Chapter 1: Luca

All my life, I had felt sure and confident.

I was not oblivious to the life I was brought up in, I was a legacy of wealth, of privilege, of power, end of strength.

Which made your interaction, with the stranger, all the more confusing to me.

Most women, especially Betas were never ever a concern to me.

Omega’s were easy and they fell at your feet, Alpha‘s were fun and challenging, someone that you could rally with. Bantering back-and-forth to who could dominate the other.

Scent and pheromones, certainly aided in my besting of countless women.

But this one, this one with emerald green eyes and cherry wine hair, I had to admit had me beat.

Exiting from my vehicle, admiring the grounds I had so greatly become accustomed to, I saw something out of place.

Or rather someone out of place.

A woman.

A woman who looked at the scene, as if it was brand new, as if it was everything she had ever hoped for and dreamed of. As if the sight of Gates were more than she envisioned, as if the feelings of wind were as fresh as they’d ever been, as if the scent of the autumn air was all new to her and were that much more consuming.

I did that moment that I both saw her, and experienced this insight, I had also realized I never thought that about anyone before.

Perhaps it was a new… Era of my life. I was growing, I was becoming stronger, I was becoming more of the man that I was destined to be. More of the leader that I was destined to be, the one that would lead a pack and guide us to ultimate strength and gratuity. I was caught up in myself, and realized maybe I had more insight to this new young woman that I’ve had to anyone before in my entire life. And it must be due to my growing strength..

I never could’ve known what was destined for either of us.

And so, in a moment of immaturity and glibness, I forced us to collide.

What I had expected to come to me so easily, fleeted away with in a moment.

Everything felt so much bigger than itself, then suddenly it faded.

Next thing I knew; my best friend was at my side.

Clasping my shoulder like many a time he’d done before, warning me not to get caught up with a beta.

Is that what I was doing?

I guess so.

The moment came and went.

I shook myself of my thoughts; turning to my right hand man that I’d trusted as long as I’d been alive.

This was our year.

Alphas excelled in this academy; nearly acting as a benchmark rather than a true test of our capabilities.

A plethora of women; an endless display of our strength and prowess.

I wanted to treat this year at the academy like a vacation.

It felt like I’d stepped on loose cobblestone, a tremor in my path I couldn’t predict.

Her.

Scentless, unknowable, defying, her:

The nameless girl that had dismissed me without hesitation.

As we found our placements in the building, I felt myself calming at the distance.

But she had latched herself in my mind without permission… and I could have never predicted the outcome that fell upon us.