Chapter 51 Regret
Kai's POV
I stopped in my movements. She wasn't supposed to see me. Maybe that was the unusual feeling I was having earlier on.
"Kai." She called.
I quickly regained my consciousness.
"Sorry... What were you saying?" I asked.
"Your eyes... They were silver before.." she said.
I suppose the color of my eyes had changed back to its usual colour.
"It must have been an hallucination." I said, smiling lightly.
She didn't seem convinced but she just nodded. The mood was over. I pulled away from her slowly, the fog in my head finally breaking. Zara shifted on the bed, covering herself with the sheets. The silence felt heavy. Too heavy.
Before either of us could speak again, a loud, sharp bell rang through the entire building, once, twice, then a long third ring.
Training.
Great. Just what I needed.
Zara sighed, rubbing her forehead.
“We should go before Mira bursts in and drags us out.”
I forced a nod, trying to steady myself. But something inside me… twitched. Like a wire sparking in my brain. A static buzz crawled up my spine, tightening every muscle.
Not now.
Not here.
I shoved the feeling down, got dressed, and walked with Zara out of the room.
The training hall was packed. Wolves stretching, shifting, running drills. Mira and Rex were already arguing about stance technique. Luna shot us a look one of those “I know something happened between you two looks just before pretending to focus on her warm-up.
I tried to act normal.
I really did.
But as soon as I stepped into the center circle… the buzzing returned.
Harder.
Sharper.
More violent.
Like someone was dragging electricity through my skull.
A voice, mechanical, hollow and familiar echoed behind my ears:
“Unit K-01… re-engage combat protocol.”
My breath caught.
No.
No, not now.
My vision blurred for a moment, flickering like a glitching screen. Silver flashed over the edges of my sight.
I clenched my fists. Hard.
“Hey, Kai,” Rex called out, smirking.
“Don’t tell me one night with Zara exhausted you.”
I meant to roll my eyes.
Instead… my body moved on its own.
I wasn't feeling jealousy.
Honestly I don't know what I felt in that very moment.
I lunged.
Fast.
Too fast.
Rex barely dodged as my claws shot out, silver sparking along their edges. He stared at me in shock.
“Kai? What the hell?”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer.
I didn't know what was really happening to me.
My programming, the one I had tried so fucken hard to bury, the one no one was supposed to know about snapped awake like a beast ripping free.
“Eliminate threats.”
“Neutralize.”
“Restore order.”
I attacked again, this time going straight for Luna.
She gasped and shifted just in time, her wolf skidding across the flooring. Mira yelled something, Zara rushed forward but I couldn’t process words. Only movements. Targets. Patterns.
I heard screams all around me.
Yet I couldn't stop myself.
The glitch inside me burned.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
I slammed Rex into a wall. He groaned, shifting fully, claws out.
“Kai, stop! This isn’t you!”
He was wrong.
It was me.
Or at least… one version of me.
Zara stepped in front of me suddenly, eyes glowing fiercely.
“Kai...listen to my voice.”
Her voice cut through the static for a second.
A second.
Just a second.
I hesitated. The silver in my vision flickered.
Then the programming screamed:
“REBOOT PRIORITY. CONTROL HOST BODY.”
My head snapped back violently, like something inside me was yanking strings. I roared, unfiltered, raw, agonizing.
Everyone froze.
Then...
A crack.
A shudder.
And everything went black.
For two breaths.
When my eyes reopened… the silver was gone.
My mind was back.
Recognition settled in.
The hall was destroyed, cracked flooring, overturned racks, claw marks on the walls. Rex was limping. Mira was pale. Luna stared like she’d seen a ghost.
And Zara…
Zara looked heartbroken.
I swallowed hard, chest heaving.
My whole body trembled.
“I’m…”
I didn’t know what to say.
So I didn’t.
I lowered my head and walked out of the training room, silent. No excuses. No explanations.
Just shame following me like a shadow.
I didn’t stop walking until I reached the far end of the east wing where the academy stored old equipment and abandoned files no one bothered to touch anymore. The lights flickered in the narrow hallway, and the air smelled like rust and dust.
Good.
No one would come looking for me here.
I pushed open a storage room door and stepped inside, shutting and locking it behind me. The moment the lock clicked, my legs finally gave out. I slid down the wall and sat on the cold floor, trembling so violently my teeth clenched.
What the hell was happening to me?
I dug my hands into my hair, pulling hard, trying to force clarity into my head. But every time I steadied my breathing, the echo returned...
“Unit K-01… comply.”
I pressed my palms over my ears.
“Shut up,” I whispered.
But the voice wasn’t outside. It was inside.
Embedded. Programmed. A part of me I never asked for and never wanted.
I slammed my fist into the floor. Cracks spread under my knuckles.
Images flashed behind my eyelids, silver circuitry, violent training loops, commands I didn’t understand. Another version of me, colder, sharper and murderous stared back.
I felt sick.
“What if I had hurt her…” I whispered to myself.
Zara’s face frightened, determined, heartbroken, kept replaying in my mind.
I had almost killed Rex. Almost tore Luna apart. Mira was lucky I didn’t snap her spine. And Zara… she had stepped in front of me like I wouldn’t rip her apart too.
Stupid girl.
Stupid me.
I curled forward, burying my head between my knees as another glitch rippled through my veins. Sharp, electric pain shot down my spine.
My claws extended without my permission.
“I can’t control this,” I whispered.
For the first time…
I felt afraid.
Not of the academy.
Not of Dr. Voss.
Not of whatever alien truth laid beneath it all.
But of myself.
Who I was out there.