Chapter 71 The Celebration of Teeth
KAI’S POV
If Dr. Voss wanted this to feel like a celebration. She should have tried less.
The hall glittered with warm lights and gold-draped tables, music humming softly through hidden speakers, laughter echoing just a little too loud for a building this empty. Wolves clustered in loose groups, cups in hand, smiles fixed like masks. Every single one of them was pretending this was normal.
It wasn’t.
The wards beneath my skin itched the moment I stepped fully inside. Old magic. New tech. Something layered beneath both, like a third presence listening from behind the walls. Zara felt it, too.
Her spine was straight, chin lifted, eyes sharp as glass. She looked calm to anyone watching, but the bond told a different story. Electricity skittered through it, restless, hungry. The devourer wasn’t roaring tonight. It was watching.
Dr. Voss stood at the centre of it all, dressed in ivory and gold, silver hair pinned perfectly in place. She looked pleased. That alone made me want to tear this place apart.
“Relax,” she said lightly, as if she hadn’t just dragged us into a lion’s den.
“Eat. Drink. Tonight is meant to be… restorative.”
Mira didn’t touch the drink handed to her. Neither did I.
Zara accepted a glass but didn’t sip. Her fingers curled around it like she might crush it instead.
“You said you had an announcement,” I said flatly.
Voss smiled wider.
“Ah. Straight to the point. I always admired that about you, Kai.”
She raised her glass, tapping it once with a spoon. The sound rang too sharply through the room. Conversations stilled. Every wolf turned toward her, attention snapping tight like a leash.
“This academy,” Voss began.
"Was built to prepare you. To shape you. To protect you from yourselves.”
Zara’s jaw tightened beside me.
“But the world is changing,” Voss continued.
“And so must we.”
Her gaze flicked, not to me, but to Zara.
“For years, we believed power needed containment. Control. Limits.”
She took a slow step forward.
“But sometimes… evolution requires trust.”
I felt Zara stiffen.
“Which is why,” Voss said smoothly.
“I’ve decided to lift certain restrictions.”
Murmurs rippled through the room.
“Effective immediately,” she continued.
“Select students will be granted expanded access to restricted zones, advanced training, and… deeper truths about what they are.”
My blood went cold. This wasn’t generosity.
This was bait.
“And who,” I asked, voice low.
“Decides who gets chosen?”
Voss turned fully toward me now.
“I do.”
Silence slammed down.
“Tonight,” she said.
"We begin with three.”
Her finger lifted.
“Mira, my assistant.”
Mira inhaled sharply.
“Kai, General Alpha.”
Every muscle in my body coiled.
“And Zara Night.”
The room erupted.
Whispers. Gasps. Fear. Awe.
I felt Zara’s pulse spike through the bond, not panic. Not excitement. Recognition.
She leaned slightly toward me, lips barely moving.
“She’s not choosing us,” she murmured.
“She’s isolating us.”
“I know,” I whispered back.
Voss clapped her hands once, sharply.
“Our chosen will remain after the celebration,” she said.
“For a private demonstration.”
Every instinct I had screamed no.
Zara turned her head then, meeting my eyes fully. The noise faded. The room blurred. There was only her.
“You don’t have to stay,” she said softly.
“I can handle her.”
That was the problem.
I stepped closer, angling my body between her and Voss without touching her.
“You’re not facing her alone,” I said.
“Not ever.”
Her breath hitched.
The bond flared with heat, want, fear, and devotion tangled together so tightly it hurt.
Voss watched us with interest.
“Such loyalty,” she said.
“Fascinating. Dangerous. Beautiful.”
Her eyes gleamed.
“Enjoy the evening.”
Music swelled again. Wolves began to move, dance, drink. Pretend.
I didn’t let Zara out of my peripheral vision.
She drifted toward the balcony quietly, needing air. I followed without thinking.
The doors slid shut behind us, sealing out the noise.
Cold night air washed over us. Stars burned overhead, sharp and bright. The academy loomed behind us like a watching beast.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Zara exhaled slowly.
“She knows,” she said.
“Yes.”
“She’s not afraid of me anymore.”
“No,” I agreed.
“She’s curious.”
Zara laughed softly, yet there was no humour in it.
“That’s worse.”
I turned to face her fully. The moonlight painted her in silver and shadow, power humming just beneath her skin. She looked unreal. Untouchable.
And unbearably close.
“You felt it too,” she said.
“The change.”
“Yes.”
“My control is… thinner,” she admitted.
“But clearer. Like I finally know where the edge is.”
I reached out before I could stop myself, brushing my knuckles along her wrist. Her skin sparked beneath my touch.
“Zara...”
She stepped into me. Not hesitant. Not uncertain.
Her hands slid up my chest, fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt like she needed to anchor herself.
“Kai,” she whispered.
“If this is the last calm moment we get…”
The words settled heavy between us.
I cupped her jaw, thumb brushing her lower lip. She shivered.
“No,” I said quietly.
“This isn’t an ending.”
Her eyes searched mine.
“Then what is it?”
I leaned down, resting my forehead against hers, breath mingling.
“A warning,” I murmured.
“To the universe.”
Her lips parted. Her pulse thundered through the bond. Every part of me screamed to close the distance...to finally kiss her the way we’d both been starving for.
Inside. No interruptions. Just us.
Instead, I whispered....
“When this breaks,” I said, voice rough,
“I need you to trust me. Even if it looks like I betray you.”
Her body went still. “What?”
“Promise me,” I said.
“No matter what you see.”
Her eyes burned into mine.
“Kai...." “Promise.”
The devourer stirred.
Slow. Ancient. Listening. Zara swallowed.
“I promise,” she said.
The bond sealed it...sharp, bright, irrevocable.
Behind us, the balcony doors creaked open.
Dr. Voss’s voice drifted out, honeyed and dangerous.
“Our demonstration is ready.”
Zara’s fingers tightened in my shirt.
The night shuddered.
And somewhere far above the academy, something massive shifted....unseen, patient, and very awake.
The celebration was over.
The game had begun.