One

Shay Hart had imagined this moment hundreds of times. Stepping onto the campus of the Enlightenment Program, the prestigious academy built to shape simple creatures into higher beings.

Enlightened beings.

She pictured it grand, serene... maybe even gothic and scary. Instead, she was greeted by a modern building with a security checkpoint where she looked at a camera, then had to wait until it beeped three times before the guard finally waved her through with a monotone, "Go ahead."

Not exactly magical.

Shay stepped into the main courtyard, heart pumping with a mix of nerves, excitement and her wolf's instincts screaming that this was a very bad idea.

Being accepted into the academy was a privilege not many people had. She should be grateful. She should have no complaints... but she had a big one.

The Enlightenment Academy wasn't a werewolf-only thing. Or even a general-public thing. It was a vampire-werewolf thing.

But wolves didn't mix very well with vampires, everyone knew that. Out in the real world, they usually avoided each other as much as possible.

Vampires were unpredictable and scary. They were lethal predators with little to no humanity. They were gross, rotten, evil monsters.

In this academy, though... they had to live together, train together and be evaluated together.

Reaching Enlightenment was everything she'd wanted her whole life. The certification—if she passed—granted access to Luxe City, a hidden metropolis where the strongest supernatural beings lived at the peak of their abilities.

Higher mental clarity. Stronger physical control. Emotional balance. Peace. Serenity.

All things Shay desperately wanted.

She took a breath as she walked, telling herself to relax... only for every single follicle on her body to go on high alert at the presence coming up from behind her.

She froze as the air temperature changed. Something icy brushed against her awareness.

It was undeniably the cold presence of a vampire.

Shay's stomach clenched in dread and when she finally turned, she regretted it. Because she immediately locked eyes with the person a few feet behind her.

But the vampire looked nothing like the horror stories she'd heard growing up. He wasn't gaunt or monstrous. Or rotting. He wasn't even dressed in black leather with dramatic eyeliner like half the movies portrayed.

Instead, the guy wore a jean jacket over a casual t-shirt, dark jeans, sneakers and his dark-blond hair stuck out from beneath an old blue cap

The guy looked modern, confident and... annoyingly attractive. Like a model. His bone structure was ridiculous and his eyes were a bright shade of green.

The vampire looked at her too, studying her in the same way Shay was studying him.

"Hm. You are a wolf," he said in what seemed to be a Russian accent. It was a statement, not a question.

"Uh... Yeah.”

The guy lifted his eyebrows in a rude way before walking away without another word. He simply continued on his way, looking bored with the whole situation already, or maybe simply bored with life.

But the short interaction served to settle Shay's previous anxiety over the whole vampire thing. Because it immediately disproved a lot of the things she'd heard about vampires before.

Apparently, they didn't start burning in the sun, since that guy was perfectly fine under the bright noon sunlight. Vampires weren't scary monsters either... They were actually very attractive creatures.

They also didn't pounce at the first chance to drink blood from a wolf. That guy hadn't looked even slightly tempted to sink his fangs into Shay's neck.

So... maybe that meant she would be fine here, interacting with vampires.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.