<h4>Chapter 338: The Horrifying News</h4>


    <strong>Kieran:</strong>


    The tip of my pen scratched faintly against the parchment as I circled yet another ring mistake in a second-year’s written recipe. I let out a sigh through my nose, pinching the bridge of it for a second before moving on to the next paper. However, my chest refused to let me concentrate properly.


    For thest ten minutes or so, there had been this tightness right over my heart. A strange weight was pressing down on me with every breath. It wasn’t unbearable, but it wasn’t something I could ignore either. I shifted ufortably in my seat, pressing my palm against the spot, as though the pressure of my own hand could soothe it away. It didn’t.


    I forced myself to focus on the stack of answers before me. The sleeping potion was one of the simplest recipes on the sybus, something that should have been second nature to any student past their first year... but half of these attempts looked like they had been written by blindfolded children. Wrong herb quantities, wrong preparation order. If this had been a practical test, half the Academy would have been knocked out cold within minutes.


    When I reached Draven’s paper though, I felt the tension in my shoulders ease slightly. His neat, precise handwriting filled the page, every instruction clear and correct. Perfect. Exactly as I expected.


    A small, wry smile tugged at my lips. There had been a time years ago when Draven had been absolutely hopeless with Herbs and Potions. He used to grumble and roll his eyes whenever I tried to exin the basics, iming he would never use such knowledge.


    I had been forced to find creative ways to make him engage, turning lessons into little games, showing him firsthand how herbs could heal cuts or bruises, even making small concoctions togetherte at night. Somewhere along the line, he had not only caught up but excelled.


    My fingers stilled over the paper as another thought intruded - an uninvited one, sharp and familiar.


    Evaline Greystone.


    The name alone made my entire body lock up. My breathing caught, and the pen nearly slipped from my hand. I cursed silently, lowering my head and squeezing my eyes shut for a moment. I shouldn’t. I couldn’t. But no matter how much I tried, she was there. Always there.


    She was one of the few students who had ever rivaled my natural ease in this subject. Genius, I had called her once. She absorbed knowledge like the earth drank rain. Even now, when she was not here at the academy, no longer someone I should be thinking about, I couldn’t forget.


    I dug my nails into my palm, forcing myself to remember the line I had drawn. She wasn’t mine. She was my brothers’ mate. And my brothers’ happiness meant more than mine ever could. I had chosen already, hadn’t I? I had chosen distance.


    I hadn’t stepped foot inside the mansion since my return from Midnight Wolf Academy. Every instinct screamed at me to go, to see her, to just... be near her. But I had kept myself away, steel bars around my heart, reminding myself again and again... <i>she’s theirs. Not yours</i>.


    The sharpest wave of difort yet mmed into my chest at that exact moment, hard enough that the pen almost slipped from my grip. I clenched my jaw, one hand clutching the desk, the other pressing t against the ache over my heart.


    "What the hell is this..." I muttered under my breath.


    My wolf whimpered softly in the back of my mind, his unease echoing my own. <i>I don’t feel right either</i>, he admitted, his voice low and pained. <i>Something’s wrong, Kieran.</i>


    My brows furrowed. Wrong. Was it me? Was I falling sick? I never got sick. Maybe I needed to see a healer-


    A loud tter in the ssroom jerked me from my thoughts. I looked up sharply.


    "Draven!" someone cried, their voice sharp with worry.


    My gaze zeroed in on my brother. Draven was hunched over his desk, one hand gripping the edge, his other clutching at his stomach as if trying to hold something inside. His usually sharp features were twisted in difort, pale under the ssroom lights.


    I was on my feet before my chair had even finished scraping back. "Draven," I barked, crossing the room in long strides. My hand shot out to steady him as he swayed, pulling him upright and then easing him back down onto his chair. "What’s wrong?"


    He grimaced, his voice rough. "I-I don’t know. I feel sick. Like something’s... off. It’s making me nauseous."


    My stomach twisted. This wasn’t just me. Draven was feeling it too.


    I turned to the ss, my voice sharp and authoritative. "Keeper, watch over them until the end. Do not let anyone attempt the potion without supervision."


    The young woman nodded immediately, stepping forward. Satisfied, I slid Draven’s arm over my shoulder and half-carried him out of the room.


    The fresh air outside helped a little. I eased him down onto a bench in the small garden, crouching in front of him as he breathed deeply, a little color slowly returning to his cheeks.


    But my mind was already racing. It couldn’t be coincidence. My chest pain, his sudden nausea... this felt connected. What if it had to do something Oscar or River? Could one of them be in trouble?


    My hand fumbled for my phone, my thumb already swiping through to River’s number. He was the first I needed to check on since he’s the only one outside the protective walls of the Academy.


    But before I could hit call, Draven’s phone buzzed in his hand and the screen lit up with River’s name.


    We exchanged a nce, tension thick as ice between us, before Draven swiped to answer. "River?" he said, his voice steady despite his pale face.


    What came through the receiver was anything but steady.


    River’s voice was raw, hoarse with something I hadn’t heard in him for years - pure, unfiltered panic. "Draven... it’s Evaline -" His words came fast, choked, nearly incoherent. "She fell - stairs - she’s - oh stars, the baby-"


    <fn38ff> Readplete version only at Find?Novel</fn38ff>


    Every syble mmed into me like a hammer. My wolf went dead silent, then howled in the back of my mind, a sound of terror that turned my blood cold. My body froze for a single heartbeat, the world narrowing to River’s voice spilling through the receiver.


    Evaline.


    Fell.


    Baby.


    No. No, no, no.


    I felt the color drain from my face as my chest constricted so tightly I thought I would stop breathing. Draven looked no better, his knuckles were white around the phone, his face pale from the wave of horror we both felt.


    River’s voice broke again through the line, a desperatemand more than anything. "Hurry up."


    And then the call cut, leaving only the sound of my heart pounding in my ears.