The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 103: Whatever it Takes

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Whatever it Takes

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The office smelled of dust, cracked leather, and tension, the type that came from heat and lust. The air still vibrated faintly with the residual scent of their romantic escapade.

Amidst the ruins, Magnus Thorn sat with his back against the crumbling wall, legs outstretched, his breathing slowly returning to normal. Astrid Voss lay against him, her head nestled on his bare chest, which still bore the sheen of sweat and the red lines of claw marks, some his, some hers. Her silver hair was tangled across his shoulder, the scent of her still clinging to his senses like smoke after a fire.

His arms wrapped around her instinctively, possessively, pulling her closer. He didn’t speak for a while. Neither did she.

Then his voice broke the silence. "This place is a mess."

Astrid let out a dry, tired laugh without lifting her head. "We’re a mess."

Magnus gave a huff of agreement, but his red eyes were watching her, always watching her, as if trying to memorize her anew. "You haven’t changed," he said softly. "Still the same Astrid Voss who tried to stab me with a broken wine bottle the first day I met her."

That earned him a half-smile. "We were just kids then, and you deserved it," she said.

"Probably," Magnus replied, brushing a strand of hair off her face. He hesitated. "You asked why I’m here."

She lifted her head slowly, gaze locking with his. Her voice turned sharp again, a blade sheathed in silk. "So tell me. Why are you truly here, Magnus?"

He exhaled, the answer bitter in his mouth. "Because the Alpha King sent me."

Astrid raised her brows, unimpressed.

"And," Magnus added, his voice softer now, "because I wanted to see you again."

Astrid scoffed and pulled away from him completely this time. She rose to her feet, not bothering to adjust the hem of her torn shirt. "You wanted to see me again?" she asked, incredulous. "After twelve years? After what you did?"

"Astrid..."

"Don’t," she snapped, spinning around to face him. "Don’t say my name like it still belongs to you."

Magnus stood, but didn’t approach her. He watched her like she was a wild creature, beautiful, broken, and brimming with fury. She paced in a slow circle like a wolf trying to walk off its rage.

"You show up here, unannounced, smug, arrogant,and expect what exactly? Forgiveness?" she said, her voice rising. "You walked out of my life and never looked back, Magnus. Never." _{f\r(e)ewe.b no\vel.com}

He stepped forward, voice firm now. "I didn’t have a choice..."

"Don’t lie to me," Astrid growled. "You always had a choice. You chose him. You chose the crown. You chose silence. You let them tear us apart and did nothing."

"I was protecting you!" Magnus snapped. "You think it was easy for me to leave you? You think I didn’t suffer every damn day...."

"No, you didn’t," Astrid said, voice like ice. "You moved on. I bled."

Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating. Then she let out a bitter laugh, dragging a hand down her face. "What am I even doing here?" she muttered. "I’m such a fool. I’m so deep in this... this madness that I forget I’m supposed to despise you."

"It’s not madness," Magnus said, walking toward her. "It’s love. You love me, Astrid. I can see it in your eyes. And I love you too, you know I always have."

She turned on him, red eyes burning. "Love?" she spat. "You dare speak of love? You left your sword in my back twelve years ago, Magnus. You didn’t even check if I survived. That’s not love."

He flinched like she had physically struck him, but didn’t deny it.

"You say you love me," she went on, her voice cracking. "But the only thing I’ve ever gotten from you was pain."

Magnus stepped closer. "You’re right. I failed you. I should’ve fought harder. Should’ve come back for you."

She laughed bitterly. "But you didn’t. You never came back."

His jaw clenched. "I’m here now."

Astrid’s expression hardened, shoulders squaring like armor being drawn into place. "You’re here because the Alpha King sent you. And I know there’s more to it than that, but I’m not naive enough to think you’ll ever tell me the full truth."

He didn’t respond. He couldn’t.

"So don’t pretend like this is some grand reunion of fated hearts," she said, her voice lowering, dangerous. "This is my school. My territory. And if you think I’ll let you operate here unchecked, you’re mistaken."

She stepped toward the ruined door, every movement graceful and cold. "Don’t you dare hand out punishments, don’t you move against students, and don’t you spill another drop of blood without my permission, Magnus."

Her voice cut through the air like a blade.

"Because if you do, I’ll bury you myself."

Then, without looking back, she vanished through the broken doorframe, leaving Magnus Thorn standing in the wreckage of what once was.

And what might never be again.

Lorraine’s POV

I woke up to the dry burn of morning light on my face and the soft ache in every muscle of my body. My neck was sore, my back stiff. The couch beneath me was barely a couch, just uneven cushions and fraying seams

I’d spent the rest of yesterday cleaning the entire dorm alone.

Scrubbing the filth, collecting shattered glass, fixing whatever could still be salvaged.

By the time I was done, my body was scraaming and I passed out on the couch like a corpse.

Now, I blinked groggily, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. Everything was still blurry.

And then her figure sharpened into view.

Astrid Voss. Standing right in front of me like a ghost.

I flinched hard, my heartbeat stuttering. "When did you get in?"

She tilted her head, her silver hair loose around her shoulders, and glanced slowly around the common room like she was surveying. "Been here for some minutes," she said simply, stepping around debris I hadn’t been able to get to last night.

Then her eyes came back to me, sharp and unreadable. "I came here expecting to see that you’d already bled to death. But here you are, alive. Breathing. Your cut finger grown back." She narrowed her gaze slightly, as if confirming something in her own mind. "I knew my visions and gut weren’t wrong. You’re special."

She tossed something at me.

I barely caught it in time, a paper bag warm from the base. Food.

"I figured you’d be famished," she said.

I stared at it, then stared at her. "You expected to find my dead body, yet you still brought food?"

Astrid shrugged with that signature coldness of hers. "You were always the type to beat the odds. And if I had found your corpse, I would’ve eaten the food myself. Consolation prize for stressing over someone like you."

I huffed a laugh under my breath. She was ridiculous but I was starving.

I opened the bag and didn’t even bother checking what was inside before digging in. Bread. Meat. Something vaguely spicy. My stomach thanked me.

"How’s Felix?" I asked between bites, my voice quieter now.

"He’s healing fine at the Academy hospital" Astrid said.

I nodded, chewing slowly now. Relief tasted better than the food.

I ate in silence for another moment, then stopped mid-bite and looked at her. Really looked at her. "You said you wanted to train me, lets begin now Astrid, I need you to train me."

"My body is too weak. I need it stronger. I need my senses sharper. I’m willing to do anything to achieve that."

There was a long pause.

Her eyes narrowed, not in suspicion, but in evaluation. Like she was reassessing me all over again.

"Something about you has changed," she said slowly. "What happened to you?"

I shrugged, eyes dropping back to the bag of food. "I need to be worthy of my wolf. I only get one chance."

Astrid moved without a word and sat beside me on the edge of the couch, her posture upright, alert. Always in control. Always looking five steps ahead.

"No wolf can grow back a body part, Lorraine," she said, her voice quieter now, almost reverent. "That’s not something I’ve seen, not even among the most powerful Lycans."

I didn’t say anything.

Astrid looked at me longer. "Your wolf.... isn’t ordinary. We might not understand it yet, but I know power when I see it. And if you want your body to be strong enough to house that kind of wolf..." She paused. "It’s going to be more difficult than whatever you’re imagining."

"I don’t care."

She went on, ignoring my interruption. "You’ll break bones. You’ll be pushed past the brink every single day. You’ll wake up screaming. You’ll collapse and still be expected to stand again. You’ll beg your body to move and it won’t. And that’s when the real training starts."

I looked her dead in the eyes. "I’m not going back, Astrid. I want to do this. Whatever it takes."

Astrid nodded slowly

"Then you start today," she said, standing again. "Finish eating. And say goodbye to that couch, because tonight I will make sure your bones won’t let you crawl back to it."

She turned, looking straight at me, her voice echoing without emotion. "The ones who survive in this academy... are the ones who stop waiting for miracles and start becoming one. You want to live? Become something no one has ever seen before, something no one can fathom"