CHAPTER EIGHT
Cassian's POV
People always talk about how silence is peaceful.
They're wrong.
Silence is what comes after the fight.
Right after the damage is done and everyone's waiting to see who's still breathing.
That's what the rooftop felt like.
Cold air in my lungs. The burn in my knuckles still fresh from punching that stupid reinforced locker downstairs. Some kid had said something he shouldn't. Touched something he didn't own.
I didn't regret it.
I just hated how good it felt.
The sky looked like a bruise—purple and orange smeared together like someone tried to paint calm and gave up halfway through. Fitting.
I didn't expect anyone else up here. Most people don't go looking for places that feel like endings.
So when the door creaked open behind me, my first thought was security.
My second thought was damn it, not again.
Then she walked in.
Boots. Black pants. Messy hair like she'd been running or thinking too hard—which, judging by the look on her face, was probably both. She froze when she saw me.
I didn't move.
I don't make the first move. Ever.
She scanned the roof, then looked right at me like I was a question she didn't have the energy to answer.
She was fire.
Not the soft kind that warms. The kind that burns. Sharp jaw. Wild hair. Mouth made to smirk. And eyes that looked like they'd bite before they'd ever beg.
She wasn't scared of me. That's what got me first.
Most people shrink around me. She didn't flinch.
She sat on the ledge, bold, reckless, too close to the edge but not close enough to me. She looked like a girl who said what she thought and dealt with the consequences later.
Something about her reminded me of fights I didn't want to win. Of storms you watch just to feel something real again.
I kept expecting her to leave. But she stayed.
She stayed and poked. Not in a cruel way. Just… curious. Bold. Untamed.
There was heat in her. Not the kind that passes. The kind that lingers.
And the way she carried herself? Like she was already tired of whatever story she was being written into. I knew that feeling.
I wasn't used to that kind of energy. The girl wasn't trying to impress me. She wasn't trying to flirt. She wasn't trying anything.
She was just there.
Real.
Sharp edges and soft exhaustion tucked under her defiance.
And even though I didn't say much—I watched her the way I watch dangerous things. Carefully. With curiosity. And just enough fear to keep my distance.
When she turned to leave, something hit me in the chest. Like maybe if I let her go without asking, I'd never know why the silence didn't suck while she was in it.
She stood up, and I should've let her.
I didn't.
"Hey."
She paused.
"You got a name?"
She tilted her head like she wasn't sure I deserved it. Fair enough.
"Aurielle," she said.
Aurielle. It landed in my head like a match against dry wood.
"Cassian," I told her.
She gave a small nod, turned, and disappeared down the stairs.
I stared at the spot where she'd been.
She wasn't afraid of me.
She didn't flinch when I snapped.
And she didn't try to impress me, flirt with me, or pretend to understand.
She was just there. Real.
And for a second, that silence I hated?
Didn't feel so bad.
Didn't know what it meant. But I knew it would stay.
She left, and I sat there alone again. Same rooftop. Same wind.
But something had shifted.
And I didn't like the quiet as much anymore.
"""
Auriella
Lunch hour was always chaos. The kind that smelled like burnt fries, teenage sweat, and too much body spray.
I dropped my tray on our usual table, tossed my curls back, and stared at the overcooked steak sandwich like it insulted my bloodline.
Luna dropped beside me with a dramatic groan. "You'd think with how much money your father throws into this place we'd at least get chicken that isn't fossilized."
I snorted. "That's not chicken. That's karma for my sins."
"Oh, you've got a lot of those."
"And I'm planning more."
She winked and leaned closer. "Speaking of sin, I saw your death god again in the hallway."
I didn't have to ask. "Alervon?"
"God, even his name sounds like foreplay."
"Please choke."
"I'd let him." She moaned into her juice like it was his mouth.
I gave her a deadpan look. "You're disturbed."
"And you're obsessed."
"I'm not—"
"You are. Your entire aura's like: 'I hate him but if he pins me to a wall I won't resist.'"
I rolled my eyes, but somehow at the back of my mind I was scared she wasn't wrong.
"Still think he's a werewolf?" I asked.
Luna toyed with her fork. "He walks like one. Strong. Controlled. But his aura? It's... heavy. Like death. Not wolfy death. Ancient death."
I was about to respond when Luca slid into the seat beside me, his hand finding my thigh like he owned it.
"Hey, babe."
"Hey," I murmured.
His jaw clenched as he glanced around. "Where's your mystery shadow?"
"He's not my anything."
"Sure."
I stabbed my food like it owed me an apology.
That's when it happened.
The air—shifted.
The noise of the cafeteria didn't stop.
Not at first.
But something buzzed at the back of my neck. Like static. Like my skin knew something my brain didn't.
Then the lights flickered.
Just once.
Then again.
Then—
Boom.
Every window exploded inward.
Screams.
Metal trays clattered.
Food rained from the sky.
I hit the floor as something growled—low, guttural, wrong.
The air turned sharp. Like it had claws.
Students screamed. Some shifted mid-panic—fur bursting, teeth elongating. Werewolves. Instinct.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't think.
Luna grabbed my wrist. "Auri—Auri what the FUCK—"
Then we saw it.
The shadow.
Crawling across the walls.
Moving without form.
Eyes glowing red from nowhere.
It's the ominous presnce I've been feeling since morning.
Then a voice—
"She smells like the gate… Auriella"
It wasn't human.
It wasn't alive.
Luca jumped forward, growling. His wolf half broke through instantly, eyes glowing gold.
Then—
A blur.
Alervon.
He was just—there.
Between the shadow and us.
No sound. No warning.
His eyes—hazel, glowing, unnatural. His hoodie gone. The tattoos down his arms glowed faintly, pulsing with something old. Something terrifying.
He raised his hand—
And the shadow screamed, thousand voices in one.
Like a dying god.
It burst backward, cracking walls, leaving black rot where it touched.
People were still screaming.
Blood.
Smoke.
Shifting wolves tearing at shadows.
Then—silence.
The shadow retreated. Like it recognized him.
Feared him.
It vanished into the cracks of the school, hissing—
"He wasn't supposed to be here… HADES"
And it was gone.
All I could do was stare.
Alervon turned to look at me for the first time in hours.
His face was calm.
But his eyes?
Murder. Madness. Memory.
I opened my mouth to speak—
But Principal Valen burst in, flanked by three council members in long coats, shouting orders.
Everything blurred.
"Aurielle."
I blinked. She was beside me.
Her voice was firm. "Go home. Now."
"What was that?"I asked.
Her eyes—too sharp.
"Something that wasn't meant to find you yet."
My heart dropped.
"Why did it know my name?"
Valen didn't answer.
She turned to Alervon, and for the first time—
He looked at someone with respect.
She nodded once. He nodded back.
The rest of the cafeteria was chaos.
But my world?
Had just shattered.
[TO BE CONTINUED...]