Chapter 3 Golden Chains

Winter

My eyes stared down at the small slip of dark parchment resting on my open notebook.

The threat hung in the air like heavy smoke. My pulse hammered against my ribs, a wild, frantic rhythm that made me want to jump out of my skin. Instead, I carefully slid the note under my papers, folding my trembling hands over the desk as if pretending hard enough could make it vanish.

“He's bluffing,” I told myself, my breathing shallow and tight. “He wouldn't challenge Derek over a pack feud just to trap me in an arena.”

"He's not bluffing, idiot," my inner wolf snapped back, pacing furiously through the back of my mind with her fangs bared. "He's an Alpha. He does whatever he wants, and right now, he wants us. If Derek finds out, he'll march right into their barracks with a sword and get himself killed."

The cold knot in my stomach tightened into lead. She was right. Derek was brave, dangerously overprotective, and completely incapable of backing down from a fight. If he knew the Crimson Alpha was staking a claim on me, my brother would start a war before the bell rang for lunch.

"Winter? Hey, look at me."

Julian's voice pulled me away from the edge of panic. I flinched, turning my head. Julian was leaning close, his blue eyes searching my face with deep concern. He reached across the desk and wrapped his hand around mine.

"You're freezing," Julian whispered, his brow furrowing.

Normally, our Frost-Vein skin ran naturally cool, but right now my hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold my pen.

"I'm fine, Julian," I lied, pulling my hand back and forcing a stiff smile. "Just... tired of the tension in here."

Julian's jaw hardened, his knuckles turning white as he glanced back over your shoulder toward the elevated rows behind us. "I know, but you don't have to worry. I am right here. Neither Derek nor I will let any of those Crimson thugs breathe near you."

I nodded, swallowing the thick lump in my throat. If only you knew, I thought bitterly. The real danger wasn't sitting across the room anymore. It was burning a hole right through my pocket, tied straight to my chest by a glowing golden thread only Malakai and I could see.

Up in the back row, Malakai didn't say a word. But the heavy, suffocating heat of his presence radiated down the wooden steps, daring me to turn around.

By the time the bell rang for the advanced elemental lab, the air in the Citadel felt ready to snap.

I walked sandwiched tightly between Derek and Julian down the stone hall. Derek had his hand glued to the hilt of his frost blade the entire way, glaring daggers at every Crimson wolf brave enough to cross our path.

"Stay right beside me, Win," Derek muttered, his voice tense and low as he ushered me through the heavy oak doors of the lab. "We take a front table. I am not letting those bastards out of my sight."

The lab was a massive, freezing stone chamber filled with black marble counters, bubbling silver cauldrons, and heavy glass bottles of volatile magical elements.

"Find your assigned lab stations!" Professor Vane barked from the front of the room, tapping a long wooden staff against the floor. "Due to the new integration mandate, stations are strictly paired! One Frost-Vein student per Crimson student. You will work together to brew a stable Sub-Zero Neutralizer by the end of this period, or you will fail!"

"Are you out of your mind, Professor?"

The air in the room instantly plummeted past freezing.

Derek stepped right into the aisle, and the sheer force of his Alpha aura slammed into the room like a blizzard. A bone-chilling wave of pure death magic rolled off his shoulders, frosting the stone floor beneath his boots and cracking the glass windows along the wall. His eyes flared a terrifying, incandescent blue.

Professor Vane stumbled backward, his hands shaking so hard he almost dropped his wooden staff. The professor's face went completely ghostly pale, his throat working as he choked on the suffocating pressure of an angry Frost-Vein Alpha. Derek could slice the man in half before he even finished his sentence.

I watched my brother, a cold shock hitting my chest. I had seen Derek fight off a pack of rogue wolves back home to protect me, slaughtering them in seconds without breaking a sweat. He was an Alpha, a lethal, high-tier killer who made full-grown men tremble just by raising his voice. Was this really the man I was terrified for?

Then my eyes flicked to the back of the room, and my blood turned back to ice.

Because as frightening as Derek was, I had no idea what Malakai was truly capable of.

"Sit down, Master Frost-Vein..." Professor Vane squeaked out, his voice thin and terrified as he pointed a trembling finger at the desk. "This... this is an order from the Citadel Council! Please..."

"Derek, wait," Julian warned, placing a hand on Derek's shoulder, using all his strength to help buffer the crushing Alpha aura before a bloodbath started in front of the faculty. "Don't give them an excuse to kick us out."

Derek ground his teeth so hard I heard the crunch from across the room, but he slowly reined in his aura, leaving a layer of frost across the floorboards. "Fine. But I am watching every single second."

I swallowed hard and dragged my feet over to Station 4 near the side wall.

"Well, well. Look what the frost dragged in."

A sharp, venomous voice made my blood run cold.

I turned slowly. Roxanne was strutting toward my counter, her tight red and black uniform tailored to perfection, her fiery red hair swinging behind her shoulders like a threat. Two of her pack sycophants trailed a few steps behind, snickering under their breath.

"Roxanne," I murmured, taking a step back until my lower back hit the hard marble counter.

"Looks like you're stuck with me, little princess," Roxanne sneered, slamming her heavy brass cauldron onto the table with a loud CLANG. "Time to see if you're actually useful for something besides hiding behind your brother."

"Just measure your reagents and leave me alone," I whispered, reaching for a small glass vial of lunar essence.

Roxanne leaned across the counter, her hazel eyes narrowing into bitter slits. "You really think you can sneak over to our side and play the innocent victim? You don't belong in this Citadel, and you definitely don't belong anywhere near Malakai."

"I don't care about Malakai," I snapped back, my temper finally flaring through my fear.

"Liar!" Roxanne hissed.

Before I could blink, Roxanne deliberately swept her elbow across the counter, slamming it into a heavy glass beaker filled with concentrated acid base.

Crash!

The glass shattered into a thousand pieces, sending a pool of boiling, bright-blue corrosive liquid rushing straight across the marble, heading directly over the edge toward my lap.

"Oops! Look at that clumsy little Frost-Vein," Roxanne laughed, taking a fast step back with a smug, triumphant grin.

"Winter! Look out!" Derek roared from across the room, vaulting over a table as his Alpha aura flared back to life in a violent spike.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the burning agony of the acid eating through my clothes and skin.

BOOM.

A wave of blistering, suffocating heat slammed into the space beside me, smashing against Derek's freezing aura like two massive ocean waves colliding.

Before a single drop of acid could touch my knees, a broad, calloused hand slammed flat onto the marble counter. A flash of dark orange Alpha fire erupted from Malakai's palm, instantly incinerating the corrosive liquid into a cloud of harmless grey steam that vanished into the overhead vents.

The lab went dead silent. Every student froze, caught between the suffocating pressure of two colliding Alpha magic fields.

Roxanne blinked, her smug smile instantly melting into sheer panic as she looked up at the towering Alpha standing between us. "Babe! She spilled it! She's so clumsy she almost ruined our station—"

Malakai didn't look at her. He didn't acknowledge her existence at all. His jaw was clenched so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek, and his molten copper eyes were practically glowing with predatory rage as he stared down at the remnants of the broken glass.

Slowly, he turned his head. His gaze locked onto mine.

Before I could take a breath, his hand shot out. His long, iron fingers wrapped firmly around my wrist, pulling me off my stool with effortless strength.

The moment his skin touched my pulse point, the golden thread beneath my uniform flared with a violent, electric heat, shooting a sharp jolt straight to my heart.

"Get your fucking hands off my sister!"

Derek surged forward, his glowing frost blade raised high, his eyes burning with pure Alpha death magic. Julian was right behind him, his own sword drawn as they closed in to tear the Crimson Alpha apart.

Malakai didn't even flinch. He didn't drop his grip on my wrist. He simply pulled me flush against his side, his body radiating a heat so intense it felt like standing in front of an open furnace. He glared at my brother and my fiancé over his shoulder, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying Alpha snarl that vibrated right through the floorboards, holding my brother's killing aura at a dead standstill.

"Take one more step, Frost-Vein," Malakai growled, his eyes flashing gold as he dragged me toward the side exit, "and see if she makes it out of this room with her skin intact."