Chapter 99: Scented Prey

Adeline’s pov~

Raven wants me to be his Luna. Zyran wants me to be his Luna. Keiran wants me to use him. Blake wants me to come to him if Raven forces me to do something that I don’t want to do... Wait, so Blake saw this coming. So is this what he meant?

Goddess, help me... What is even going on? Have they really gone insane? What are they playing with me?

That was so close. I had jumped off the fortress the moment I heard the footsteps of Blake and Raven entering the bedroom. There was a floor-to-ceiling window in the bathtub space that was more than enough for me to escape from the headquarters.

Well, I kinda hurt my knee when I jumped off the window from the first floor. And the pain was more bearable than the burning heat of my body beneath my hoodie, and the suffocating Lycan scent was all over me, like a literal death wish that I’m carrying with me.

I practically sprinted down the dimly lit stone corridor, my hands jammed deep into my hoodie pockets and the heavy fabric pulled low over my head. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped wild thing, every nerve ending in my body screaming in high-alert panic.

My mind was running on pure survival, churning through an urgent, frantic to-do list: Get back to the dorm. Lock the door. Scour every single inch of my skin.

One shower wasn’t going to cut it, I needed six, maybe seven, under burning hot water just to scrub away the suffocating, heavy layer of Raven’s scent clinging to me. Would it even wash away? I brutally doubted it. But I couldn’t afford to risk a single person catching a whiff of me like this, reeking of the scent of the Second Prince.

I finally reached my dorm building, my lungs burning as I cut around the corner toward my door. I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding, relief washing over me for a fraction of a second as I thought I’d made it back unseen, unheard, and un-smelled.

And then my stomach dropped into a bottomless abyss.

There he was.

Keiran was standing right outside my dorm room, his broad frame leaning back against the wall.

He wasn’t casually passing by. He was waiting. His arms were crossed over his chest.

Before I could back away or duck into the shadow of the stairwell, Keiran’s head snapped in my direction.

"Adeline?" Keiran’s voice was low. He pushed off the wall, taking a slow, deliberate step toward me as his dark eyes locked onto my covered frame. His eyebrows pulled up. "Where the hell have you been? And why... why do you smell like that? You have Lycan scent wrapped around you..."

My throat locked up. I instinctively pulled the oversized hoodie tighter around myself, taking a frantic step back toward the shadowed stairwell, but Keiran was already too fast. In a single, fluid blur of movement, he closed the distance between us, his massive frame completely cutting off my escape route.

"Don’t take another step away from me," he growled, his eyes flashing with a sudden, dangerous intensity.

His nostrils flared as he took a deep, deliberate breath of the air surrounding us, and the moment the heavy, suffocating scent hit his senses, his jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth would shatter.

"It’s not just any Lycan," Keiran rasped. He reached out, his long fingers catching the hem of my hoodie before I could dodge him. "This is Raven. His fucking scent is bleeding straight through your clothes, through your body, Adeline."

"Lord Keiran—" I choked out, my voice barely a whisper as terror spiked in my veins. "Let me go. I just need to get inside."

"What did he do to you?" he demanded, ignoring my plea entirely. His gaze swept down my body, sharp and lethal, as if he could see right through the thick cotton to the bruised, freshly claimed skin underneath. "Blake and Zyran have been tearing the entire academy apart looking for you. And here you come, sneaking back to your dorm in the middle of the night, drenched from head to toe in Raven’s scent."

What? Zyran is also searching for me?

Keiran stepped closer, his chest nearly brushing mine, trapping me against the cold corridor wall.

"Tell me the truth, Adeline," Keiran snarled low against my ear, his fingers tightening on the hem of my hoodie until the fabric strained. "Did he force you into his bed... or did you go to him willingly?"

"That’s none of your business!" I snapped, the panic in my blood morphing into a spike of sheer, unadulterated defensive anger. My hand shot out, trying to shove his chest back, but pushing against Keiran was like trying to move a brick wall. "Let go of my hoodie, Keiran! I don’t owe you an explanation, and I certainly don’t owe you a report on where I go or who I’m with!"

Without warning, his other hand snapped up, locking around my waist with an iron grip and yanking me flush against his hard torso. I gasped, my knee giving out for a fraction of a second from the sharp jolt, the bruise from my jump off Raven’s window throbbing in agony.

Keiran caught the subtle wince. His gaze narrowed as he took a deep breath, his eyes dipping down to my legs before snapping back to my face with terrifying sharp intensity.

"You’re hurt," he murmured. "You’re limping, Adeline. You’re trembling." His grip tightened on my waist, pinning me so firmly against him that I couldn’t move an inch.

"Let go..." I mumbled, the words scraping out of my throat in absolute, bone-deep exhaustion.

He didn’t argue. His heavy hand dropped from my waist, but instead of walking away, he reached past me, turned the handle of my dorm door, and guided me over the threshold.

"Get inside the room first," he commanded softly, closing the door behind us and cutting off the cold corridor.

The moment the lock clicked, I leaned heavily against the back of the door, my knees buckling slightly under my own weight. "Leave... Lord Keiran, please. I just want to rest..."

"You’re bleeding," he said flatly, ignoring my plea. His dark eyes locked onto me in the dim light of the room, his nostrils flaring with sharp, protective intensity. "I can smell your blood mixing with Raven’s scent. Sit on the bed, Adeline."

I didn’t have the energy to fight him. I stumbled over to the mattress and sank onto the edge, my hands clutching the oversized hoodie around myself.