LOGINI sat at my desk after midnight, the scent resonance data from the class exercise spread before me in careful columns.The numbers and readings covered three pages, each entry detailed in my precise handwriting. My new assistant Corbin, hovered by the door, waiting for instructions."Bring me the earlier files," I said without looking up. "The suppression rune reactions. The scent fluctuation patterns.""Yes, Professor."Corbin scurried to the filing cabinet. I reviewed the data again, my finger tracing the columns. The numbers were more useful than I'd expected. The pair that registered most unusually was not the highest-ranked bonded couple in the room. It was the anomaly.It was always the anomaly."Here, sir." Corbin placed the older files on my desk.I opened them. Cross-referenced the resonance data with my earlier assessments. Val Rhen's wolfsbane readings. The suppression rune reactions during the last practical exam. The scent fluctuation patterns I'd documented over weeks of
The formal assessment room was polished stone and cold air.Academy crests lined the walls, their silver inlay catching the harsh overhead light. A five-person council panel sat before me, their expressions carefully neutral. I stood at the center of the room, my hands clasped behind my back.Stage One of the Alpha Ascension Trials.I had prepared for this. Memorized every protocol, every expected answer, every scenario they might throw at me. I was entirely ready.I was also thinking about Val's face at the desk yesterday when I'd called her remarkable. The way her eyes had flickered. The way she'd looked away. The way she'd said keep going instead of whatever she'd wanted to say in return. The panel chair cleared his throat. "Alpha Virex. Are you ready to begin?""Yes, sir.""Then let's proceed."The first scenario was pack crisis management."Your pack is facing a food shortage," the panel chair said, his voice flat and clinical. "Two elders propose rationing. One proposes raiding
We stood in the corridor outside our dorm, the morning light filtering through the windows in pale yellow streaks. His face was tired, shadows etched beneath his grey eyes like he hadn't slept at all. His jaw was tight, the muscle twitching slightly as he spoke."Ten days," he said. "Not two weeks."I processed this with stillness. My heart hammered behind my ribs, but I kept my breathing steady. Panic wouldn't help. Panic had never helped. I'd spent months learning to control my reactions, to keep my face neutral even when everything inside me was screaming."Then we have ten days," I said."We have nine now.""Then we have nine." I opened the door to our room and stepped inside. "Sit down."He sat at his desk, his movements stiff and deliberate. I pulled my chair close, opened my notebook, and spread my notes across the surface between us. Every story I'd told since I arrived. Every fabricated detail. Every answer I might be asked during the hearing."Start from the beginning," he s
I woke at three in the morning from another shared dream.Woods. Warmth. Her scent. I lay in the dark, my heart pounding, listening to Val breathe across the room. Slow and even. Asleep.I'd woken from this dream four nights in a row. Each time it was slightly more specific. Each time I remembered more of it when I surfaced. The way her hand felt in mine. The way her voice sounded when she said my name. The way the bond had pulsed between us like a living thing.I did not think this was progress.I lay still, staring at the ceiling, the bond humming warm and insistent in my chest. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless and hungry. It wanted to cross the room. Wanted to touch her. Wanted to make sure she was real.I did not let it.The ceiling was the same one I'd stared at for years. Same cracks. Same shadows. Same familiar patterns that I'd memorized during countless sleepless nights. But tonight, everything felt different. Sharper. More immediate. Like the world had shifted on its
Professor Cain's ritual magic classroom smelled like incense and old blood.I sat in my usual seat, my hands folded on the desk, my expression perfectly neutral. The room hummed with the usual pre-class energy, students shuffling papers, whispering to neighbors, sharpening quills against stone.Then Cain walked in.He moved to the front of the room with his usual measured grace, his black eyes scanning the class like a predator counting prey. "Today," he said, "we'll be practicing scent resonance mapping."My pulse doubled but I made sure my face stayed still."The exercise is simple," Cain continued. "You'll partner up and practice reading the energy signatures of bonded wolf pairs. This will help you understand how bonds manifest in magical contexts. Academic purposes only."Academic purposes.The timing wasn't coincidental.I kept my breathing steady as he assigned partners. Random, he said. The pairs appeared on the board in neat rows of script.My name appeared next to a Solas mi
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
The grand hall was suffocating.Rows of wolves in formal attire stood along the edges of the large room, their whispers moving through the air like a curse I couldn't shake. My father, Alpha Rhen, stood tall at the head of the room, his sharp gaze scanning the gathered pack members before settling
The silence that hung between us wasn’t peaceful. It was thick, stiff and heavy in the very corners of the room like dust no one dared to sweep.Val didn’t answer my question.Didn’t even flinch.Just climbed into bed and pulled the blanket up like I hadn’t asked a damn thing.And that pissed the h
The great hall buzzed with conversations. It seemed everybody was curious about who they were about to be sharing a room with.And from the look of things, I wasn't the only fresher. There were some people with bags. Obviously they didn't have to run away from their homes to be here.Students gathe
The night swallowed me whole.The moment my feet hit the dense forest beyond my father’s estate, I forced myself not to look back. Every instinct screamed at me to run, to put as much distance between myself and my former life as possible. But I couldn’t afford reckless speed. Not yet.I kept my st







