Hundreds of years ago, Lunaris had been a sanctuary for wolves, and once again, history was repeating itself. Except with a little twist.

Never had the wolves thought there would come a day when they would fight against each other. Humans had been their enemies for so long that a battle like this rattled them to their core.

Although days ago the students had been informed that there would be "guests" arriving and were told to keep themselves confined to their dormitories, it still shook them when portals appeared across the school grounds and people began stepping out of them bloodied, some gravely injured.

The term was over, but they couldn’t go home with the zombie virus ravaging their cities. In a way, the saying that the most dangerous place was the safest must have come from situations like this, because even with the zombies right outside their walls, everyone remained perfectly at ease.

Micah had figured out that since portals couldn’t be used to go in and out, Lunaris Academy would be the perfect place to retreat to, as Baron’s witches wouldn’t be able to follow. Samantha’s coven had refused to help in the fight, but Samantha and the other witches stuck at the academy eventually agreed to help in the end.

Then came the problem of portaling in and out, since their witch magic didn’t work within the wards. They were able to find a loophole by using Micah’s blood and tuning into the frequency of his magic. In a way, they tricked the wards into believing it was Micah teleporting out when, in reality, it was the opposite.

The downside, however, was that it drained a significant amount of their power since they were transporting many.

Nonetheless, Lunaris Academy at the moment was a beehive of activity. The students who were supposed to be confined to their rooms had poured out onto the grounds, moving in hurried clusters, trying to help in whatever way they could as Adele barked out instructions over the commotion.

"Don’t just stand there! Put pressure on the wound!" Adele snapped, dropping to her knees beside a fallen wolf whose side was torn open. She pressed her hand firmly over the bleeding gash, turning her head sharply. "You—tear that cloth. Now. Wrap it tight. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, he won’t make it to the infirmary."

The trembling student obeyed immediately, ripping a strip from her sleeve and handing it over with shaking fingers. Adele didn’t slow down, guiding her hands into place. "Good. Keep it steady. Don’t loosen it no matter how much he growls at you." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

All around them, the grounds had turned into a makeshift triage. The students moved between the injured wolves, some kneeling to clean wounds with whatever water they could find, the others pressing cloth to bleeding limbs, their hands stained red. The air smelled of iron and smoke, filled with low groans and hurried breaths.

"Careful with his arm!" Adele called out, rising and moving to the next group. "It’s broken, not dead. Support it before you move him!"

Two boys nodded, adjusting their grip as they lifted the injured wolf between them. "Where do we take him?" one of them asked.

"The infirmary," Adele answered without missing a beat.

Nearby, a young girl knelt beside a wolf struggling to stay conscious, her hands hovering uncertainly over his chest. "I don’t know what to do!" she hollered, scared out of her mind.

Adele crouched beside her, her voice gentle but no less firm. "Here." She guided the girl’s hands down. "You feel his breathing. It’s shallow. So sit him up slightly, don’t let him choke. Good. Now stay with him. Talk to him. Keep him awake."

The girl nodded quickly, swallowing her fear as she did exactly that.

"Goddess help me," Adele swore, scanning the field with assessing eyes. She could feel her magic sitting just beneath her skin, urging her to use it, to heal faster, to fix everything at once, but she resisted.

Unless it was severe, she wouldn’t waste it.

They were werewolves and would heal. The pain was temporary, but running out of power wasn’t.

"Lift him!" she ordered another group, pointing at a wolf with deep claw marks across his back. "Infirmary—now. And don’t drop him!"

"Yes!" they answered, scrambling to obey as they carefully hoisted him up.

For once, Adele wondered what she would have done without the students. She wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. They were helping in their own way and it was enough.

At that moment, it didn’t matter whether you were wolf or human. All that mattered was staying alive.

Somewhere inside the infirmary, Elijah was already resting in one of the private wards, with Ezra and a handful of trusted wolves standing guard over him.

Already, a few of Baron’s witches had managed to slip through the portal, but they had been dealt with before they could cause any real damage.

Nor did it escape their notice that an emotional wolf might decide assassinating their Alpha King was the solution to their problems.

Adele wiped the back of her hand across her forehead before moving again, her voice cutting through the noise once more.

"Keep moving! We don’t stop now!"

But not everyone who made it through the portal was alive. Some had already died back in Angus’s mansion, while others gave up the moment they reached Lunaris Academy.

Unfortunately, this was the academy, which meant some of their children were in attendance. That meant there was mourning, and some of the wolves were trying to hold back the emotional kids.

Among them was Irene, who stood waiting for her husband and son to materialize. She swore to the goddess that once he appeared, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. How dare he pull that move on her? But beneath that fury, she just wanted him back.

Then Micah appeared out of thin air and dropped an unconscious Samantha. The moment Irene saw that, her stomach dropped.

She knew what it meant. The portal was gone.

But she couldn’t give up. Micah had gone back. He would return with her son and husband.

Just as she thought, Micah stumbled into existence again, this time with Griffin, nearly crumbling under his weight.

"Griffin!" she cried in relief, rushing to him.

"Thank the gods." He was alive.

Then she turned, expecting Micah to be gone, but he was still there. Her heart faltered as it dawned on her.

Micah had exhausted himself.

Her husband was trapped with the enemy on the other side.