The name on the board

The morning sun had barely climbed above the Ashgrove skyline when Madine University came alive.

Freshmen wandered across the sprawling campus carrying admission folders and maps.

Senior students chatted beneath towering trees.

Lecturers hurried toward faculty buildings with steaming cups of coffee in hand.

Everything appeared ordinary.

Until a single email arrived.

Priority: Immediate

From: Office of the Chairman

The Chairman of the Nightbane Foundation will be visiting Madine University this morning. All principal officers are to assemble in the Executive Conference Hall immediately.

Silence swept through the administrative building.

The Vice Chancellor froze.

The Registrar reread the message twice.

Department deans abandoned their morning meetings.

Phones began ringing from one office to another.

“The Chairman?”

“Today?”

“No one said he was coming.”

“I heard he hasn’t visited campus in years.”

“What happened?”

No one had an answer.

Within minutes, the entire administrative floor was in quiet chaos.

Outside the university gates, a convoy of black vehicles rolled silently onto the campus.

Security guards immediately stood at attention.

The barrier lifted without delay.

Students barely spared the vehicles a glance.

To them, it was simply another group of important visitors.

Inside the administration building, however…

Every member of the executive board was already waiting.

The doors opened.

Kaelen Nightbane entered without hurry.

He wore a perfectly tailored charcoal suit that somehow made him appear even taller than he already was. Around his neck rested the familiar crimson pendant, its polished surface hidden beneath his collar.

To everyone present, he looked like nothing more than an influential businessman.

Only Steffens, walking one step behind him, knew the pendant concealed far more than his identity.

It buried the scent of the Alpha.

It restrained the wolf beneath his skin.

It allowed him to move unnoticed among humans.

Every administrator bowed.

“Chairman.”

Kaelen acknowledged them with a brief nod.

“Good morning.”

The Vice Chancellor stepped forward nervously.

“Chairman Nightbane… we’re honored by your visit.”

“You weren’t expecting me,” Kaelen replied calmly.

“No, Chairman.”

“I made the decision last night.”

That single sentence only deepened their unease.

The Chairman never visited without reason.

Kaelen took his seat at the head of the conference table.

No one else sat until he did.

Silence settled over the room.

His eyes moved across each administrator before finally resting on the Dean of Academic Affairs.

“I’ll be returning to the classroom this semester.”

The room went completely still.

A file slipped from someone’s hands and landed softly against the polished floor.

No one bent to retrieve it.

The Dean blinked.

“Chairman… you’re returning to teach?”

“I am.”

“But…”

The Dean caught himself.

“You haven’t lectured in years.”

“I know.”

Another silence followed.

The Vice Chancellor carefully folded his hands.

“May we know which faculty you’ve chosen?”

Kaelen did not answer.

Instead, he looked toward the Registrar.

“When were this year’s freshman admission records completed?”

The Registrar straightened immediately.

“They were finalized yesterday evening, Chairman.”

“The complete records from every department have already been archived.”

Kaelen nodded once.

“Bring them.”

The Registrar hesitated only long enough to understand the order before hurrying from the room.

Several minutes later he returned, accompanied by two assistants carrying thick folders stacked neatly in their arms.

Every admitted student.

Every faculty.

Every department.

The files were arranged carefully across the conference table.

The administrators exchanged puzzled glances.

No one understood what the Chairman was looking for.

Kaelen turned his head slightly.

“Steffens.”

His Omega stepped forward immediately.

“Alpha.”

“Find one name.”

Steffens inclined his head.

“What name?”

“Aria Ashbourne.”

The room became strangely quiet.

The Registrar exchanged a confused look with the Vice Chancellor before opening the first folder.

Steffens moved beside him.

Page after page turned.

Engineering.

Medicine.

Law.

Business.

Education.

Another folder.

Another department.

Minutes passed.

Then…

“I found her.”

Steffens lifted a cream-colored admission file from the stack.

He placed it gently before Kaelen.

The Alpha opened it without a word.

His eyes moved steadily across the page.

Name: Aria Ashbourne.

Age: Twenty-One.

Status: First-Year Student.

Department: Applied Mathematics.

Entrance Examination Result: Highest Score in the Department.

Admission Status: Approved.

For a long moment…

Kaelen simply stared at the surname.

Ashbourne.

Not Vale.

Not Virel.

Ashbourne.

The name settled heavily inside his mind.

He quietly closed the file.

“…Ashbourne.”

No one in the room understood why he had repeated the name.

Steffens, however, noticed the faint tightening of Kaelen’s jaw.

Kaelen looked toward the Dean.

“What courses are assigned to first-year students in this department?”

The Dean quickly slid a course outline across the table.

“There are six compulsory courses this semester, Chairman.”

Kaelen scanned the list.

His finger stopped on one subject.

“I’ll take this one.”

The Dean lowered his eyes to the page.

His expression changed instantly.

“Chairman…”

“Professor Aldridge has been assigned to this course.”

Kaelen closed the file.

“The Board compensates its lecturers generously.”

“I’m certain Professor Aldridge will appreciate a well-earned sabbatical.”

No one argued.

No one even considered arguing.

The Chairman’s decisions were final.

The Dean simply nodded.

“I’ll make the arrangements immediately.”

Kaelen rose from his chair.

“I’ll begin with the first lecture.”

“The timetable will be adjusted before orientation concludes.”

“It will be done, Chairman.”

Steffens collected Aria’s admission file before following Kaelen toward the exit.

As the doors closed behind them, conversation finally returned to the room.

“The Chairman is teaching again?”

“After all these years?”

“Why this department?”

“Who is Aria Ashbourne?”

Outside, Kaelen paused beneath the university’s stone archway.

Students crossed the courtyard laughing, completely unaware of the decisions that had just reshaped an entire department.

Steffens stepped beside him.

“You chose the course because of her.”

Kaelen didn’t deny it.

“I chose the course because answers are easier to find when people stop hiding.”

“And if she’s the child from the prophecy?”

Kaelen watched a group of freshmen disappear into one of the academic buildings.

“Then I’ll discover the truth myself.”

He adjusted the crimson pendant beneath his collar.

Its ancient magic pulsed softly against his skin.

To every wolf on campus…

He would smell human.

To Aria…

He would be nothing more than another lecturer.

Exactly as he intended.

Across the courtyard, a staff member hurried toward the Dean’s office carrying the newly revised teaching timetable.

On the very first page…

One line had already been changed.

Course Lecturer: Professor Kaelen Nightbane.

Completely unaware…

Aria Ashbourne folded her class schedule into her bag with a bright smile.

She had no idea…

That before her first lecture had even begun…

Someone had already rewritten her future.