Lara's POV
My lungs feel like they're collapsing. Alpha Mason deliberately kept us in that endless class, and I know it was to prevent me from seeing Austin before he left. I sprint down the hallway to his room, my heart hammering against my ribs as I throw open the door.
Empty.
Everything is gone. His clothes, his books, even the faint indent his body left on the mattress. The room feels hollow, stripped of every trace of him.
"Breathe, Lara. Just breathe." Faith's voice cuts through the panic as her arm wraps around my trembling shoulders.
"How am I supposed to breathe when he's gone?" The words tear from my throat, raw and desperate. "He left without saying goodbye. What if I never see him again?"
My knees threaten to buckle. The thought of losing him forever makes my chest constrict until black spots dance at the edges of my vision.
