The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 91: Cold as Ice

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Cold as Ice

Lorraine’s POV_{freew\ebno\vel..(c)om}

We woke before the siren did.

The academy was still cloaked in darkness, the halls silent and cold, like a tomb holding its breath. Felix and I had slept in one of the empty classrooms since the Feral dorm was now closed to us. The floor was hard, the air freezing, and neither of us had really slept, but the quiet before dawn was the only time we could move without being watched.

We found open bathrooms in one of the unused school buildings

The water was ice cold, but we didn’t complain. We just scrubbed the grime of the night off our skin like we were peeling back a layer of exhaustion and fear, even though we both knew it would never come off completely.

I pulled on the stiff academy uniform again

By the time we stepped outside, the first rays of sunlight were cutting across the sky, painting everything in cold gold. Then the siren finally screamed through the academy, shrill and demanding, dragging the rest of the students out of their beds

Felix walked slightly ahead of me but never strayed more than a few steps away. He’d been like that all night, staying close, acting alert, always glancing around corners like he expected an ambush any second. It was sweet. Naive. Useless. But sweet.

When the real danger comes, and it will come soon, it won’t be something we can outrun or outwit. Still, I appreciated his effort. In this place, any form of care was a rebellion of its own.

The auditorium loomed before us, its doors already open. No students had arrived yet, but soon they would file in like obedient wolves, unaware, or maybe fully aware, of the bloodbath Astrid Voss had planned for the day.

We slipped inside and made our way up the far aisle, choosing the corner of the back row like shadows trying to disappear into the wall. Sitting here again, the weight in my chest thickened.

This was where I sat with Callum.

That first day. That first assembly. We were barely holding it together then, just clinging to the edges of fear and uncertainty, trying not to fall apart.

And now....

Callum was dead.

Gone.

One month later, and he’s just a name. A memory. A body thrown somewhere beneath the academy that murdered him.

He died saving me. He died for me.

Because of me.

My nails dug into my palms beneath the desk. I will never be able to scrub that guilt out, no matter how many times I bathe in freezing water or bleed for this place.

His death is stitched into me.

Felix broke the silence. "Why are we even here, Lorraine?"

I looked at him, startled slightly by the desperation in his voice.

He turned to me, eyes sharp, whispering through clenched teeth. "Wouldn’t using this chance to escape be the smarter move? We’re up early, no one would notice, we could make it past the gates. Run. Disappear before Astrid announces anything."

I shook my head slowly. "Running isn’t an option, Felix."

His brows creased. "Why not?"

"Because there’s no escaping Astrid Voss." My voice was flat. Cold. True. "You can flee the academy, you can leave the grounds, but she’ll find you. She always does. She won’t just punish us, she’ll make examples out of anyone we ever cared about. No one’s safe."

He exhaled shakily, but I wasn’t done.

"And I’m not leaving Elise behind."

He stared.

"She’s been taken. Kidnapped. Tortured. Or worse. And no one is even looking for her." My voice dropped to a whisper. "I will find her. Even if it kills me."

Felix’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. He just nodded, swallowing whatever protest he had wanted to make.

The auditorium lights buzzed to life overhead.

And behind us, the doors creaked open.

The first students were arriving.

The clock was ticking down to Astrid Voss’s announcement.

By the time this assembly ends, my name will become a target.

At first it was just the usual shuffle of groggy, indifferent nobles yawning into the backs of their hands, their uniforms crisp, their expressions bored. Then the elites followed, haughty, sharp-eyed, laughing too loudly about things that didn’t matter. Soon the room was filling fast, voices rising in idle chatter, footsteps echoing as they settled into rows and corners, forming cliques and power groups like they always did.

But I wasn’t listening to them.

My pulse was already climbing.

Any moment now, Astrid Voss would walk in and casually place a price on my head like it was nothing.

Felix nudged me gently as if sensing my spiraling thoughts, but before he could speak, the crowd shifted near the front. I saw him then.

Adrian.

He walked in with the nobles, but the second his boots touched the auditorium floor, his head was already turning, searching. His eyes scanned the rows with urgency until they locked onto mine.

He didn’t hesitate. He cut across the aisle, ignoring the looks he got for beelining straight for the ferals. His face was pale but focused, and the second he reached us, I saw a dark expression on his face

"I have news," he said, breathless but serious, dropping into the seat beside me.

"What is it?" I asked immediately, heart thudding in my ears.

He leaned closer, keeping his voice low. "I was in the common room with some of the nobles last night. We were talking about the academy, the power dynamics between the Lycans and Elites, nothing serious at first. But then someone mentioned something strange. He said he saw a Lycan carrying a feral student out of the hospital wing... two nights ago."

I froze.

My lungs stopped working.

My blood iced over.

"Elise," I breathed, eyes widening. "It has to be Elise."

Adrian nodded slowly. "That’s what I thought. He didn’t catch a face, said the lycan was so fast he didn’t notice it at first if not for the dash of red collar of the uniform as they ran across the courtyard but he was sure the student that was carried was unconscious, maybe sedated. The Lycan carried her out like she weighed nothing. He assumed it was just a transfer to another wing or something, but..."

"No one transfers ferals," I whispered, a chill crawling down my spine. "We aren’t that important"

Just then.... The air shifted, subtly at first, like a cold gust threading through the cracks of the walls.

Then the auditorium doors slammed open.

A heavy silence fell as the Lycans entered, their boots thudding against the stone floor in perfect, merciless rhythm.

Kieran was at the front, tall and magnetic, the very embodiment of command. His expression was unreadable, but every step he took crackled with power

Right behind him, Varya followed, predatory and poised, her cold gaze sweeping across the rows of students with razor-sharp indifference.

My heart stuttered.

Just for a second.

Not from fear, but from the force of him

Kieran didn’t look at me, but I felt his presence crash through me like a wave anyway.

Then my gaze flicked past him.

To the rest.

Dozens of Lycans marched in behind them, all in their red-collared uniforms, all exuding that same brutal energy, untouchable, untamed, deadly. My breath caught as my eyes scanned their faces, their movements.

One of them took her.

Elise.

She was out there, somewhere, because one of these wolves carried her away like she was nothing.

I clenched my fists in my lap, pulse hammering as the Lycans took their places near the front. I didn’t care how powerful they were. I didn’t care if I had to go through every one of them.

I was going to find her