Chapter 159: Holding On to Hope

Chapter 159: Holding On to Hope
Dana’s POV
I still couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed.
 Zade’s father, the man everyone feared yet no one dared to confront, dragged his wife behind him as though she were nothing more than a log of wood. Without any form of remorse, no hesitation, no shame.
Just pure wickedness.
I frown.
When I couldn’t hold the irritation any longer, I turned to Damian.
“Is this how he usually behaves?” I asked, my voice filled with disbelief.
Damian let out a long, exhausted sigh.
“Hmmm….... Dana, you haven't even seen anything yet.” He said . “That man is a monster. Always giving orders, acting like he owns the world.”
“Wow. I can’t believe that man is your stepdad,” The words just slipped out freely before I could stop them.
Damian turned towards my direction. The look he gave me was enough to make my heart jump. His eyes burned, like he could tear me apart with just a glare, although just an exaggeration.
“Dana, don’t you ever say that again,” he snapped sharply.
I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay, calm down.”
“But that’s what he is,” Alex cut in, placing a hand on Damian’s shoulder. “A stepfather.”
Damian didn’t reply. He just sighed deeply.
“Alright, fine,” I muttered. “Let’s just drop the whole stepfather topic. Besides, it’s not like the man is a monster per se....”
“What?”
All three Grandlakes Alphas shouted in unison, nearly making me jump out of fear. I stared at them, confused. Why were they screaming like that?
“Dana, don’t even start,” Alex said, bursting into laughter. “Zade’s father is beyond a monster. He’s a no go area. The man is wicked to the core.”
Kyle frowned. “And honestly? I’m not convinced he won’t come back. That man doesn’t give up easily.”
“But the authorities handled everything, right?” I asked, though my voice lacked confidence.
“We can’t be sure,” Damian muttered as he started walking ahead. We quickly followed behind him.
Can we ever be free?
It felt like problem after problem, issue after issue. I had just returned from the Luna Temple, not even long enough to rest, before getting thrown into another mess. Sometimes I wondered if humans went through things like this, or if we wolves were cursed with chaos.
I sighed loudly, apparently....because the boys suddenly looked at me.
“Dana, why the sigh?” Alex asked, raising a brow.
“Huhhh? Sorry,” I stammered, startled. “I didn’t mean to....”
“But you did,” Damian said flatly. “So, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing serious,” I muttered, chewing on my nails.
“We know it’s not serious,” Alex said, grinning. “But tell us anyway.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, fine. Since you insist.”
I exhaled slowly.
“I was just thinking, do humans go through challenges this crazy? Or is it just us wolves? You guys completed the Blood Moon Trial few days back, then secretly followed me to the Luna Temple, and we still returned to find the entire school kidnapped.”
Damian sighed again, and this time I knew he fully understood my exhaustion.
“Exactly,” I continued softly. “That’s why I sighed.”
Kyle nodded in agreement.
“One day, we’ll find peace. But for peace to come, we must first calm the storm.”
“True,” I whispered.
Without thinking, the four of us held hands, just for a moment as we walked forward. It felt comforting, warm and united. A small reminder that even in chaos, we still had each other.
One day, I told myself, after the storm is finally over, peace will flow like a river.
Damian suddenly stopped and turned.
“Why don’t we visit the cafeteria?”
Alex burst into loud laughter.
“Visit what? Bro, did you forget your stepbrother practically shut down the school? Nothing is functioning.”
Damian shot Alex adeadly look.
I quickly changed the topic before Alex provoked him further.
“You know what honestly baffles me?” I asked. “How Zade pulled something this huge off.”
Damian said nothing, like it was obvious.
“You didn’t see that his father backed him.” Alex said..
Kyle nodded. “And the school didn’t see anything suspicious. If they had, they would have prepared.”
“That’s true,” I muttered. “But still, Zade really went too far. Fighting for equality where no discrimination even existed? It makes no sense. I just hope the authorities don’t treat his actions lightly this time. He deserves to face the consequences.”
“Is it only Zade you’re talking about?” Kyle asked. “What about his father?”
Alex jumped in.
“They both need to pay. If Zade’s father didn’t support him, none of this would have been possible. He gave Zade the power, the confidence, the go ahead, infact he gave the boys everything.”
Zade’s father wasn’t just dangerous.
He was influential.
He was determined.
And he was unpredictable.
That was the worst combination possible.
As we continued walking, the school look so tense, one could see the fear written on the faces of the students.
“The students are still recovering from the abduction,” Alex whispered.
“They look so scared.,” Kyle added.
“And very weak,” Damian finished.
My mind drifted again, to the Luna Temple, to the trials, to the chaos that never seemed to end. But underneath all that fear and uncertainty, a stronger emotion lies clearly in my heart.
Hope.
Even wolves needed hope.
Because without it, we’d drown in the storm that never seemed to let us rest.
Alex kicked a pebble across the floor.
“Feels weird. Like the school doesn’t even understand the chaos going on."
“Well,” Damian said with a sad smile, “we’ll rebuild everything. It might take time, but slowly and with togetherness, we will achieve it.”
Kyle placed his arm around my shoulder. “Yeah. One day, Archlight Academy will rise again.”
His reassurance comforted me.
“Do you really believe that?” I asked softly.
“I do,” he said sincerely.
I smiled because I believed it too.
The four of us continued to walk side by side, tired but not defeated.
There was something powerful in our togetherness, something unspoken, something very strong.
Maybe this was what being wolves truly meant, not just surviving, but standing shoulder to shoulder, even when the world tried to pull us apart.