Chapter 255
Chapter 255:
Sitting on the plush velvet sofa, the exhaustion of the past few days finally caught up with me. Yet every time I closed my eyes, I didn’t see the sterile walls of the Sanctum. I saw the crumbling red brick of the academy’s bell tower. A.W. + K.Bx
My thoughts drifted back to my freshman year at St. Jude’s Academy. The relentless bullying from Kira Parrish had pushed my fragile mind to the breaking point, triggering a premature, agonizing First Shift. I remembered the absolute hell of my bones breaking and reforming, tearing through my flesh. I thought I was going to die on that cold floor.
But then, a powerful scent had enveloped me — ancient cedar and a violent winter storm. A cool, commanding mental presence had flooded my mind, soothing the scorching pain and pulling my frantic Inner Wolf back from the edge of madness.
When I finally woke up in the Healer’s Wing, my vision was blurry. Jase Davenport was sitting beside my bed. He told me he had found me, that he had used his Alpha aura to soothe my wolf and save my life. I had believed him. I had given him my gratitude, my trust, and years of my life based on that single, heroic lie.
My phone buzzed on the glass coffee table, pulling me from the dark memory. It was a voicemail from Professor Albright.
𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰m𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗱 𝘵o у𝗼𝗎𝗿 𝗳𝗿і𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀
I pressed play, holding the speaker to my ear.
“Adelina, my dear,” the professor’s warm voice crackled through the line. “I was organizing the old academy archives this morning after the summit. I came across the Healer’s Wing logbook from your freshman year. I thought you should know — it wasn’t Jase Davenport who brought you in that night p>
My breath stalled in my lungs.
“The official log is very clear,” Professor Albright continued gently. “You were carried in and stabilized by a senior student. Kain Blackwell p>
The phone slipped from my trembling fingers, landing softly on the rug.
The world tilted. Jase hadn’t saved me. He had found me after the fact and stolen the credit, using my vulnerability to mold me into his perfect, compliant placeholder. The man who had actually saved me — the man whose scent had anchored my soul in the darkest moment of my life — was the very Lycan King I had been accusing of being a cold, calculating actor.
I stood up, my legs shaking, and walked toward the open kitchen.
Kain was standing by the marble counter, pulling a shot of espresso. The rich aroma of coffee mingled with his ambient, intoxicating scent of ancient cedar. He wore a simple black Henley that stretched across his massive shoulders.
Carmella POV
The heavy, soundproof doors of Grant Blackwell’s armored SUV had finally released me, but the suffocating tension of his presence still clung to my skin as I rode the elevator up to my floor. I just wanted to lock myself inside my apartment and wash the exhaustion of the past twenty-four hours away.
The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open to the brightly lit hallway with its familiar beige carpet.
Instantly, a sour, rotting scent hit my nose — a pathetic mixture of wilting roses and pure, unadulterated desperation.