Chapter 4
1448 Words
Cassian Vale
The scent of blood hit me first.
Sharp. Metallic. Wrong.
By the time I reached the east wing, the corridor was already cloaked in shadow. The torches along the walls had been snuffed out, leaving only the silver glow of the moon seeping through broken windows. The smell wasn’t just blood, it was decay. Ancient, like something had crawled out of a grave.
I moved fast, silent. Every instinct told me this wasn’t one of the academy’s usual incidents. Nightbourne has rules. Twisted, brutal, but controlled. This… this was chaos.
A body lay near the archway. One of the sentries. His throat was open, eyes black, not from blood but from something burned into them. His soul had been consumed. My chest tightened. Whoever did this wasn’t a student. It wasn’t even a wolf.
It was older. Wilder.
And it had found a way inside.
I knelt beside the body, tracing the mark seared into the skin. A crescent moon crossed with jagged lines. The same symbol we used to see in the Moonshade archives. My family’s symbol. But distorted. Corrupted.
A low growl built in my throat before I could stop it.
“Not possible,” I muttered.
Except it was. I could feel it in the air, the energy vibrating through the stones. Something had awakened. And I knew exactly who it wanted.
Aria Draven.
The name formed in my mind like a curse and a promise. I’d been watching her since she arrived, not because the Syndicate ordered it, but because I couldn’t look away. She didn’t belong in this world of monsters and secrets, yet she walked through it like she had nothing left to lose. The first night she’d come to the academy, she’d looked at me like she already knew pain deeper than most of us could bear.
I told myself I was just being cautious. That the fascination would fade.
It didn’t.
It only grew.
I stood and turned toward the corridor that led back to the training field. Her scent lingered there. Sweet, defiant, human, but beneath it, faint traces of something else. Power. Wild and unclaimed. It burned in the air like silver fire.
She wasn’t human. Not completely.
And I’d seen it earlier, on the field. The way her energy had cracked the air when she threw that girl down. The way the shadows had bent toward her like they recognized her. Like they obeyed.
I quickened my pace. If the creature had gone for anyone, it would go for her.
The academy trembled as I ran, the stones humming under my boots. The whispering was everywhere now, slithering through the air like smoke. The language was old, older than the packs, older than the Syndicate. I couldn’t understand it, but I didn’t need to. It was calling to her.
To Aria.
When I turned the final corner, I stopped dead.
The hall was dark, but I could see her silhouette against the wall. Rigid, trembling. The torches around her flickered weakly, throwing light across her face. Her eyes were wide, reflecting the faint red glow of dozens of others hidden in the dark around her.
She wasn’t alone.
I could smell them. Shadows. Not creatures of flesh, but remnants, spirits born from the old wars. They were supposed to be sealed centuries ago.
I drew in a slow breath, letting my power unfurl. The wolf beneath my skin stirred, hungry. The edges of my vision shimmered silver.
The first shadow moved.
It lunged toward her, fast and silent. Aria gasped but didn’t freeze. She ducked low, rolling to the side as claws tore through the air where her head had been. She was fast. Too fast for a human. She stumbled to her feet, eyes darting wildly until they found me.
“Cassian!”
Her voice cracked something inside me.
I didn’t hesitate. I surged forward, a blur of motion, grabbing the nearest shadow by its throat. My claws sank into its form, burning through the darkness with silver fire. It screamed, high and piercing, before collapsing into ash.
Two more came from the sides. I tore through them, but they kept reforming. These weren’t ordinary shades. Someone was controlling them.
“Behind you!” Aria shouted.
I spun just in time to see the largest one rising behind her, taller than the ceiling beams, its body coiled in smoke. It grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall. She gasped, struggling, its claws digging into her skin.
Rage took over.
I lunged, grabbing its arm and ripping it away from her. My power flared, flooding the hall with light. The creature shrieked as the silver burned through it, but even as it fell apart, I saw something else inside its chest, a glowing mark.
The same crescent and jagged lines.
The same symbol burned into the dead guard.
It reached for Aria one last time before dissolving completely, leaving only silence behind.
She was shaking, breath ragged, blood trailing down her shoulder. I caught her before she fell. Her body felt too light in my arms. Too human.
“You disobeyed me,” I said quietly.
She tried to glare but her lips trembled. “You disappeared.”
I wanted to be angry. I wanted to scold her for being reckless. But I couldn’t. Not when she looked at me like that. Eyes wide, chest rising and falling, fear mixing with something else. Something that made my control slip.
Her pulse beat against my fingers. I could hear every heartbeat, every shallow breath. Her scent wrapped around me, sweet and defiant. The wolf inside me growled softly, demanding I pull her closer.
I almost did.
Instead, I forced myself to step back. “You need to be in the infirmary.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what that was.”
“Later.”
“Cassian.”
The way she said my name, it wasn’t a plea. It was a demand. Fire flickered in her eyes. She was afraid, yes, but she wasn’t weak. And that… that was the problem.
“You shouldn’t even exist,” I said before I could stop myself.
Her face fell. “What?”
I closed my eyes, cursing under my breath. “You’re not human, Aria. Whatever power you used today, it isn’t from this world.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. But not now.”
She stepped closer, ignoring the blood on her sleeve. “Then when? You keep saving me, but you won’t tell me why. What are you so afraid of?”
“I’m afraid of what happens if I tell you,” I said. My voice came out lower than I meant. “Because once you know, you’ll never be able to walk away.”
The silence between us stretched, thick and electric. I could feel it. The pull again, that dangerous thread that tied us together. Her breath hitched. My hand twitched at my side, aching to reach for her, to feel her warmth again.
But I couldn’t. Not now.
Not when the air still hummed with dark energy.
“Cassian,” she whispered, softer this time.
Before I could answer, a sound echoed through the hall.
A slow, deliberate clap.
We both turned.
At the far end of the corridor, standing in the moonlight, was Luca. His younger brother, Rhett, beside him. Both wore the same smug look I’d seen earlier, but their eyes glowed faintly gold now, the mark of wolves shifting close to the surface.
“Well,” Luca said, smirking. “Looks like the Proctor’s been keeping secrets.”
“Get out,” I said.
Rhett tilted his head. “Or what? You’ll kill us too?”
Aria stiffened beside me. “What do you mean too?”
Luca smiled, slow and cruel. “You didn’t tell her, did you? About the last girl who caught your attention. The one who ended up dead.”
Aria turned to me, eyes wide.
I said nothing.
Luca took a step closer, his voice dropping to a taunting whisper. “Tell her, Cassian. Tell her what happens to anyone you try to protect.”
My claws itched. The wolf in me wanted blood. But the worst part wasn’t his words, it was the fear flickering in Aria’s eyes.
Before I could speak, the floor beneath us shuddered. A c***k split down the center of the corridor, light bleeding through the stone like liquid fire.
Rhett stumbled back. “What the hell…”
The light flared, blinding and violent, and a whisper echoed again through the air.
Aria… come home.
Then everything went dark.
- Writer
