The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 106: Blood on The Walls

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Blood on The Walls

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The academy halls were quieter than usual, the air heavy with a strange anticipation. Felix adjusted the collar of his freshly laundered purple uniform as he walked toward his first class of the day. Just yesterday, he had been discharged from the infirmary after surviving the brutal wound Director Thorn had carved across his chest. It had taken days, his wolf had been slow to respond, his body barely clinging to consciousness at one point, but finally, he had healed. Mostly.

His steps echoed through the corridor, each one hesitant, wary. He kept looking over his shoulder, not because he was paranoid, but because he had learned to be. The academy was a death trap, especially now. He was the last visible feral, Elise was still missing without a trace, and Lorraine...

Lorraine had vanished like mist. No one had seen her for over a week. Some whispered she was dead. Others said she’d run. But Felix knew better. She wasn’t the type to run

Still, her absence left a vacuum. One he now filled alone.

He walked into the classroom, eyes quickly scanning the space. Dozens of students, lycans, elites and nobles, were already seated, their polished uniforms and arrogant smirks making his battered form stand out even more. The whispers started the moment he stepped inside.

"Look who finally crawled out of the hospital."

"Feral boy decided to show his face again, how brave."

"He must miss getting beaten."

Felix ignored them. He kept his head down and took the only available seat, right at the front, under the instructor’s nose. Maybe, just maybe, that would keep him safe. Maybe proximity to power could shield him from the wolves in uniform.

The instructor entered, and the lesson began. Felix tried to focus. He really did. The class was on pack history and political dynamics, an important one, especially for someone like him trying to survive a world built against him. But his mind wandered. Pain still throbbed dully beneath his ribs. The desk in front of him blurred.

But immediately the instructor stepped out of the class, he felt it.

A sharp jab to his side.

He flinched and turned. Behind him sat three elite boys with smug expressions

"Hey," one of them whispered, loud enough for a few others to hear. "Where’s your little mutt friend, Lorraine? The school’s been hunting her for days."

"Yeah," another sneered. "We figured you’d know. Or are you not as close as everyone thinks?"

Felix’s lips tightened. He said nothing.

The third elite leaned forward, his breath hot and venomous against Felix’s ear. "Tell us where she is, and maybe we won’t break your other ribs."

"I don’t know," Felix said quietly.

Suddenly, the first elite kicked the leg of Felix’s chair, tipping it just enough to send him tumbling sideways onto the cold floor.

No one moved to help him.

"Oops," one of them said mockingly. "Clumsy mutt."

Felix tried to rise, but a foot slammed into his back, forcing him down again. Another kick, this time to his side.

"Where is she?" they demanded. "She’s worth a thirty lunars."

Felix coughed but didn’t answer. His arms shielded his head as they rained down more kicks. The other students chuckled, some shaking their heads as if this were simply part of the curriculum.

Eventually, they stopped, bored or satisfied, it was hard to tell.

Felix lay still for a moment, breathing hard, his cheek pressed against the cold marble floor. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He pushed himself up slowly, pain stabbing with every movement. No one helped. No one spoke. No one dared.

He pulled himself back into his seat.

He didn’t cry. He didn’t speak. But as the next instructor came for the next class, Felix clenched his jaw and stared straight ahead, a single thought blazing in his mind like wildfire

Lorraine, wherever you are... please come back.

As the bell rang to mark the end of classes, Felix didn’t linger. He grabbed his books and kept his head low, quietly slipping out of the room like a ghost trying not to be noticed.

The halls were still thick with students, the buzz of conversations swirling around him. But he didn’t speak. His bruised ribs throbbed with every breath, and the sting in his mouth hadn’t faded since the earlier attack. He just wanted to make it out of this placw in one piece.

But fate, as always, had different plans.

He’d barely stepped into the courtyard when they found him.

Four nobles, tall, broad-shouldered, and smirking, blocked his path, their expensive boots clicking menacingly on the stone.

"Well, well," one of them drawled. "If it isn’t the punching bag of the day."

"Back from class already? We didn’t get our turn yet," another sneered. "Where’s your little rat friend? Dead? Or hiding like the coward she is?"

Felix turned to walk away, but one stepped in front of him.

"Where do you think you’re going?" The noble shoved him back. "We’re just getting started."

The others laughed, circling him like hyenas. One knocked his books from his arms; another grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"You really should tell us where Lorraine is hiding. We’ll make it quick for you if you do."

Felix clenched his jaw. He didn’t answer.

A fist drew back and he braced himself for the blow

"That’s enough."

The voice was calm, but sharp as a blade.

Adrian Vale.

He stood a few feet away, hands in the pockets

The nobles turned, some laughing at first. "Oh look, it’s the mutt lover again."

Adrian took a step forward, unfazed. "Leave him alone."

"You’re starting to sound like one of them," another said. "Careful, Vale. You keep defending ferals, and you might just be mistaken for one."

Adrian gave a dry smile. "Good. Then maybe I’ll get to wipe the smirk off your face during the next combat trial."

There was a beat of silence. Then snorts of laughter. "Whatever," one of the nobles said, backing off with a mocking bow. "Have fun with your pet project."

The others followed, muttering insults as they vanished into the crowd.

Adrian stepped forward and offered his hand to Felix, who was still on the ground.

"You okay?" he asked.

Felix took his hand and rose shakily to his feet. "I’ve had worse," he muttered. "Thanks."

"I told you to wait for me after class," Adrian said. "You’re a damn magnet for trouble."

"I didn’t want to be a burden."

"You’re not," Adrian said quietly.

They started walking together, moving toward the edge of the courtyard.

"You find out anything yet?" Felix asked. "About Elise?"

Adrian exhaled. "Not much. But I’ve been digging. Asked around the Lycan dorms. I had to spend a few Lunars to get someone to talk."

Felix’s head turned quickly. "What did they say?"

"There’s... something dark going on." Adrian’s voice lowered. "A sort of underground circle. A cult. Formed by some of the Lycans, maybe not all, but enough of them. They call themselves the Crimson Hunt. And their goal is.... eradication."

"Of who?" Felix already knew the answer.

"Ferals."

A chill ran through Felix’s bones.

"They hate the idea of ferals stepping foot in this academy. They think it weakens the bloodlines, stains their territory. They meet in secret, plan attacks, bounties, everything. I got a location. Supposedly where they meet. But it wasn’t easy to get."

Felix stopped walking. His spine straightened, his pain momentarily forgotten. "Then let’s go."

"Felix...."

"Elise might be there. You said it yourself. We don’t have time."

Adrian looked into his friend’s tired, bruised face—yet there was fire behind those eyes. A stubborn fire that reminded him too much of Lorraine.

He gave a reluctant nod. "Alright. But we go smart. Quiet. If they’re really there... we might not get a second chance."

And with that, the two of them turned and began to walk to the hideout in the fading daylight

The sun had dipped low by the time Felix and Adrian reached the outskirts of the northern wing of the academy, the part that had long been sealed off after a fire decades ago. A place forgotten by most, avoided by the rest.

The air was thick with damp and decay. The windows of the old stone building were either boarded up or shattered, and vines had crept their way across its façade like the claws of something ancient trying to reclaim it.

"This is it?" Felix whispered.

Adrian gave a slow nod. "According to the source, this is where they meet. Or... met."

The door creaked open with a reluctant groan when Adrian pushed it. Inside, it was quiet. Too quiet. Their footsteps echoed on cracked tiles and splinters of broken wood. What had once been a lecture hall or an administrative space was now just dust, silence, and a sharp stench of mold.

Felix took the lead, eyes scanning. "I don’t hear anyone."

"No heartbeat either," Adrian added. "They’re not here."

Room by room, they combed through the hideout. The place had clearly been used recently, there were discarded wrappers, faint bootprints in the dust, a few extinguished candles near a broken window, but now, it was as though every breath of life had been pulled out.

It felt.... wrong. Like they had just missed something.

Then they reached the largest room at the back of the hideout. The walls were scorched and jagged, the air stale with the scent of iron and old blood.

Felix was the first to see it.

On the far wall, in dripping, dark red streaks, fresh enough to glisten under the fractured moonlight leaking through a hole in the roof, was a massive graffiti scrawled in jagged letters.

It looked like it had been drawn with claws. Or worse, fingers dipped in blood.

"THE WAR IS ALMOST HERE."