Chapter 1

The bell rang, sharp and loud, echoing down the halls of Silver Crest High. Students poured out of classrooms, voices over each other, laughter bouncing off the walls. I kept my head low, clutching my books tight against my chest, hoping if I moved quickly enough, no one would notice me.

They always noticed me.

“Watch it, omega.” A shoulder slammed into mine, hard enough to knock my books to the floor. Pages scattered everywhere. The boy who hit me didn’t stop, he just smirked while his friends laughed.

Heat rushed to my face as I bent down to grab everything before someone stepped on it.

“Pathetic,” someone muttered as they walked past.

I bit the inside of my cheek and forced my hands to move faster, ignoring the sting in my shoulder. If I took too long, someone would kick my notes or tear them up just to get a laugh. That was my life…picking up what others knocked down.

When I finally stood, hugging the binder to my chest, my shoulder throbbed. It would bruise, but bruises didn’t last long on me. They never did. Sometimes cuts sealed too quickly, too, like my body didn’t follow the rules. But healing fast wasn’t a gift, it was just another thing people whispered about. Another reason I didn’t belong.

“Aria!”

I looked up at the sound of Eli’s voice. Relief washed over me. He wove through the crowd, with his messy brown hair falling into his eyes, that lopsided smile on his face. Eli had been at my side since we were kids, the only person who didn’t treat me like garbage.

“You okay?” he asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

I nodded. “I’m fine.”

His gaze dropped to the shoulder I was rubbing, but he didn’t push. He never did. Sometimes I wished he would, sometimes I wished someone would just see how badly I was breaking.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before…”

But he didn’t get the chance to finish.

The hallway went quiet.

Four figures walked in from the far end, and just like that, every head turned toward them. Aiden. Adrian. Asher. Axel. The Alpha’s sons. The quadruplets.

People moved aside without being told, making a clear path like they were royalty. And in a way, they were. They ruled the school, the pack, everything.

They were the kind of beautiful that burned. Dangerous. Untouchable. Aiden, always in front, sharp jaw and colder eyes. Adrian with his lazy smirk that never meant anything good. Asher scowling like he hated the air itself. And Axel, the quiet one who rarely looked at anyone, but when he did, it felt like a blade sliding between your ribs.

And then their eyes landed on me.

My stomach dropped.

“Well, well,” Adrian drawled, his voice carrying easily down the hall. “If it isn’t the pack’s little shadow.”

Laughter rippled through the crowd. Eli stepped in front of me, shoulders squared, but it didn’t matter. No one ever stood against the quadruplets for long.

“What’s wrong, Aria?” Aiden’s voice was smooth, calm. Too calm. “Aren’t you going to greet your betters?”

I stared at the floor, praying if I stayed quiet, they’d lose interest.

But Adrian tugged my binder out of my arms and flipped it open, scattering papers all over the floor again. “Clumsy little thing, aren’t you?”

My chest tightened. The whispers started up again, sharp and mocking me.

“Give it back,” Eli snapped, fists curling.

Adrian arched a brow. “Or what?”

Asher stepped closer, glaring down at me. “Maybe she likes it. Maybe that’s the only reason she stands here…pretending she matters.”

I didn’t realize I was crying until a hot tear slid down my cheek. I hated it. Hated giving them what they wanted.

“Enough.” Axel’s voice cut through the tension, low and sharp. For a second, even his brothers stilled. His eyes flicked to me, unreadable, then shifted away like I wasn’t worth looking at. “We’re wasting time.”

Just like that, they were gone, the crowd moving with them. The sound of their laughter lingered long after.

I dropped down again, gathering my papers with shaking hands. Eli crouched beside me, jaw tight, his voice low and fierce.

“One day,” he said, like a vow, “we’re getting out of here. You won’t ever have to see them again.”

My throat burned, but I nodded. That promise was the only thing keeping me together, the hope that freedom was waiting for me when I finally turned eighteen.

Still, somewhere deep down, something stirred. A flicker of heat under my skin, a pulse of energy that wasn’t supposed to be there. I clenched my fists and shoved it down.

Not now. Not ever.

Because if anyone realized what I felt in that moment, they saw that part of me that refused to break..

They’d destroy me before I ever had the chance to run.