Chapter 3: Almost died.

The building loomed before her, all sharp angles and cold stone. It looked more like a fortress than a government hall. Not that she had been to many.

Anaya's feet scraped against the ground as they dragged her up the steps. She wanted to slow them down and rest for a bit, but the strength of their hands propelled her forward. Her back ached. Her body ached. It wasn't anything new but still.

The gauze on her hands was soaked through with blood… she must have been bleeding through the stitches.

"Do you think we should clean her up? She's bleeding," The man on her left asked his partner and frowned down at her.

"Doesn't matter. Blackwood wants her now."

The name sent a chill through her spine. Darius Blackwood. She knew him from the portraits that hung in every government building.

He was the head of the Academy Council known for his obsession with control and fight for more power. And he wanted her?

They hauled her through massive wooden doors into a hall that stretched so high she couldn't see the ceiling. Torches flickered on the walls, casting dancing shadows. At the far end, a long table sat elevated on a platform, and behind it, five wolves stared down at her like she was a bug under their glass.

Darius Blackwood eyed the fat Omega from where he sat in the middle. He waved his hands, dismissing the two wolves flanking her on both sides.

"So," he started, lifting his brows at her. "This is the Omega who caused the surge."

Anaya fidgeted under their stare, especially Darius’s. Looking away meant defiance, staring meant disrespect, so she looked past them to the council's crest. The frozen angry snarl of the wolf gave her goosebumps and she turned her head away.

"How could this be?" one of the other Council members muttered. "Look at her. Does it look like she caused the surge?”

"Seems unlikely," another added. "Isn't she unturned?"

A glint flashed in Darius's eyes. He raised his hand, and the room fell silent. He stared straight at her. "Anaya Morgan. Daughter of the declined Morgan pack. Fat and unturned… you're a stain on our kind." He tapped the table rhythmically and leaned forward, frowning."And yet, tonight, you triggered a surge so powerful it was felt across three territories. You bonded with an Alpha without a formal ceremony.”

Anaya opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Her throat was dry. She looked down at her feet and said nothing.

"Answer me!" Darius slammed the table, his voice echoing around the rather empty hall. "How did you do it?"

"I don't.." Anaya started before she was plagued by an assault of coughs that brought blood rushing to her mouth. She clenched her teeth and gulped it down, her face in a grimace. "I don't know."

"You don't know." Darius leaned back on his chair and swivelled. "Or you don't want to tell us?"

"I don't know!" The words tore out of her, the way she understood. "One minute I was dying, and the next… the next I heard a voice and everything suddenly changed. I don't know how. I don't know why. I've never shifted before. I've never…"

"Whose voice?" Darius caught her off. "Whose voice did you hear?"

She shook her head, her eyes pleading. "I don't know. I don't know who he is. I just… I felt him. He was there. And then he wasn't."

"Liar." Darius's eyes narrowed. "You can't tell me you don't know who he is."

"I don't!" She could feel her body weakening. Her eyes rolled back in her head before she stabilized herself again. "I don't know anything! Please, I just want to go home. Please let me go home."

Blackwood studied her for a long moment before beckoning to the others. The Council members exchanged glances and talked among themselves.

"An Alpha," one of them murmured. "An Alpha bonded to an unturned Omega. How is that possible?"

"Perhaps the bond is flawed," another suggested. "Perhaps it's not a true mate bond at all. Just a... reaction."

Darius held up his hand, and the whispers stopped.

"We don't know what it is," he said slowly. "And that's the problem. She's a variable we don't know how to control."

"And the Alpha?" someone asked. "Who is he?"

Darius's eyes flickered. "I have my suspicions but nothing concrete… yet.”

He stood and walked toward Anaya, his footsteps echoing in the silent hall. Anaya flinched as he stopped in front of her, looming over her.

"Anaya Morgan," he said, his voice soft and cold. "You are a threat. You don't mean to be but your very existence upsets the order of things."

Anaya shook her head and took a shaky step back, her hands clasped in a plea. She shook her head at him. "I don't want to be a threat. I don't want any… I just want to go home."

"Do you have a home?" Darius laughed mockingly and reached for her hair damp with sweat. He coiled it round his fingers and looked at her. "The hunters who attacked you were from your own pack. Your own people wanted you dead, Anaya. Did you know that?"

Anaya's breathing turned ragged. She searched his face for any indication he was lying but saw none. "What?"

"Elijah, Marcel and Fed were sent by your pack. They wanted you eliminated. He leaned closer to her, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You have no one, Anaya. No pack. No family. No home."

She wanted to deny it. She wanted to scream that he was lying, that her pack wouldn't do that to her.

But deep down, she knew. She'd always known.

"You're alone," Darius continued, his voice almost gentle. "But I'm offering you a chance. A new home. A new purpose."

She looked up at him, her vision blurred with tears. "What do you mean?"

"Valkyr Academy." The name fell from his lips like a promise. "The most prestigious school for wolves in the world. You'll go there. You'll live there. You'll follow their rules, keep your head down and stay out of trouble."

"Why would you do that? Why would you help me?"

Darius only smiled. "I'm not helping you, Anaya. I'm containing you. The Academy is the perfect place for someone like you to be under my observation and control.”

Anaya shook her head, her mind ringing warning bells at the prospect of The Academy. "But I don't belong there. I'm unturned. I'm…"

"Exactly," Darius cut her off and stepped back. "You don't belong there. Which means you'll stand out, we'll always know where you are. And through you, we'll find the Alpha who claimed you."

Anaya opened her mouth to protest but closed them when she saw the look in his eyes. "I don't even know who he is."

"You'll find out or he'll find you. Either way, we'll be watching."

He turned and walked back to his seat, settling into it like a king on a throne. He reached for the bell button at the side and touched it.

“For an Omega, you sure do have a lot of willpower. I was told you almost died… how are you still standing?” Darius asked but he wasn't expecting an answer from the girl. He swiveled from side to side, his hands on his chin.

Anaya stared at him and at the other members of the Council, her heart in her mouth. What would be her fate?

She recoiled when the two wolves who brought her here came into the hall again and stood near her.

"Take her," he ordered the wolves. "Send her to the Academy. Put her in the Omega dormitory. Make sure she knows the consequences of stepping out of line."

Anaya scurried back when the wolves approached her but they were faster. They grabbed her and held her in a death's grip. Anaya's vision swam, her broken ribs screamed and her body ached.

Just as they brought her to the door, she turned back and looked at Darius. "Please," she whispered. "Please, don’t let them take me."

The answer she got was of Darius turning away. A clear dismissal.