1- Stolen Identity

Layla.

   ‘Are you sure you want to do this? Are you really sure you can handle it?’ A voice said in my head, louder than the sound of my own heartbeat as it echoed and resounded.

I’d already made up my mind, already steeled my resolve and the moment I snuck out of the pack last night to come to the Wargate Alpha’s academy, I knew right then that there was no turning back for me.

“I have to do this!” I said to myself, clapping both hands on each side of my cheeks as I stared into the mirror, looking at my own reflection, except it wasn’t my reflection.

Last night, when the moon hung low and watchful and with the multiple guards that roamed around even though it was late at night and they should be sleeping, I slipped through the gates.

I couldn’t shake off the memory, the remembrance of how my heart was thundering so loud that for a moment, I’d thought that the pressure I felt was going to wake the entire pack.

It was a great ordeal for me, the first time I’ve dared to do something so bold and thinking about it now still caused chills to shake down my spine.

My mind recalled the smell of pine and the damp mud that clung to my skin, mixing with the bitter taste of my own fear and every step I took felt like I was walking on shards of glass that were laid out on lava.

I couldn’t make a mistake, I couldn’t even afford a misstep because that would only mean that I would be dragged back to a life that I didn’t want.

I would be dragged back to him. Alpha Gideon.

His name alone caused a huge bile to lodge at the back of my throat and I couldn’t help but recall the sting of his palm against my cheek from when I’d dared to speak up to him.

“You’re mine, Layla,” he had sneered, his eyes staring at me, tearing into every single part of my being, “don’t you dare think you can be anything more than a tool to me.” He had said.

I didn’t want to remember it, I’d thought I’d left it behind but apparently not and the reason I’m here right now was because of the resentment I had in my heart.

“Layla, you are not fit to lead a pack, it’s not something you were born to do.” My mother had said and those words had always haunted me.

I always made sure to do everything, train twice as hard as Caleb but no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, nobody would look at me.

Nobody saw beyond my gender and when Caleb died, my mother was broken, I could see in her eyes what she thought of me when she looked at me.

A woman. A failure. Weak with nothing to offer.

“When you get mated to Alpha Gideon, he’s going to take over,” when my mother said those words, I shriveled internally, “all you have to do is be a good girl for him, okay?” She added.

“Yes, Mother.” I responded, my voice low and despite the stabbing pain in my heart, the constant remembrance that I couldn’t be seen as anything, I had something else planned.

On the day of my mating ceremony, I would be nowhere to be found.

I could see her face even now that I was far from home, regal, flawless, she was the Alpha Queen that led the pack with an iron smile and when her beloved daughter was supposed to be mated, she would be disappointed.

Last night was terrible, it felt like one of my hardest training yet, especially when I stumbled past Rogue territory.

I knew the stories, they were wolves with no pack, brutal, they’d lost their mind and wouldn’t hesitate to tear a lonely female apart with their teeth but I would pick that over being marked by Alpha Gideon.

He was the most disgusting man I had ever met in my entire life and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck with him. Just as I crossed the border, the scent of freedom hit me.

I could see it, the towering walls of the Alpha Training Academy. A place where only males, or rather, only the strongest males were allowed.

I watched the last strands of hair fall to the ground at the snip of my blade and my fingers trembled but even at that, I’d kept cutting until I couldn’t recognize the person in the mirror as Layla.

Until I looked like the splitting image of my brother. Caleb. My brother’s name pressed against my chest as if it was some sort of a brand.

“The entrance trials are already in progress!” A loud voice made its way into the inn I was staying in and taking one look at myself in the mirror, I repeated the name I’ve been repeating so many times in the dark these past weeks.

Caleb might be gone forever but right now… from now on, he would live again, through me.

My chest hurt due to the linen I’d bound around it and I’d also pressed and worked my curves until they vanished beneath the cloth I was wearing. My fingers smelled of mint and crushed sage, herbs I’d stolen from an old witch to mask my natural scent.

I’d learnt to speak, walk and laugh like my brother and I drew in a sharp breath when I was finally done preparing. I looked up again and a stranger stared right back at me, narrow jaw, hollow cheeks, wide eyes and short hair.

Caleb.

The first challenge when I got to the courtyard was a very brutal endurance run through a maze of thorns and rock traps, wolves twice my size crashed through the course with brutal force, leaving me to dodge the aftermath of their cruel strength.

I see why only male wolves are allowed now but I was going to prove everyone wrong.

“Time! Next trial!” The examiner yelled and I gasped. I barely made it, my vision tunneled and my lungs tore open with every breath I took.

One of the opponents lunged for my throat, desperate to take me out but unable to let myself get eliminated, my instinct took over and I spun under his reach, digging my foot in his ribs and sending him sprawling into the mud as I used his attack against him.

“Whoa!” Gasps rose from the instructors’ stands, a mixture of surprise, curiosity, disbelief but I didn’t care. I wanted to live. I had something to prove.

“He’s so slim and yet….”

“How is he so strong, he knocked down Kyle, that’s almost near impossible.”

I could hear the speculators and audience as they spoke but my mind was fixed on the trial, I couldn’t let myself get distracted.

The combat trial was worse, I bled from my knuckles, my lip split open and my ribs screamed in pain under every blow but I held the pain in as I kept learning, kept moving faster and lighter.

“Now, I’ll call the names of those that passed the trial!” The voice echoed in my head and everywhere fell silent, I could almost feel the world move in slow motion as I listened for my name.

“CALEB THORNRIDGE OF THORNRIDGE PACK!” I had my name and I almost wept, my knees almost failed me as I made my way forward to collect my letter and dorm room.

When the examiner handed me everything, including my dorm assignment, my hands were still trembling. My eyes settled on my Dorm number and I swallowed.

Dorm 4.

I’d heard the whispers, rumors that quickly made their way to me that Dorm 4 housed the Academy’s fiercest, strongest, top ranked trainee and the most promising wolf, Asher Voss.

My mind conjured different kinds of thoughts and I could also hear the students stating their pity for me as I walked past them in the direction of Dorm 4 but I didn’t care, I cleared out my thoughts and blocked out their voices.

“Deep breaths, Caleb. Deep breaths.” I said to myself as I got to the door and the moment I pushed the door open, his scent hit me like a punch to the gut and I almost couldn’t breathe.

“I can’t let it affect me. I’m a man, a fellow man’s pheromones shouldn’t affect me.” I said to myself, trying to ignore him but his smoky, electric presence was too hard to ignore.

He stood right in front of me, towel in head as water clung to his body and trickled down his toned abs and smooth skin, his muscles flexed at the slightest moment and when I met his eyes, they narrowed, immediately cold.

“What are you doing here?” He barked at me, obviously annoyed by my presence, his brows drew together in a frown as his eyes settled on my name tag.

“You’re the new one,” he drawled, eyes tearing at me like talons, “I hate the idea of sharing my personal space but since you’re a charity case and probably won’t last anyway, I’ll allow it.”

His voice was rough and deep and dark and I swallowed as he spoke, my bindings suddenly too tight, my heart thundered and there was something else…. Something strange….

No! I can’t think of that!

I ignored him and walked to my bed and he obviously hated that because he grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to turn around and I felt like my bindings were going to come loose in that instant as my eyes widened.

“How dare you?!” He sneered, “No one ignores me when I speak!” He added firmly and my eyes moved from his face to his hand on my shoulder and disgusted, I moved away.

“I was assigned to this dorm and so, I’m staying here.” I managed to say as calmly as I could and I watched as his lip curled in something like a smirk as he looked me up and down.

“We’ll see how long you last.” He muttered, turning away, dismissing me as if I wasn’t worth his time. I exhaled shakily, my entire body on edge as I unpacked and settled in my dorm.

Time flew by quickly and night soon came, Asher and I were alone in the dorm room, my heart pounded rapidly as I lay awake, unable to sleep with Asher in the bed across the room.

“Caleb, was it?” His voice was sudden as it cut through the dark and silence and I stiffened as a slight ruffle followed before another silence.

“You don’t smell like a Caleb, Caleb. More like, you don’t smell like a man.”