke against my ear. “bYou /blike touching things that don’t belong to byou/b?”

I gasped, spine stiffening, heart leaping into my throat..

His scent hit me first–stormy, rich, dangerous.

Ronan

I bspun /baround, eyes wide, and heat ring all at once. I turned around my breasts bumping into his hard chest. Our eyes locked as he leaned down to whisper, “What are you doing in my room, little wolf?”

The book dropped froin my hand. “Your room?”

My heart skipped a beat.

He leaned down towards my face even more, our breath mixing and our blips /bbdangerously /bclose as if they might touch bany /bsecond, “Yes, my broom/b,” he whispered.

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