Chapter 63
Chapter 63
*Jiselle*
The walk back to the academy was suffocating.
Not because Nate said anything–he didn’t. Not a single word. And not because the forest loomed around us like it might swallow us whole. It was because the silence between us wasn’t just silence.
It was grief.
It was rage, pulled tight like a bowstring and held there, trembling.
His hand stayed pressed against the small of my back as we made our way out of the trees, as if he needed to make sure I didn’t vanish. He wasn’t breathing right–each inhale was too sharp, too quiet. His jaw was set, but his eyes… his eyes looked like they hadn’t blinked since Max vanished.
I didn’t blame him.
I couldn’t stop shaking.
Everything Max said rang in my head like a siren–urgent, warning, full of fear and something else I couldn’t name. When the academy’s outer buildings came into view, bathed in the soft silver of moonlight, I finally spoke.
“He said they’ll kill me.”
Nate stopped walking.
He didn’t turn to me.
He didn’t even blink.
He just… stopped.
For a moment, I thought he might break. That the fury I felt pulsing off him would snap, and the sky itself would crack in half with it.
But then he nodded.
And kept walking.
We didn’t say anything else until we were inside–until we made it to his huge room tucked into the western dorm wing- Black Claw Dorm. It was dark, save for the flickering golden glow of a single enchanted lantern on the wall. The air smelled faintly of old wood and spell ink–someone must’ve been studying in here recently, but it was empty now. I now realized how long I had been in the infirmary. And how familiar and weird it felt coming into this dorm and going into Nate’s room instead of Max’s.
I sat on the edge of the couch, wrapping my arms around myself as if that might help hold everything in. Nate stood for a long while, his arms crossed, his shadow stretching long against the floor.
“I need you to tell me everything,” he said finally, his voice low. “Word for word.”
So I did.
I told him about Max. About the way he’d looked–disheveled, panicked, but utterly sincere. About the things he said he heard while locked away. About how he couldn’t speak freely because of the blood oath. And most of all… about what he feared.
That Solstice wasn’t a celebration.
That it was a ritual.
I didn’t know what kind of ritual, but I wasn’t looking forward to it.
I told him how Max had begged me to run. How he said he knew they would kill me once they found out what I was.
He was calm the entire time. But when I said the word–Ethereal–Nate flinched like I’d struck him.
“So it’s true,” he whispered. His eyes found mine. “That’s why Bastain lied. That’s why he tried to stall them. He knew. He always knew.”
The weight in my chest was unbearable.
“I don’t even know what I am, Nate,” I whispered. “But everyone else seems to.”
He moved toward me slowly, lowering himself Successfully unlocked! dn’t touch me right away. Just sat there. Quiet.
Breathing beside me.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted. “I don’t know how to feel. He forced a mark on me. Then he tried to save me. And I still feel like I can’t breathe.”
That’s when Nate reached out, sliding his hand into mine, and pulled me toward him. Not urgently. Not passionately
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Chapter 63
Just… completely.
My body melted against his, and for the first time since the council chamber, I let myself feel something that wasn’t fear. I buried my face in the space between his neck and shoulder. I breathed in his scent–spice and wind and something uniquely Nate–and my walls cracked.
He didn’t say he’d protect me.
He didn’t promise it would be okay.
All he said was, “We’ll make a plan. Together.”
His arms tightened around me then, like he was trying to fuse me to him. His hands were warm and strong, sliding up my spine slowly, reverently.
Then his mouth brushed my jaw.
The contact sent a sharp tremor through me, and suddenly I wasn’t in this lounge anymore.
I was sixteen again.
A moonlit night.
A familiar bed.
Nate’s mouth trailing kisses down my collarbone, his voice rasping my name like it was the only thing he knew.
Heat flared through me so fast I gasped.
And then I felt it–not just as memory, but as connection.
Nate jolted backwards so fast I nearly fell forward.
“What the-” he stood, running a hand through his hair, eyes wide. “Jiselle. Did you do that?”
I blinked. “What?”
“That wasn’t my thought. That memory–it wasn’t mine. Well not at this exact minute at least. But it didn’t come from me. It came from you.” His voice was full of something between wonder and horror. “I saw it like I was there, Jiselle.”
My mouth went dry. “I didn’t mean to-*
“Has this happened before?” he demanded, still pacing.
“Not like this,” I whispered. “But something similar. In combat training… I think I did something to Emari. I told her to get off of me and she did and I think I hurt her mentally. And with Max… maybe. And Bastain too. Also that time we were hunting claws when the scrawny second year had me in a headlock. I didn’t know what it was. But this–this was the first time it felt like…” I trailed off, swallowing hard.
He cursed.
Softly. But it carried all the weight of thunder.
“I didn’t want it to be true,” he muttered. “I kept hoping I was wrong. That Bastain was wrong.”
“What do you know?” I asked, standing now too.
His jaw ticked, but he didn’t answer.
Not directly.
But his eyes met mine, blazing with urgency.
“You’re right,” he said softly. “You’re not like me. You’re not like Max.”
He took a breath.
“If I’m right–and I know I’m right–you’ve just become the most coveted wolf in this entire academy.”
My stomach dropped.
“Coveted?”
“Some will want to use you,” he said, voice low. Dangerous.
His eyes darkened.
“Others,” he added, “will vow to kill you.”
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