Rose sat in a chair close to Lamia, while Noah wondered why the two alphas positioned themselves so far away. Their eyes remained sharp as ice, fixed intently on him. The weight of their stares made the already tense detention room feel even smaller and more oppressive.
"Those two will get you expelled from this school one day, Noah. I don’t know... isn’t there something that could be done? Especially about that douchebag Eugene. Doesn’t he have Sylvia?" Rose asked, her voice laced with concern.
Noah groaned in exhaustion. Hunger gnawed at his stomach, and a deeper fear kept him from wanting to step outside. Something felt profoundly off, as if he were being watched and monitored by a sinister presence lurking just beyond sight.
"They have Sylvia, so why won’t they leave me alone?" His words made Rose’s eyes twinkle with a mix of surprise and relief.
"So you’re serious? You’re really not interested in them anymore?"
He shrugged. Of course he wasn’t. Why would he be?
"Yeah, do you think I was playing around here?" Noah replied. Rose nodded slowly. As they talked, the two alphas at the opposite end could hear every word. Killian stood up abruptly.
"Where do you think you’re going?" Eugene demanded.
Killian laughed, the sound almost sadistic and deadly. "Don’t you ever in your fucking life ask me that again. We aren’t brothers, so keep that in your empty skull." He carried a large bag with him. Walking over to the three desks where Noah, Rose, and Lamia sat, he settled down nearby. The others tensed immediately.
"It’s okay. I won’t do anything, I promise." He dropped the heavy bag on the floor. Noah couldn’t help but wonder where it had come from so suddenly.
"How did you even carry that into detention?" he asked.
Killian winked at him, flashing those dangerously sexy eyes that made Noah almost blush on the spot. "My secret. This is food. By my calculations, they won’t let us leave until nightfall because of our attitude. They’ll probably ban eating as part of the punishment, and I don’t want that to happen." His tone sounded intentionally sweet and honest, but Noah recognized it as a mask. Who knew what lay hidden beneath it? He wasn’t eager to find out.
Rose and Lamia glanced at the bag cautiously. Lamia looked it up and down before speaking. "How do we know it’s not poisoned?"
Eugene walked forward with a smug grin. "Yeah, take it back, Killian. We don’t want you poisoning them." The confidence in his voice annoyed Noah to no end.
"In your fucked-up dreams, dude. Mind your own business. I’ve told you before—why are you so obsessed with me?" Killian shot back.
Noah rolled his eyes. Here they went again. "Fuck, guys, can you stop this attitude around me please? I don’t want to get expelled. I’ve told you all I wanted was peace, and guess who dragged me and my friends into this mess?" He looked at them pointedly. They didn’t need to answer, but he continued anyway. "Both of you. Both of you fucking did this to us. You put us in this place, and now you’re still fighting. Didn’t you say you were sick of me following you around? Why don’t you get the fuck out of my sight?"
Rose and Lamia stayed silent, watching Noah pour out his heart. The two alphas did the same, caught off guard by the outburst.
"And you, Eugene... you don’t know how much you hurt me, and you keep doing it. You’re slowly ruining my life, and it’s becoming alarming." The accusation made Eugene’s hazel eyes flicker with uncertainty. He took a step back and retreated to the other row without another word. Killian, however, remained seated.
"Sorry. I’m not handling this well. I just want to correct my mistakes and keep you safe. Your protection is my number one priority." His words made Noah’s eyes tingle, as if tears were threatening to spill. He held them back.
Another day of Ashton’s emotions getting in the way. These feelings couldn’t truly be his—they couldn’t define him like this.
"Why do you think that way? Did you do something?" Noah pressed, hoping to uncover the truth about Ashton’s death. The answers seemed to be emerging slowly, but a nagging doubt tugged at him. He didn’t want Killian to be responsible. It would be easier to hate Eugene, the one who had caused so much visible pain, rather than this seemingly perfect figure who had stayed by his side.
"I can’t say. This is something that’s supposed to be a secret." Suddenly Killian was being secretive, yet he claimed to want Noah safe. What a hypocrite.
"Killian, dear, can you do me a favor and get the fuck out of my sight? I need to breathe, and your presence isn’t allowing any fresh air in." The venom in Noah’s words surprised even him, but Killian stood and joined Eugene at the opposite end, leaving the three friends alone again.
Lamia let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. "You should mind the way you speak to them—and to Sylvia. Those are the future of our empire." His warning immediately hooked Noah’s interest.
Rose began to explain, her voice low. "There are four kings from different kingdoms who never liked each other, though all serve under one emperor. But that emperor has no heir to take over. So he brought in his ward—a girl with dragon affinity, something incredibly rare. Legend says she’s the last one. Nobody knows exactly why he did it, but he proposed an engagement between her and the four sons of the kings, each with powerful affinities that can’t be matched. Those sons are the moonlight alphas, and the girl is none other than Sylvia. The true purpose of the arrangement... no one has ever known."
Rose finished the story with visible tension in her body and mind. Noah’s thoughts raced wildly with the possibilities unfolding before him. How did this connect to Ashton? He still couldn’t shake the theory that everything traced back to Ashton’s fall from that building. Now he needed solid proof to back it up.
"The moonlight tag—is that because of their affinities being connected to the moon?" Noah asked.
Lamia shook his head. "They all have different powerful ones, top-tier abilities. Damian has blood affinity, Eugene has time affinity, Marcus has beast affinity, and the most terrifying is Killian with nightmare affinity." The description made Noah imagine the horror of controlling people’s dreams and nightmares. That sounded like dark magic, deadly and invasive.
"And me? You still don’t know what my affinity is. I’m just curious," Noah said, turning to Rose. She looked like she wanted to say something important but gave subtle signs that the alphas were listening. She couldn’t speak freely.
Noah nearly groaned. Another chance to learn more ruined by those alphas. How annoying. Then he caught another whiff of that lemon scent again, faint but unmistakable.
"Do you guys smell that?" he asked, hoping desperately that someone nearby was simply slicing lemons. Anything but the alternative.
"Hmm, nothing here apart from darkness and rot," Rose grimaced. The detention room did look abandoned, with its dim lighting, dusty corners, and stale air that carried a faint musty smell.
Noah looked up toward the doorway and froze. Right there stood a cloaked figure, staring at him with an eerie, unblinking gaze. The silhouette seemed to blend with the shadows, its presence unnatural and chilling.
"Oh fuck, I thought you only come at night," Noah whispered. But the voice that answered drifted back sweetly, almost like an echo carried on the wind.
"But you’re asleep, so I am in your dream."