The Lycan King's Gift

chapter 8

Elara’s POV

The night air was cool against my skin as we walked the gravel path back toward our dorms. I kept glancing at Nova, who hadn’t said a word since we left. She looked like she was somewhere else entirely—like her soul had stayed behind at the party.

“Okay,” I finally said, breaking the silence, “you gonna tell me what that was back there?”

She blinked, startled. “What do you mean?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t play dumb, Nova. You and Prince Tall, Dark, and Brooding were basically eye-f*****g in front of the entire living room.”

Her face flushed instantly. Bingo.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered, arms crossed tightly over her chest.

“Oh, please.” I scoffed. “You looked like you were one breath away from kissing him… or slapping him. Hard to tell with you two.”

Nova stayed quiet, and I saw her fingers fidget slightly, like she was trying to hold back something she didn’t even understand.

“Look,” I said, softer now, “I know you don’t trust him. Hell, I don’t either. He’s a royal, Nova. And not just any royal. He’s the heir. That comes with a whole mess of baggage.”

Nova let out a quiet sigh. “It’s not just that. It’s… I don’t know. Being near him feels like standing too close to a fire you didn’t mean to start.”

I paused. “And do you want the fire?”

She didn’t answer. That told me enough.

We walked a little further in silence. The moon was high now, casting long silver shadows over the academy grounds. The silence between us felt heavier than before.

“He scares me,” she finally whispered. “Not because of who he is… but because of what I might be when I’m around him.”

That made me stop walking.

“Nova,” I said gently, “whatever’s happening between you two, just… promise me you won’t lose yourself in it. You’ve worked too hard, come too far, to forget who you are because of some prince with haunted eyes and a dangerous smile.”

She nodded, but her gaze lingered on the horizon—where the lights of the party still flickered behind us like dying stars.

And I couldn’t shake the feeling that something much bigger had started tonight.

Something neither of us was ready for.

----

Nova’s POV

The weekend passed in a strange sort of haze.

I buried myself in reading, in training, in anything that didn’t involve thinking about Max. But of course, that meant I thought about him constantly.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the way he’d looked at me at the party. Not with disdain or mockery—no, this time it was different. That look had weight. Like he knew something I didn’t. Like he felt something he didn’t understand.

And worse—something I might feel too.

I told myself it was just adrenaline. Just the tension from being shoved into close proximity with the one person I couldn’t stand.

But deep down, in that quiet part of me I try to ignore, I knew that wasn’t true.

It was the way his voice dropped when he said I haunted his dreams.

It was the ache in my chest when I walked away from him.

It was how I kept replaying the moment over and over like it meant something.

Elara had been watching me all weekend like I was a time bomb waiting to go off. I couldn’t blame her. Something had shifted—and no amount of denial could undo it.

I didn’t know if I wanted Max. Hell, I wasn’t sure I even liked him. But the pull between us… it was real. Magnetic. Dangerous.

And terrifying.

---

Max’s POV

I didn’t sleep much that weekend.

Not because I was partying or training, but because every time I closed my eyes, she was there.

Nova Rosewood.

I saw her in the firelight. In moonlight. In every damn corner of my dreams.

And not just like some girl I was attracted to—though Mother Moon, I was. No, it was deeper than that. Scarier.

It was the way her presence unsettled something inside me. The way my lycan, Maze, quieted around her—not out of fear, but reverence. Respect. Like we’d been waiting for her our whole lives.

She is the beginning of everything, that strange voice had told me in my dream.

And I hadn’t been able to forget it.

By Sunday night, I was restless. I’d run laps through the forest till I was raw with exhaustion, then paced my room like a caged animal.

Every part of me said to stay away from her.

But another part—a louder, deeper part—wanted nothing more than to seek her out. Not just to touch her, not just for the pull. I wanted to know her. To understand what it was about her that turned the world sideways.

I never expected a girl like her would get under my skin.

Now I didn’t know how to get her out.

---

Monday Morning – Max’s POV

BANG. BANG. BANG.

My door nearly came off its hinges.

“Max! Open the damn door before I shift and rip it off myself!”

I groaned and rolled over, half-tangled in my sheets, head pounding. “It’s six-thirty, Logani!”

The door flew open anyway—figures he had the override key—and stomped my Beta, Logan Thornton. Dressed, fresh, and full of annoying energy.

“You’ve got morning training in twenty minutes. Or did you forget you’re supposed to be leading it?”

I sat up slowly. “You’re way too excited for someone who drank half the academy’s liquor stock two nights ago.”

Logan smirked. “Unlike you, I know how to recover.”

I dragged myself out of bed, running a hand through my hair. “I didn’t drink that much.”

“No, but you brooded enough for ten alphas. You're gonna tell me what’s got your royal panties twisted, or do I have to guess?”

I ignored him.

Mostly because I knew he already knew.

“Is this about her?” he added, casually. “Nova?”

I paused just long enough for him to grin.

“Knew it. Look, I get it. She’s hot, she’s strong, and she looks at you like she’s deciding whether to stab you or kiss you. But don’t forget—this place? It’s not just about the pull, Max. It’s about control. Power. You start slipping, and they’ll notice.”

I clenched my jaw. “I’m not slipping.”

“Good,” Logan said. “Because whether you like it or not, the council is watching. And if there’s something special about that girl…”

“She’s just a student,” I said quickly.

But even as the words left my mouth, I knew they weren’t true.

Nova Rosewood wasn’t just anything.

She was the beginning of something.

And I didn’t know yet if that meant salvation—

—or ruin.