The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 27: Blood and Ashes

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Blood and Ashes

"No, no, no—Callum!" I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands fumbling uselessly to stop the bleeding, to do something, but it was pouring out too fast.

Too much.

He looked at me, dazed, eyes glassy, lips trembling.

"I—I’m okay," he whispered, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay.

Selene stood above us, her hand dripping with Callum’s blood, a wild look in her eyes.

And I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t think.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Everything was happening too fast, too violently, too brutally, it didn’t feel real.

One moment, we were standing together, a wall of the beaten and broken, daring to raise our voices. The next, the world collapsed into chaos.

My scream tore through the air. I hadn’t even seen Selene move, one blink, and Callum was now on the ground, blood gushing from where his arm used to be. The sickening sound of bone snapping and flesh tearing haunted the space around us, but I didn’t hear anything else. My knees buckled under me as I had dropped beside him.

"Keep your eyes open, Callum! Stay with me!" I cried, pressing my hands against the open wound, but there was too much blood. Too much. It painted my hands, my arms, the concrete beneath him.

He looked at me, pain clouding his eyes, but he didn’t scream. He just stared, like he knew this was always going to happen. Like he was already slipping away.

"Please—don’t die. Don’t die because of me."

I didn’t know if I was begging him or the Moon Goddess. Maybe both. I didn’t care. I just wanted him to live.

Then, fingers like steel wrapped around my my throat.

Selene.

She yanked me up with one hand, like I weighed nothing, like I was nothing. My feet dangled above the ground, the blood from Callum still dripping down my fingers as I clawed at her grip.

"You’re next, Feral," she hissed, her golden eyes burning with manic delight. "I told you I’d keep my promise."

Her grip tightened. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t scream. Couldn’t even think.

I was dying.

I felt it, the familiar coldness creeping into my limbs, the dizziness, the slow drop into nothingness.

Then suddenly—

A blur.

A snarl.

And I was falling, crashing to the ground, air flooding back into my lungs as I gasped and coughed.

Selene was off me.

Because someone had tackled her.

I blinked through tears and pain and blood and saw—

"Adrian?"

He stood between me and Selene now, panting, his stance wide, defensive. His body trembled, not in fear, but in effort. He’d just thrown himself at an elite werewolf for me.

"You touch her again," he growled, "and I’ll make sure you regret it."

Selene looked... amused. Her lips curled into a cruel smile, and she dusted her uniform off like Adrian hadn’t even fazed her.

"A noble?" she scoffed. "You must be out of your damn mind."

She lunged. Adrian met her halfway.

They collided hard, but it wasn’t a fair fight.

She was stronger. Faster. Trained. Ruthless.

Adrian got a punch in, maybe two, but she slammed him into the ground with such force I heard the crack of bone. He groaned, but still tried to get up again.

"Stay down!" she snarled and kicked him, sending him skidding across the ground like a ragdoll.

"Stop!" I screamed, my voice raw.

But Selene was already walking toward me again, slow, deliberate, like a predator savoring the final moment before the kill.

"Now, where were we?" she whispered

But before she could actually concentrate on me, Adrian came for her again, pushing her across the courtyard and that seemed to have angered Adrian as she began to brutally beat him up.

I crawled back to my feet shaking, heart hammering, eyes darting to everyone fighting around me.

This couldn’t be happening. Not like this. Not after everything.

And yet, it was.

Pain pulsed behind my eyes as I stumbled through the chaos. Adrian’s groan barely reached my ears, it was drowned by the ringing in my head, by the screams, the sound of bodies hitting the ground, the crack of bones, the smell of blood.

Then Alistair Ashthorne stepped in front of me.

I barely had time to turn before he slammed me against a tree, the bark cutting into my back as he wrapped a hand around my throat. His grip was similar to Selene’s, brutal and final. His eyes glowed with something vile. The pressure built against my windpipe and I clawed at his arms, but it was useless.

"You should’ve stayed quiet, Feral," he snarled, his breath hot against my skin. "You should’ve known better than to pretend your life matters."

His hand tightened.

This was it.

This was how I died.

The blood roared in my ears, and the world began to darken. I couldn’t even cry. My arms dropped. My legs gave out. My body was done fighting.

And worse?

My spirit was cracking, too.

I’d led them here.

Led my fellow ferals into a massacre.

Callum was lying somewhere behind me, maybe already dead. Adrian had tried to save me and was crushed into the dirt for it. Felix and Elise were outnumbered. We hadn’t made a difference. I’d fought so hard, pushed so far, and for what?

For this?

To die choking on my failure?

A wave of shame crashed over me.

I am broken.

And then—

A sound.

A swoosh, like a blade slicing through the air.

And everything stopped.

Alistair’s eyes widened in shock. His mouth opened, but no words came, only blood. It poured from his lips, down his chin, splattering my face as his grip slackened. He stumbled back, confused, clutching at something I couldn’t see.

I gasped and collapsed to the ground, coughing violently, struggling to suck air back into my lungs

When I looked up, he was standing there.

Kieran.

Kieran Valerius Hunter.

The Lycan prince.

His expression was carved from stone, cold, dangerous, deadly. He stood over Alistair’s crumpling body like a storm cloaked in shadow. His claws out, long and sharp, dripping with a crimson red liquid..... Alistair’s blood.

The courtyard went still.

The Elites froze.

Even Selene’s sneer faltered.

She stood still.

No one dared to breathe.

Because Kieran didn’t have his usual blank and unreadable expression on his face today.

He was furious. His golden eyes now fiery red.

His eyes scanned the scene, blood, bodies, broken spirits, and then landed on me. His gaze on my neck, reddened from Alistair’s strong gripped.

His jaw clenched.