CHAPTER 1: The Perfect Lie

Elias’s Pov

“You’re late for morning drills, Arden.”

The voice came from behind me, low and edged with arrogance. I didn’t bother turning around as I tightened the strap on my combat boots.

“I’m never late,” I said flatly.

A pause. Then a scoff. “Are you planning to stare at your laces till breakfast?”

My jaw ticked once, but my expression stayed calm, bored; Alpha standard. I straightened and met the eyes of the boy blocking the doorway. Broad shoulders, messy blond hair, cocky stance. A second-year Alpha, ranked in the top thirty. I didn’t bother remembering his name.

He smirked like he thought I’d rise to the bait. “What, no threat today? No broken bones to hand out?”

I stepped forward without answering. He hesitated just long enough for me to brush past him. His scent flared in irritation as he caught the underlying warning in my silence. I didn’t need to speak to make them move. They always did.

The corridor outside was cold, metallic, and quiet except for the rhythmic thud of boots and the distant sound of drills starting on the field. Dawn hadn’t fully broken yet, but the academy never slept.

Aurelion Alpha Institute. Where only those born to dominate survive. Where a single slip could get me killed.

I kept walking, posture loose but controlled, shoulders straight, eyes forward. Every inch of me was trained to mimic Alpha poise. I had perfected this performance over years of necessity. I couldn’t afford tremors. I couldn’t afford mistakes.

Not when one wrong breath could expose everything.

The suppressants were supposed to hold for eight-hour cycles. I used to inject once every morning. Then twice. Now three times a day, and the effects still faded too fast. My pulse thudded once against the band of my wristwatch. Five hours, maybe less, before my next dose.

Too risky.

I turned down a side hall, away from the flow of students heading toward the training fields. No one stopped me. No one questioned me. Rank 2 had privileges. And fear was a language everyone here understood.

I slipped into a maintenance stairwell and closed the door with a soft click. My footsteps echoed once. Then silence.

I pulled up my pant leg, revealing the faint faded bruise from last night’s injection. The skin there was sensitive, still healing. I swabbed a fresh spot on my thigh and pressed the syringe in slowly.

The chemical burn spread like frostbite under my skin. I exhaled through my teeth, counting seconds.

One. Two. Three.

I’d built tolerance too fast. The doctor warned me years ago that my body would eventually fight the formula, reject it, demand more. But I didn’t have the luxury of stopping. The academy’s mandatory health scans were coming up in two months. If even a trace of Omega markers showed in my blood, it would be over.

Not just for me, for her.

My mother’s face flickered in the back of my mind; brown eyes, lined with exhaustion, hands always trembling when she stitched my fake ID patches into my uniforms. She hadn’t smiled in years. Not since the night she ran into the dark carrying an infant that shouldn’t have existed.

I pushed the needle deeper.

Three more seconds. Then it was done.

I wiped the spot clean and stood, rolling the fabric down. The pain dulled quickly. The mask locked back into place.

I exited the stairwell and joined the stream of students heading outside.

The cold air hit my lungs like a slap. Lines of Alphas were already warming up on the sparring fields, some dripping with sweat, others barking orders at their teams. Their scents clashed spice, musk, smoke, citrus, pine…all heavy with dominance.

I kept my breathing even.

“Arden! Over here!”

An upperclassman instructor waved me toward the combat wing. His eyes flicked briefly to my expression, then away. Respect, not friendliness. Good.

I crossed the yard without breaking stride.

Eyes followed me; some curious, some intimidated, some resentful. Whispers rode the wind.

“That’s him…”

“Yeah. Rank two.”

“They say he’s actually stronger than Vesper, just less political.”

“No way. Nobody’s stronger than Ronan.”

Ronan Vesper.

Even his name was a weapon.

I resisted the instinct to glance across the yard. His presence was unmistakable thick, cold, pressurized like a storm front. Alphas unconsciously straightened when he walked by. Instructors moderated their tone. Betas avoided eye contact. Heir to the Vesper Conglomerate. Top of every exam. Top of every board. Top of the food chain.

My rival by force of rank.

My threat by simple existence.

The only one who looked at me like he was waiting, wanting me to slip.

I reached the combat building entrance and paused. Frost glinted over the grass like shattered glass. My reflection flickered briefly in the windowed doors, sharp eyes, controlled breath, Alpha mask perfect as ever.

I pushed the doors open and stepped inside.

The scent of metal, sweat, and disinfectant hit me at once. Training weapons lined the walls. Mats stretched across the floor where early drills had already begun.

Then the air shifted.

A shadow fell across the hallway behind me.

I didn’t have to turn to know who it was. His aura came first; dense, cold, layered with something predatory. My spine tensed despite myself.

I turned.

Ronan Vesper leaned against the doorframe like he had been there long enough to grow bored of waiting. His dark hair fell messily across his brow, and his sleeves were rolled to his elbows, exposing the veins in his forearms. Grey eyes, sharp as a blade, fixed on mine with slow, deliberate focus.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t blink.

He didn’t move.

His gaze trailed briefly over my stance, my uniform collar, my wrist, my throat. His eyes lingered for half a heartbeat too long.

Then barely, one corner of his mouth lifted.

Not a smile.

A crack in a hunter’s patience.

A promise of something I couldn’t afford.

I held his stare exactly two seconds. No longer. No shorter. Just enough to say I didn’t fear him.

Then I broke the gaze first and walked past him.

His eyes followed me like a hand pressed to my spine.

My suppressant were failing and Ronan was watching.