ELARA
The Omega classroom is in the basement. Of course it is.
There are no polished marble floors here. Just damp, grey stone that smells of earth and resignation. The air is thick and still, a world away from the bright, airy halls I was supposed to walk.
I find an empty desk in the back corner, the wood scarred with names of failures past. I keep my head down, willing myself to become invisible.
A loud clatter of books hitting the floor makes me jump. A boy with a mop of sandy hair scrambles to pick them up, his limbs all moving in different directions at once.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, his face turning a deep shade of red as he fumbles with a heavy tome. “My hands and my brain had a disagreement.”
I kneel down, gathering a few of the scattered scrolls for him. “It happens.”
He looks up, his brown eyes wide with surprise. “You’re Elara Vance.”
I flinch. “I am.”
“I’m Liam. I, uh, saw what happened yesterday. It wasn’t right.”
Before I can respond, a girl with sharp, dark eyes and a defiant set to her jaw slides into the seat next to me. She looks from Liam to me, then nods. “He’s right. What they did was garbage. I’m Anya.”
“She’s not one of you,” a sneering voice cuts in from the front row. “She’s a Vance. She’s just slumming it until her daddy pulls some strings.”
Anya is on her feet in an instant. “Say that again. I dare you.”
The instructor walks in before a fight can break out, and the tension subsides into a low simmer. Throughout the lecture on pack law, a topic I could teach myself, I feel Anya’s quiet solidarity and Liam’s occasional, clumsy attempts at a reassuring smile. It’s a strange, foreign feeling. Kindness without condition.
Later, we sit in the courtyard. Liam is trying to explain the merits of a particular healing salve, while Anya sharpens a small knife on a whetstone she produced from her boot.
“The point is, a crushed moonpetal is far more effective than…” Liam trails off, his eyes fixed on something over my shoulder. His face pales.
Anya stops sharpening her blade. Her posture goes rigid.
A shadow falls over our table.
“Well, well. Look what we have here,” Bianca’s voice is like honey laced with poison. “The Null and her collection of strays.”
I look up. She stands there, flanked by two other Elite girls, all of them looking down at us like we’re something they found on the bottom of their shoes. The silver fang on her wrist glints in the sun. It feels like a mockery of the one I still wear.
“Leave her alone, Thorne,” Anya says, her voice low and dangerous.
Bianca laughs, a high, brittle sound. “Oh, I’m so scared. The little Omega is going to what? Bite my ankles?” She turns her icy gaze back to me. “I almost didn’t recognize you without the shine of your father’s reputation. Oh, wait. That’s gone now, isn’t it?”
Her words hit their mark. I can feel the hot sting of shame behind my eyes.
“They say he hasn’t left his office since the test,” one of her cronies adds, her voice dripping with fake sympathy. “The great Beta Marcus Vance, hiding his face in shame. Because of you.”
My hands clench into fists under the table. My knuckles ache.
“That’s enough,” Liam says, his voice shaking but firm.
Bianca ignores him, taking a step closer to me. She leans down, her face inches from mine. “You were always holding me back, you know. I thought you were my equal. But you’re just dead weight. A disgrace to your bloodline.”
Something inside me snaps.
Not anger. Not sadness. It’s something else. A deep, cold pressure building behind my ribs, a low hum that vibrates through my bones. The world seems to sharpen, the colors too bright, the sounds too loud. For a second, I can feel the frantic beat of Bianca’s heart, smell the cloying sweetness of her perfume.
I just stare at her, my silence more unnerving than any shouted reply.
She recoils slightly, a flicker of uncertainty in her perfect blue eyes. She must see something on my face that she doesn’t understand.
“Pathetic,” she spits, straightening up. “Come on. I think I’m losing brain cells just breathing this air.”
She turns and walks away, her pack of hyenas trailing behind her. The courtyard noise returns, but the hum inside me remains.
That night, sleep offers no escape.
I’m standing in a forest of impossible, silver trees under a sky filled with two moons. A low growl echoes around me, shaking the very ground.
From between the trees, it emerges.
A wolf. But it’s unlike any wolf I have ever seen or imagined. It’s massive, larger than a warhorse, its fur the color of midnight. But it’s not the size that steals my breath. It’s the markings. Glowing, blue, ancient runes pulse all over its body, shifting and swirling like living constellations. They hum with a power so immense, so primal, it feels like the dawn of the world.
I’m not afraid. I should be terrified, but I’m not. I feel a pull, a sense of belonging that eclipses everything else.
The great wolf lowers its head, its eyes twin pools of liquid starlight. It opens its mouth, but no sound comes out. Instead, I feel a single word resonate in my soul.
*Soon.*
My eyes fly open. My heart is a frantic bird against my ribs. My skin tingles, a phantom echo of the wolf’s runic energy. The sterile, bleak Omega dorm room is silent and dark.
Shaking, I push myself out of bed and walk to the small, grimy window that looks out over the academy grounds. The moon is high and full, bathing the empty training fields in a ghostly light.
Then I see him.
A lone figure stands in the deepest shadows of the clock tower, perfectly still. Even from this distance, I know who it is. Kaelen Nightshade. The Alpha of Alphas. The one everyone fears.
He isn’t moving. He’s just watching. Looking directly up at my window.
As my eyes adjust, I see it. A faint, unnerving glow. His eyes. They burn in the darkness with a cold, silver fire. It’s not a look of malice or curiosity. It’s a look of recognition. As if he’s just found something he has been searching for his entire life.
