The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 142: The Weight of Us

Chapter 142: Chapter 142: The Weight of Us

Lorraine’s POV

He staggered back like I’d struck him.

No, not just struck.

Like I’d shattered something.

Kieran’s crimson eyes locked on mine, wide, disbelieving. There was a crack in his face now. Not a physical one, no, but a fracture in his carefully carved composure. He looked at me like he didn’t know what I was. Like I’d reached into the very core of him and yanked something raw and buried to the surface.

"Avelar..."

I didn’t repeat it. I didn’t need to.

The name still hung in the air, echoing like a ghost.

Kieran’s lips parted, but no words came. Only a choked gasp.

Then he screamed.

He dropped to his knees, one hand clutching his chest, the other gripping a handful of dirt and crushing it like it might anchor him to the earth. His scream wasn’t just sound. It was grief. A howl of something ancient and agonizing breaking free.

It tore through the air like a storm unleashed.

I flinched. I’d never heard pain like that.

Never from Kieran.

Hell, never from anyone.

And then, to my horror, I saw it. A tear rolled down his cheek.

Then another.

No... My mind couldn’t wrap around it. Kieran Valerius Hunter didn’t cry. He never cried. He was fire and fang, command and steel. A prince. A storm wrapped in skin.

But right now, he was just.... broken.

"Kieran..." I whispered, moving closer.

But I didn’t know what to do.

How could I? I’d faced his rage, his silence, his strength, but this? This raw, naked ache?

I wasn’t ready for this.

I felt it then. The shift inside me.

My wolf, who had risen to the surface like a goddess made flesh, slowly... quietly... began to recede. Her warmth faded from my limbs, her light dimming. She wasn’t afraid, she was choosing to leave.

And the moment she withdrew?

Kieran’s screams softened.

His chest stopped heaving.

His fists unclenched.

He sat there, drenched in sweat and grief and moonlight, trembling... but no longer screaming.

No longer breaking.

It was like the pain tethered to my wolf’s presence. And when she left, it went with her.

His breathing steadied.

And his tears stopped rolling

He looked at me like I was an alien.

Like I’d grown fangs and wings and fire for blood.

Kieran wiped the tears from his face, angrily, like they betrayed him. Like emotion had no right to exist in the same body as him.

Then he took a step back.

Away from me.

And it hurt more than I could explain.

"What the hell did you do to me?" he demanded, voice hoarse. His eyes were wild again,not with rage this time, but confusion. Fear. Disbelief.

I didn’t move. Didn’t blink. "I didn’t.... I didn’t do anything."

He pointed at me, at his chest, at the space between us. "That pain, Lorraine, that pain, it was more than just pain. It was like.... something inside me shattered. Something old. Something buried."

His voice dropped lower, rougher. "It wasn’t just physical. That was a grief I’ve never known before. Like I lost something I didn’t even remember having."

I took a shaky breath. "I felt it too. It hurt like hell... but I didn’t do it, Kieran. I swear it."

His gaze bore into me. I could see the fracture lines behind his irises. "Then how?" he whispered. "How are you suddenly able to affect me like this? No one has ever... ever gotten into my head like that. No one. But you.... it was like you reached into my soul and ripped something out."

"I don’t know." My voice cracked. "I’m just as lost as you are."

He started to pace, quick, uneven steps like a caged animal. I could feel his thoughts unraveling in real time. He was trying to connect something, reach for a memory just out of grasp.

"I feel like I’m missing something," he murmured, mostly to himself. "Something important. Something I should remember. Something I used to know..."

His breath hitched.

He stopped.

His eyes went wide.

And then, he screamed.

He clutched his head like it was splitting open, his body arching as if something inside was fighting to get out. I ran to him, but just before I reached him.....

Kieran collapsed.

His body hit the earth with a dull, heavy thud, and dust rose around him like a curtain. His chest heaved. His fingers twitched.

But he didn’t move again.

"Kieran!" I dropped to my knees beside him. "Kieran!"

But he was gone.

"Kieran," I whispered again.

Still nothing.

His body was heavy, far too heavy for someone like me to carry. Even with my wolf humming just beneath my skin, his weight was solid, like stone. The kind of weight that makes you realize just how mortal you are.

"Kieran!" I shouted, shaking him harder.

Nothing.

No groan. No flinch. No movement.

Panic clawed at my throat. My heart pounded so hard it ached in my chest, the echo of it deafening in my ears. I pressed my fingers to his neck. His pulse was there, faint but steady, which only made it worse, he wasn’t dead. He was just gone.

What the hell happened to him?

"Kieran, please... don’t do this." My voice broke as I took his face in my hands

The breeze blew colder through the trees, and I realized we couldn’t stay here in the clearing. If anyone found us, Adrian, Aveline, or gods forbid, a Crimson hunt patrol....

No.

I couldn’t let that happen.

So I started to drag him.

I wrapped both my arms around his chest, planted my heels in the dirt, and pulled with everything I had. He didn’t budge at first. My wolf surged and lent me a bit of its strength, and little by little, he moved.

Inches turned to feet. And feet to yards.

I dragged him across the forest floor, my muscles screaming, hands burning from bark and rocks and dirt, until I found a wide old tree with roots like arms that cradled its base. It would have to do.

With a final grunt, I lowered him into the curve of the roots, breath heaving, arms shaking.

Then I knelt in front of him, hands resting on his still chest.

"Kieran," I said again, softer this time.

The moonli poured over his silver-streaked hair, highlighting the sharp angles of his face. He looked powerful and beautiful and distant, like he didn’t belong to this world anymore.

"Please," I begged. "Come back. Come back to me."

I shook him again, gently this time, my voice cracking, "I need you, Kieran. You said I was yours, remember? So you don’t get to just leave me here, not now. Not after everything."

Still nothing. He didn’t even bulge a little

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall.

I pressed my forehead to his. "Please wake up, Kieran. Please."

"Don’t leave me alone in this."

"I need you, Kieran..." I whispered, my voice barely more than air as I cradled his face in my palms.

"What the hell am I supposed to do without you?" My throat tightened with the words, raw and aching. "You’re the reason I’ve come this far. You saved me.... again and again. If it wasn’t foryou, I’d be dead. I would’ve died a long time ago."

The realization slammed into me with the force of a falling sky.

He meant too much. Too much.

He wasn’t just the prince or the Lycan that hated me or teased me or challenged me. He wasn’t just the boy who made me want to survive the academy. He wasn’t even just the man who touched my soul when no one else wanted to look at it.

He was mine. Somewhere along the chaos and ruin, he became mine. And I.... I belonged to him.

A tear rolled down my cheek. I didn’t bother to stop it as I presswd my forehead pressed against his.

The drop fell. Landed softly against his skin.

I didn’t know if it was the coolness of the tear or the sound of my shaking breath, but suddenly

His eyes flew open.

"Kieran!" I gasped, joy exploding in my chest like light breaking through a storm. "Are you alright?!"

He blinked a few times, like he was remembering where he was, like he was sorting himself out.

"I... I’m okay," he rasped, then shook his head slowly. "I attained the total Lycan ascension. I merged with my wolf."

He looked away for a moment, like he couldn’t bear the weight of what came next. "But my wolf’s memories... they’re mine now. And they’re distorting me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, voice softer now.

Kieran closed his eyes briefly, inhaling deep like he needed to center himself. "The memories are too much. Too old. Too cold. So much death... rage... sorrow. Trying to unravel what’s hidden inside them might send me into shock. I’m not ready. Not yet."

He opened his eyes again, meeting mine with quiet resolve. "So I’ve locked them away. When this war is over, I’ll find out what’s buried in there."

I stared. "You can lock your own memories now?"

"I’m an ascended Lycan," he said, standing up from the tree trunk and brushing the dirt off his coat. "I can do anything."

Then he looked at me, eyes narrowing. "Wait, don’t tell me...." His gaze dropped to the dirt and crushed leaves beneath his boots. "Did you drag me all the way here?"

"Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?" I said, throwing my hands up. "You slumped like a corpse in front of me and you weigh more than a damn mountain."

"I assure you, Lorraine," he said with mock gravity, "I am not that heavy. You just need to train your arms more."

"Oh, please," I shot back, smacking his arm "You’re lucky I didn’t leave you there for the bugs."

He smirked. "You couldn’t even if you tried. You are obsessed with me. You break down whenever the littlest thing happens to me "

"In your dreams, your highness."

He scoffed, and I chuckled. But the sound faded slowly as I caught sight of his face again, those dark eyes still glowing faintly red, rimmed with exhaustion, power, and something else I couldn’t quite name.

My breath slowed

And I just..... stared.

Because gods, how did this man become so much to me? When did he become my anchor, my chaos, my only calm?

I was in love with him.

Utterly. Completely.

And I wasn’t going to let anything, not Astrid, not Adrian, not the ghosthound, not the Crimson Hunt or even the ghosts of our past, tear us apart

Not even death itself.