Lyra's POV.
The past few days had been brutal. Every morning I woke with muscles screaming, lungs burning, hands blistered from rope and grip, legs trembling from running drills I didn’t think I could survive. Yet every time I finished, the whispers followed. Some impressed. Some annoyed. A few looked at me with something that felt like envy.
“Did you see him on the wall today?” someone murmured nearby. “Rowan didn’t even pause on the climb.”
My wolf stirred inside, stretching, alert, pleased. Not just surviving. Winning.
By the time I dragged myself back into the dorm that evening, my shirt clung to me with sweat, every muscle aching, my lungs still gasping for air. The room smelled of damp clothes, sweat, and heat that never seemed to lift. Eryk, Dax, and Jase were already there, sp
