02

KAIRA

The gymnasium fell silent except for the sound of my heartbeat thundering in my ears.

Professor Zane moved to the center of the sparring mat like a predator stalking through tall grass. Every eye in the room was on us now. I could feel Madison's smug satisfaction radiating from across the room, along with the whispered bets about how quickly I'd go down.

Thirty seconds, someone muttered. She'll be on the ground in thirty seconds.

I stepped onto the mat, my sneakers squeaking against the polished surface. My hands trembled as I raised them into what I hoped looked like a fighting stance. Two years of mandatory self-defense classes had taught me the basics, but I had never actually fought anyone. Not really.

“Relax your shoulders,” Professor Zane said quietly, positioning himself about six feet away. “You're too tense. Breathe.”

Easy for him to say. He wasn't about to be humiliated in front of half the school.

“Now,” he continued, his voice carrying to the gathered students, “combat isn't about size or strength alone. It's about reading your opponent, finding their weaknesses, and using your advantages.” His amber eyes locked onto mine. “What advantages do you have, Miss Blackwood?”

I stared at him, confused. Advantages? I was small, weak, couldn't shift, and couldn't even call for help. What possible advantage could I have?

“Think,” he pressed gently. “You've survived two years at this academy. You must have learned something.”

My mind raced. Survived. That was the key word, wasn't it? While other students had been learning to fight with claws and fangs, I had been learning something else entirely. How to move quietly. How to go unnoticed. How to read a room and sense danger before it found me.

“I have been learning to be invisible.”

“Excellent,” Professor Zane said, and I realized my posture had shifted without me noticing. My weight was balanced on the balls of my feet now, my stance lower and more serious. “I can see you understand. Begin when you're ready.”

He didn't charge at me like I'd expected. Instead, he waited, patient as stone, letting me make the first move. Around us, I could hear students growing restless.

“Is something going to happen, or…" Madison started to say.

That's when I moved.

Two years of avoiding bullies had taught me to be quick. I darted to Professor Zane's left, keeping low, trying to get behind him. But he was ready for it, turning smoothly to track my movement. His hand shot out to grab my wrist, but I was already dropping, sliding under his reach.

“Good,” he murmured, and there was genuine approval in his voice.

I popped back up and immediately had to duck as his other hand swept toward where my head had been. My pulse was racing, but for the first time in years, it wasn't from fear. This was… actually kind of thrilling.

We circled each other now, and I noticed something strange. Professor Zane wasn't trying to end the fight quickly. He was letting it play out, almost like he was studying me. Testing me.

I feinted right, then spun left, slipping past him. My palm shot toward his back, but he caught my wrist before I made contact. Not crushing, not cruel, but controlled.

“Better,” he said, releasing me. “But you're still thinking like prey. What happens when prey stops running?”

I backed away, breathing hard. “What did he mean? The prey that stopped running got caught. Got killed.”

Unless… Unless it wasn't really prey at all.

Something shifted inside me then, like a door opening in a room I hadn't known existed. The whispered conversations, shuffling feet, and even my heartbeat suddenly became clearer, more distinct.

I could smell things I had never noticed before, the lingering scent of different students, the sharp tang of nervous sweat, and underneath it all, something wild and dangerous that belonged to Professor Zane.

“There,” he said softly, and his eyes were glowing now, that amber color brightening to pure gold. “I can see her.”

See who? But before I could process the question, he was moving again, faster this time, no longer holding back quite as much. His hand came toward my face, and instead of dodging away, I stepped into the attack.

My palm met his wrist, deflecting his strike while my other hand shot toward his ribs. He blocked it, but I was already spinning away, using his momentum against him. We moved together like dancers, strike and counterstrike, block and dodge.

The gymnasium had gone completely silent now. Even Madison had stopped her commentary.

I could feel something building inside me, like electricity crackling under my skin. Every movement felt more natural, more right. When Professor Zane swept his leg toward mine, I didn't just jump over it, I flowed over it, my body moving in ways I had never been able to move before.

“Kaira,” Professor Zane said, in a calm tone. “Look at your hands.”

I glanced down mid-dodge and nearly tripped. My hands were glowing with a soft, silver light that was in sync with my heartbeat. The light was warm, comforting, and somehow familiar, like coming home after a long journey.

“What…" I tried to speak and remembered I couldn't. But the need to communicate was so strong that I reached out, not with my voice but with something else. Something deeper.

“What's happening to me?”

The thought projected outward, clear as if I had spoken it aloud. Several students gasped, and I realized with shock that they'd heard it. Somehow, I'd just spoken directly into their minds.

Professor Kane's eyes went wide. “Impossible,” he breathed.

The silver light around my hands flared brighter, and suddenly I could feel everyone in the room. Not just see them or hear them, but actually feel their emotions, their thoughts. It was overwhelming and beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Madison's jealousy burned like acid, but Jessica looked amazed while the other students just looked around confused.

And Professor Zane… Professor Zane's emotions hit me like a tsunami. Awe, protectiveness, and underneath it all, something that made my knees weak and my heart race even faster.

“Mate.”

The word whispered through my mind, but I wasn't sure if it came from him or me or somewhere else entirely.

That's when the alarms started blaring.

Red lights flashed throughout the gymnasium as a mechanical voice echoed from the speakers: “CODE RED. ALL STUDENTS AND FACULTY REPORT TO SECURE LOCATIONS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

The spell, whatever it had been, shattered instantly. The silver light around my hands flickered and died. Students screamed and scattered toward the exits, their carefully maintained composure dissolving into panic.

But Professor Zane didn't run. Instead, he stepped closer to me, his body tense and ready for battle. “Stay behind me,” he commanded, his voice carrying the full authority of his Alpha nature.

Through the large windows that lined one wall of the gymnasium, I could see dark shapes moving across the academy grounds. They moved too fast to even take them all in.

“Rogues,” Professor Zane said loudly. “A whole pack of them.”

More screams echoed from the hallways outside. Something crashed, glass breaking, maybe, or furniture overturning. The acrid smell of smoke began to seep under the gymnasium doors.

Professor Zane's jaw tightened. “The safe room protocols should have been activated by now. Why haven't the barriers…"

His words were cut off as the gymnasium doors exploded inward. Dark figures poured through the opening, rogues in their wolf forms, their eyes glowing red with madness and their lips pulled back to reveal yellowed fangs.

But these weren't ordinary rogues. Their fur was matted and wrong, streaked with what looked like black veins, and they moved with a coordination that wild rogues shouldn't have possessed.

Professor Zane shifted instantly, his human form dissolving into the largest wolf I had ever seen. His fur was deep brown with silver highlights, and his eyes maintained that piercing amber color even in wolf form. He positioned himself between the rogues and the terrified students.

But there were too many of them. At least a dozen rogues spread out across the gymnasium floor, cutting off all escape routes. More poured in behind them, their red eyes scanning the room like searchlights.

That's when I felt it again, that strange power stirring inside me. The silver light began to return to my hands, brighter than before, and with it came an instinct I didn't understand but couldn't ignore.

These rogues weren't just attacking the academy randomly. They were looking for something. Someone.

They were looking for me.

“How?” I thought desperately. How could they know about me when I didn't even know about myself until five minutes ago?

One of the rogues, larger than the others and wearing what looked like a collar made of black metal, lifted its muzzle and howled.

And in that howl, impossibly, I heard words, “The Healer… the Healer is here… bring her to us…"

Professor Zane's wolf form went rigid. His head snapped toward me, those amber eyes wide with understanding and something that looked like fear.

Not fear of the rogues.

Fear for me.

The largest rogue's red gaze found mine across the room, and it smiled, revealing far too many teeth. Before I could run away from him, he pounced on me.