My Alphas' Dark Desires-Chapter 96: Are You Okay?

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Chapter 96

~Valerie’s POV~

The scent of warm toast, scrambled eggs, and sugared tea filled our dorm kitchen. Morning light streamed through the curtains, catching in Isla’s curls as she hummed along to the enchanted radio playing an upbeat fae tune.

Emerald flipped a pancake, her hair tied back, while Astraea lounged against the counter, nursing a steaming mug of coffee that smelled like hazelnut and trouble.

I sat unmoving at the end of the small round table with a fork in my hand. My eyes were trained on my plate—fluffy eggs, half-buttered toast, slices of fruit neatly arranged—and I hadn’t touched a single bite.

Instead, my mind kept looping back to yesterday evening after volleyball practice. Kai’s breath was against my lips, and his body was pressed to mine.

The weight of his wish. The ache that had settled so deep I couldn’t breathe right.

He hadn’t kissed me. But gods, Astra... I wanted him to.

"Valerie?" Emerald’s voice cut through my daze.

I blinked. "Hmm?"

She arched a brow and pointed her fork at me. "We asked what you’re doing after training today. You looked a million miles away."

I opened my mouth, and the words slipped out before my brain could catch them. "The kiss."

Every fork froze. The music stopped. Even the pancake mid-air paused before flipping (I imagined).

"What?" Astraea asked, eyes wide.

I blinked again. My heart dropped to my stomach. "I—" I swallowed, trying to backtrack, but it was already too late. "I did not kiss me."

The stunned silence that followed, then...

Isla gasped. "You kissed you? Were you using a mirror or did you shift into another form? I mean, I know you’re hot but—"

"I did not kiss him!" I blurted out, clearly mortified. My voice cracked at the end.

Astraea nearly choked on her drink. "Him? Who’s he?"

Isla leaned over the table with a wicked grin on her face. "So the kiss was that good it’s still playing reruns in your head, huh?"

I groaned and dropped my head to the table. "Please let the ground swallow me."

"You can be earthbound," Emerald offers helpfully. "Just open a small hole and crawl in. We won’t judge."

"Speak for yourself," Isla said brightly. "I need details. Tongue? No tongue? Was it gentle, rough—did you make the first move?"

I grabbed my fork like it might double as a dagger. "I’m not talking about this."

"Too late, love," Astraea sang. "You already started the fanfic."

"Ugh!" I sat up abruptly, nearly knocking over my untouched tea. "It’s 7:50 AM! We are going to be late!"

That got them moving.

I rushed from the table, ignoring the laughter behind me as I darted into my room. My bag sat by the foot of my bed.

I snatched it up quickly before bolting back out into the main area. "I’m going ahead!" I shouted, already halfway out the door.

"Tell him we said hi!" Isla called after me.

I slammed the door shut behind me, heat creeping all the way up my neck and down to my toes.

Gods above, I hated my life.

My feet hit the academy grounds minutes later, my breath still uneven from the run, not just the physical sprint, but the mental one replaying every last night’s cursed moment.

Kai’s eyes, his voice, the way I wanted him. I didn’t know what was wrong with me anymore, but all I needed to know was... I was avoiding them.

I didn’t notice Ace until he called, "Val—!" frёewebnoѵēl.com

Nope.

I turned sharply, pretending I did not hear him call me, and veered off the path, ducking my head and pretending not to hear. My boots hit the grass with a crunch, and I kept my eyes fixed ahead. Fast, clean, silent.

I turned another corner and ran right into Xander.

My breath caught. His dark eyes scanned me, lips already parting. Panic flared instantly. I did the only reasonable thing I could do at that moment because I couldn’t trust any of them now.

I ducked behind the stone pillar to my right and flattened myself against it like a fugitive in a bad play.

"Smooth," I muttered.

I peeked around the column. Xander looked around, confused, head tilting slightly as if he could smell my panic. To be fair, he probably could.

I waited, holding my breath until his gaze moved on.

Now.

I broke into a light jog and slipped into the back corridor that curved around the training wing. My heart pounded like a drumline, and not just from the escape.

I couldn’t see either of them anymore—no emerald eyes, blue eyes, no golden smirk.

I kept my head down as I moved through the halls, the energy in the air snapping like static against my skin.

The Academy pulsed with life—power humming beneath every footstep, every sideways glance—but I let it wash over me.

Finally, I reached the familiar hallway of our classroom and slid inside.

The classroom for Supernatural History was already half full when I slipped inside. I made no sound, but it didn’t stop the sharp weight of four distinct gazes locking onto me.

Dristan, cold precision, silver-blue eyes dissecting me like I was some complicated code he hadn’t cracked yet.

Axel—ever the tactician, calm but alert—his posture deceptively casual, but I could feel the way his attention tracked my every move.

Kai, commanding and immovable. His arms were folded across his chest, his jaw tight, and that presence of his—the kind that made air heavier—was in full force.

And then there was Xade.

He lounged in his seat like the throne was already his, that smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth like he knew something I didn’t. Like he always did.

I didn’t break stride. Didn’t pause. I just claimed my seat in the middle row, slipped out my notes, and opened to a fresh page—no need to rise to their silent provocations.

Today, Professor Myra was taking us. We usually had two professors for this course. Her voice rang out.

"Today, we dive into the origin of the Grand Accord. The moment when the supernatural races—Fae, Shifters, Vampires, Dragons and Mages—chose unity under a blood-forged alliance. And how that alliance was sealed with a symbol..."

I glanced up at the projected sigil—the mark of the Nightshade Thorn—but before I could fully grasp it, she shifted the image to a new one.

"That was the previous sigil, but after a century, it was changed into something better and less dark," Professor Myra explained and I felt my blood boil.

Since I came to this school, I have not received an answer to my search. I had tried to find some but had received none, and now I came across an ancient emblem that still stirred something in my blood.

I had almost blurted out the Nightshade Thorn sigil when she returned the image to explain.

"This, as you can see, has a much darker shade and meaning than the new sigil.’

That was when I saw it. There was a slight difference between this emblem and the one I saw as a child.

This had a little rose in the middle. It was almost unnoticeable, but if you look closely, you will see it.

I sighed, my shoulders slouching as I opened my notebook and took my pen.

My hand moved before I realised it, pen gliding along the margins of my notebook, sketching the familiar lines I had drawn countless times, each time I felt this way—this tightness that left me panting the night of the massacre.

My fingers stilled. I stared at the page a heartbeat too long.

That’s when I felt it. Eyes were on me.

Slowly, deliberately, I shifted my gaze sideways. Xade was watching me, not just looking, watching. His head tilted, arms folded, eyes sharp with amusement—and something else, darker.

"Careful, little wolf," he murmured, voice low and silk-slick. Just loud enough for me. "Some secrets bite back."

I didn’t blink. Didn’t twitch. I offered him a calm, unreadable smile as I gently closed my notebook, hiding the sketch with a flick of my fingers.

Let him wonder.

Xade shifted beside me.

I could feel his gaze lingering longer, like a tether pulling at something beneath my skin. Like he wasn’t just watching me—he was trying to read the space between my breaths.

He leaned forward slightly, voice hushed. "Val—what’s wrong?"

I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t. My fingers tightened around my pen until the plastic creaked, and I slightly shook my head.

Not now or here. The silence between us said the rest. He leaned back, but not all the way. I could still sense the question hanging from his expression like smoke in the air.

I focused on my notes, though the words on the page blurred and twisted. My mind was still caught somewhere between the past and that faint, aching pull of memory.

The sigil, the massacre, missing answers. My chest felt tight again, like someone had wrapped invisible vines around it and just kept twisting.

Then Kai moved.

I sensed him before I saw him—his presence always felt like standing too close to a thunderstorm, wild and heavy and impossible to ignore.

He shifted forward in his seat behind me, his palm brushing lightly against my shoulder. Not a full touch—more like a tap, a question shaped by skin.

Are you okay?

I didn’t answer. My breath caught, and I froze, still staring blankly at the page. My hand hovered above the last unfinished line of the sigil.

It was as though the world had narrowed into that one second. His touch, breath close enough that the back of my neck prickled.

Then...

"Before we go any further," Professor Myra’s voice rang out, sharp and far too cheerful for what followed, "you’ll all be taking a class test."