I bolted out of the administrative building like the floor was on fire beneath me. My legs burned, my lungs screamed, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. Every second I wasted meant another drop of blood lost, another breath someone might never take again.
I searched the classrooms first, bursting into one after the other. No sign of him. Not even a trace. I ran to the training fields, the student lounges, even his personal study room—nothing. Kieran was nowhere. My heart thundered louder than my footsteps. Panic clawed at my throat. He had to be somewhere. He had to.
My last hope was the Lycans' dormitory.
Every inch of my skin prickled as I stood in front of it, towering and heavily guarded by red-collared Lycans. I knew I wasn't welcome. I was a feral, dirt beneath their boots, a mistake that somehow slipped through the cracks of their perfect world. But I didn't care.
Not anymore.
I stepped forward.
