The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 96: Where Are You?

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: Where Are You?

Lorraine’s POV

The classroom door shut with a heavy thud, and silence fell. I didn’t need to look up to know the teacher had arrived.

Adrian’s hand loosened on my arm reluctantly as he helped me onto the seat, his jaw clenched like he hated letting me go. But he did. Without a word, he turned and returned to his own seat.

I nodded to him slightly, a quiet thank you, before turning back toward the desk, still stinging from Cassian’s kick and Varya’s sudden appearance.

The teacher launched straight into the lecture, and I tried to keep my head down, feigning interest while my body throbbed. But the pain wasn’t what kept me distracted.

It was him.

From the moment I entered the room, I noticed it. His absence.

Kieran Valerius Hunter wasn’t here.

I tried to ignore it at first, of course I did. He wasn’t mine to worry about. But the thought latched onto my spine like a cold hand.

Where was he?

Director Thorn’s warning echoed in my mind:

"You miss a class, you lose a finger."

That rule was strict. Brutal. Absolute. Even the Lycans weren’t exempt, and with the Alpha King’s punishment to his son, even he was no longer exempted from Academy rules

So why wasn’t he here?

And worse... why did it bother me so much?

I forced myself to take notes, but my hand kept pausing over the parchment. My eyes drifted to his usual seat.... empty, untouched. My mind scrambled for an explanation. Did something happen to him? Was he attacked or something? No. He wouldn’t go down that easily.

Unless....

No. Don’t spiral, Lorraine. You’ve got enough to survive already without adding him to the mess in your head.

The lecture dragged on, but the rhythm of the teacher’s voice became nothing more than a dull echo in the back of my skull

The bell finally rang after what felt like an eternity.

Students began to rise, noise flooding the room, chairs scraping, voices rising, bodies moving. I stood quickly before anyone could speak to me or trap me in some pointless cruel joke again. I didn’t even wait for Adrian.

I just needed a second.

Somewhere without eyes. Without whispers. Without ghosts.

I walked fast, nearly ran, my steps echoing down the sterile white hallway of the class building. I ignored the stares, the way nobles leaned into one another and smirked as I passed.

When I reached the restroom, I slipped in and shut the door behind me. The sudden silence was suffocating and relieving at the same time.

I didn’t stop at the sinks. I went straight for the last stall, locked the door behind me, sat on the closed lid of the toilet, and curled my arms around my knees.

Finally. A breath.

I inhaled sharply, chest rising with the ache of everything I’d been holding back. I didn’t cry. I wouldn’t cry. But I sat there, breathing like I’d just surfaced from a drowning ocean.

It was the first moment today tgat I wasn’t performing... wasn’t proving I was unbreakable. I didn’t have to wear the mask here.

I was just.... me.

Just Lorraine. The feral girl with bruises on her ribs, a war in her mind, and a heart far too curious about a monster prince who wasn’t in class today.

Where are you, Kieran?

And why do I feel like I’m holding my breath until I see you again?

I don’t know how long I sat there, knees pulled to my chest, head resting against the cool bathroom stall wall. Maybe minutes. Maybe longer.

Long enough for my pulse to settle. Long enough for my thoughts to start rearranging themselves into questions I didn’t want to ask.

But then the door creaked open.

Voices drifted in, light, careless..... Lycans.

Footsteps echoed off the tile. Then I heard it. Her voice.

Varya.

I held my breath instinctively.

The soft clack of boots on the floor, followed by the sharp pitch of her friends’ voices. They sounded amused. Curious.

"Varya, seriously," one of them said, half-laughing. "Why did you bother with that noble kid? You almost flattened him into paste. All for that..... that feral? You can’t possibly care what happens to her."

A pause. My heart beat louder.

Varya chuckled, low, throaty, amused.

"Care?" she repeated, like it was the most ridiculous word in the universe. "Please. I’d rather chew off my own arm."

Her friends laughed.

"So why...?"

"Because the prince asked me to," she cut in sharply.

Even her friends seemed caught off guard.

"He told me to make sure the little rat doesn’t get killed while he’s gone," she continued. "Direct words. ’Make sure no one touches her while I’m away.’ And when the prince asks you to do something, you don’t say no. Especially not when he uses that voice."

Gone?

My entire body stiffened.

Gone?

Kieran’s gone?

Where?

Varya kept talking, casually now, as if what she’d said wasn’t cracking my world open like a fault line. "So yeah. I’m not babysitting her out of goodwill. He wants her breathing when he comes back. That’s all."

Their voices started to fade as they walked out of the bathroom. One of them made a crude joke about me still probably managing to get myself killed anyway. The door creaked closed behind them.

And then I was alone again.

But not still.

My heartbeat thundered now. My lungs squeezed as the storm started rising in me again.

He told her to protect me.

He left?

Kieran is gone?

No. No, he wouldn’t just leave. Not without a word. Not after everything.... after that moment in his villa. After the way he looked at me.

He’s never once missed class. Never once broken protocol. And now he was just gone?

Is that why he gave up the lunars so easily? Why he handed them over and didn’t even stay to see the outcome?

Was that his goodbye?

I couldn’t breathe.

I shoved the stall door open and stumbled out. I didn’t bother washing my face or checking the mirror. I didn’t care if my hair was a mess or if my eyes were red.

I just ran.

I flung open the bathroom door and bolted into the hallway, my boots hitting the tile hard. I had to find him. Someone had to know where he went.

He couldn’t leave like this.

There were still too many things between us unspoken, unfinished. I needed answers. I needed him to say it, to explain why he kept pulling me close only to push me away or to disappear. Why he was the only one who saw me, and yet remained a mystery I couldn’t solve.

I sprinted through the halls, ignoring every look, every sneer, every insult thrown my way.

Because right now, only one thing mattered.

Where are you, Kieran?

And why does it feel like if I don’t find you... I’ll never understand what’s happening to me?

I didn’t know where I was running to anymore.

All I knew was that my feet were carrying me faster than I could think, the courtyard behind the academy building blurring past me in streaks of gray stone and dead leaves. The wind bit against my cheeks, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

Then.....

I crashed into someone.

Hard.

I stumbled back and gasped, already breathless, but that breath was stolen from me for a different reason entirely the moment I looked up.

Blue hair.

Flowing like silk, cascading past sharp, cold eyes that burned a brilliant gold. Her uniform hugged her like royalty, her stance screamed danger, and her collar...

An Elite

"Watch it," she snarled, her voice venomously sweet.

Before I could step back, her hand shot out, lightning-fast, and wrapped around my throat.

My back slammed into the nearest tree.

I choked, eyes wide, hands clawing at her arm.

Her grip wasn’t just painful. It was merciless.

"Well, well," she said, tilting her head as golden sparks flickered in her irises. "Aren’t you the filthy little feral that caused the downfall of the Ashthornes?"

I blinked, gasping for air. My fingers scrabbled against her wrist, useless. Her claws were halfway out. I could feel them beginning to dig in.

Her lips curled into a vicious smile.

"You’ve made quite a name for yourself, haven’t you?" she whispered, tightening her grip. "I wonder how many bones I can crush before the hunting hours begin..."

Crack.

A twig behind her snapped.

A gust of wind followed.

But it wasn’t a twig.

It was a presence.

A storm.

The girl stilled. Her nostrils flared.... and then her pupils dilated as a shadow loomed behind her. _{free.w e bn.ov(e)l(.)com}

"Let her go," a voice said.

Not just a voice. A command.

Low. Dangerous. Ancient.

Primal.

The girl stiffened like she’d been struck. Slowly, she turned, and I watched the blood drain from her face as her golden eyes met his.

Kieran.

He stood there like a specter of rage made flesh, his aura billowing outwards, suffocating. His eyes were crimson red.

"K-Kieran...." she stuttered, stepping back from me instantly, as if my skin had burned her.

He didn’t blink. "I said. Let. Her. Go."

She didn’t argue.

Didn’t hesitate.

She vanished in a blur of blue and terror, too afraid to say another word.

I coughed, collapsing to my knees, hand flying to my throat as I tried to breathe again.

And then I heard it.

My name.

"Lorraine....."

His voice was ragged. Concerned. Raw.

But I didn’t wait for him to reach me.

I turned around on instinct, still dizzy, and pushed myself up onto my toes.

And then I kissed him.

Like I was drowning and he was air.

Like he was the only real thing in a world that kept trying to kill me.

Like nothing made sense, but him.

His hands caught my waist immediately, pulling me closer as if he was afraid I’d vanish if he didn’t hold on tight enough. His lips were warm, familiar. But there was something desperate in the way he kissed me back, something wild and urgent and painful, like he’d been carrying something too heavy for too long.