Chapter 101 Powerless

Chapter 101 Powerless
The drive from the roadside motel back toward the academy grounds was a blur of gray asphalt and reckless speed.

Nate drove like a maniac, tires screaming around every winding mountain turn, desperate to make the morning bell. But the speed of the car did nothing to break the suffocating, deafening silence inside of it.

All three of us were practically vibrating with questions, dying to know what Celeste had said to her behind that door. But nobody dared to speak. None of us wanted to push, none of us wanted to pry, and none of us wanted to risk shattering whatever fragile composure Iris had left. It was strange how completely the dynamics had flipped—the three most feared Alpha heirs in the territory were sitting in absolute terror of their stepsister in the backseat, completely at the mercy of her silence.

I sat beside her, my knuckles resting inches from hers on the leather seat. Every instinct in my body begged me to reach out, to wrap my fingers around her cold hand, to brush a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. But I held back.

We had crossed lines recently—stolen kisses, whispered confessions, quiet touches that meant everything for me. The mate bond was screaming between us, but I had to constantly force myself to remember: she isn't your girlfriend.

Sometimes I wondered how Nate and Damon would feel if we got together... They'd probably be mad as fuck. Especially with Nate stuck in that betrothal to Jessica, and Damon being as bitter and jealous as he was. It would be an absolute mess.

And even if our sick fuck of a father and our patricide plans weren't a whole issue right now, it wasn't like Iris and I could ever just be normal. We would never get to walk down the academy hallways holding hands, or go to prom together, or sneak off to make out in a bathroom at some house party. We could, technically—far weirder shit than stepsiblings dating had happened in the history of Bloodmoon Academy. But deep down, I knew I could never subject Iris to that kind of vicious public scrutiny. People already mocked her and teased her, throwing around insults like "brotherfucker" based on nothing more than hallway rumors.

Imagine if everyone found out the actual truth? That we were real mates?

Could I even protect her from that?

Not right now, unfortunately.

The muscles I had spent years building were shrinking day by day. I felt weaker, dizzier, completely stripped of my edge—the heavy cocktail of meds my father forced down my throat was thoroughly fucking me up from the inside out. The only thing that eased the suffocating ache in my bones was being close to Iris. Just like before, her presence was the only thing that genuinely healed me.

Thirty minutes into the dead silence, Iris finally broke the glass.

"Why did it take you guys so long to tell me?"

Nate’s eyes instantly snapped to the rearview mirror. Damon whipped around in the passenger seat, and I turned my head, blinking at her. "What?"

"About me. The Pureblood thing," Iris said, her voice flat, her eyes fixed on the back of Nate's headrest.

Damon cleared his throat, his tone guarded. "We thought... we thought it would be safer for you not to awaken the curse if you were completely unaware of it."

"It’s not a curse," Iris replied softly.

"We know that," Damon answered, his voice dropping. "We call it a curse because… You could get murdered because of it."

"Right..." Iris let out a quiet, bitter breath. "Well... Celeste told me there might be a way for her to protect me without suppressing my strength."

The car seemed to drop ten degrees in an instant.

I didn't need telepathy to know what Nate and Damon were thinking. That was… Incredible, great news—monumental, even—and utterly terrifying.

"What... what did she say?" I asked, leaning closer.

"She said there might be a way to cast a veil," Iris murmured, staring down at her lap. "A shroud that hides the ancient magical signature in my blood from dark practitioners... Without stripping away the powers of my wolf."

Silence swallowed the car again, heavy and electric.

Then Iris tilted her head slightly toward the window, her voice barely a whisper against the hum of the tires:

"Which also means I can have a mate. Maybe."

I stared at her, my pulse hammering so hard against my ribs it made my vision pulse. Nate’s grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned ghostly white, and Damon completely froze, his jaw locked tight.

Iris didn't look back at any of us. She kept her face turned toward the glass, watching the trees blur into streaks of green.

The rest of the ride to the academy was the most agonizing, suffocating silence of my entire life.

During morning classes, my brain felt entirely disconnected from reality.

I sat at my desk, staring blankly at the chalkboard as the teachers droned on about calculus and territorial economics. It all sounded like meaningless, trivial bullshit.

How the hell was I supposed to care about an exam when there was a real, tangible chance that Iris and I could restore our mate bond?

And more than that—if Iris unlocked the power of her bloodline, she wouldn't have to endure Ernest's harassment anymore. She could snap our father's neck the next time he dared to corner her.

The thought sent a wild, intoxicating surge of adrenaline, hope, and pure dread crashing through my veins.

The second the lunch bell rang, I shoved my way through the crowded hallways, ignoring the sneers, the mocking whispers, and the graffiti on my locker. I checked the cafeteria, the library, the courtyard—she wasn't anywhere.

I finally found her in the very last place I expected.

Beneath the rusted, shadow-drenched bleachers behind the empty football field.

I stepped slowly over the damp gravel, deliberately keeping my footsteps light so I wouldn't startle her.

"I know you're there," Iris's voice floated through the dim space, quiet and tired. "I can smell you, Cole."

I walked over and sank down onto the cold dirt beside her, resting my back against the metal support beam.

"Why are you sitting here?" I asked softly, glancing around the rusted cage of steel.

Iris pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her arms. "This was... one of the scariest moments of my life. Being here, thinking I was reconnecting with an old childhood friend, only to realize Marcus and his friends had cornered me to rape me."

She swallowed hard, her voice trembling with an old, deep-seated ache.

"I felt so completely powerless," she whispered. "I was powerless. And the idea that... that the entire time, I had this ancient, mighty strength sleeping inside my veins and I couldn't use it... It makes me sick."

"You used it on Jessica Harlow," I pointed out gently. "You beat the shit out of her."

"That’s what pisses me off the most!" Iris snapped, a bitter, frustrated laugh escaping her throat. "Jessica is nothing! She's an insecure, spoiled brat who annoyed me, and somehow that shit gave me access to my ancestral powers! But when Marcus and his pack tried to gang rape me... When your father..."

She choked on the words, her breath hitching as she cut herself off.

"When I actually needed it," she rasped, wiping a furious tear from her eye, "there was nothing."

I looked at her profile, the bruised skin beneath her heavy makeup catching the pale daylight filtering through the bleachers.

"When Marcus attacked you..." I began, my voice quiet, "I felt it. We all felt it. Nate, Damon, and I were in the middle of the field, the coach was screaming something at us, and out of nowhere, it felt like a wire snapped in our chests. We dropped everything and sprinted straight here without saying a word. We didn't even have to look for you—we just knew where you were. It was like you summoned us."

I paused, gathering the words, trying to bridge the twelve years of cruelty that stood between us.

"A normal rejection isn't complicated, Iris," I said, holding her gaze. "When wolves reject each other, the bond snaps clean. People can find new mates days later. But our bond... It persisted. We fought against it… Well, I guess I can only speak for myself. I fought against it. And I lost."

Iris turned her head, her wounded eyes searching mine.

"So that day, you might not have been able to summon your Pureblood strength," I continued softly, "but your wolf reached out to ours. Celeste said that's why the universe gave you three mates in the first place. To protect you."

Iris looked at me, a profound, heartbreaking sorrow washing over her face.

"And who protects you?"