The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 141: A Stranger in His Skin

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: A Stranger in His Skin

Lorraine’s POV

I couldn’t move.

Whether it was fear or just the sheer force of his aura, I don’t know. All I knew was that my body was frozen, my limbs heavy like stone, my breath trapped in my throat.

He stood just ahead of us, Kieran.

Or... something that used to be him.

The moon hung high above, casting its bright glow over the clearing. But it wasn’t the moonlight that made my skin crawl.

It was him.

Kieran’s eyes, no longer the crimson I’d grown used to, glowed with a deeper, darker rage. They burned with a molten fury, bottomless and terrifying. His long black hair had silver streaks now, as though the moon had kissed his strands and left behind its mark. His aura rolled off him in waves of raw, blistering energy. A force of nature.

He wasn’t just Kieran anymore.

He had ascended.

Total Lycan Ascension.

Astrid had whispered it like a prayer, like a warning. And I finally understood why.

This version of Kieran, he looked uneven, monstrous, beautifully terrifying. His body held more power than I’d ever felt in a living thing. His presence made the earth hum beneath my boots, made the wind still like even the elements were unsure what to do around him.

And he was staring at me.

His dark, demonic eyes locked with mine and didn’t waver. It wasn’t just a look, it was a penetration. I felt him in my chest, like claws dragging across my ribs. I felt him in my bones, like ice burrowing into marrow. It was as if he was staring straight into my soul, peeling me apart in layers.

And yet... I couldn’t look away.

It did something to me. Something wild and primal. My wolf, silent for most of the time, stirred deep inside, curling up with awe, with recognition, with pain.

Because whatever stood before us wasn’t just Kieran anymore.

It was Kieran unchained.

I wanted to say something. To reach out. To ask him what he had done. To beg him to stop whatever it was he had sacrificed to become this.

But before I could speak, before I could even think....

He was gone.

Like smoke on the wind.

One second he stood righg before us, and the next...

The night was empty again.

And I was left standing there, breathless and my legs trembling as I stood frozen in the wake of Kieran’s disappearance. The clearing was still, but inside me, everything was chaos.

Then I felt it, her.

My wolf.

She roared.

Loud and deep and urgent, clawing at the walls of my chest, demanding to be released. My heartbeat stuttered at the sound of her fury, but it wasn’t anger. It was fear. For him.

For us.

Kieran....

He looked angry..... Furious even

I knew, if I didn’t stop him, if I let him walk this path of rage alone...

He wouldn’t come back.

My breath shook as I turned to Astrid, the wind from my wolf still swirling wildly in my soul.

"I need to go after him," I said, barely able to keep my voice steady.

Astrid blinked at me. "Lorraine...."

"You told me no one can get to Kieran’s hardened heart the way I can." I took a step forward. "Then let me prove you right."

Her face darkened, uncertain. "That’s not the Kieran you used to know. What you saw out here... that’s not just the prince anymore. That’s a full merge. Kieran and his wolf have fused, permanently. They’ve created something entirely new."

"I don’t care." My voice came out sharper than I meant it, but I didn’t back down. "He’s still in there. I felt him. My wolf felt him."

My hands trembled, not from fear, but from certainty.

"She’s never... never acted like this before. Never roared like that. Never begged me to run after anyone." I placed a hand on my chest. "She wants him. She knows he’s in danger. And so do I."

Astrid didn’t speak for a long moment. The moonlight flickered behind her, casting strange shadows in her eyes. And then finally, she nodded.

"Then go," she said. "But if you’re wrong..."

"I’m not." I turned, my wolf already rising to the surface, her strength rushing like a river through my veins.

"Bring him back, Lorraine," Astrid said, her voice firm. "I’ll protect the others. You bring back our prince."

I didn’t waste another second.

For the first time ever, fully, completely, without hesitation, I let my wolf take over. No fear. No resistance. Just trust. And fire.

A raw surge of power flooded my legs. My feet pushed off the earth.

And I super sped off into the night.

The night tore past me like a dream too wild to hold.

I ran.

Or.... I flew. The earth barely touched my feet before it vanished behind me. The trees blurred into shadows, the wind howled in my ears, and the moon blazed high above, silver and savage.

My wolf throbbed in my chest, a pounding drum that beat with only one rhythm, his name.

Kieran.

His scent called to me through the dark like a flame, and my wolf chased it with an aching kind of hunger. It was wild, this feeling, raw and new. Every part of my body hummed with a power I didn’t know I had, and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid of it. I owned it.

Leaves and broken twigs crunched beneath me as I tore through the forest like a storm. The cold wind stung my skin, but I didn’t care. My focus narrowed. His scent grew stronger. Closer.

And then....

I saw him.

The black coat of his hair gleamed beneath the moonlight, streaked with those silver lines that made him look like a god of war. His shoulders were squared. His gait was unhurried, but every step dripped with violence. His aura crackled around him like a barely restrained explosion. The grass bent under his feet, like even the earth feared him now.

He was heading straight for the academy.

For blood.

And I knew, if he reached it, there would be, there would bloodshed and a lot of casualties

I couldn’t wait anymore, I couldn’t afford to be scared any more fear.

So I stepped in front of him.

Blocked his path.

And he halted.

His head rose slowly, those red, inhuman eyes locking onto mine like twin blades pressed against my soul. There was no recognition in them, just silence. Power. Darkness.

I stood my ground.

Even as every instinct in me screamed to kneel. To run. To submit.

I didn’t move.

His chest rose and fell like a beast barely holding back its last breath. His claws were out. His fangs too. He didn’t speak.

So I did.

"Kieran." My voice was steady.

"I won’t let you go any further."

His eyes narrowed, a low growl vibrating in his throat. My heart thundered, but I kept my chin up.

"If you’re in there.... if any part of you is still in there, then hear me. You don’t have to do this."

He didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

And for the first time since I met him, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

But I stayed right there in his path.

Even if it killed me.

"Leave." He commanded

It aas word. Just one.

But it shattered through the air like a death knell.

My knees buckled beneath me, breath caught in my lungs. That voice wasn’t just a sound, it was a command, layered with something ancient, something too heavy for this world. It made the trees tremble and the wind cower. It made my bones want to collapse.

But I didn’t fall.

I clenched my fists. Dug my feet into the earth. "No."

His crimson eyes flared brighter. His expression was carved from stone, darker and more unreadable than I’d ever seen it. The Kieran I knew. the boy who’d once held my shaking hand and pulled me into the shadows to save me from the storm, he was buried beneath something monstrous.

Still, I wouldn’t back down.

"I know you’re angry," I said, voice hoarse but steady. "I know you want to tear Adrian and Aveline limb from limb. I know, Kieran. But charging into that academy like this, alone, isn’t strength. It’s suicide."

"Leave," he thundered again, louder this time.

It cracked the air like lightning. The ground groaned beneath our feet. My ears rang. Still, I didn’t move.

"Kieran....." I tried again, stepping closer, even as every fiber of me screamed to stop. "You think you have to carry this alone, but you don’t. You never did. I’m here. I chose to be here. I won’t let you lose yourself to this darkness."

No reply.

No flicker of remorse.

No recognition in those blood-red eyes.

Just a blur of movement.

And then, his hand was around my throat.

I choked, air gone.

Stars exploded behind my eyes.

My feet left the ground.

I kicked, fought, gasped.

My hands clawed at his, but his grip was iron, cold and merciless. My chest burned. My vision blurred. The world swam sideways and the trees bent into shadows. I was slipping, dying.

Kieran is going to kill me.

But then.....

Something inside me roared.

It wasn’t just my wolf.

It was something more. Something deeper. Older.

It surged through me like white fire. My eyes flew open wide, blazing with a light I didn’t recognize. My body trembled, but not from fear. From power.

And then I heard my own voice, except it wasn’t mine.

It was hers.

"Avelar"

The name echoed in the air, reverberating like a sacred command through the forest. Ethereal. Thunderous. Final.

Kieran’s hand dropped from my throat as if burned.

He staggered back a step. His eyes, the crimson infernos, widened, not with fury.

But with fear.

Stunned.

And for the first time, I saw something break through the monstrous haze behind his gaze.

Recognition.

He knew that voice.

He knew that name.