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The gates of the Primary Academy didn't just open when Kenzo returned; they seemed to groan under the weight of the atmospheric pressure he was bringing with him. He hadn't even dropped his rucksack from the three-day mission before he saw Celine's face at the entrance. He didn't need her to say a word. The way she was holding her books, her knuckles white and her eyes red-rimmed, told him everything.
"Where are they?" Kenzo asked. His voice was a low, vibrating rasp that sounded less like a ten-year-old boy and more like a grinding tectonic plate.
As Kenzo stormed toward the Senior Lounge, something in his biology shifted. The sheer, unadulterated rage of discovering that Calix had been hunted like an animal acted as a chemical catalyst. Normally, an Alpha's scent is a steady burn, but Kenzo's suddenly spiked into a rare, volatile Sigma Alpha frequency—a scent so aggressive and sharp it felt like inhaling ozone and liquid iron.
He didn't realize it, but the heat was radiating off his skin in visible waves. He felt like his blood was boiling, his muscles coiling with a strength that shouldn't belong to a child. He was entering a premature, rage-induced heat.
"Kenzo, stop! Please!" Calix cried out, running to catch up.
Because of the trauma of the previous day and the unstable mana currently flooding the hallway from Kenzo, Calix's body couldn't maintain its male form. With a soft, flickering glow, Calix shifted into his female form mid-stride, her long black silver hair trailing behind her as she grabbed Kenzo's arm.
"Kenzo, don't fight! I'm okay now, see? I'm okay!" Calix begged, her voice high and panicked. She was clinging to his sleeve, her small hands trembling.
Celine was on Kenzo's other side, trying to use her mana to resonance-calm his heart rate. "Kenzo, look at me! If you kill them here, the Headmaster will have no choice but to expel you. Let the law handle it! Don't be a mindless brute!"
They reached the courtyard just as Vane and Leo were being escorted out by the Proctor. Seeing Kenzo looking like a literal demon of vengeance, the two seniors turned pale. They had heard about the "Blackwood temper," but this was something else. Kenzo's pheromones were making the other students in the hallway collapse to their knees.
"We... we're sorry!" Leo shouted, backing away and holding his hands up. "It was just a joke, Kenzo! We won't touch him again! We promise, we won't carry him or pick him up if he doesn't want us to!"
Celine let out a sharp, mocking laugh that cut through the tension. "Oh, listen to them! The 'mighty' seniors are begging a ten-year-old for mercy! Look at you, Vane. Your knees are shaking. Is that the great Southern nobility I've heard so much about? You look like a wet rat in a fancy uniform."
She looked at Kenzo, trying to distract him with her wit. "See, Kenzo? They aren't even worth your knuckles. They're pathetic. Why would you ruin your perfect record for two cowards who can't even stand up straight when a real Alpha looks at them?"
Kenzo didn't hear her. He was seeing red. The heat in his chest was becoming a blinding roar. He lunged forward, his fingers curling into claws, ready to tear Vane's throat out.
Suddenly, a massive, gloved hand reached out from the shadows of the pillar.
Aiden stepped forward, his expression grim. Beside him, Asher stood with his arms crossed, watching the scene with a mix of concern and awe at the raw power Kenzo was throwing off.
Aiden didn't punch Kenzo. He didn't yell. He reached out and grabbed Kenzo firmly by the back of the neck, his fingers locking onto the pressure point that Alphas used to ground their younger kin.
Kenzo spun around, a snarl on his face, his eyes glowing with a lethal gold as he prepared to bite whoever had dared to touch him. But the moment his gaze met Aiden's—the eldest brother, the Crown Prince, the one who had carried the cub home—the rage hit a wall.
"That's enough, Kenzo," Aiden said. His voice was a calm, heavy weight that pushed back against Kenzo's Sigma flare. "You're in heat. You're going to hurt Calix if you keep leaking like this."
Kenzo's eyes flickered, the gold receding just enough for him to recognize his brother. He went limp in Aiden's grip, his breathing coming in ragged, hot gasps. "They.…they touched him, Aiden. They made him cry."
"I know," Aiden said, his grip softening into a supportive hold. "And they will pay for it. But not by your hand in a school hallway."
The moment Kenzo calmed down, the biological toll of the last ten minutes hit the room. Because they were twins, their systems were perfectly synced. Kenzo's premature heat had acted like a match, and Calix, already weakened and in her female form, caught the "sympathetic fever."
Calix's knees buckled. She let out a small, pained whimper, her face turning a deep, feverish pink.
"Calix!" Celine caught her before she hit the stones. "She's burning up! Aiden, she caught Kenzo's heat!"
The courtyard was a mess of pheromones and panic. Aiden looked at Asher. "Help Celine get them to the carriage. Now. We're taking them back to the Palace."
Asher didn't hesitate. He stepped in, helping Celine support the semi-conscious Calix, while Aiden kept a firm arm around a staggering Kenzo.
As they walked past Vane and Leo, Aiden stopped for a split second. He didn't look at them, but his scent flared out—a cold, terrifying warning of "Pine and Ozone" that made both seniors vomit on the spot from the sheer pressure.
"If I see you on these grounds again," Aiden said quietly, "you won't have a family name left to hide behind."
The carriage ride back was a blur of heat and medicine. Kenzo was drifting in and out of his first Alpha-fever, mumbling threats, while Calix lay across Celine's lap, her female form locked in place by the hormonal imbalance.
The Primary Academy incident was over, but the damage was done. The twins had been forced to grow up in a single afternoon. And as they reached the palace, Arion and Kyon were already waiting at the steps, their faces like thunder.