Chapter 173

XANDER

We didn’t have time to unravel it. We were already sprinting through the school grounds again, checking everywhere, library, training field, classrooms, dorms, bathrooms every corner smelled, empty, wiped. There was no trail. No heartbeat. No hint of her wolf. The school was locked down full force but still felt huge enough to lose a soul in.

Hours felt like years carved inside seconds. Then it happened.

Zayne jerked his head to the left, nostrils flaring like he caught something. I didn’t smell it at first, just faint metal in the air, like cold blood mixed with the husk of an unfamiliar scent. But then I heard footsteps near the maintenance back gate.

Zayne grabbed my arm. “There.” We ran toward the shadows and the scene snapped into place like a trap being sprung.

Liam, with Milicent hanging unconscious over his shoulder. He was trying to slip out through the old servant’s path that no one used anymore.

He froze when he saw us. Completely froze. Like he didn’t calculate this part of the plan at all. Zayne growled so low the ground hummed. “Put her down.”

Liam didn’t. He didn’t run either. He just slowly lifted his hands in defeat, Milicent still limp in his grip.

“It’s a trap,” I muttered. “The idiot didn’t even get out yet.” Zayne lunged first, and the whole place erupted.

The fight wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean. It was exactly what happens when fury and protective instinct collide. Zayne punched him first, landing it straight on Liam’s jaw. I grabbed his collar and threw him against the wall. He kicked back, hit my ribs, elbowed Zayne, but he wasn’t fighting to win. He was fighting like someone who expected to die here and just wanted to go down without crawling.

We tore Milicent out of his arms and I caught her before she hit the ground. Zayne shoved Liam hard enough he dropped to one knee.

“What did you do to her?” Zayne roared. “What the hell did you give her?”

Liam spat blood. “Nothing.”

“You think we’re stupid?” I snapped.

“I didn’t touch her,” he yelled back, breath shaking now. “I swear on my wolf—I didn’t touch her.” Good. Because we were seconds away from ripping his throat out.

Gregory’s arrival shook the entire atmosphere. It was lethal. He walked toward us like a man who was ready to bury someone tonight.

He knelt beside Milicent, lifted her into his arms, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked painful. His eyes, gods, those eyes were murder.

Then he turned them on Liam.

“If anything happens to my daughter,” Gregory said, “I will return the favour to your father. And I guarantee you, it won't be pretty. Nephew.”

Nephew? Liam is Milicent's cousin?

Liam glared back at Gregory and my curiousity flared. What is this family drama?

“Liam didn't do anything.” Suddenly I caught onto a scent approaching us.

She stepped out of the shadows and moved straight to Liam’s side, placing her hand on his arm like she belonged there.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, stunned as my gaze landed on Fiona's face. She didn’t even look ashamed. “Liam didn’t do anything to her. I did.”

Zayne blinked like he didn’t trust his ears. “You did what?”

“I knocked her out.” Just like that. Casual. No remorse. She angled her chin up, fearless. “She trusted me. That was her mistake.”

Zayne swore under his breath. “You’re out of your damn mind.” Fiona stepped closer to Liam until their shoulders touched. He looked at her like she was his last lifeline.

Then, because the world wasn’t insane enough, they kissed. Right in front of us.

I stared at them like my brain malfunctioned. “What the actual hell Fiona?”

Fiona broke the kiss, wiped her mouth, and met my stare with this cold, entitled smile. “Why are you acting shocked? I was open about my feelings for Liam.”

“He's trying to hurt your friend. You betrayed your own bestfriend. Who are you even right now?”

“My ‘best friend’ forgot something important.”

“And what’s that?” Zayne growled. She flipped her hair back. “I’m from Dranox pack.”

I stiffened.

“And Liam here,” she added, sliding her fingers into his, “is the future Alpha. And I am his future Luna.”

The second Fiona spoke, the air went thick, heavy, like someone had dumped iron filings into it. Liam’s jaw slackened and I felt my chest tighten, the wolf inside me thrashing, snarling, clawing for some release.

“What did you do to her?” Liam’s voice was tight, a mixture of fear and anger, but more fear than anything.

Fiona tilted her head, eyes cold, calculating, and smiled just slightly. “Oh, she just had a little… tampering with her ice coffee.”

Liam froze. My teeth ground instinctively, like I could taste the venom in the words before she even finished. “What—what do you mean ‘tampering’? What did you—?”

Fiona’s hand moved into her bag and pulled out a small vial, glinting under the dim moonlight, and I swear even the shadows seemed to pause to look. She held it up like a trophy. “This.”

I frowned, and Zayne’s hand tightened on my shoulder. I could tell his claws were itching under his skin. Fiona turned the vial slowly, letting the liquid inside catch the light. “It’s a drug. Very expensive. Very… illegal too. It tampers with the connection between a person and their wolf, giving them no chance to shift or use their powers. A drug banned across the kingdom.”

Liam looked at her like she had sprouted fangs. “What? How… how did you—?”

I barked. “How could you do that to Milicent?” My voice was low, dangerous, shaking, and I could feel Zayne’s growl behind me, vibrating through the floor, through the walls.

Fiona didn’t flinch. “She’s basically in a coma until eternity,” she said, slow, deliberate. “Unless…” She opened her other hand and revealed another vial, green liquid glowing faintly inside. “Unless you grant us escape.”

I snapped my head to her. “You what?!”

She leaned closer, her face close enough that I could see the glint in her eyes. “You are going to grant us escape or I break this,” she said, tapping the vial against the other. “And Milicent never wakes. Ever. This antidote,” she tapped the green liquid, “is made from a plant that only grows in the heart of Dranox territory. Dangerous, rare, and priceless. I’ve been saving it… just for this moment.”

Zayne’s hands shook, tight fists, and I could see the rage rolling off him like heat from a furnace. “I swear to god…” he growled low, the words trembling out of his throat, “someone is going to pay.”

I swallowed hard, trying to make sense of the twisted logic, the sheer audacity. Fiona had manipulated my mate. Liam had been blindsided, horrified, but still there was a flicker of respect—or maybe fear—in his eyes, the way he glanced at the vial like it might shatter in his hands.

“You think you can play a friend and just get away with it?” Zayne demanded.

Fiona smirked, and I swear, I wanted to punch that smirk off her face. “Oh, I don’t get away. I give myself a choice. You all give me my choice, or your precious little mate sleeps forever.”

Milicent’s limp form slumped slightly in Zayne’s arms. My wolf was nearly tearing through my chest; every instinct in me screamed to strike, to shred, to rip the world apart until she woke up again. I could feel Liam’s hands clenching into fists, shaking, but restrained by some thin thread of sanity.

“Fine,” Zayne said. “We’ll do it. Just—just get her to wake up.” His eyes, dark and stormy, flicked between Fiona and me.

Fiona’s smile widened. “Glad we understand each other.” She stepped back slowly, “The vial would be under that tree,” she said pointing to a far off tree. “if I follow us before we make it that far, I'll break it.”

Zayne leaned in. “Why should we trust that you wouldn't break it before we get there?”

Fiona laughed softly, sweet, teasing, like someone dangling a dagger just above your throat. “Oh, you’ll see.” She and Liam vanished back into the shadows before either of us could react.

We quickly went to the tree and found the vial. We rushed Milicent to the infirmary. I stayed at her side, pressing her hand to check for life, any spark, any pulse that would tell me she was still there. The witch nurse was there.

“She’s… stable,” the nurse said, soft but serious. “But the drug… it’s strong. Fiona wasn’t bluffing. The drug is very potent. I’ve got her on monitoring and stimulants, but…” My fists slammed onto the metal of the bed rail. “But what?”

“She’s still unconscious. And… the antidote Fiona gave?” The nurse’s lips thinned. “Empty. And there’s a note.”

I snatched it up, tearing it open.

" I hope sleeping beauty dies."

Fiona.

I tore the paper in half, crumpling it with my bare hands, wishing I could crumple Fiona herself along with it. Zayne’s fingers dug into the mattress beside me, shaking like he wanted to tear the entire infirmary apart brick by brick.

“She… she tricked me?!”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Every thought in me, every nerve in me screamed with the knowledge that Milicent’s life, even unconscious, had been gambled on a game we didn’t even see coming.

Zayne’s growl was low, constant, and I could feel my wolf pacing, pressing against my ribs. “We get her through this,” Zayne hissed. “I don’t care how but we're gonna get that antidote. She comes back up, and Fiona is going to regret ever putting a finger near her.”

I just nodded, gripping Milicent’s hand tighter than was reasonable, willing every heartbeat, every pulse, every breath to stay in her chest.

The rage almost had me overwhelmed that I didn't notice general Gregory already left, probably making plans of his own. My anger lingered in my chest like molten steel, gnawing at my ribs, twisting my insides into a cage I couldn’t escape.

Every heartbeat was a drum, every breath a challenge to hold myself back from tearing through the world. I could feel Zayne beside me, silent, coiled, radiating that same wildfire of fury that refused to be contained.

Milicent’s unconscious form in the infirmary had made the air taste metallic, like iron and smoke, and nothing else mattered.

It was in the middle of that fury, pacing the infirmary floor that I saw her.

Seren?

She appeared at the doorway, thin shadow moving cautiously like she was measuring the danger with every step. My eyes went wide, my wolf growled low in my chest, and I almost couldn’t believe she was here, looking more like a ghost than a person.

“Seren?” My voice came out rough, fractured. “What the hell are you doing here?” She flinched but then straightened, shoulders back, eyes sharp.

“Ugh alpha bullies.” Her gaze swept past us, landing on Milicent first, and then meeting my own. “What happened to Milicent?” Her voice was calm, but there was a thread of steel under it. “Its a long story but she's been poisoned.”

“Why are you here?” Zayne asked.

“I got kidnapped. Again,” Seren said with an irritated tone. “By some psycho who wanted to know why Zayne took me. I survived.” Her jaw tightened, and I could see the memory of it in her eyes. “Some curious idiot named Liam.”

Zayne and I exchanged looks. “He kept asking questions relating to Milicent and I only came back here to warn her and then keep my nose off wolf business. Seems I was too late,”