Chapter 48 The Pattern I Can’t Ignore
Zara’s POV
The moment Dr. Voss’s voice echoed through the cafeteria, it felt like the air thinned. Conversations died halfway through sentences. Forks stopped mid-air. Even Mira froze, her expression unreadable for once.
“She sounds pissed,” Luna muttered under her breath.
Pissed was an understatement. There was something else in Dr. Voss’s tone, urgency… and fear. That part terrified me more.
Mira slowly rose from her seat, her shoulders stiff. For a second, she looked at Rex as if silently asking for a signal. Rex only shook his head.
‘Don’t react’, his expression warned. Mira scowled before heading out of the cafeteria without another word.
Kai’s hand brushed against mine under the table. A small touch, but enough to soothe the spike of anxiety in my chest. I didn’t hold his hand back, though. I couldn’t. Something had been bothering me since this morning, gnawing at my thoughts like a restless insect.
“Kai,” I said quietly, eyes fixed on the cafeteria door Mira just walked through.
“Did you notice the new patrol guard?”
His entire body stilled.
“You saw him too.”
“Saw him?” I scoffed bitterly.
“He was standing right outside your dorm window at sunrise. Watching. And when I blinked…” I swallowed hard.
“He vanished.”
Luna stiffened.
“That’s not normal guard behaviour.”
“No,” Rex agreed sharply.
“No, it isn’t.”
Kai exhaled, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“It was the same guard I saw in my wing.”
“And he didn’t smell like a wolf,” I added.
Everyone paused, eyes snapping toward me.
“You smelled him?” Kai asked, turning fully toward me.
“Not smelled…” I struggled to explain
"Not technically."
“It’s like… his presence felt wrong. Like metal instead of flesh. Cold. Hollow.”
Luna’s expression darkened.
“That sounds like the Sent“
Rex kicked her under the table, but it was too late.
She threw him a glare from the side of her eye. One that didn't go unnoticed.
"That sounds like Sentinels." She said, ignoring her brother's plea to keep it shut.
“Sentinels?” I repeated.
“What are Sentinels?”
Kai’s brows furrowed.
“We don’t have those here.”
"Are you sure?" Rex asked.
Rex exchanged a long look with Luna. A look full of things they weren’t saying.
“You two need to talk,” I said firmly.
Rex folded his arms.
“Zara”
“No. Enough secrets.” The words came out sharper than intended.
"Be very plain with me. Stop playing around with facts that could either make or mar my existence."
I was pissed with the half truths here and there.
“If those guards are what you think they are, then Mira is walking into Dr. Voss’s office alone. And she has no idea what she’s dealing with.”
That got their attention.
The tension thickened so much I felt it in my bones.
Rex finally answered.
“Sentinels are created. Not born. They’re used to control aliens... werewolves...like us. To track… or destroy… threats.”
My pulse hammered.
“And you think Dr. Voss has them here?”
“No,” Luna whispered.
“We know she does.”
Kai cursed under his breath.
“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?”
“Because we didn’t want to trigger your memories too fast,” Rex said, staring pointedly at Kai.
“Or hers.”
I blinked.
“Mine?”
Everyone went silent.
A silence that almost felt like it cracked the air apart.
Kai looked at me, the muscle in his jaw twitching.
“Zara, what aren’t they saying?”
Rex sighed.
“The memories you two are seeing aren’t isolated visions. They’re a pattern. A cycle. And that cycle…”
He hesitated.
Luna took over, voice calm but trembling slightly.
“This cycle always ends with you two standing on opposite sides of a burning city.”
My breath caught.
Kai stiffened beside me.
Rex continued softly.
"Every iteration… every dimension… every timeline… Zara, you become the weapon.
“And Kai… you become the one sent to stop you.”
For a moment, the world stopped moving.
I felt sick
Cold.
Unrooted.
“No,” I said, shaking my head violently.
“That’s not possible. You saw us yesterday. You saw how my wolf reacted to him. There is no universe where I would turn on Kai.”
“That’s what makes it worse,” Luna whispered.
“Because in every version we’ve seen… you don’t want to.”
My throat felt tight.
“You’re lying.”
Rex’s gaze softened.
“I wish we were.”
Kai reached for my hand again, but I pulled away from him. Not angrily but fearfully.
Fear of myself.
Fear of the possibility that something inside me was still hidden.
Something dangerous.
Dr. Voss’s voice echoed again through the school intercom, slightly distorted this time:
“Mira. My office. Do not make me repeat myself.”
It snapped me back to reality.
“We need to get her,” I said urgently, rising from my seat.
“If she’s connected to all this, Dr. Voss will use her before we can protect her.”
Kai caught my wrist gently.
“Zara… slow down.”
“I can’t slow down,” I whispered.
“Because if they’re right… if there’s any truth to these memories”
My voice cracked.
“Then I need to know what I am.”
Kai’s expression shifted pain, fear, determination.
He cupped my face gently.
“You’re Zara Night. That’s who you are.”
A beat.
"I don't know... I don't feel like it again." I said.
"Hey Zara..." He called
“If you’re something more… we face it together.”
A warmth spread through me, comfort mixed with dread.
“We need to move,” Luna said, already rising.
“Before Dr. Voss does something she can’t undo.”
Rex nodded sharply.
“We split up. Luna and I track the guard. You two get to Mira.”
I tightened my grip on the table.
My heart was pounding too fast.
Not from fear.
But from something darker.
Something awakening.
Because as we stepped out of the cafeteria…
I felt it.
A strange hum beneath my skin.
A pull.
Guiding me toward Dr. Voss’s office…
Like a memory trying to repeat itself.
And it terrified me that…
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to resist it.
And deep down… it felt like something inside me was finally waking up.