Chapter 1 – The Perfect Alpha

The scent of iron and rain clung to the courtyard like an omen. Every breath I took tasted metallic, sharp, and cold—just like this place.

Ironclad Academy.

Built on the bones of an ancient fortress, it was where the nation’s future Alphas were forged. Warriors, leaders, executioners. They trained us to dominate, to kill, to conquer anything that threatened the pack. And in this world, the greatest threat of all was an Omega.

Which was why no one could ever know that’s what I really was.

The marble statue of the nation’s founder loomed over the gathered students, his stone eyes carved in eternal judgment. Rain traced paths down his blade, pooling at his feet as if even the sky bled for him. Around me, rows of Alpha cadets stood at rigid attention, heads high, expressions cold. The top one percent of the country’s elite. The strongest of the strong.

And me—the imposter among them.

“Gentlemen,” Headmaster Kael’s voice boomed through the courtyard, echoing off the old walls. “Welcome to your final year. You’ve clawed your way here through blood and competition. You know the rules: weakness will not be tolerated.”

A murmur ran through the ranks. I kept my expression blank. At Ironclad, “weakness” wasn’t just failure—it was a death sentence. No one ever said what happened to the students who couldn’t keep up. They simply vanished from the dorm lists, their names struck out from the records.

Kael’s gaze swept over us like a blade. “This year, we prepare for the Dominion Trials. You will be ranked, tested, and pushed beyond your limits. Only the best graduate. The rest—” he smiled, slow and thin “—become examples.”

Rain fell harder. The crowd shifted uneasily. I didn’t. I couldn’t.

My fingers twitched at my side, hidden by my gloves. The dull sting beneath my skin was still fresh from the suppressant injection I’d taken an hour ago. The drug burned through my veins like ice, muting the pull of my scent, silencing the instinct that wanted to rise whenever I stood too close to another Alpha.

Suppressants were my armor. My shield. My curse.

The ceremony ended, the headmaster’s speech dissolving into the thunder overhead. The crowd broke apart, cadets moving toward their dorms in formation. I followed, keeping my pace steady, every movement measured. The smell of sweat and wet concrete mixed with the lingering musk of dominance that filled the academy grounds.

Then I felt it—sharp, electric, impossible to mistake.

A presence pressed against my senses like a weight. The air itself thickened.

“Varyn.”

The voice slid down my spine like a blade.

I turned slowly, already knowing who it was.

Xander Vale stood several paces away, rain sliding down his jaw. His gray eyes were the color of gunmetal, unreadable, dangerous. He was taller than me by an inch, broader across the shoulders, his uniform hanging loose in deliberate defiance of the rules. Even soaked, he carried himself with the lazy arrogance of someone who’d never once been told no.

“Vale,” I said, keeping my tone level. “Still following me around? Should I start charging rent?”

His smirk deepened. “Flattering yourself again, Varyn?”

“Hard not to, when you never stop looking.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You talk too much for someone who only made it to second place last term.”

“Second,” I repeated. “And who was first for the rest of the year?”

That wiped the grin off his face for half a heartbeat. Then it returned, sharper. “Enjoy it while it lasts. This year’s mine.”

He stepped forward, and the space between us crackled with energy. The dominance in his scent pressed hard against my control. I locked my jaw and met his gaze head-on.

“Try not to embarrass yourself,” I said.

He chuckled low, the sound curling darkly. “You make it sound like you care.”

I turned away before he could see how tightly my fists had clenched. His presence lingered behind me like heat even after I’d left him standing in the rain.

*******

The dorms were quiet by the time I reached my room on the upper floor of the east wing. The building smelled of damp uniforms and metal polish. I shut the door and locked it, the click echoing too loudly in the stillness.

Only then did I let myself exhale.

The mask slipped a little as I pulled off my gloves and rolled up my sleeve. The puncture mark on my wrist was still red. I opened the drawer beneath my desk and stared at the three silver vials inside. Each one shimmered faintly under the dim light.

I loaded one into the injector, pressed the needle to my skin, and hissed softly as it bit in.

The relief was instant. The drug’s cold tendrils spread through my veins, dulling everything—the pulse under my skin, the unsteady rhythm of my breathing, the faint tremor that always followed being near him.

Xander Vale.

He was everything I’d been taught to fear and everything I had to become. Ruthless, confident, brutal. The academy adored him. I hated him for it—and maybe hated myself more for noticing how easily he commanded a room.

A knock jolted me out of my thoughts.

I shoved the injector back into the drawer. “Yeah?”

The door cracked open. “Zade? You in there?”

Ren’s voice—steady, friendly, one of the few Alphas here I didn’t mind.

“Door’s open,” I called.

He stepped inside, dripping water all over the floor. His blond hair was plastered to his forehead, his usual grin dimmed by exhaustion.

“You hear about the Trials?” he asked.

“What about them?”

“They’re changing the format. Pair fights instead of solos.”

I froze. “Pairs?”

“Yeah. Two to a team. Said it’ll test cooperation. Which is a joke, right? This place barely lets us talk to each other without trying to break our jaws.”

I forced a shrug. “Who announced it?”

“Vale’s father, apparently. He’s on the Board now.”

Of course he was. The Vale family practically owned half the military council.

Ren flopped onto the bed opposite mine. “Man, I hope I don’t get paired with someone like Xander. That guy’s a nightmare.”

“He’s predictable,” I said.

Ren frowned. “Then why does he always go after you?”

Because he senses something. Because even under all my suppressants, some part of him knows.

“Because I keep beating him,” I said instead.

Ren laughed. “Fair point.”

When he left, silence filled the room again. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the empty vial on the desk. My reflection in the window looked back at me—hard eyes, calm face. The perfect Alpha.

The lie.

I touched the scar on my wrist where the suppressants had begun to wear thin. Each injection lasted less time now. Each dose hit weaker. The company that made them had switched formulas months ago; only the black-market vials still worked properly, and those were getting harder to find.

I was running out.

A shiver crept through me. Beneath the chemical numbness, the hum of something deeper stirred—heat, instinct, the pulse of what I really was. I pressed my palms to my eyes until sparks danced behind them.

No one could know.

Not Ren. Not Kael. Not Xander.

Especially not Xander.

Thunder cracked outside, rattling the old windowpanes. I lay back on the mattress, staring at the ceiling until the storm drowned out the sound of my heartbeat.

If anyone ever found out what I was, it wouldn’t just be my life they’d destroy. My mother’s safety depended on my secret. She’d hidden me since birth, buried every trace of what I was. Getting into Ironclad was supposed to be my protection—the last place anyone would ever look for an Omega.

The irony wasn’t lost on me.

I closed my eyes. For now, I would keep playing the perfect Alpha.

Because the moment I failed…

The world would come for me.