Chapter 156 Confronting Cole
POV: Luna
I woke to chaos.
Alarms blaring. Students shouting. Magical energy crackling through the air.
"What's happening?" I asked, sitting up too fast. My head spun.
"Escape," Liam said grimly. "Cole. He's gone."
"How?"
"Someone helped him. Inside job. They broke through the suppression wards and got him out."
"When?"
"An hour ago. The Headmaster's searching the grounds now."
I got up despite my exhaustion. "We need to find him."
"Luna, you can barely stand."
"I don't care. Cole's dangerous. And he knows too much about our defenses."
Through the pack bonds, I reached out to my friends.
Cole's escaped. Everyone stay alert.
Responses came back immediately.
We gathered in the common room.
"The Headmaster thinks Cole had help from the Council division," Aria said. "The black ops group we found evidence of."
"Makes sense. They planted him here. They'd protect their asset."
"What's his next move?" Nova asked.
"I don't know. But we need to figure it out fast."
Lyric pulled up her laptop. "I've been tracking magical signatures. Looking for anything unusual."
"Find anything?"
"Maybe. There's a concentration of dark magic in the restricted archives. Someone's been accessing forbidden texts."
"Cole?"
"Probably. The timing matches his escape."
We headed to the restricted archives.
They were locked. Warded. Supposedly impossible to access without faculty permission.
But the wards were broken. Door hanging open.
Inside, books were scattered everywhere. Like someone had been searching frantically.
"What was he looking for?" Sienna wondered.
I examined the titles. Most were about ancient magic. Otherworld connections. Seal manipulation.
Then I found it.
A book on Eclipse bloodline abilities. Open to a specific page.
The page described a ritual. One that could transfer Eclipse power from one person to another.
Temporarily or permanently, depending on the sacrifice required.
"He's trying to steal my power," I breathed.
"Can he do that?" Nova asked.
"According to this? Yes. With the right ritual. The right components."
"What components?"
I read further. "Blood from the Eclipse wolf. A true mate bond to anchor the transfer. And a full moon for maximum magical energy."
"The full moon is tonight," Aria realized.
"And Cole knows I'm bonded to Liam."
"So he has everything he needs," Sienna said grimly.
"Except my blood."
"Which he could get by force."
We needed to warn everyone. Fortify defenses. Prepare for an attack.
But as we turned to leave, Cole appeared in the doorway.
Blocking our exit.
"Hello, Luna," he said. "We need to talk."
I shifted immediately, claws extending. "Get out of our way."
"I'm not here to fight. I'm here to warn you."
"Warn me? You escaped custody. Broke into restricted archives. You're clearly planning something."
"I am. But not what you think." He held up his hands. Unarmed. Non-threatening. "Please. Just listen."
Against my better judgment, I did.
"The Council division," Cole said. "The architects. They're planning something catastrophic for tonight. Full moon. Maximum power."
"Let me guess. Stealing my Eclipse power?"
He looked surprised. "You found the book."
"We did. And we know what you're planning."
"That's not my plan. It's theirs. I escaped to warn you. To help stop them."
"Why should we believe you?" Liam demanded.
"Because I have proof." He pulled out a crystal. Similar to the one Victoria had. "This is a communication device. Encrypted. It contains messages between the architects and their operatives."
"Let me see it," Sienna said.
Cole tossed it to her carefully.
She examined it. "It's authentic. Council-level encryption. And recent messages dated today."
"What do the messages say?" I asked.
She pulled up the holographic display.
Messages scrolled across. Plans. Coordinates. Timing.
All centered on one objective: capture Luna Eclipse during the full moon. Transfer her power to a vessel they could control.
"They're not just stealing your power," Cole said. "They're creating a weapon. An Eclipse wolf they can manipulate. Use to break the otherworld seal."
"And you expect me to believe you're trying to stop this?" I asked.
"I expect you to be smart enough to recognize when someone's giving you actionable intelligence."
Through the pack bonds, I felt my friends' skepticism. Their distrust.
But also their acknowledgment that the information matched what we'd found.
"Why are you really helping us?" I asked.
Cole was silent for a moment. "Because I was wrong. About everything. I thought the architects wanted change. Revolution. Freedom from predetermined destinies."
"And now?"
"Now I know they just want power. Control. They'll destroy everything to get it. Including you. Including themselves."
"So you had a change of heart?"
"I had a reality check. When I lost my magical core, I lost my value to them. They didn't try to help me. Didn't try to restore my power. They just abandoned me."
"And now you want revenge."
"I want to stop them. If that also gets me revenge, so much the better."
I looked at my friends. At Liam.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"I think he's telling the truth about the architects' plan," Liam said. "Whether he's genuinely trying to help or just using us is another question."
"We could use the information but not trust him," Aria suggested.
"Or we could trust him conditionally," Sienna added. "Verify everything he tells us."
"I don't trust him at all," Nova said flatly.
Fair.
"Okay," I said to Cole. "We'll use your information. But you're not part of this fight. You stay locked up until it's over."
"I can help! I know their tactics, their strategies—"
"You're powerless. You'd be a liability."
"I have strategic value—"
"You have a history of betrayal. Stay. Out. Of. This."
Through our old pack bond, I felt his frustration. His desperation to prove himself.
But I couldn't risk it. Couldn't trust him in battle.
"Fine," he said finally. "But Luna, be careful. The architects are more dangerous than you know. And they will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals."
"Including their own operatives?"
"Especially their own operatives. You're tools to them. Nothing more."
He let security take him back to his cell. Willingly this time.
When he was gone, Lyric said, "That was weird."
"Which part?"
"All of it. Cole escaping just to warn us? Giving us intelligence? It feels like a setup."
"It probably is," I agreed. "But the information is real. The threat is real. So we prepare anyway."
We spent the rest of the day fortifying defenses.
Extra wards around the Academy. Guards posted at every entrance. Students confined to dorms.
The Headmaster authorized emergency protocols. Faculty on high alert.
By evening, Silverwood looked like a fortress.
But I knew it wouldn't be enough.
The architects had been planning this for years. Decades. Maybe centuries.
They'd have contingencies. Backup plans. Ways around our defenses.
"You're brooding," Liam said, finding me on the roof.
"I'm strategizing."
"You're brooding. I can feel it through the bond."
"Fine. I'm brooding and strategizing."
He sat beside me. "Whatever happens tonight, we face it together. Remember?"
"I remember."
"Good. Because I'm not letting you out of my sight. If they want your power, they go through me first."
"Liam—"
"I mean it. You're my mate. My responsibility. My choice."
Through the mate bond, I felt his absolute conviction.
It was terrifying. And comforting.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"For what?"
"For being here. For choosing me despite everything."
"Choosing you isn't difficult. It's the easiest decision I've ever made."
He kissed me as the sun set.
And as the full moon began to rise, I felt it.
The pull. The power. The inevitability of what was coming.
Tonight would change everything.
One way or another.
We just had to survive it first.