ELARA
The blue light around me is warm, a perfect echo of the power I feel stirring in my soul. It is a promise.
The machine’s hum shifts, rising in pitch.
This is it. The moment of measurement. The final calibration before the score appears.
I send a silent wave of encouragement to my wolf. Show them. Show them all what we are.
And then, something changes.
The warmth doesn't just fade. It's stolen. A sudden, violent vacuum where my power used to be. My connection to my wolf snaps like a frayed cord, leaving a hollow, freezing void.
My eyes fly open.
The blue light is gone. The machine is silent. A soft click echoes in the chamber.
On the crystalline console, a single word materializes in stark, black letters.
NULL.
The word means nothing. An absence. A zero. It’s a mistake. It has to be a mistake. The machine must be broken.
The chamber door hisses open behind me. The sound is deafening in the sudden, absolute silence of the great hall. No one is moving. No one is breathing.
I rise from the chair on unsteady legs. My gaze darts through the viewing window, searching for one face, the only one that matters. Bianca.
I find her. Her face is a mask of disbelief. But it’s not the supportive shock I expected. It’s something else. Something colder.
"There must be an error," I say, my voice a weak rasp. "The machine malfunctioned. I felt her. My wolf was right there."
The proctor looks down at his data slate, his expression unreadable. "The machine is functioning within perfect parameters. The reading is accurate."
Whispers start to ripple through the crowd, quiet at first, then gaining strength.
"Null? A Vance?"
"The Beta's daughter… a dud."
"I can't believe it. What a disgrace."
Each word is a physical blow. My face burns hot. I want the marble floor to swallow me whole. I push through the stunned silence, my eyes locked on Bianca. She’s my anchor. She’ll understand.
"B," I say, my voice cracking as I reach for her hand. "Tell them. You know my wolf is strong."
She takes a step back.
Her hand pulls away before I can even touch it. Her sapphire eyes, which have always held warmth for me, are now chips of ice.
"Don't," she says, her voice low and sharp. "Don't touch me."
The rejection hits me harder than the machine's verdict. It steals the air from my lungs.
"Bianca, what are you talking about?" I plead. "It's me."
"I don't know who you are," she says, her words precise and cruel. She doesn't even look at me. She looks past me, as if I’m already gone. "My best friend is strong. She's an Elite. You… you’re nothing."
Another girl, one of the popular alphas in waiting, steps up beside Bianca, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. She sneers at me. "Looks like you’ve been slumming it, B. Better not let the filth rub off on you."
Bianca doesn’t defend me. She doesn't even flinch. She gives a small, almost imperceptible nod.
My world tilts on its axis. The bond we shared, the promises we made, they crumble into dust. The silver fang charm on my wrist feels heavy, like a shackle.
My gaze desperately searches the room and lands on my father. He stands with the other elders, his face pale, his jaw clenched so tight a muscle spasms in his cheek. He looks older than he did this morning. Broken.
"Dad?" The word is a fragile whisper.
He meets my eyes for a fraction of a second. There is no anger. No sympathy. Just a deep, hollow chasm of shame. He turns his back on me, a deliberate, final movement, and begins speaking to another pack elder, dismissing me completely.
The floor drops out from under me.
"Thorne, Bianca," the proctor calls out, his voice booming through the hall.
Bianca straightens her shoulders, shaking off the moment as if it were a piece of lint on her perfect uniform. She walks towards the testing chamber without a single backward glance. She doesn't spare me a thought.
I stand there, frozen in the center of the hall. An island in a sea of pointing fingers and scornful looks.
The chamber door clicks shut behind Bianca. A few moments of silence pass. Then, the machine sings. A powerful, resonant hum fills the air, and a brilliant golden light floods the viewing window, far brighter than the blue light I produced.
The proctor’s voice rings out, filled with reverence. "Compatibility Score: ninety-eight point seven. Alpha Prime Designation. Elite Class."
The hall erupts in cheers. People surge forward to congratulate Bianca as she exits the chamber, a triumphant, radiant smile on her face. She accepts their praise, laughing as if this was the greatest day of her life. As if she didn't just shatter mine.
The proctor clears his throat, holding up his slate to command silence. "Final class assignments will be posted. However, a provisional placement is required."
He looks directly at me. His eyes hold no pity. Only cold, procedural duty.
"Vance, Elara. Compatibility Score: Null." He pauses, letting the word hang in the air like a death sentence. "Provisional assignment: Omega Level."
A fresh wave of gasps and mocking laughter washes over me. Omega. The lowest of the low. The class for the servants, the broken, the packless. My father’s daughter. In the Omega class.
It is worse than a failure. It is an erasure of everything I was, everything my family stood for.
I am no longer Elara Vance, the Beta's daughter.
I am a Null.
I am nothing.
And I am completely, utterly alone.
