Novels by Alex Steel

The Alpha Ascension Trial schedule hung on the Obsidian Hall board like a death sentence dressed in official parchment.Three stages over six weeks. Beginning next Monday. Stage One: Leadership Assessment. Stage Two: Combat Evaluation. Stage Three: Strategic Dominance. I'd been preparing for this since my first year at Dominion Academy. Memorized every requirement, every expectation, every benchmark they'd use to measure me. I'd run the scenarios in my head a thousand times, visualized every outcome, planned for every variable.I stood in the hall reading the schedule and felt, for the first time, that I was preparing for the wrong test."Stage One looks like your specialty."Ronan's voice came from behind me. I didn't turn."Leadership panel, pack simulation, council assessment." He listed them off like he was reading from the syllabus, his tone casual and unhurried. "You could do this in your sleep.""I know.""So why do you look like someone told you the sleep was mandatory?"I fi

I unpacked my bag while Val sat on my bed and filled me in on everything I'd missed.The tournament. The bracket change. The hearing. Cassian's sudden shift from cold to protective. I listened, laughed in the right places, asked the right questions. I was entirely myself.I also couldn't account for approximately six days of my memory.I'd filed it under "exhaustion from the pack emergency" and didn't examine it too closely. Examining it felt like looking directly at something uncomfortable and somehow wrong. The kind of wrong that made my stomach twist if I thought about it too long. So I didn't think about it. I smiled and nodded and folded my clothes and pretended everything was exactly as it should be."So he just went to the greenhouse?" I asked, folding a shirt and tucking it into my drawer. "In the middle of the night?"Val nodded from her spot on my bed. "He said he'd handle it.""And did he?""He got the wolfsbane.""Not what I asked." I turned to face her, the shirt forgott

The Iron Circle finals arrived on Day Three with the weight of expectation pressing down from every everyone.I'd won every match leading up to this. Not cleanly. Not easily. But consistently. Through strategy, patience, and the specific advantage of being consistently underestimated.My final opponent was a Solas senior—tall, broad-shouldered, the kind of alpha who had never had to work for anything because his body was already built to dominate. He looked at me across the arena floor with the casual dismissal of someone who'd already written the outcome in his head.I intended to make him rewrite it.The common room watched on the academy feed. I knew because I could feel the collective energy from the stands, could hear the murmurs rippling through the crowd. Cassian watched from the arena itself, standing apart from Raven, who was seated in the Vesper section with her perfect posture and perfect smile and perfect attention fixed on him watching me.The horn blared.I moved before

I saw the bracket change the same way Val did—on the posted board outside Obsidian Hall.My expression stayed neutral. My wolf did not.I spent approximately four seconds being professionally calm about it before I was inside Obsidian Hall, my voice carrying across the chamber like a blade."Who authorized the bracket adjustment?"The council aide on duty looked up, her eyes widening slightly at my tone. "Alpha Virex. The bracket changes were—""I asked who authorized them."She swallowed. "Any senior alpha can request a bracket review. The request was submitted this morning. Procedurally—""The requestor's name.""The request was anonymous."I smiled. "Thank you very much. That's very helpful."She looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor.I turned and walked out.Ronan caught up with me in the corridor."I saw the bracket," he said, matching my pace. "I also saw you walk into Obsidian Hall looking like you were about to burn it down.""I wasn't going to burn it down.""You

The Iron Circle tournament opened on a Tuesday with the kind of organized chaos that reminded me why I both hated and needed this place.All four Dominions competed across three days of bracketed combat. The Lunar Combat Arena buzzed with restless energy, students packed into the stands like wolves awaiting blood. I stood at the edge of the Solas mid-tier bracket, high enough to draw attention, low enough that nobody expected much.I intended to use that like a weapon."The first bracket's posted," Cassian said, appearing at my elbow. He'd been back hovering around for a while, although he has been acting quiet and withdrawn, but he still found me before every match. "You're up against Vesper. Some tactician type.""Good.""Good?""I know how to fight tacticians." I rolled my shoulders, loosening the tension. "They read opponents. I'll give them something to read."Cassian studied me. "You're different.""I'm the same.""No. You're not." He shook his head. "You used to look scared bef

My expression didn't change. My wolf snarled loud enough that I had to breathe through it. The thought that Raven could be involved in this set something loose in my chest—something cold and sharp that wanted to break things. I'd spent months maintaining that alliance. Playing the part of the perfect golden boy with the perfect golden girlfriend. And all along, she'd been circling Val. Watching her. Waiting for the moment to strike. "Raven," I said again, forcing my voice level. "You're sure?" Val met my gaze without flinching. "She's the only one with access. Alpha Council members, Headmaster Soren, Professor Cain—and Raven. Her family has ties to every major pack in the territory. She'd know exactly where to look and exactly how to phrase the request." I nodded slowly. Filed it away. Would deal with it later. Raven was a problem I'd created through my own negligence, and I'd have to be the one to undo it. "The council inquiry is Maren Solace," I said, shifting the conversatio

I'd been sitting in my car for ten minutes.The gym doors were visible from where I'd parked—close enough to see who went in, far enough to go unnoticed. I'd watched Julian enter twenty minutes ago. Watched Lucas follow ten minutes later. Watched the lights stay on behind the frosted glass.I was waiting.I had told myself I was only checking on Emma. Her powers had been acting up, and the last thing she needed was someone making the situation worse. But when I saw Julian enter the gym, I knew I couldn't leave without finding out what she was doing.Julian never did anything without a reason.The problem was that she was good at making her reasons sound reasonable. She could turn concern into a weapon and make people feel guilty for questioning her. Lucas had learned that the hard way.I checked the time again.When Julian exited alone, I waited a beat. Then I got out of the car."Julian."She stopped. Turned. Her platinum hair caught the fading light, and her smile was already in pla

Julian found me in the gym after school.I was sitting on the bleachers, staring at the empty basketball court, trying to sort through everything Lucas had told me. The confession. The history. I didn't hear Julian come in. She just appeared beside me, like she'd been there all along."I heard you and Lucas are talking again."I looked up. "You heard?""People talk. Especially when a werewolf and his mate stop fighting in the hallway." She sat down on the bleacher below mine, looking up at me."We weren't fighting.""Good. Fighting is exhausting." She smiled. "I should know."I didn't respond. Just looked back at the empty court.I should have gone home. Rachel had probably already finished her homework and would be waiting for me to tell her how things were going with Lucas. But after everything we'd talked about, I needed time to think.Lucas had finally told me the truth about Mara. It hadn't erased the hurt, but it had helped me understand why he'd kept so much of himself locked

I didn't hear a single word in class.Mrs. Holloway was talking about something—history, maybe, or literature. The words washed over me like water, meaningless sounds that couldn't penetrate the noise in my head.The last time I loved someone, she died.Lucas's words kept repeating in my mind.I stared at the board, but the writing blurred in front of me. I tried to focus on the lesson. I really did.It didn't work.For weeks, I had been asking myself why Lucas kept pulling away whenever we got close. Why he looked at me like he wanted to say something and then swallowed the words. Why he seemed terrified whenever I mentioned getting closer to him.Now I finally understood.The distance. The walls. The way he pushed me away and pulled me back like he couldn't decide which was safer.It wasn't rejection.It was protection.He wasn't keeping me out.He was keeping himself in.I thought about Mara.I didn't know her. I had never met her. Yet somehow, her death had become a shadow between

I'd been waiting on the side staircase for twenty minutes.I knew her schedule. Knew she had a free period before lunch. Knew she'd take the side stairs because she'd been avoiding the main hallway since Julian arrived. I couldn't keep letting Julian's words sit between us.When she appeared at the top of the stairs, I stepped out."Emma. We need to talk."She stopped.Her hand tightened on the strap of her bag. She didn't look at me."I'm late for class.""You're not. I checked."Her eyes finally lifted to mine.For a moment, neither of us spoke.Then she sighed."You checked my schedule?""I needed to know when I could talk to you without half the school standing around us.""That's not creepy at all."Under different circumstances, I might have smiled.This wasn't one of them.She stood there for a long moment. Then she turned. Her eyes were tired. Guarded. The way they'd been since the parking lot. Since Julian."What do you want, Lucas?"I stepped closer. Then stopped myself. Th

I was at my locker when I felt someone watching me. I turned. Julian. Standing ten feet away, smiling. The smile was careful. The kind of smile that looked real if you didn't know better. I didn't smile back. She walked toward me, weaving through the students like they weren't there. She was wearing white—pristine and untouchable, like she'd stepped out of a magazine and expected the world to rearrange itself around her. Her eyes stayed on mine the entire time. "I heard you and Lucas had a disagreement." I closed my locker. "Did you hear that from Lucas?" "No." Her smile didn't waver. "Lucas doesn't talk about his feelings. I learned that two years ago." "Then how do you know?" "Because you're standing here, and he's not." She gestured vaguely toward the other end of the school. "He's on the other side of the building. Not looking at you. That's unusual for him, isn't it?" I didn't answer. I didn't have to. She already knew. Since the conversation with Lucas, I had noticed

I'd been at Rachel's for three hours. We'd watched one movie I didn't see and another I didn't register. Every time I tried to focus on the movie, I remembered Lucas standing in front of me at school. I didn't want an explanation anymore. At least, that was what I kept telling myself. But deep down, I knew I wanted answers. I wanted Lucas to tell me everything before someone else had the chance to do it again. Rachel finally paused the third movie and turned to face me. "Okay. We're not watching another minute until you tell me what's happening." I stared at the frozen screen. "Nothing's happening." "Emma." Her voice was flat. "You've been staring at the same spot on my wall for twenty minutes. You haven't touched your popcorn. You flinched when I touched your arm earlier." She crossed her arms. "Something's happening." "I’m just tired." "You're a terrible liar." "I’m not lying." "You are, but I’ll let you try again." I glanced at her. She raised her eyebrows. I looked awa