Chapter 77 WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND
ZARA’S POV
Something was wrong.
I felt it before the academy bells shifted into evening mode before the corridors quieted and the lights dimmed to their artificial dusk. It slid through the bond like a blade wrapped in velvet yet controlled, furious, familiar.
Kai.
I stopped mid-step outside the west wing, fingers tightening around the strap of my bag. The air felt heavier, like the building itself was holding its breath. His presence wasn’t panicked. That would’ve been easier.
This was restrained violence.
“Kai,” I whispered through the bond.
At first, nothing. Then... I felt it.... pure pressure. Like his shields tightening too fast, locking me out not because he didn’t want me there, but because he didn’t trust what might spill if I got in.
That scared me more than silence.
I turned without thinking, feet already carrying me toward the General Alpha dorms. I didn’t bother checking if anyone was watching. Let them watch. Let them report. Let Dr. Voss added it to her collection of curiosities.
By the time I reached his door, my pulse was sharp and steady, the devourer pacing beneath my skin like it recognized a threat it hadn’t been allowed to meet yet.
The guards were gone. The room was… wrong.Too clean.Too orderly.
The kind of neatness that screamed forced compliance.
Kai stood near the window, back to me, shoulders squared in a way I’d learned to read. This wasn’t how he stood when he was calm.
This was how he stood when he was deciding how much damage he was willing to absorb before striking back.
“You’re blocking me,” I said softly.
He didn’t turn.
“I know.”
I stepped inside anyway, letting the door slide shut behind me. The bond throbbed once, sharp, then adjusted, making room for me like it always did, be grudging, but relieved.
“What happened?” I asked.
He laughed under his breath. No humour. Just disbelief.
“My father came.”
The word hit harder than I expected.
“Here?” I asked, voice low.
“In the academy?”
“He never does anything halfway,” Kai said.
“Not abuse. Not control.”
I moved closer, scanning the room. The faint scent of old authority lingered like iron, dominance, something rotten beneath polish. My fingers curled slowly.
“He touched you,” I said.
Kai finally turned.
Not a question. A statement.
His jaw tightened.
“Briefly.”
The devourer stirred, alert now. Not hungry. Protective. Furious in a cold, focused way that made the walls hum faintly.
“He threatened you,” I said again.
“Yes.”
“And he threatened me,” I added quieter.
That got a reaction.
Kai crossed the space between us in three strides, stopping just short of touching me, like he was afraid his hands might shake. His eyes searched my face, frantic beneath the restraint.
“He didn’t speak to you?”
“No,” I said.
“But I felt the shape of it. The intention.”
His exhale was sharp.
“Good.”
“That’s not comforting,” I said.
“I know.”
Silence settled yet not awkward, not empty. Just heavy with everything we weren’t saying.
“He ordered me to return home for the break,” Kai said finally.
“When I refused… he reminded me how replaceable I am to him.”
I tilted my head, studying him.
“And what did you do?”
“I told him no again.”
A flicker of pride warmed the bond before either of us could stop it.
“That won’t end well,” I said.
“No,” he agreed.
“It never does.”
I reached for him then. No hesitation. My palm pressed flat against his chest, right over his heart. It was racing, not from fear, but from containment. Holding himself together by sheer will.
“You don’t have to face him alone,” I said.
His hand came up, covering mine, grounding and careful.
“I know.”
“Say it,” I insisted.
He met my eyes.
“I won’t face him alone.”
The bond eased slightly, like a knot loosening just enough to breathe.
“There’s something else,” he said.
Of course there was.
“He told me love makes me weak.”
I felt it then, clear and sharp and incandescent.
Anger, yes. Rage, absolutely. But beneath it, something darker and older rose inside me, coiling with purpose.
“That’s how they always justify it,” I said calmly.
“If love is weakness, then cruelty becomes discipline. Control becomes duty.”
Kai watched me closely now.
“You’re not scared?”
“I’m aware,” I corrected.
“There’s a difference.”
I leaned closer, lowering my voice though we were alone.
“If he thinks threatening me will bend you, he doesn’t understand what he’s dealing with.”
“No,” Kai said quietly.
“He doesn’t.”
Our foreheads touched, breath mingling, the bond flaring warmer now, not desperate, not frantic. Steady. Chosen.
“They’re going to try to pull us apart,” he said.
“I know.”
“Voss. My father. Whatever’s moving behind the walls.”
“I know,” I repeated.
He swallowed.
“And if it looks like I’m leaving....”
“I promised,” I cut in.
“Remember?”
His eyes softened.
“I remember.”
The academy lights flickered once, just enough to be noticeable.
Somewhere far above us, something shifted like metal on magic, old hunger brushing against newer plans.
Kai rested his forehead against mine again.
“Stay with me tonight.”
It wasn’t a command. It wasn’t desperation.
It was trust.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.
And for once, the devourer agreed.
But as I closed my eyes, letting the bond settle, a single thought echoed through me, quiet, cold, undeniable.
They weren’t just testing us anymore.
They were preparing to choose who would break first.
Then I remembered what happened earlier on.... My mind just drifted back to the earlier memories.
The door clicked shut behind him, but the room still felt crowded.
Guards moved in silence, restoring order that didn’t belong to them. They stacked my papers, straightened the bed, erased the violence of his visit like it had never happened. Like he had never happened. I stood there, throat burning, hands clenched so tight my claws threatened to break skin.
Love makes you look weak.
The words echoed, familiar and old. He’d carved them into me long before Dr. Voss ever learned my name.
“Get out,” I said quietly.
The guards froze.
“I said get out.”
They hesitated only a second before retreating. The door sealed. Wards hummed back into place. Silence returned, but it wasn’t peace. It was pressure.
I pressed a hand to my chest. The bond pulsed erratically, like a heart that had skipped a beat.
Zara.
She felt it. I knew she did.
I reached for her instinctively, not words, not images, just presence. I’m here. I’m okay. The response came seconds later, faint but fierce. Warmth. Worry. A question she didn’t send aloud.
I exhaled.
He wouldn’t touch her. Not while I was breathing.
But he was right about one thing, and that terrified me more than his threat ever could.
Dr. Voss hadn’t brought me here despite my father.
She’d brought me here because of him.
Because she knew exactly where my fault lines were and how close Zara stood to them.
Outside my window, the academy lights dimmed for night cycle. Somewhere above us, something vast shifted in its sleep.
And deep in my bones, I felt it.
The break was coming.
Not tomorrow. Not next week.
Soon.
And when it did, I would choose her, even if it meant becoming everything he feared I already was.
I lay back on the bed that no longer felt like mine, staring at the ceiling until the wards blurred. Somewhere across the academy, Zara was awake too. I could feel her pulse through the bond, steadying mine without knowing it. For the first time since my father left, I let myself rest in that shared rhythm.
Whatever game Dr. Voss was playing…
Whatever future my father thought he owned…
They had both underestimated one thing.
I was no longer alone.