Chapter 18. More Than Fire

The Wolf Law lecture hall was an auditorium built for permanence, a curving, tiered space lined with dark, polished cherrywood and silent expectation. It was a place where rank was reflected in the seating arrangement: the Alphas and their heirs—Kade—sat on the elevated dais with the Headmaster, their posture radiating inherited power. The Betas and their families filled the central rows. Aria sat in the furthest corner of the lowest tier, a low-rank speck exiled to the perimeter with the few remaining outliers and staff-appointed scrubs.

The fever had intensified since her terrifying awakening in Chapter 16. It wasn't just heat now; it was a humming, restless energy that coursed beneath her skin, making the blood in her veins feel like molten iron. The wolfsbane amulet Jules had left around her neck was less a comfort and more a constant, subtle irritant. The plant's traditional warding properties, meant to suppress wolf instincts, seemed to only chafe against the a