The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 57: The Weight of Blood and Power

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: The Weight of Blood and Power

Lorraine’s POV

"Elise?" My voice cracked, panicking as I dragged myself across the dirt to where she lay. Blood soaked her brown hair, seeping into the earth beneath her. My hands shook violently as I reached out to her, brushing strands of hair from her face. "Elise, please....wake up. Come on. Elise!"

Her chest rose barely, shallow. Then, slowly, so slowly, her eyelids fluttered.

I exhaled hard, the relief crashing over me like a wave. "Thank the moon," I whispered.

Her eyes didn’t focus, her lips moved but made no sound. But she was alive. For now.

Behind me, I heard groans, Felix and Adrian, both beaten and bloodied, struggling to sit up. Adrian’s face was smeared with dirt and blood, his lip split open. Felix was clutching his ribs, blinking through a haze of pain. We were all wrecked.

And yet Varya and the two other lycans were still standing, untouched. Powerful. Smug.

She walked forward, her strides slow and deliberate, like she was giving us time to realize how powerless we were. Her boots crunched over leaves and bloodied twigs. Her red hair shimmered in the light slicing through the canopy, and when she laughed, it was a sound made for nightmares.

"The guts you all have...." she chuckled, her voice dancing with mockery. "To speak to a Lycan with no bloody respect." Her eyes swept over us like we were nothing more than trash scattered in her way.

Then her gaze shifted to Selene and Alistair, who stood as if they owned the entire forest. Watching. Waiting.

"You two," Varya said, narrowing her eyes. "You’re like the leaders of the Elites, aren’t you? The infamous Ashthornes." She looked them over like she was inspecting livestock.

Selene didn’t respond. Her face was impassive, cold as ever.

Varya smirked and tilted her head with a scoff. "Don’t get confused," she said, stretching her arms out with a dramatic flair. "Your rank amongst your elite folks doesn’t make us equals. No matter how strong the Ashthornes are, no matter how feared the Elites think they are ..." Her crimson hair swayed as she tossed it over her shoulder. "You’re still below us."

She let the words hang in the air like a blade.

"We’re Lycans," she said, placing her hand over her chest with mock reverence. "Born of the purest blood. Closer to the moon than any of you. We don’t need titles or points or games to prove what we are."

Alistair shifted slightly, his smirk twitching. Selene didn’t flinch, didn’t move, didn’t blink.

But I saw something flicker behind her eyes.

Not fear. Not anger.

Something colder.

And it made my stomach twist.

I stayed crouched beside Elise, pressing my hand gently against her head to slow the bleeding. My body ached, my throat burned from Varya’s grip, but I forced myself to stay upright.

I wouldn’t let Elise die.

Selene stepped forward, her boots crushing twigs beneath them like bones. She didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, didn’t even seem to breathe. Her presence alone seemed to still the air around us, like the forest was holding its breath.

"I’m not here to challenge you Lycans" she said, her tone sharp as the edge of a dagger. "Though that doesn’t mean I won’t.... if I have to."

Varya stared at her with gleaming, animalistic eyes, her red hair tumbling down like wildfire over her shoulders. She tilted her head, as if amused. As if Selene were a child picking up a blade she didn’t know how to wield.

"That dark-haired feral girl," Selene went on, chin raised ever so slightly, "she’s mine. Her life is mine to take, and I won’t let anyone else take that from me"

Her words struck like thunder, stealing the air from my lungs.

Mine?

My eyes widened. I could feel Elise’s blood sticky beneath my knees, the dull pulse of pain in my throat from Varya’s earlier grip, but it was nothing compared to the shudder that passed through me now.

Varya’s laughter split through the trees, uncontrolled, unhinged. She laughed so hard she bent slightly forward, clutching her ribs.

"Oh.... oh gods," she said between cackles. "You really dont know whom you are dealing with, do you?"

Her laughter died in a blink. She stood straight again, her expression darkening like a cloud about to break.

"We are Lycans. Born of the first blood. And I think it’s time I reminded you all what that truly means."

Her voice dropped, laced with something primal and unrelenting.

She turned her head toward the Lycans behind her, her tone growing colder.

"You," she said to one of them, a tall male with cracked knuckles and a bloodstained grin. "Kill the ferals."

Her hand flicked to another. "You, kill the brother."

And then she faced Selene again.

"And I.... will take care of this Elite bitch myself."

Adrian groaned beside me, trying to push himself up from the ground where he’d been kicked. Felix was staggering as blood dripped from his temple. Elise was still unconscious, her head bleeding into the dirt. I was trembling, half from rage, half from dread.

I tried to move, to pull Elise closer, but before I could react... _{fre/ew.ebnovel.c om}

Selene howled.

The sound cut through the forest like a blade, sharp and long and wild. It echoed off the trees, and something in the air shifted.

The forest moved.

Figures stepped out of the shadows. One by one. Then by the dozens.

Elites. Ready to fight. Eyes glowing. Claws drawn. Every single one of them radiated power like an approaching storm. They moved like wolves on the hunt, fast, graceful, and terrifyingly silent.

We were surrounded in seconds.

The Lycans looked surprised, not with fear, but with amusement. Varya let out a small laugh

"I thought you weren’t afraid of us, Selene Ashthorne"

"I’m not," Selene said simply, cool as ice. "But I’ve seen and heard what you Lycans can do. And I’m not stupid enough to go one-on-one with rabid dogs without bringing my own wolves."

Selene’s dark eyes burned with something wicked as they landed on me again.

"Save the dark-haired feral girl for me," she said to the Elites surrounding us, her voice low but commanding.

Then she extended a single hand, and sliced it through the air.

"Kill everyone else."