CHAPTER 1

IRIA’S POV

They rang the bell again.

“Move.”

I stumbled forward with my bare feet on the pointy pebble. The hall was already filled with voices, boots, and irritation, but my name still floated above it all.

“Iria.”

I stopped moving because my body had reached its limit, not because I wanted to. My knees were shaky and I held my palm up against the wall to stay upright.

“You are slowing everyone down,” Elder Rhex said. “Stand properly.”

“I am standing,” I replied.

Murmurs followed immediately I responded.

“You call that standing,” another voice said. “You look ready to fall and die.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

Nyxara shifted beside me. She nudged my shoulder in warning. “Don’t answer back,” she whispered. “Just endure it. It'll soon be over.”

“I am enduring,” I whispered back.

Elder Rhex turned to face me fully . His eyes skimmed over my face, my arms and my legs, measuring my weakness without shame.

“You have been enduring for years,” he said. “And yet you remain the same.”

The hall went quiet.

I lowered my gaze because that was what survival in this pack demanded. My silence had kept me alive longer than my pride ever could.

“Step forward,” he ordered.

And I did.

But each step forward felt heavier than the last. Not due to pain alone, but because every eye followed me as I moved. I could feel the judgy looks all over me, coming from all sides.

“Why is she even here,” someone muttered.

“She should be in the healing quarters.”

“Or sent away.”

Elder Rhex lifted a hand and the whispers stopped. “You are late,” he said to me.

“The bell rang early,” I replied before I could stop myself.

Nyxara held her breath in frustration. I wanted to swallow my words back, but it was done.

“Are you accusing the elders of error?” he asked.

“No,” I said quickly. “I mean, I heard it late.”

“You hear many things late,” he replied. “Strength. Sense. Control.”

And everyone stifled their laughter at his words.

“Enough,” another elder said. “Get on with it. The packs are arriving.”

The doors opened and the aura in the room changed almost instantly. All conversations went silent and even Elder Rhex straightened his posture.

The footsteps of heavy boots echoed across the now silent room and I didn't need to look up to know who it was.

Only one person in this pack carried that kind of aura.

Alpha Kael.

I had seen him before, of course. Everyone had. He ruled half the northern territory and answered to no one here, yet the elders still bowed their heads when he passed.

He did not look at me.

“Elders,” Kael said. Even his voice sounded so controlled. “You called for my presence.”

“You are early,” Elder Rhex said.

“I prefer punctuality,” Kael replied. “What is the matter.”

“The Convergence draws near,” Elder Rhex said. “Preparations are underway.”

Kael nodded at him and scanned the hall. Taking notes of guards, candidates and on lookers. But he didn't spare a glance at me.

I exhaled slowly.

“Why is a weakling standing in the center,” a voice asked from behind him.

I flinched.

Kael turned then and his eyes landed on me at last without any interest, other than assessment.

“Who is she,” he asked.

“Iria,” Elder Rhex said quickly. “She’s pack-born.”

“Barely,” someone added.

Kael looked at me for a while and it took everything in me not to look away, my legs were already as shaky as they could be, but I still stood upright.

“She does not belong here,” Kael said.

“She was summoned,” Elder Rhex replied. “As all eligible wolves were.”

“Eligible,” Kael repeated. “Explain that word to me in her case.”

Once again murmurs followed that statement, but this time it was amongst the elders. Nyxara shifted closer to me again.

“I am capable,” I said before anyone could stop me.

Kael’s eyes returned to me with keen focus.

“Are you—” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Prove it,” Elder Rhex said.

They made me train until I could see two objects at a time. Commands came in from all directions and I couldn't concentrate anymore.

Move. Hold. Run. Shift. Endure. Repeat.

And I woefully failed most of them. If not all.

When they ordered partial shifts from my everyone, I couldn't do it cause I had very little energy that wasn't even enough for a shift. When they demanded we run, my legs buckled.

Each mistake earned another look of a failure on  their faces.

“She’s pathetic,” an onlooker said openly this time.

“I said endure,” Elder Rhex snapped when I faltered again.

“I am—,” I replied out of breath. “Enduring—I’m enduring.”

Nyxara caught my arm just in time before I passed out. “Stop pushing her,” she said. “She will collapse.”

“That may be instructive,” Elder Rhex replied.

Kael was still watching this entire session. He wasn't being open about it, but I could feel his attention on me. And it was uncomfortable.

“Enough,” Kael said suddenly and all movement stopped.

“This serves no purpose,” he continued. “You are parading her weakness.”

“She must be seen,” Elder Rhex replied. “All candidates must be tested.”

“Candidates,” Kael said. “Do you hear yourselves.”

Elder Rhex smiled thinly. “The ritual will decide.”

A ritual?

“What ritual,” I asked.

No one answered me.

“I asked a question,” I said.

Elder Rhex turned. “You will learn when the time comes.”

“When is that,” I asked.

His smile widened in a creepy way. “Soon.”

We were dissmissed immediately after that. And I barely had the strength to carry myself out, so I relied on Nyx (a short form for Nyxara) to move.

She wrapped her fingers around my wrists and helped me move.

“You should not speak so much,” she whispered as we reached the corridor. “They notice.”

“They already noticed—” I replied. “That I exist. And that seems to offend them.”

She huffed lightly. “You make jokes when you are afraid.”

“I am not joking,” I said. “What I am is tired.”

“So am I,” she replied. “But this time there is something different about the convergence.”

Before I could ask what she meant, the bell rang again. Louder this time.

Everyone froze and tuned towards the direction of the hall.

Elder Rhex’s voice came out through the halls. “All candidates return to the assembly.”

Nyx held my hand tighter. “Isn't this way too early,” she said. “They said it would be tomorrow.”

I felt a small amount of panic move through me for a few seconds. “What does early mean in this sense.”

“It means,” she said slowly, “they are rushing.”

We returned to the hall.

The elders stood in a line. Kael remained near the front, his presence was steady and unyielding as ever.

Elder Rhex lifted a scroll.

“The Convergence will begin at dawn,” he announced. “The ritual requires names.”

“The first name,” he continued, unrolling the parchment, “has been chosen.”

He lifted his eyes and met my gaze.

“Iria.”

What!