Kieran's POV
I froze where I stood. For a moment, I thought my eyes were deceiving me, playing some cruel trick to distract me in this pit of chaos. But no, there he was.
Alistair Ashthorne.
Only, he didn't look like the Alistair I remembered, the arrogant, smug bastard who strutted around the academy with his chest puffed, dripping in pride, always sneering as if the world itself wasn't worthy of him. That Alistair was gone. What stood before me was a man hollowed out, darker somehow. His shoulders hunched, his eyes dimmed with something I couldn't place, and yet they still held a dangerous edge. There was no arrogance now, just… survival.
He looked at me with a grim smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Who would've thought I'd ever be saving you, Kieran Valerius Hunter? The Lycan Prince, the same man who ripped out my sister's heart without breaking a sweat." He huffed bitterly, as if saying the words out loud left a bad taste in his mouth. "But well.… times have changed."
