Chapter 70 TWO REALITIES
ZARA’S POV
I woke up gasping. Not screaming. Not panicked. Just… awake.
My eyes snapped open to a ceiling I recognized too well, the academy infirmary. White lights. White sheets. White silence. The kind that pretends nothing is wrong.
My body felt wrong. Not injured. Not weak.
Too quiet.
Something was different...
Wait...
Was I living the same day again?
I felt....
Like something inside me had gone still after years of screaming.
I sat up slowly. No restraints. No guards. That alone should’ve terrified me.
Instead, my pulse stayed steady.
That scared me more.
“Zara.” Kai’s voice.
Low. Careful. Like he was afraid the wrong tone might shatter me. I turned my head.
He was sitting beside the bed, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together so tightly his knuckles were white. His hair was damp, like he’d run his hands through it one too many times. His scent hit me instantly...ozone, pine, heat.
Home. My chest tightened.
“How long?” I asked.
His head lifted sharply. Relief flashed across his face before he masked it.
“Six hours,” he said.
“You collapsed in the yoga room. Diane called it in before...”
“Before I broke something?” I murmured.
He hesitated.
“…Before you broke reality,” he said quietly.
That made my lips twitch.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. My body obeyed too easily. No dizziness. No pain.
Too perfect.
Kai stood immediately, hands hovering near me without touching.
“Don’t,” I said softly. He froze.
“I need to know if I can stand myself,” I continued.
I placed my feet on the floor.
The moment my soles touched the tiles, the room shifted. Not visibly.
But I felt it. It was like the world leaned toward me.
Kai felt it, too. His breath stuttered.
“Zara…” he whispered.
I looked down at my hands. For a split second,....just a blink... silver violet light traced my veins. Then it vanished. I swallowed.
“What happened when I was out?” I asked.
Kai didn’t answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“Kai.”
He dragged a hand down his face.
“Your vitals flatlined for twelve seconds,” he said.
“Then everything in the room spiked. Power. Wards. Even the lunar sensors.”
I laughed softly, but there was nohumourr in it.
“I didn’t mean to do that.”
“I know,” he said immediately.
Too quickly.That hurt.
I finally looked at him properly.
His eyes were dark. Guarded. Loving.
Afraid.
Afraid of me. “Say it,” I said.
He frowned. “Say what?”
“You’re wondering how long before I lose control.” Silence.
The bond between us hummed....tight, strained.
“That doesn’t make you cruel,” I added.
“It makes you honest.”
Kai stepped closer. Slowly. Like I might bolt.
“I’m not afraid of you,” he said.
“I’m afraid of what they’ll make you believe you are.”
That cracked something in my chest.
I reached for him.
He flinched, just barely...but...but I felt it.
My hand froze midair.
The devourer stirred.Take.
I clenched my fingers into a fist until the urge passed.
Kai noticed. Of course he did.
“You’re holding back,” he said.
“Yes.”
“From me?”
I met his gaze.“From everything.”
He exhaled shakily.
“Then let me be the thing you don’t hold back from.”
The words hit harder than any blow.
I stepped into his space before fear could stop me. My fingers curled into his shirt, pressing flat against his chest. His heart was racing.
“So are you,” I murmured.
His hands hovered again, then finally settled on my waist. Warm. Solid.
The bond surged.
Heat coiled low in my stomach, slow, aching, dangerous.
“Kai,” I breathed.
“Zara…”
Our foreheads touched. Not a kiss.
Worse. Slower.
The kind of closeness that begged.
“I feel different,” he whispered.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
I swallowed.
“Like if I let go… I won’t know where I end anymore.”
His thumb brushed my hip.
“I don’t mind losing myself to you.”
That was the problem. Neither did I.
I tilted my head. Our lips hovered a breath apart.
The bond screamed. Then.... BEEP.
A sharp tone cut through the room.
We broke apart instantly.
The door slid open. Dr. Voss stood there, smile sharp, eyes gleaming.
“Well,” she said lightly. “This is cozy.”
My stomach dropped. Kai’s body went rigid.
“Voss,” he said flatly.
“Relax,” she replied.
“If I wanted to interrupt something important, I’d have brought guards.”
I crossed my arms.“What do you want?”
She studied me with naked interest.
“Oh, Zara,” she said softly.
“I just wanted to see if you’d woken up… whole.”
There was something in her gaze.
Oh!!! Of course, she had been watching me.
"You're really becoming so insolent." She seethed angrily.
Her gaze flicked to Kai. “And I need you,” she added.
“Both of you.” Kai stiffened.
“For what?” he asked.
She smiled wider. “A celebration.”
The word echoed wrong.
“For the wolves staying behind during the break,” Voss continued.
“A chance to remind everyone who’s on our side.”
My devourer whispered.Trap.
I met Kai’s eyes.
The bond pulsed....uneasy. “And if we say no?” I asked.
Voss’s smile didn’t falter. “Oh,” she said sweetly. “You won’t.”
Her gaze lingered on Kai.
“Not if you want to protect her.”
The room felt smaller. Darker. Kai said nothing.
That silence… that hesitation…
It shouldn’t have hurt. But it did.
And somewhere deep inside me.... Something smiled back.
At this point, I realized that I may have loved the same day in two different ways.
Because as of the last time, I remember following Kai to meet Dr. Voss, but somehow I'm waking up in the academy's infirmary and all these crazy stuffs are happening.
"Luna... Mira..." I called out to my girlfriends through our mind link.
No response. I tried again...
Still no response...
At this point, I didn't know how to feel about anything.
What was really going on?
I couldn't even remember a lot of things... My memories were somehow being wiped over and over again.
"Hey... Are you okay?" Kai questioned.
"Yeah... Yeah..." I lied.
I was grateful that he didn't prove further. Must have believed the lie which came out of my mouth so effortlessly.
I needed to put two and two together.
Whatever was happening, must have been triggered by something.