The rest of the day blurred by in a haze of classes, drills, and paperwork. By the time evening rolled around, I was spent, my body heavy with exhaustion. I collapsed onto my bed, the mattress groaning under my weight, and let my eyes drift shut. I didn’t even realize I had fallen into a deep sleep until the world shifted.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in my room.

I was sitting on a fallen oak tree under a pale sky that had no sun, no stars. Just a faint light that didn’t come from anywhere. The air felt different here — thicker, colder. The smell of burnt wood lingered.

And beside me, as real as life, sat Rivan.

“Hello brother,” His voice, calm as dawn and a thousand rumbles of thunder at the same time.

I was in shock. “Rivan?”

He looked the same — dark hair tousled, eyes too sharp to belong to the dead.

“Good to see you too, brother.” His smile pierced the very fabric of my soul.

“How? How are you here?”

“You never let me in anymore, but I had to find another way.” He said quietly.

My throat tightened. “Didn’t think it would be easy seeing you again.”

He chuckled, that familiar crooked grin ghosting his face. “You’ve changed, you’re harder, colder even, and I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.”

“Probably both.”

“This is my doing, is it not? I made you this way.” His eyes carried sadness in them.

I shook my head; it wasn’t his fault, it never was. “No, it's not your fault. I just, I—”

Rivan extended his hand and nodded for me to take it. I did “Your heart carries too much burden, Aklan, you are heavier because you do not want to feel.”

“What? You died and became a therapist?” I scoffed.

He smiled at me. “It’s beautiful here. I would invite you over for a visit, but we both know the warlock girl will resurrect you and kill you all over again.”

“How did you—? So now you’re a therapist and a stalker”

He smirked. “I thought you had a thing for stalkers, that would explain your fixation with the witch”

“I’m not fixated.” I shrugged because it was true.

He flashed his ridiculous grin. “That’s a lot of late-night sneaking and early morning sessions for someone who isn’t fixated”

“Great, you brought me to the endless to discuss my sex life. Well, what about you? Getting any pussy out here?”

Rivan looked faux offended “We do not mate here in the abyss. I’m in the abyss, not in the endless yet. I still get to wander and visit my favorite people”

“And you chose to watch me fuck. Is this how you spend your days, Rivan?”

“Beats sitting by the riverbank every day.” He smiled.

I missed him, I missed him more than I knew how to explain.

I grabbed him and hugged him like my life depended on it. I knew it was just a dream, but he felt real. “It's good to see you, brother”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you had the hots for me when I was alive”

I laughed loudly, my shoulders shrieking, my chest felt loose. I had forgotten how easy life was with Rivan by my side.

“It is good to hear your laughter again, Aklan. It's been four years too long,” His eyes mirrored the relief in mine.

I nodded. “I guess I would let you in more often now that time has sharpened your humor”

“We would see each other more often than you think” His voice carried a level of worry that sent a chill through me.

He looked ahead, toward the horizon that didn’t exist. “Have you found the red wolf?”

“The what?” I turned to him, frowning.

“The one who doesn’t know what she carries,” he said, voice distant now. “She’s closer than you think, Aklan.”

“What are you talking about? Who—”

But before I could finish, he turned to me again, and his expression had shifted — something between sorrow and warning. “You need to find her. She is the key, you have to teach her—.”

A sound cut through the dream — faint, rhythmic and sounded like knocking.

I blinked, and the dream world began to crumble.

When I opened my eyes, I was back in my room, the air thick with the scent of pinewood and sweat. Someone was knocking — louder now.

I groaned and dragged myself to the door to find Kiyan standing there, leaning against the frame.

“You alive?” he asked, brow raised. Probably because he knew I wasn’t a deep sleeper, and I had taken forever to open the door.

“Define alive.”

He rolled his eyes, smiling. “You forgot the recruit’s punishment.”

I swore under my breath, checking the clock. 11:30 p.m. “She’s not going to show up.”

“She did,” he said simply. “Still standing there.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “Perfect. Let her stand all night. Consider it part of the discipline.”

Kiyan gave me a look that said he wanted to argue, but didn’t. He shrugged. “Your call.”

When the door shut again, I collapsed back onto my bed, staring at the ceiling.

For a long time, I didn’t move. I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter — that she would survive standing for a few hours, that I owed nothing to the world anymore.

But I knew a girl as stubborn as that wouldn’t wait for me to come. She would leave if she didn’t find me.

By the time my eyes drifted shut again, all I could see was Rivan’s smile — and the shadow of a conversation I didn’t understand.

Dawn came too early.

It always did.

The faint gold bleed of sunlight filtered through the curtains as I rolled out of bed, dragging a hand over my face. My body ached from yesterday’s drills and Valora’s particular brand of distraction.

I pulled on my running gear—black shorts, a fitted shirt, and new sneakers, trying to shake off the image of Rivan sitting on that fallen oak, his cryptic words about a “red wolf” echoing in my head.

What the hell did he mean?

Rivan’s voice had felt too real. The red wolf. What the hell did he mean by that?

I pushed the thought aside, grabbed my running gear, and slipped out into the hallway. The academy’s dorm corridors were still half-dark, the kind of quiet only broken by the hum of magic in the air. My steps echoed softly against the marble floors until I stopped in front of Kiyan’s door.

Sure enough, I heard moaning. Loud, breathy, unashamed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned. “For fuck’s sake.”

I banged my fist on the door. “Kiyan! Dawn runs. Let’s go!”

An excited, muffled voice came back. “Ten more minutes!”

And then Seraphine’s unmistakable murmur followed, too low for me to catch the words but high enough to make my ears burn.

I knocked again, louder. “You’ve got five.”

No answer this time, just a louder moan in response.

I shook my head, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms. I moved to the handrail nearby, resting my elbows on it, my gaze drifting to the empty hallway as my mind wandered back to the dream. Rivan’s face, his easy grin, the way he’d patted my back like no time had passed—it felt so real.

But that “red wolf” comment? It gnawed at me, a puzzle I couldn’t piece together. The more I turned it over, the more it frustrated me, like chasing a scent in a storm.

A groan escaped me before I realized it. “What the hell did you mean, Riv?”

I was about to go knock again when the door flung open.

Kiyan stumbled out, shirtless, sweaty, hair sticking up in every possible direction. Red scratch marks crisscrossed his shoulders and back, and the grin plastered on his face could’ve powered half the realm.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said, stretching like a cat.

I stared at him flatly. “You’re insufferable.”

“I love you too, bro.”

I shook my head, fighting a smirk. “How the hell did I end up with you as my beta?”

Kiyan laughed, falling into step beside me as we headed out. “You’re lucky to have me, Aklan. Imagine a beta as stuck-up as you. Disaster. The whole school would be doomed”

I shook my head, lips twitching despite myself. “Remind me why I made you my Beta again?”

“Because deep down, you love me,” he said easily, jogging ahead.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

But the truth was, he wasn’t wrong. Kiyan wasn’t just my Beta, he was my brother in every way that mattered. Through bloodshed, through battles, through the night, everything went to hell.

He had been there through the worst moments of my life, especially the one that haunted me like a plague, the one I couldn’t outrun no matter how fast I moved.

He had stayed by my side, and though I would rather have my fur ripped off than say it aloud, life without him would have been unbearable.

We reached the training grounds just as the first light spilt across the field. The air was sharp with dew, the grass glistening faintly under the rising sun. We started jogging, steady and silent, the rhythmic thud of our feet the only sound.

After a while, Kiyan muttered something.

“What?” I asked, glancing sideways.

He nodded toward a figure standing alone near the centre of the field.

“What about it?”

Kiyan sighed, exasperated. “That’s the girl.”

“What girl?”

“The new recruit. The one you told to report for punishment last night.”

I blinked. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. She’s still there.”

I scoffed. “No one’s stupid enough to stand outside all night.”

He didn’t say anything. Just gave me that look — the kind that said you’re going to feel like an ass in five seconds.

I exhaled sharply. “This is ridiculous.” But even as I said it, my feet were already moving.

I cursed under my breath and jogged toward the centre of the training ground, my sneakers crunching against the frost-covered grass.

As I got closer, the figure came into focus— the wolfling. She looked up at me, her face pale, her lips tinged blue from the cold. She was shivering so hard her teeth chattered, her fingers red and raw, her hazel eyes burning with that same fiery hatred from yesterday.

She had been out here all night.

I clenched my jaw. “Are you insane?” My voice came out sharper than a sword. “Did I tell you to stay here all night?”

She didn’t answer.

“I said report for punishment, not freeze to death waiting for me.”

Still nothing. Just that glare. Like she thought if she looked hard enough, she could burn me alive with it.

Her silence only stoked my frustration. “ When you didn’t see me, why didn’t you just leave?”

Still nothing. Just that look, like she could kill me with her eyes alone. My temper snapped, and I tapped into the beast within.

My voice dropped into that low, guttural growl that carried the weight of my lineage. “Speak.”

The wolfling let out a scream, her hands flying to her ears as she crumpled to the ground, with pain twisting her features. My chest heaved, the beast’s voice still thrumming through me.

Kiyan stepped in front of me, his hands raised.

“Your Highness,” he said firmly, his tone a mix of respect and warning. “Calm down.”

I closed my eyes, forcing my breathing to steady, the beast retreating as I reined myself in.

Kiyan crouched in front of her, his voice gentle. “Hey, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

I noticed it then, a thin trickle of blood seeping from her ears, a sign the beast’s voice had hit her harder than it should have. Kiyan tried to help her up, but she was shaking too violently, and her body was too cold.

Kiyan looked up at me, his eyes were hard. “She’s freezing.”

I frowned because I was confused. “Why?”

A wolf should’ve been able to keep her body temperature stable, even in subzero weather. The shifter realm taught us that much; we were built for survival, our blood running hot enough to fend off the worst conditions. The ability to adapt, to endure.

Unless—

I looked closer. She wasn’t just cold, she was powerless.

“She doesn’t have her wolf,” I muttered, the realization hitting me like a punch. I shook my head, a mix of pity and frustration settling in my gut. She looked powerless, miserable, curled in on herself like a wounded animal.

Kiyan glanced at me, his expression mirroring my thoughts. “Wolfless,” he confirmed, his voice low.

He exhaled quietly, pity crossing his features. Then he slid an arm under her knees and another around her back, lifting her easily. She didn’t fight him; she was too weak to.

“We’re taking her to the healing center.”

I nodded, falling into step behind him as we crossed the campus, the early morning silence broken only by the crunch of our steps.

The wolfling, could I even call her that when she hadn’t even had her wolf’s dawn yet? Her shivering form and those burning hazel eyes stayed with me, stirring that same nagging feeling from yesterday.

I looked at her — limp in Kiyan’s arms, blood drying at the curve of her jaw, her breath shallow but defiant even in weakness.

For some reason, my chest tightened.

Something about her—her face, her intensity, those eyes felt like a ghost from my past, one I had seen before, one I couldn’t name but couldn’t shake either.