Chapter 24. Kade Watches Her Burn

Kade was not in the Hall. He was worse than confined; he was paralyzed.

He was locked within the Alpha’s private retreat—a secure section of his suite that only he could open, a space meant for isolation during the most brutal lunar cycles. The door was magicked shut with wards he couldn’t override without risking a catastrophic power surge, which would only prove Headmaster Thorne and the Council correct: that he was dangerously unstable.

Worse than the locks, however, was the view.

Thorne had arranged for a large, shimmering projection of the Unity Ceremony to play on the main wall, a courtesy designed not to keep Kade informed, but to torture him. He was a spectator to his own downfall, forced to watch the public execution of his future.

He stood before the screen, hands clenched, the muscles in his jaw rigid as granite. He could hear nothing—the warding was complete—but the light-magic projection showed every single terrifying moment with horrifying clari