Chapter 156
Lucas's POV
The dorm room ceiling blurred in and out of focus as I lay sprawled across my bed, every muscle in my body screaming from three days of relentless basketball drills. Coach had been pushing us harder than ever for the upcoming tournament, but that wasn't what made my temples throb with that familiar, dangerous heat.
Three days until full moon.
My phone screen glowed in the dim afternoon light as I scrolled mindlessly through Campus Whispers, trying to distract myself from the restless energy crawling beneath my skin. My temperature ran higher than normal—always did this close to the change—and the headache that had started this morning now pulsed in time with my elevated heartbeat.
Then I saw it.
"CVU's golden couple on the rocks? Someone spotted cheerleading captain Ellie crying on the phone in the library. Jackson hasn't picked her up from dance practice ALL WEEK..."
My heart slammed against my ribs. Hard.
She's free now... Conall stirred in my consciousness, a low rumble of satisfaction that made my fingers tighten around the phone until my knuckles went white. Go claim her back.
A flash of gold flickered at the edge of my vision—my wolf rising too close to the surface. I forced my eyes shut, breathing through my teeth. No. I was still with Samantha. Technically. Even though that relationship had been dead in the water for weeks, we hadn't officially ended it.
But God, the thought of Ellie single again, no longer tied to Jackson's side...
Wrong mate. Wrong choice all along. Conall's voice was insistent, almost desperate. The certainty in that internal growl shook something loose in my chest—the first time I'd let myself acknowledge what a massive mistake I'd made.
I grabbed my phone with trembling hands and typed out a message to Samantha: "We need to talk."
Forty minutes passed. No response.
The door suddenly burst open, and Josh stumbled in, freezing mid-step when he spotted me. My roommate's face went through a rapid sequence of emotions—confusion, shock, then uncomfortable realization.
"Jesus... Lucas? I thought you'd be at Samantha's tonight. That's why I came back for my sneakers..." His voice trailed off awkwardly.
I sat up slowly, my wolf senses immediately picking up on Josh's elevated heart rate. "Why would I be at Samantha's?"
Josh's face went pale. "I, uh... Look, man, maybe I'm wrong. But I was just walking past Maple Street—you know, where her apartment is? And I saw this girl going into the building with some guy. She was wearing that long silver necklace you bought Samantha for her birthday. The one she never takes off. And that cream sweater..."
The words hit me like a physical blow. My brain went completely white for a second. That necklace—pure silver, carefully chosen because she liked it—had cost me two months of my basketball stipend. Samantha wore it every single day.
"The guy looked older, maybe mid-twenties. Dark suit. Definitely not a student." Josh shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable. "They went upstairs together and... they looked pretty close. His hand was on her waist."
Heat exploded up my spine like someone had lit a match at the base of my skull. Conall roared inside my head, a primal demand for vengeance, for territorial reclamation. I felt my canines sharpen against my lower lip, felt my vision start to tint gold at the edges.
Josh took an involuntary step backward. "Dude. You... You okay?"
No. I absolutely was not okay. My body temperature spiked so fast that sweat broke out across my forehead. My fingertips burned with the telltale prickling sensation of claws trying to break through skin. My gums ached as my teeth began to shift.
"Maybe I should call Coach? Or the team doctor?" Josh's voice had gone high with poorly concealed fear. He could sense something was wrong, even if he couldn't identify what.
I forced my jaw together so hard my molars ground audibly. Not here. Not now. Control it. I gripped the bed frame with both hands, letting the pain of my fingernails digging into my own palms ground me in my human body. The meditation techniques Mom had drilled into me since childhood kicked in—count to sixty, focus on breathing, visualize pushing the wolf back down.
When I finally opened my eyes again, Josh had gone even paler.
"I'm fine." My voice came out wrong—too low, too rough, carrying an edge of command I hadn't meant to project. "You need to leave, Josh. Now."
My roommate practically fled.
Alone again, I stared at my phone. Samantha's message preview still showed the empty "We need to talk" text, marked as Read but unanswered for nearly an hour now. My wolf howled for blood, for confrontation, for something to make the humiliation and rage stop tearing me apart from the inside.
But underneath the fury was something else. Something that felt uncomfortably like... relief?
I'd never loved Samantha. Not really. I'd told myself I did, convinced myself the gratitude and protectiveness I felt were love, but Conall had known from the start. And a wolf couldn't lie to itself about its mate.
If she cheated, I thought with crystal clarity, I have a legitimate reason to end this. A reason everyone would understand.
A reason that would let me go to Ellie without looking like the asshole who dumped his girlfriend for his childhood friend.
But the full moon was in three days. Three days until my control would be at its weakest point all year. If I confronted Samantha and actually saw her with another man, if I had to smell another male's scent on her skin...
I looked at myself in the mirror mounted on my closet door. Gold still flickered at the edges of my irises, refusing to fully recede. My hands shook.
Go. Confront. Reclaim territory, Conall demanded.
You need backup, my rational mind argued back. You need someone who understands what you are. Someone who can stop you if you lose control.
My phone felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as I pulled up my contacts. My thumb hovered over Ellie's name for a full three minutes.
We weren't speaking. She'd told me never to contact her again. She was probably devastated about Jackson. I had absolutely no right to drag her into my mess.
But she was the only one who would truly understand the danger of confronting Samantha three days before a full moon. The only one strong enough to physically restrain me if my wolf broke free.
She's the only one, Conall whispered, and for once his voice held no aggression—just desperate, vulnerable certainty.
I started typing. Deleted it. Started again. Deleted again. Five attempts later, I took a shaky breath and just... wrote the truth.
"Ellie, I know we're not speaking. I know I have no right to contact you. But it's three days until full moon and I'm not stable. Josh said Samantha might be at the apartment I'm renting for her... with another guy. I need to confirm, but I'm scared I'll lose control of Conall. If you see this... the address is Maple Street 447, Apt 3B. I'm not asking you to help me. I'm asking you to be nearby in case I shift. I'm sorry."
I hit send before I could overthink it further. Stared at the screen, watching the message move from Delivered to Read. My heart hammered against my ribs. No response came.
Then, three minutes later: "20 minutes. Wait outside for me. Don't go in early."