Chapter 001

NOVA

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.

But the girl in the mirror with the dead blue eyes doesn't have one. Her skin is powdered, her lips painted bloodred, and her hair's been twisted into some high-society monstrosity that makes my scalp ache. I'm draped in white silk that is pure, elegant, and expensive.

I'm nineteen.

And I'm about to be married off like a debt settlement to an Alpha old enough to be my father. And nobody, not even a single soul, thinks that it’s strange. But that's not what's making my throat close.

It's him. Leo. My twin brother. My other half.

He's been missing for three months. No one is investigating or providing real answers to many questions I've been asking. They say he ran. They claim that he couldn't handle the pressure at Alpha Academy. Apparently, he cracked under the weight and disappeared. But I know my brother.

Leo doesn't run. He digs in. He fights until he bleeds out.

And now... I can't feel him anymore. It's like a part of me died the moment he vanished. And everyone keeps lying with their mouths full of excuses.

My stomach lurches violently. I shove up from the velvet stool and stumble into the private bathroom, just in time to throw up what little I ate this morning. The room spins, and I clutch the counter with trembling fingers.

I'm still dizzy from last night, from the sedative my father had injected me with after I'd tried to escape. He'd drugged me as if I was an animal.

And now I'm here, in a wedding dress. I'm choking on my own breath, about to marry a monster.

The door creaks open behind me.

"You look pale," my father says, stepping inside as if this is just another business deal. "Fix it. They'll be calling us down soon."

I spin around, my lips wet. My heart pounds harder with rage. "You drugged me."

"You were hysterical," he says calmly. "You were going to throw everything away.”

Sometimes I wonder if Leo and I are really his children. He treats us like liabilities he can easily get rid of. He adjusts his gold-plated cufflinks.

"I was going to save myself," I whisper.

"You’re saving us all. That's what this is." His tone sharpens. "Alpha Roan is powerful. You know how much we owe. You know what he'll do if you decide to walk away."

"Leo's dead," I spit. "And you're selling me off like nothing happened."

My father's face tightens. Not with grief, no, he never bothered pretending.

"We don't know that," he says coldly.

"I do."

He stares at me in silence for a moment.

"I can feel it," I whisper, pressing a palm to my chest. "He's gone. And none of you even care."

"Enough." His jaw clenches. "Get dressed. Say your vows. This is the price of survival."

And then, he leaves me there just like that. As if my fear is annoying and my grief is inconvenient.

The moment the door shuts, I snap. I move on instinct, yanking the pins from my hair, letting it fall around my shoulders. Then I rip the veil from my head. My fingers shake as I tear open the armoire and grab the bag I hid days ago.

Boots. Binders. Scissors. Heat Suppressants. Dark clothes. Scent blockers. Leo's old ID card. A black hoodie that still smells like him.

I stare at the scissors for one second too long. Then I start cutting. Chunk after chunk of hair falls to the floor like dead petals. My hands are shaking, but my heart is already steadier than it's been in weeks.

The guards are probably at the front gate, and the guests are still arriving. No one will notice I'm gone for at least fifteen minutes. And fifteen minutes is all I need.

My heart is pounding so loud I think it might break through my ribs. They think I'm weak. They think I'll go through with the wedding. But they forgot who Leo trained. They forgot that I'm not just a pawn in their bloody games.

I stare at my reflection for a moment, and all I can see is my brother. I'm slightly shorter than he is. But I'm still tall. I barely have anything on my chest in the first place. I don't have to bind them. Training with Leo gave me my lithe and lean body, which matches his own stature.

I sling the bag over my shoulder and throw the window open. I’m going to have to take a drop, but it's not a deadly one. The rose trellis is climbable. My legs are wobbling from the last of the drug still in my system, but I don't stop.

Because Leo is gone and no one is asking why.

Now, I'm done waiting for justice. If the Alpha Academy won't give me answers...I'll go take them.

....

The gates close behind me with a loud clang. The Alpha Academy looms ahead, all black spires and cold stone. I can already perceive the bitter scent of power, dominance, and arrogance young Alphas usually emit. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. But my brother was never like that.

He was humble and kind and...strong. Sure, we fought sometimes. But I was always his baby sister, whom he loved the most. Ever since Mum died, he would take my beatings for me and share his food with me whenever he was home. And he always came home because he couldn't stand the thought of leaving me with our father and his bitchy new wife.

I keep my head down as I walk past the statue-lined courtyard. Everything in me screams at me to turn back. There's a high chance of me getting caught. I'm an Omega after all. But I am different because I am an Omega trained by an Alpha. And of course, I know my brother so well, it should be easy to fool others, right?

So I keep moving. This is the last place Leo was seen alive. So now I'll haunt it in his name.

The admin at check-ins, didn't even blink when I handed over Leo's ID. He simply nodded once, muttered something about "Creed's return," and shoved a key into my hand with the label Dorm 314.

I force myself up the winding staircase, scanning the numbers on each door. Every step feels like I'm climbing into someone else's body. I'm pulling on Leo's swagger over my own lithe bones.

My shorter black hair clings to my forehead and is shorter at the back and sides. I styled it like his.

The scent blockers on my wrists hum faintly. They are tiny obsidian beads, infused with concentrated ashroot. They'll dull my scent enough to pass...unless someone gets too close.

Please, don't let anyone get too close.

My fingers shake as I reach the top floor.

The door to 314 looms in front of me. It's just a door.

But my chest is tight, my mouth going dry. This is it.

Leo's room.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I twist the handle and step inside. Loud music blasts through the room, some deep bass remix that rattles the walls. The scent of cologne and pheromones clouds my senses in an instant. For a second, I almost choke.

There's a guy lounging on the bunk, his legs spread wide, tossing an apple up and down. He looks up the second I walk in and grins.

"Well, well, well. Look who crawled back from the dead."

I blink, my heart jackhammering while I struggle to keep calm. He hops down from the bed, circling me like a predator sizing up a kill. "Leo freaking Creed," he drawls, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Where the hell have you been, ghost boy?"

I try to speak, but nothing comes out.

He's close. Too close. I shift back instinctively, praying the scent blockers hold. They have to. They're the only thing keeping this illusion stitched together.

"Cat got your tongue?" he teases, sniffing the air lightly. "Or did isolation make you mute too?"

I force a sound, a half grunt, half cough. I try to mimic Leo's lazy shrug. But I don't have to answer.

Because that's when the bathroom door swings open.

And the air disappears.

A tall figure steps out slowly, his nape-length wet hair slicked back, silver studs glinting from his ears. His sculpted muscles are gleaming, and a towel is slung low on his hips. A single water droplet runs down the hard cut of his abdomen, and I forget how to breathe. His intense grey eyes collide with mine, and my knees nearly buckle from their intensity.

Rhydar Kane.

I know that face. I recognize it from a photo in Leo's drawer and from the stories about the boy with a temper like wildfire and a frosty gaze.

Leo's ex-best friend. His rival.

And...

I gulp as my wolf stirs inside of me. 'Mate!' Summer, my wolf, whines in my head.

My mate.

No.

No. This can't be happening.

….

Take your seats, my loves! It’s about to get wild. I’ll appreciate your reviews, comments and gems. I’d really love to know what you think as we progress. See you at the end of this wild ride. Ciao!