Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Xavier and Nikolai found him an hour later, standing alone in the empty training hall.

"You missed the evening check-in," Nikolai said, his voice cold. "Lord Varek expects regular reports."

"I was busy."

"Busy doing what?" Xavier’s easy smile was nowhere to be seen. "We heard about your encounter with Eldritch in the lab. He’s suspicious now. You’ve made yourself a liability."

"I’ve made myself useful." Killian turned to face them. "I have a plan. One that doesn’t rely on Draven’s incompetence or your cautious approach. One that will actually work."

"Your ’plan’ nearly got you caught tonight."

"But it didn’t. And it won’t." Killian’s eyes were bright with something that looked almost like fever. "I know what I’m doing. Just give me time."

Nikolai exchanged a glance with Xavier. "You have one week. If Thorne isn’t dead by then, we do this my way. Understood?"

"Understood."

They left him alone in the dark, and Killian pulled the vial from his pocket. The liquid inside gleamed in the faint torchlight.

One week, he thought. That’s more than enough time.

The note was slipped under Nyra’s door sometime in the deepest hour of the night.

She found it when she woke for morning training a folded piece of parchment, unmarked, unsealed. Her name was written on the front in a hand she didn’t recognize.

She unfolded it. Read the words.

Your secret is not as hidden as you think. The moon sees everything. And soon, everyone else will too.

No signature. No identifying marks. Just the words, written in a careful hand that could have belonged to anyone.

Nyra’s blood ran cold.

"Thorne?" Finn’s sleepy voice came from his bunk. "What’s that?"

"Nothing." She crumpled the note and shoved it into her pocket. "Just a training schedule."

"You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

"I’m fine." She forced a smile. "Just tired. Let’s get to training."

She walked out of the dorm, her heart pounding, the crumpled note burning in her pocket like a brand.

Someone knew. Someone was watching.

And whoever they were, they were closing in.

Nyra couldn’t concentrate.

The morning training session had been brutal more sparring drills, more tactical exercises, more of Senior Lecturer Marrow’s clipped criticisms—but it wasn’t the physical exhaustion that distracted her. It was the note. The crumpled piece of parchment was still in her pocket, its words seared into her mind like a brand.

Your secret is not as hidden as you think. The moon sees everything. And soon, everyone else will too.

Who had written it? Valeria? One of her haters? Someone else entirely? The possibilities swirled in her head like leaves in a storm, and every shadow seemed to hold a threat.

She found Soren after training, pulling him aside into the quiet alcove near the eastern garden. The morning mist still clung to the grounds, and the air was cold enough to make her breath mist.

"You look like you haven’t slept," he said, his dark eyes scanning her face.

"Because I haven’t." She pulled the crumpled note from her pocket and pressed it into his hand. "I found this under my door this morning."

Soren read it. His expression didn’t change—it rarely did—but she saw the way his jaw tightened, the way his fingers curled around the edges of the parchment.

"When did you find this?"

"Before dawn. It was slipped under the door sometime during the night."

"Did anyone see who left it?"

"No. My roommates were all asleep. I checked the corridor—it was empty."

Soren read the note again, his dark eyes scanning each word. "The handwriting is careful. Deliberate. Whoever wrote this took their time."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they’re not impulsive. They’re patient. Calculating." He folded the note and tucked it into his own pocket. "I’ll investigate this. Quietly. If someone in this academy knows your secret, I’ll find out who."

"And if they expose me before you do?"

"They won’t." His voice was iron. "I won’t let them."

"Soren—"

"Nyra." He cupped her face in both hands, his thumbs brushing the shadows beneath her eyes. "You’re exhausted. You’re frightened. And you have every right to be. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

She looked up at him—the steady dark eyes, the strong jaw, the hands that held her like she was something precious. "I trust you."

"Good." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss was soft at first, gentle, a reassurance more than a demand. But when she leaned into him, when her hands fisted in the front of his training tunic, he deepened it. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close, and for a moment the rest of the world faded away. The note. The threats. The fear. All of it dissolved into the warmth of his mouth and the steady beat of his heart against her chest.

When they finally broke apart, she was breathing harder, but the tension in her shoulders had eased.

"Better?" he asked.

"A little."

"Good." He pressed a final kiss to her forehead. "Go to training. Act normal. Don’t let whoever wrote that note see that they’ve rattled you. I’ll handle the rest."

"Be careful."

"I always am."

She walked away, and Soren watched her go, his expression darkening the moment she was out of sight. He pulled the note from his pocket and read it again.

The moon sees everything.

Someone in this academy was a threat. And Soren Thornridge would find them.

The hour was late, the academy shrouded in darkness and silence. The corridors were empty, the torches burned low, and the only sound was the distant howl of the wind through the towers.

Elias moved through the shadows like a ghost.

He had received the message hours ago—a single word written on a scrap of parchment, slipped into his hand during the evening meal. Come. No signature. No time. But he knew what it meant. He had been waiting for this summons since the night at the river.

Valeria’s suite was in the senior wing, tucked away at the end of a quiet corridor. He knocked once, softly, and the door swung open before his knuckles had even left the wood.

She pulled him inside and slammed him against the wall.

Her mouth was on his before he could speak, fierce and demanding, her fingers already working at the buttons of his shirt. She was stark naked—her skin flushed, her dark hair loose and wild around her shoulders, her body radiating heat that seemed to burn through his clothes. On the bed behind her, the sheets were tangled and damp. A single candle flickered on the nightstand, its flame dancing wildly as if it, too, was struggling to breathe.

"You’re late," she breathed against his mouth.

"I came as fast as I could—"

"Don’t talk."

She yanked his shirt open, buttons scattering across the stone floor. Her hands roamed his chest, nails raking lightly over his skin, and he gasped into her mouth. She swallowed the sound and demanded more.

On the nightstand, half-hidden in the shadows, a small device lay forgotten. The polished metal gleamed faintly in the candlelight, its surface still slick. Elias didn’t notice it. He was too far gone, too consumed by the woman who was already dragging him toward the bed.

But Valeria had been busy before he arrived. Busy thinking of Soren. Busy touching herself and pretending it was his hands on her body instead of her own. The device had helped a poor substitute for what she really wanted, but enough to take the edge off.

And now Elias was here. A different kind of substitute. A different kind of release.

She pushed him onto the bed and climbed on top of him, her dark hair falling around them like a curtain.

"Don’t disappoint me this time," she murmured.

"I won’t."

She smiled—a predator’s smile—and leaned down to claim his mouth again.

She kissed him and his hands went to her pussy and rubbed on her clit as she kissed him desperately, she broke the kiss and moaned against his touch arching into him as he added a finger into her walls and added another one.

"Ummm... fuck", Valeria moaned hastily as she started moving on his fingers, he already added a third one and she swore she was seeing the skies.

She continued riding his fingers as her hands slid to his trousers and loosened the rope of it.

She started stroking him, slow and steady. Elias grunted as she stroked him.

Valeria soon reached the edge and shattered on his fingers.

She immediately changed position and stroked his cock faster, Elias was grunting deeply, she bent down and licked the tip of his cock then she swallowed it while and started sucking it.

"Fuckkkk...this is—so good", Elias moaned as he grabbed her head and pushed deeper into his cock, making her take him fully.

Soon his cock became fatter and fatter till he cummed in her mouth and she swallowed him whole and licked him clean.

He changed positions and came on top and set his cock to her entrance and stroked her a little before he pushed it in, and she gasped.

"The device is nothing like this". Lila muttered in her mind and Valeria agreed, "Nothing like this".

"But Soren is still the main deal", Valeria muttered in her mind and her wolf agreed.

’Elias... faster, shatter this pussy and stretch it..gosh this is so good ", Valeria moaned as she was close to the edge.

"I’m about to cum, fuck".

Do it, cum on my cock I want to feel your juices on my cock, Elias said as he thrusted faster and roughly exactly the way she wanted.

Fuckkkk, Valeria shattered on his cock, but Elias didn’t stop he kept on thrusting in chasing his own release and soon he shattered and spilled his seeds inside her walls.

Valeria smiled as his seed spilled inside her, she took her hand to her clit and started rubbing it even as sensitive as it was.

She scooped some of his seeds and used it to rub her clit as she came on top of his and started riding him while he rubbed her clit for her.

The night was going to be a long one as Valeria’s moans and Elias grunts filled the night as the breeze carried it away.