Se connecter"I found a book on mental warding," she said as we reviewed the hearing preparation. "It was in front of our door."We sat at my desk with papers spread between us. I looked up from the hearing documents. "What book?"She told me the title, then explained that there had been a note tucked inside. She handed me the note. It contained a single line in careful handwriting, instructing her to return the book to the Den Library within three days.There was no signature and no explanation.I recognized the handwriting immediately. I'd seen that handwriting on official academy documents and council reports countless times."Stay here," I said.Val looked at me. "Cassian—""I'll be back.""Where are you going?""To get some answers."I was already heading for the door before she could ask anything else.The Den Library was quiet at this hour.Most students avoided the place after evening study hours, leaving the enormous room almost completely empty. I made my way toward the back, where the o
I sat in the Vesper common room with the fire burning low and reviewed what I knew.Which was more than I had shown anyone. And less than I needed.I knew something was happening between Cassian Virex and his new roommate. I knew it from the way he'd stopped performing indifference at breakfast. I knew it from the way his eyes tracked Val Rhen across every room they shared. I'd seen the way he looked at Val. I'd seen the way he looked at me. The difference was impossible to miss.Cassian had always been good at hiding his emotions.Apparently, Val Rhen was the exception.I leaned back against the sofa and stared into the dying fire.That annoyed me more than it should have.Not because I wanted Cassian back. At least, that was what I kept telling myself. But because I hated not understanding something happening right in front of me.And Val was a mystery.What I didn't know was what Val Rhen actually was. Small alpha. Quiet alpha. Too disciplined for a first-year. Too careful for som
I met Lyra in her herb garden the way we always used to.The morning light filtered through the greenhouse glass, warm and golden, casting long shadows across the rows of plants. Lyra knelt among them, her fingers working the soil with practiced ease, her hair falling across her face. She looked up when I approached, her smile bright and immediate and so completely Lyra."Val! You came.""Of course I came." I sat on the stone bench beside her, the cold seeping through my clothes. "I always come.""I know." She laughed, brushing dirt from her hands. "I just—I missed this. Missed you. Missed everything being normal."I nodded with a smile. She didn't know.She couldn't know.I had given Lyra three false pieces of schedule information in the past four days. Each one had been absorbed with the warmth and love she'd always had. "Everything's fine now," she continued, turning back to her plants. "I'm back. We're together. That's all that matters.""Everything's fine," I echoed.She talke
I 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
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
Raven tasted like cherry lip balm and something feminine. She was soft in the way I liked as we locked lips.Her fingers tangled in my hair, her body warm against mine as she shifted on my lap, lips trailing down my jaw. I let my head fall back against the wall, exhaling through my nose as her han
The training grounds were alive with tension. Everybody seemed uneasy on the field. They were about to be introduced to something they've never undertaken so their worry was expected. But weakness was not tolerated.Dominance challenges weren’t just a tradition at Dominion Academy—they were law. I
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







