Chapter 8
“Jiselle
I woke up to the soft glow of moonlight streaming through the infirmary window, my body aching but no longer throbbing with unbearable pain. My mind took a second to catch up, but when it did, fury burned through me.
I passed out. In the middle of the academy, in front of everyone.
Because of a single broken rib.
I groaned, dragging a hand down my face, barely aware of the sound of shifting beside me until a warm hand took mine.
“Jizzy.”
Ethan.
His green eyes held so much relief, so much love, that my initial anger faltered. He kissed my knuckles, squeezing my hand. “You scared the shit out of me.”
I swallowed hard, blinking up at him. The weight of his worry settled over me, heavier than my own frustration.
“I’m fine.” I muttered, though my voice was hoarse.
“No, you’re not.” He exhaled sharply, his forehead creasing. “I should have trained you harder. I should have found the time-”
“Ethan.” I cut him off with a weak smile. “You’re doing everything you can.”
He shook his head, still gripping my hand as if I’d disappear if he let go. “You need more training, Jiselle. I can’t be there enough, but I-”
I gave his hand a small squeeze. “I’ll find a way to stay alive.” I promised him, my voice softer now.
He hesitated, but finally sighed, brushing a loose strand of hair from my face. “I just wish things were different. I know Eva is training you but I just…” He sighed. “I’m always so busy with classes.”
I smiled at him. “Like the one you have now?”
It was late, but we both knew he had to go. He had this class twice a week–The classified first–year male–only class. He tried to hide it, but I knew.
“You should go,” I said. “My rib is practically healed, thanks to my wolf.”
That was a lie. Well, half of one.
I’d broken a rib before–on a stupid dare back in Crescent Pack–and it had taken nearly a day to fully heal. But now? My ribs felt… fine. Whole.
Ethan frowned but nodded, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead.
“I promise I’ll make time.” He offered me a sad smile before heading out.
Once he was gone, I exhaled, staring up at the ceiling, my mind swirling.
What had happened in the ring? How did I stop Emari? What was that strength I felt? It was wild yet focused. It was odd yet… me.
A knock interrupted my thoughts, and I looked up just as Max stepped in.
A lazy smirk played on his lips. He looked like himself again, instead of the version of himself that I met today full of anger. Now, his eyes glistened. with a familiar teasing look, and his boyish smirk was back.
“From what I heard, your ass was handed to you,” he said as he stepped into the room.
I rolled my eyes. “Yet, I won.”
He chuckled, closing the distance between us and dropping into the chair Ethan had vacated.
“Yet, you did.”
Something flickered in his gaze, something knowing.
“You know something,” I said, crossing my arms.
1/3
its smirk deepened, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe.”
“Then tell me.” I sat up, ignoring the slight ache in my side. “Tell me what you know.”
“I can’t.” He shrugged.
I frowned. “Can’t or won’t?”
His expression turned almost… sad. “Literally can’t.” He made a slicing motion across his throat, eyes wide in exaggerated horror before grinning. “I’d die.”
“Is it some kind of blood oath?” I asked, remembering that there were rumors about blood oaths happening at the academy, but they were all debunked.
“Can’t tell you that either.” He looked genuinely sorry that he couldn’t, but that was enough of an answer. A shiver ran down my spine. What kind of secrets are they making in this place that they tied students‘ lives to them?
Maybe Nate would tell me if I asked? But he would die too.
I sighed, frustrated, but he quickly changed the topic. “Eva’s at the head office, threatening them to have Emari moved from your room.”
I blinked, then laughed. “That’s sweet of her, but I think I can manage sleeping in the same room as Emari.”
For a moment, I considered asking him if he and Emari had history–if they had been something. But I swallowed the question. It didn’t matter.
“It matters that she’s a good fighter.” There goes that jealousy again. Pesky thing. Max stretched his arms over his head.
“I’ll help train you.”
I hesitated, then shook my head. “Ethan and Eva are already helping me.”
Max smirked. “You mean your brother who just left for Night Nav and won’t be back until dawn?”
I blinked. So that’s the classified male–only class? Night Navigation? Why were only males allowed in it?
“Sexist–ass school,” I muttered under my breath.
After Max left for bed–or better yet, after I forced him to leave because of his evident fatigue, the infirmary got too quiet. Too suffocating.
So I snuck out, knowing the nurse–wouldn’t have given me clearance until tomorrow. But there was no doubt about it. I was already healed.
My feet carried me to the forest’s edge, the only place where I could train alone without prying eyes, but not too far for it to be dangerous. The moon hung high, bathing the trees in silver light as I threw punch after punch into the air, my footwork clumsy but determined. The class we had today, Fitness and Combat, was designed to weed out the weak. It started with an obstacle course to test and strengthen our stamina, and then basically flung us into ‘combat‘ to imitate a real–life event of running and having to go into a fight. For now, we were only doing it in human form, and we wouldn’t start in wolf form until next semester.
More persons are known to die in wolf form–namely in the challenges.
I had to get stronger. I had to get faster.
www
I used a fallen tree as a ramp as I ran up its length, jumping down only to start again and again, even as my lungs burned.
A twig snapped behind me, putting me on high alert as I froze, my breath hitching.
Then, a voice. Low. Steady Familiar.
“You call that training?”
I turned, my stomach twisting.
Nathaniel stood a few feet away, his face shadowed under the moonlight. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes… his eyes were sharp, assessing.
“How long have you been standing there?” My fingers curled into fists. “Were you following me?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he took a slow step forward. “You’re wasting your time.”
I bristled. “Excuse me?”
2/3
Jiselle.” He exhaled, almost in irritation. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Anger flared in my chest. “And you do?”
He closed the distance between us in three steps, his presence overwhelming. “Midnight. Every night. Right here.”
1 frowned. “What?”
“I’ll train you.” His voice was cold, detached, like he was offering out of obligation rather than choice.
I scoffed. Here we go again for the third time tonight. I was starting to feel insecure.
“I don’t need you to-”
“You could have died today.”
“Like you care!” I flung back. Screw him.
His jaw ticked, and even under the moonlight, I could see his mind working.
“For Ethan’s sake,” he mumbled. “Ethan would be devastated-”
Yeah yeah if I died. We had this conversation before, remember?”
He huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if I was some type of annoyance. “Midnight, tomorrow and every day.”
A lump formed in my throat, but I pushed it down. “And if I say no?”
“Then you die.” He didn’t blink. “Because no one else here is strong enough to make you survive.”
I wanted to argue, to tell him that Eva and Ethan were enough. But the words wouldn’t come. Because Eva was good, but not fast enough. And if I was being honest, Ethan had no time.
Deep down, I knew he was right.
I met his gaze. “Were you the one who brought me to the infirmary?”
His jaw tensed. For a second, I thought he might answer.
But then, he turned, walking away.
“Tomorrow. Midnight. Right here:
And then he was gone.
I stood there, my heart pounding, my mind a whirlwind of thoughts.
He said he wa: doing this for Ethan.
But something told me that wasn’t the truth at all.
