Chapter 3: Three Troubles

MAE:

Ivan Holden hands me his family’s crest. Dragon fire. Only the most influential families in Solantis own crests. I’ve never had one. Kira Reane didn’t have one, either.

We've never been amongst the cream of the crop. Our social ranks are far below average, even the town we live in is known to house the lowest grades of people. I would have never imagined before now that I would step foot in the Vale, which is the home of top-tier individuals.

The idea of Crests began thousands of years ago after all supernaturals united under the umbrella of Solantis at the end of the great war. That's as far as my knowledge of our history went, but at least, I've painted a clear picture of the life I've lived for you.

Also, I realise the Holdens aren’t done with me after dinner at the Vale. They’ve made another offer. If I want Kira back, I have to sign up for the Starweaver Academy, and to do that, I must identify as Alpha Ivan’s daughter before all of Solantis and not just the Beverions of the Silent Winter pack. 

“No. I won’t do it.” I cross my arms defiantly while sitting in this modern living room.

“Yes, you will do it, Mae Holden.” He drops the signet ring that bears the dragon fire crest on the centre table in front of me.

“What a nice fit.” I mock him with a smile. “Nothing compares to Reane, though.”

“I think you enjoy wasting precious time.” Ivan sighs.

He pops the button of his suit jacket and settles into the violet-coloured sofa across. Aria comes into the room with the box he requested, handing it over.

“It belonged to my ex-wife. Wear it. No one will doubt you are mine once you have this around your neck.”

He slides the box over to me on the table. I ignore it, still crossing my arms defiantly. 

“The Beverions already believe I’m your daughter. There’s no need for this. I also don’t need to join some stupid school—”

“Watch your tongue, Mae.” Aria narrows her eyes to slits as she flanks her father on the sofa. “The Starweaver Academy is not just a school. It’s a training camp for the next newborns who will lead Solantis. You should be grateful you will get to see what’s beyond its gates.”

“Please. Leading Solantis is the last thing on my mind. You rich folk can hog it all you want.” I stand on my feet, heading for the door. “I’m done here.”

“Then I’ll send you Kira’s head in your sleep! When you wake, you’ll find your doorstep decorated with her body parts. Four limbs and a skull for a finish.”

I gulp. 

My heart thunders against the walls of my chest. The Alpha of the MoonFall pack is a scary man, and right now, he has power over me. I can’t get Kira out of that prison without Stella’s help.

“Aren’t you quite the artist, Alpha Ivan.” I turn to him, staying put, but that won’t include my mouth.

“I wasn’t a Shaper during my days at the Starweaver Academy, but maybe you are right. I do have a calling for dark arts.” 

The corner of my mouth twitches in anger. I swallow the ball of fire in my throat and walk back to the table, sliding his family’s ring on my middle finger with forceful reluctance.

“Don’t fret too much.” He smiles at my obvious unease. “I promise you won’t last a week at the Academy. Once the mating is over, I will pull you out and send you to the Vale permanently.”

“What if I last more than a week?” I step around the table, crossing my arms over my chest again. “What if the Starweaver Academy chooses me and can’t let go?”

Aria can’t hold back her laughter. Ivan keeps a straight face. I realise I’m the fool now. There’s no way a crest-less girl can survive at the Academy. No matter what kind of shifter I am.

Ivan says, “The Academy isn’t exactly friendly towards your kind.”

He opens the box and picks up the stunning necklace made of real cut diamonds. I watch him pull my hair away and hook it around my neck. I hold it, feeling the erratic beats of my heart underneath.

“Do you know what happens to shifters who pretend to be what they are not?” Aria stands before me with a sardonic smirk colouring her face evil. “They die during naming day because you can’t cheat the Academy, Mae.”

I look over my shoulder. “But that is exactly what your father is about to do. Cheat the stupid Academy.”

“Naming day falls in between two to four weeks for freshlings. In this case, we can get away with sneaking you in,” Aria replies, still standing in my path, “You'll go in there, play pretend daughter, and pull off a more convincing front for the Beverions. The mating happens and we will have a reason to withdraw you. A Luna can choose to stay or not. It is your advantage.”

“That’s fucking wonderful, Aria, but can I leave now?” I fake a smile, eyes angry.

Ivan clears his throat. “Why would you leave? This is home. Your home.” He pats his daughter’s back. “Aria, show your sister to her room. Your mother and I have a lot to discuss.”

When he leaves the living room, my freedom leaves with him. A pang of desperate pain strikes my chest. I belong to the Silent Winter pack now. The documents I signed earlier tonight clarified that.

Aria is happy. Her terrible fate to mate with a sick Alpha is now my cross to carry. It feels like I’ve been rejected twice by the woman who gave birth to me.

Ivan banned Stella from speaking to me until I left for the Academy. He knows that bad blood never whitens. It can only be prevented.

“Let’s go.”

“Did your brother attend the Starweaver Academy, too?” I ask, reluctant to follow her to my new bedroom.

“Yes.” Aria doesn’t stop climbing the steps, neither does she turn to me. “Sai was one of the most powerful shifters the Starweaver Academy has ever seen.”

Until he ran mad, as they said.

I complete what she doesn’t finish.

Until Sai showed dangerous tendencies, and the Holdens had to withdraw their golden son and lock him away from the world.

Stranger still, the Sai Holden I knew and loved wasn’t any of these things. 

So, where did it all go wrong?

I follow her up the steps, continuing this lie for Sai and Kira’s sake.

At daybreak, I run into Stella Holden, my supposed mother. Ivan is nowhere near. Even Aria hasn’t come down from her room yet. 

Living with Kira turned me into an early bird, and shockingly, I woke up determined to return to school after being expelled from Frost High—the school for paupers—two years ago.

My old school is nothing compared to the Starweaver Academy Aria holds in high regard. I can find many of the former out there—a gazillion high schools exist—but there’s just one of the latter in existence.

She sees me tiptoeing past the kitchen door. “Where are you going, Mae?”

Peeping inside, I shrug.

“Anywhere else but here.” 

She eyes her daughter’s varsity jacket, top, and pleated skirt on my body.

“Sit down.”

She welcomed me with a slap after nineteen years. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but there is a high chance she poisoned that bagel toast she just plated on the kitchen island.

A ninety-nine percent chance—Look, I’m just saying...

However, I obey, and a while later, Aria comes downstairs, saving me from the awkwardness living inside this kitchen this morning. 

“How did it feel like to sleep in wealth for one night?” she asks.

“Where’s your father?” I toss back on a full mouth, unbothered.

“Oh, if you are looking to grovel at his feet to get out of this, he never stays for breakfast.”

I bob my head, not looking forward to anything else but school because the sooner I do what they want, the sooner Kira and I can get past this hiccup and return to being the big happy family that we are. 

Great news, though. Breakfast  wasn’t  poisoned. 

I survive...for now.

♤

“The Academy is meant for a select few.” Stella snarls at the name tag in my hand after breakfast. “It doesn’t fit a lowlife like you—”

“But you need this lowlife, right? You need me to save your precious Aria.”

Stella purses her lips hard, becoming a breathing cat-got-your-tongue. 

She slams the front door in my face, and I shake my head, amused. I walk down the entrance. Aria’s waiting for me in a white BMW that I just notice exists.

“There are no buses going that way. I’ll give you a ride, sister.”

“How thoughtful,” I say on a mental eye roll.

Hours later. The tall gate of the Academy looms near. It's located in the Vale. There are no buildings or signs of life five blocks from here. It’s a one-way route, and I start thinking like Stella.

This place knows who and what it was made for, and it wasn’t my kind.

“I’ll even let you have the locker next to mine,” she says after we cross the gate.

Someone I assume is a valet walks over, and as we step down, my jaw rolls off the floor. The stories I’ve heard do not do justice to the grandeur before my eyes.

“Is this place real?” I mutter, staring in awe at the vast and unending premises. 

“Yes, Mae. It is very real.”

The mid-length, domed building at the far centre had gold-lined walls. There were many other tall buildings with symbols erected on top of them. Some rotundas. Some block-shaped.

We head towards the impressive, domed building first. Kathleen Aranal, the Academy’s director, must approve my entrance request.

Aria and I sit alone on the waiting chairs outside her office. Suddenly, the elevator dings. She doesn’t look up from her phone, but I do, and I’m agape for the sixth time this morning.

There are three of them.

The one in the lead has curly long hair with strands falling over his charming green eyes. He subtly chews on a gum. I bite my lip when I see his biceps and sturdy thighs.

My wide eyes dart to the one with very long black hair, cascading down his shoulders. I can feel how soft his hair is just by looking. He has perpetually narrowed-to-dark-slits eyes, and he stands a head taller than his brothers.

The last one sports medium length straight hair; curled at the nape, parted at the centre, and sweeps just above the side of his eyes. He’s frowning...at me.

Three identical green eyes zero in on me.

Suddenly, I feel her. I’ve never felt my wolf before because she’s an Omega. She’s weak, but I feel her awakening now. My nose perks at the mind-blowing and delicious scent around me. It’s so good I can lick the air. I crave it.

It’s the triplets she’s reacting to.

And I hear them growl next to me, “Mate.”