*******
The auditorium swelled with bodies, shoulder to shoulder, row after row, as every student in Lunar Crest Academy gathered under the haunting wail of the emergency siren. The heavy silence that followed the blare was more telling than any alarm, no one knew what to expect, but all could sense that whatever was coming... it would change everything.
Varya walked through the crowd, her expression unreadable, but the Lycan students surrounding her turned their heads with raised brows and whispered murmurs. It wasn't just the suddenness of the assembly that had caught their attention, it was who Varya was walking beside.
Felix.
A feral.
Disheveled, gaunt, his knuckles still red from where he'd been pounding the tiles in grief less than an hour ago. His eyes looked hollow, like something inside him had died. Varya walked a step ahead, tense and clearly uncomfortable.
"Varya," one of the Lycans sneered. "What is that doing beside you?"
