002

🖱️Jayden🖱️

I stood outside that stupid door for what felt like ten hours. My feet hurt. My eyes hurt. My whole soul hurt. But the rule book was very clear. If you leave your assigned dorm without permission, you face punishment. The kind of punishment they refused to explain, which made it worse.

So I waited like a lost package.

The door finally opened and a guy walked out with the most satisfied smile I had ever seen. His hair was sweaty. His shirt was missing. His face looked like he had just met God in the nicest way. He glanced at me and grinned.

Oh he does not live here. Thank you universe. One less problem.

Then another guy stepped out. Tall. Dripping with attitude. His eyes dragged down my body slowly like I was dessert after dinner.

He leaned in. Close. Too close.

“You look delicious.”

I shoved him away so fast he almost fell. He laughed like it was charming and then strolled off as if that moment meant nothing.

Then the last guy showed up.

He looked at me like I was the strangest thing he had ever seen breathing.

“You can come in now weirdo.”

Weirdo. Great. Fantastic start.

I stepped inside and the room looked nothing like a dorm. Clothes were everywhere. Sheets twisted on the beds. The air smelled like sweat and sin and whatever the academy definition of normal was.

The last guy shut the door behind me and stared hard.

“You smell like a human. How the hell did you even get inside this school.”

I blinked. Twice. Maybe three times.

“I am a student here.” I said. “I have the papers.”

He laughed so loud the windows rattled.

“Papers do not matter here. If you smell human they usually throw you out before you even cross the gate.” He said looking at him curiously

“Well. I guess today was my lucky day.”

He walked closer and shoved his hand toward me.

“Name is River. Do not get it twisted. I am not your friend. I only talk because you are in my space. Technically each dorm has two people. But this academy does not follow rules. They put me and two others in this room because they think we are troublesome. They also think we will fail to stay alive if separated.”

That explained a lot. Does that mean there are still two more people..? God let it not be those fucker that just left.

“And by the way” River added. pointing at one of the messy beds. “That is yours. Try not to die on your first night. It gives the rest of us paperwork.”

I dropped my bag and stared at the chaotic room. The messy beds. The strange energy in the air. The lingering voices of the guys who had just walked out like a parade of sins.

This place was nothing like home. The home I grew up was perfect and always clean, and everything here right now makes me wish to go home so bad.

This place felt wild. Dangerous. Alive.

And as River watched me with those sharp eyes, I felt it for the first time.

I did not belong here.

But something in this academy wanted me.

And it was already pulling me in. It was the only place that can keep me safe for now. My parent said I will be safe here and they never lies.

A loud bell suddenly blasted through the walls. It shook the room so hard I almost jumped out of my skin.

River rolled his eyes like the sound annoyed him on a spiritual level.

“That is dinner. If we do not get there fast, the kitchen wolves will finish everything and leave you with nothing but water and boredom. And trust me. You look like someone who cannot survive on either.”

He grabbed a shirt off the floor. Sniffed it. Made a face. Threw it away. Picked another one and pulled it over his head.

“Come on rookie. Move your legs. If you walk slow, you die slow.

Why does everything here involve dying.

He shrugged. Because it is funny.

I followed him out of the dorm, trying to keep up with his fast steps. The hallway was full of bodies moving like a parade. Wings. Horns. Fangs. Claws. Silver eyes. Golden eyes. Red eyes. Every creature I had ever heard of seemed to be walking beside me. It left me in awe… and the women here are fucker beautiful which makes me wonder if that was normal.

This place felt like another universe.

River leaned in slightly as we moved through the crowd.

“By the way.” He said. “Do not stare at anyone too long. They take it as a challenge. And you cannot fight half the people here. Even I cannot fight half of them and I am me.”

“What does that even mean.” I asked

“It means I have survived this place for two years and I know when to shut up.”

“Fair enough.”

We turned a corner and walked into a huge open hall lit by floating orbs. The smell of food hit me so hard my stomach growled like it had been starving for days.

River heard it and laughed.

“Relax. You will eat. Just do not do anything stupid. People here do not like stupid. They throw stupid out the window.”

“Do they literally throw people out the window…?”

He smirked.

“Sometimes.”

Before I could ask another question, three guys at a table turned when we passed. One of them lifted his head and sniffed the air slowly like he was smelling something rare.

The second one pulled his lower lip between his teeth.

The third one leaned back with the confidence of a king who owned everything he touched.

Their eyes all locked on me at the same time.

My chest tightened.

River grabbed my arm and yanked me forward.

“Keep walking rookie. Do not stop. Do not talk. And absolutely do not smile. Hungry alphas do not need encouragement.”

I swallowed. Hard.

“Who are they.”

River sighed like the answer annoyed him deeply.

“Those three are your nightmares in human form. Alpha. Council. Dragon. The academy calls them the three storms. I call them idiots with too much power.”

“Great. That was comforting. That made me feel very safe.”

River dropped into an empty seat at a table and kicked the chair beside him for me to sit.

“Eat. And after this dinner I will give you the rest of the academy rules. You will need them to survive the week.”

I sat down slowly. My heart still beating fast from the way those three looked at me like I had been placed on a menu.

I reached for food and River tapped my hand.

“Start with that one.” He said. pointing to a bowl. “It is the only thing here that will not burn your throat or growl back.”

“Growl back…?” Why was everything here so weird

River nodded. “You are welcome.”

I started eating. The hall was loud. Bright. Overwhelming. But something inside me started to settle. This was my new life. Messy. Strange. Wild. Scary.

And for the first time since I arrived, I felt a spark of something that almost felt like excitement.

Maybe I could survive this academy.

Maybe I could even belong here.

Or maybe I would die before breakfast.

Either way. The night was just getting started.