Chapter One — When Fate First Stirred   

Bella – First Person POV

The letter trembled in my hands before I even opened it, as if it already knew how badly I needed it to be real.

I stood alone in the courtyard behind the pack house, the place I trained every morning before dawn when no one was awake to sneer or laugh or remind me of what I was. The paper bore the silver crest of the Alpha Academy sharp, proud, unmistakable. My heart pounded so loud I thought the warriors on patrol might hear it.

I broke the seal.

Congratulations, Bella Blackwood…

I didn’t read the rest at first. I couldn’t. My knees buckled and I sank onto the cold stone, pressing a hand to my mouth to keep the sob from escaping. I had done it. Me. The omega daughter of an Alpha bloodline. The mistake. The weak one.

I was accepted.

All those nights training until my muscles screamed. All those bruises I hid under long sleeves. Every whispered insult, every look of disappointment, every reminder that I was born wrong it all led to this moment.

I laughed and cried at the same time, clutching the letter to my chest like it might vanish if I loosened my grip. For once, the Moon had looked down at me and chosen me.

“Bella?”

My body went rigid.

That voice.

I turned just as my sister, Selene, stepped into the courtyard. Perfect posture. Perfect hair. The golden daughter of the Blackwood family. The future Luna everyone adored.

Her gaze dropped to the paper in my hands.

“What’s that?” she asked, already walking toward me.

“It’s nothing,” I said quickly, instinctively folding the letter and pressing it to my chest.

She laughed softly, a sound that always made my skin crawl. “If it’s nothing, then you won’t mind showing me.”

Before I could step back, she yanked the letter from my hands.

“Selene, give it back!” I reached for it, panic rising, but she was already skimming the page.

Her brows lifted. Then her lips curled.

“Well, well,” she said loudly. “Alpha Academy? You?”

My stomach dropped.

“You applied?” she continued, disbelief dripping from every word. “You? An omega with no wolf worth mentioning?”

“It’s none of your business,” I whispered, reaching again.

She laughed, sharp and cruel. “Oh, this is everyone’s business.”

She turned and walked straight toward the pack house.

“Selene, please!” I chased after her. “Give it back! That’s mine!”

But she was already pushing open the doors.

The great hall fell silent as she strode in, her voice ringing through the space like a blade.

“Father,” she called sweetly. “You won’t believe what I just found.”

My heart slammed against my ribs as I followed her inside. Warriors, elders, servants too many eyes. All of them turned toward me.

Our father stood at the head of the room, tall and imposing, Alpha power rolling off him in waves. His gaze landed on me, sharp and cold.

Selene handed him the letter.

“Your omega daughter thinks she’s worthy of the Alpha Academy,” she said with a mocking laugh.

The room went still.

I stared at my father, searching his face for something pride, surprise, even anger would have been better than the disappointment I saw settle into his eyes.

He read the letter slowly.

The seconds stretched into agony.

Finally, he looked up.

“You applied without permission?” he asked.

My throat closed. “I… I trained for years. I passed the trials. I earned this.”

His jaw tightened. “You embarrassed us.”

The words struck harder than any blow.

“I didn’t mean to”

“You will not go,” he interrupted sharply. “Do you have any idea what people will say? An omega from the Blackwood bloodline trying to stand among Alphas? You will make us a laughingstock.”

Tears burned my eyes. “I worked for this. I trained every day. I didn’t ask for help. I just”

“You just forgot your place,” he snapped.

The room felt too small. The walls pressed in on me, suffocating.

Selene smirked beside him, satisfied.

“You should be grateful we even let you live under this roof,” my father continued. “Instead, you chase delusions. Dreams meant for wolves stronger than you.”

I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms.

“I’m not weak,” I whispered.

He scoffed. “You are an omega. That is all you will ever be.”

The words shattered something inside me.

I didn’t remember leaving the hall. I didn’t remember climbing the stairs or slamming my bedroom door. All I knew was the pain sharp, overwhelming, suffocating.

I slid down against the door, clutching my chest as sobs tore out of me. My letter lay crumpled on the floor, stained with tears.

Why was I never enough?

Why did it hurt so much to hope?

I thought of every bruise I’d hidden. Every night I trained under the moon until my legs gave out. Every time I told myself that if I just worked harder, if I just proved myself, they’d see me.

I crawled over and picked up the letter, smoothing it carefully despite the tear marks.

Congratulations…

They could take my family’s approval.

They could take my place in the pack.

But they couldn’t take this.

I wiped my face and stood, staring at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were red, my hands shaking but beneath the pain, something else stirred.

Resolve.

If they thought I was weak, I would show them how wrong they were.

If they thought I didn’t belong, I would carve my place with my own claws.

The Alpha Academy had accepted me.

And I would go.

Not as the family’s shame.

But as the girl who survived their cruelty and rose despite it.

This wasn’t the end.

It was the beginning.