The Luna Heir

Chapter 1: Alpha Academy

My mother abandoned me for eighteen long years. After taking me back from the orphanage I grew up in, she was in a rush to marry me off. Why you ask? Victoria wasn’t only my mother. She was the Queen of the Luna Pack—the reigning werewolf pack.

It didn’t take me long to realize, the only reason I was brought back was to serve as a replacement in a political marriage. My adopted sister was supposed to be thee next Queen, but she had was quite the talk of the town with her promiscuous ways. Somehow, that was be an even bigger disgrace than my own problems.

I was wolfless. I was the ripe age of eighteen and had yet to see my wolf. To Victoria, that was an additional humiliation. I figured it was why she abandoned me all those years ago. Then, she got a new daughter, the perfect She-wolf. She was more of a future queen then I’d ever be.

I stared at the list in front of me. The names looked familiar. Wolfham. Lunerly. Moonraiser. The photos next to the name were of some of the most handsome men I’d ever seen. Each with striking features and shiny gold eyes.

Alphas.

The woman standing in front of me, my mother, sighed. “Zora,” she sounded exhausted. “They’re all lovely men. Each the heir to their namesake. Excellent alphas. They could teach you a lot.”

I let out a sigh. “No, Mother, I don’t need this,” I shoved the list away. “I just want to be alone. I don’t want to get married.”

“Do you want to be homeless again? You’re a princess of this nation now, and you have no idea what that means.” There was a trace of anger in Victoria’s voice. “If it weren’t for your sister—”

She stopped mid-sentence. I raised my eyebrow. “My sister?” I deadpanned. “If she weren’t what, a whore?”

Her hand shot up, and I instinctively raised my arm to shield myself. It was a habit I’d learned in the orphanage. Victoria froze. She didn’t hit me. Instead, her voice turned cold.

“Watch your tone,” she said. “Amara is still your sister. And I am your mother.”

“Yet you abandoned me for eighteen years,” I snapped. “Clearly, I’m not the one you care about. Amara is. So why don’t you let her have a fucking wedding.”

I sharply stood up from my chair and stomped towards the door to the room. I wrenched it open and left Victoria in her office. I felt like we’d had that same conversation a hundred times in the last six months I’d been living with Victoria and Amara. Queen Victoria.

But I didn’t grow up knowing that. I grew up bouncing from orphanage to foster home to orphanage, thinking I was just a human girl who no one loved. The latter was true, but the former was that I was heir to the Luna throne. I only learned that the day I turned eighteen.

I stood on the street with my things in a bag, nowhere to go after being told I was too old to stay in the orphanage. As the tears began to stream down my face, she appeared.

Something told me the woman with fiery red hair and golden honey eyes had to be related to me. Her nose as the same shape as the one I saw in the mirror. When she smiled at me, the same dimple I’d come to hate mirrored itself on her face.

I dropped my bag immediately. Then she told me her name was Queen Victoria Luna. And she was my mother.

I had a million questions running through my head but the only one that escaped from my throat was a “Why?”

It’s a question Victoria has never answered. That gave me all the information I needed to know. My mother never loved me. Never wanted me. I tossed aside like old clothes. The only reason she returned to get me was to validate her lineage and to secure the place on the Luna throne.

I was a political pawn.

That and I was a political pawn without a wolf.

Victoria’s lack of love was further proved as she asked me questions about my childhood. Irritability at the full moon? No. A longing to run? No. An itchy, scratchy feeling in my bones? What the hell was she on about?

Then she told me I was supposed to be a werewolf. A being who could transform into a wolf on the flip of a dime. With super strength and hearing and all the cool occult abilities I’d read about in books. But I had none of it. I was exceptionally ordinary.

Victoria hated that about me—or rather, she despised my plainness. She had even gone so far as to let her own blood wander the world for eighteen years while spoiling a stranger’s child into a rude, entitled brat. The thought was burning in my head as I stormed down the hall, away from Victoria’s office.

Then I heard her call my name again.

“Zora, let’s make a deal,” my mother said. “You are the heir to the Luna throne. You need a mate. I’m just trying to help you.”

“Help me?” I scoffed. “If you really wanted to help me, you wouldn’t have abandoned me. You don’t want to help me. You don’t even want me.”

“Of course I want you,” Victoria replied, her shoulders slumping as she finally looked defeated for the first time. “I had my reasons for leaving you with the humans. I—”

“So tell me!” I shot back.

“I was trying to protect you,” She said “You will learn—"

She opened her mouth to speak again but I cut her off again.

“Is this why you haven’t introduced me yet? Have kept me hidden in this corner of the castle for the last six months?Amara comes out whenever she feels like it. And she mocks me for being a wolfless failure who will never escape her shadow.

I haven’t had a chance to explore the place where I’m supposed to be from. To ‘protect’ me? If you wanted to keep me safe you would have left me alone!”

“Zora, please,” Victoria began to roar. “You will learn it all in time. Just know that I am your mother!”

“You’re nothing to me,” I said calmly. “You’re just some random woman who stumbled into my life six months ago and wants to use me to replace my sister for your own gain.”

Victoria glared me down. Then, she straightened her shoulders and looked at my down the brim of her nose. “You’re leaving tomorrow,” she said, sternly. “You will attend Alpha Academy. If you graduate, I will tell you everything you want to know. You are free to leave.”

“I can leave?” I tipped my chin up to meet her gaze. “So, no marriage.”

Victoria let out a cold laugh. “If you can graduate on your own, then fine. The werewolf world is far more brutal than the human one.”

“I do,” I said. “And I’ll graduate your stupid Alpha Academy and I expect answers immediately. Otherwise, I’m gone.”

With that, I turned on my heel and left her glaring into my back.

It only took a week to get me enrolled in the “Alpha Academy”, whatever the hell that was. I packed what little I had back into my bags and set off in a car away from the castle. It was the first time I’d seen my country, all fading into a blur of green as I was shipped off to my next prison.

When the car rolled to a stop in front of the admissions building, I was left slack jawed. Alpha Academy looked like any other human college. It had older architecture but everything looked the same as the University I’d grown up next to. The people walking around looked like I did. No fancy clothes, no crowns. It was if I was suddenly human again.

I breathed a sigh of relief. This was easy. I could do this. I’d excelled in high school. Graduated with a four-point-oh. Did I have any friends? No. But, honestly, I didn’t need friends. I needed to fight my way through this school and come out with enough knowledge to knock Victoria off her high horse.

I stepped out of the car as the driver helped me with my bags. No one even gave me a second glance. As far as they knew, I was just another rich girl coming to learn. I wasn’t the disgraced heir of the throne. Suddenly, a weight felt like it had been lifted off my chest. I could do this. I could make it through.

I grabbed my bags and started towards the admissions hall. Just as I reached the stairs, a mass of black fur came into my peripheral. I was knocked onto the ground in a flurry of my things.

The weight that had just been lifted came slamming back into me like a ton of bricks. Then, I started to scream as every bone in my body felt a surge of electricity course through it like blood.

Chapter 2: Wolf Basics

I’m still twitched in pain as I saw motion in the corner of my vision. Next, I’m hauled to my feet. Whoever was touching me causes the electricity to return at a much lower intensity. It’s still enough that I gasp and dig my nails into the person to keep myself steady.

A low chuckle cooled all the heat radiating across my skin. I whipped around in the person’s arms and looked into the face of a god.

The man who was holding me is tall with shiny gold eyes. It shouldn’t have surprised me as I was standing on the foot of the admissions building for an Alpha Academy. However, they were so much different in person. They truly sparkled like a full moon.

His shoulders were broad, tan and rippling with muscle. So much so that it was pulling his skin taught. He had a scar on his upper lip that curved up to his cheek bone. Below that was a single dimple, accentuated by the smirk on his face. His hair was cropped short to his head and was a deep black.

He was nothing short of gorgeous.

“Hello, darling,” he said. He had the same accent of everyone in Victoria’s castle. The one of aristocracy. “Pardon me,” he continued. “You seemed to have gotten in the way of my morning run.”

I scoffed. “Do you usually run with your dog?” I shoved back on his chest a little, causing his arms to release me. “He barreled into me at full speed!”

The man chuckled again. “That was me, darling.”

I suddenly felt out of place. I was at a werewolf academy. There were no dogs. The people were the dogs.

So much for keeping a low cover, I thought to myself. I awkwardly chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck.

“Sorry,” I said, swallowing thickly. “It was just so small – I thought it was a dog!”

The man’s eyes turned dark. His smirk deepened. “Trust me, love,” he said, deep enough to rumble through my bones. “Nothing about me is small.”

My jaw opened and closed a few times as I tried to process the blatant innuendo. Before I could speak, the man started talking again.

“You must be new.” He said. All teasing, provocative tone was gone. He was cold and hard. “Did you not have an Alpha in your pack?”

Pack? I was immediately confused. Instead, I just shook my head silently.

The man nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “Just know that Alphas are about two to three times the size of a normal wolf. Everyone around here could barrel you over without a second thought.”

“Thanks for the advice,” I mumbled rubbing my neck again. The man’s face was set in a hard line. I could’ve sworn his lip twitched.

“You know,” he said voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t know that they let humans into the school.”

I stilled. He’d caught me.

“I’m not a human,” I snapped back, on the defensive.

The man hummed. “Your smell says otherwise,” he turned and began to walk away. “Stay out of my way, human.” He snarled the last word like it was a slur.

I was shocked. How had this man turned on me so quickly? I immediately got angry and stood up straight. I wasn’t about to be walked all over on my first day.

“An apology would be nice,” I said firmly.

The man stopped. He turned back around and pinned me with the anger in his gold eyes. “The weak—” another snarl. “—don’t belong at alpha academy.”

He left me slack jawed staring at his back. Quickly, the man shifted into the same black wolf that had run me over and sprinted away.

For some reason, his words shocked me. I was so out of my reach. I was at a school with a bunch of supernatural beasts. Each stronger than I’d ever been. I was alone once again. I huffed and set my shoulders back. Not that being alone had ever stopped me. I grabbed my bags and marched into the Admissions Hall.

The Director gave me my schedule, course books and the key to my dormitory. I don’t think she knew I was Victoria’s daughter, but she definitely had questions. She eyed my fiery red hair multiple times and seemed to linger on my eyes, still a hazel and not yet the Alpha gold.

I walked out of the building and across campus to my dorm building. The whole time, I was on red alert for any fuzzy masses running across the lawn. Luckily, I had no more instances as I reached my room.

I pushed the ornate gold key into the lock and twisted the handle. The old wood creaked as it flipped open. The room inside was full of the same color of wood. One side had empty furniture. The other looked like pink vomited all over it.

Every bit of it was covered in frilly, girly pink. From the bedspread to the rug to the cushion on the desk chair. It was slightly disturbing.

I dragged my bags into the room and let the door shut behind me. I stared at the emptiness of my side for a while before I heaved a sigh.

“Might as well get comfortable,” I mumbled under my breath.

I threw my suitcases open and started unpacking. One was full of the stuff I’d brought from my old life. A few old tee shirts that I’d loved, some well-worn jeans and the blanket I grew up with. The blanket was a quilt that my first foster mom had made me. It was seventy different pieces of fabric, slightly fraying at the edges but it felt like home. I put the under sheets on the bed then draped the quilt on top.

The second suitcase was full of stuff from my new life. It was the few articles of royal attire that Victoria had given me over my past six months. On top of it was a note which I knew was penned in Victoria’s hand. I gingerly opened it.

Zora,

Goodluck at Alpha Academy. I know we didn’t have much time together, but I do want to state how truly proud of you I am. You have grown into a beautiful, independent woman. It is everything I could’ve wished for you.

With love,

Queen Victoria

I scoffed and chucked the letter into the back of a drawer of my desk. “With love,” I mocked as I grabbed the rest of the royal attire and threw it in a heap in the back of the closet on my side of the room.

“With love my ass,” I hissed to no one in particular.

It took me about an hour to unpack and then I was alone again. Classes didn’t start until the following morning. I threw myself onto the bed, utterly exhausted from the travel and the day.

I slowly let my body fall asleep.

The next morning, my roommate was still missing. I sighed in exhaustion. So much for getting any sort of help getting to class. I got dressed and left the sanctuary of my roommate-less dorm room for the big, open campus.

I walked across campus to my first class, Wolf Basics. I hoped it was going to answer some of the questions I had. I swallowed with anxiety as we got to the doors of what looked like a giant gym.

A bunch of wolves were shaking out of their wolf form near me. All of them were gorgeous with shiny tan skin and shiny hair and shiny gold eyes. It made me feel like an ant among giants. My brow furrowed as I watched them enter the gym and not a classroom.

I thought this was Basics? I thought to myself

Yeah, werewolf basics, Zora, my inner voice chided me. Where they teach you to fight and run and all the good stuff they want werewolves to do.

Anxiety washed over me. Here I was thinking this was going to be a class I could study for. Not war tactics for teens. I was not prepared for this one. A super tall woman with long black hair walked by us and scoffed me.

“First day?” she drawled.

“Yeah, actually,” I said back. This was good. Making friends was good!

“Good luck,” she snarled before bumping shoulders with me and pushing into the locker room for the gym.

I followed after her, sheepishly. I accepted pair of shorts, a t-shirt and trainers from one of the coaches. I slicked my hair up on my head the best I could before walking into the gym.

It was massive. There were at least twenty sparring dummies lying around, a whole bunch of weights and a red track that looked to be a half mile around. Part of me sighed in relief. I had done track in high school as an escape. I hadn’t trained since realizing I was a wolf, but I was confident I could still bang out a mile in a killer six minutes.

I scanned the gym again. My eyes lingered on the weights. A familiar set of tanned shoulders was spotting someone on the bench press. The man doing the reps was drenched in sweat as he tried to push out one last rep. The tanned man pulled it the rest of the way with an ease that scared me.

When he turned around, I couldn’t help but gasp. It was the same black-haired man who’d nearly barreled me over yesterday. His smile turned sour as he glared at me, gold eyes beaming.

“You,” he snarled.

Chapter 3: The Luna Heir

He stomped towards me and I instinctively crumbled in on myself. I kept my gaze on the man with black hair. The guy he was spotting had just stood up and was looking towards us as well. He had black hair as well and seemed to be of Eastern Asian descent.

“Yo,” he called out to the man steaming in front of me. “This the bitch, Max?”

“Excuse me?” I bristled. “I don’t even know you!”

“He knows all he needs to know,” The taller man, Max, hissed. “That you’re a weak little wolfless girl who somehow managed to swindle her way into the Academy.”

“And I know everything I need to know about you,” I threw back at him.

“You’re a big bully,” I continued. “Who, clearly, is insecure in his own place so much so that he has to put other people down.” I curved my lips into a smirk. “And not someone I’d like to spend my time giving a shit about.”

“Oh shit,” Someone whispered behind me. I looked back at the crowd that had formed around me. All of the surrounding wolves looked scared shitless. I turned back around and looked at my bully.

“So you scare everyone here?” I stood up straight. “What are you some sort of prince?”

The Max guy glared down at me. His body seemed to dwarf mine entirely. “I’m Maximus Wolfham. The heir to the Wolfham line,” he spat.

Wolfham. Wolfham. Wolfham.

Why was that name so familiar to me?

“Oh,” I said under my breath. Add it to my tally of “oh”s. This man was one of the potential suitors my mom had picked for me. He was the heir to the next greatest wolf house.

And he was looking at me like I pissed in his cheerios.

“Oh,” he mocked me. He pushed past me, banging his shoulder against mine. I felt the same shiver of electricity surge through me as it did when he ran me over yesterday.

“I meant what I said yesterday, human,” Maximus threw over his shoulder. There was that word again. “Stay out of my fucking way.”

I followed him across the gym. He stopped in a group of people and turned around to face me. His friends were chatting besides him, but he was too busy staring daggers at me. I groaned.

So much for staying under the radar, I thought.

“Quiet, quiet, quiet!” A voice boomed across the gym. A man, clearly the coach from the way he was dressed, emerged from the office besides the gym. “That’s enough chit chat. We’re timing the run today. Give me a warmup lap then Maximus and Petyr will lead the stretches.”

Without a second command, the entire group took off down the track. I followed them, lingering towards the back of the group. Petyr must’ve been the Eastern Asian man being spotted by Maximus as the two took the lead. I struggled to keep up.

My breath was catching in my throat as I looked across the track and saw Maximus and Petyr looking back at me with stone cold gazes. Great, I thought to myself. Another enemy.

Peytr was handsome as well. But he was no Maximus. Even with how rude he was to me, I couldn’t help but find him incredibly attractive.

We rounded out the warmup lap towards the end of the group then broke into lines for stretching. I wound up being the woman with long black hair whom I’d run into earlier in the day.

She made sure to remind me that she didn’t like me by almost body checking me every time we turned around.

When stretching was done, we formed a semicircle around the coach. He stood at the front, clipboard in hand. He scribbled something in pen then sighed before tucking the clipboard under his arm.

“Right, so I’m Coach Wells,” he sighed. It was if he was completely bored. “We’re doing the run today. For you first-years. It’s twenty laps around the track in under fourty-five minutes.”

Twenty laps? Ten miles? In under fourty-five minutes???

I felt my stomach bile rise up to my throat.

I ran in high school.

I was a decent short distance runner. The mile was my bread and butter. I’d never run more than five miles let alone ten. I looked around to see if anyone else looked panicked. No one seemed phased. I turned back to Coach. He caught my eye and saw the panic on my face.

“Now, if you don’t get twenty,” he said. “Ya won’t get kicked out. But you will have to take supplementary training until you can pass. The ideal is twenty but if you can get fifteen, you won’t have to do supplementary training. Shoot for twenty. Be fine with above fifteen. Got it?”

Everyone around me nodded. Fifteen. I could do fifteen laps. That was seven and a half miles. Only two and a half more than my max. Entirely achievable.

Coach had everyone line up on the track. It was wide enough that we were in lines of three. In front of me was a woman with white-blonde hair and shiny purple eyes. In front of her was a woman I hadn’t met yet. The blonde-haired woman slowly turned around and gave me a half smile before whispering a good luck under her breath. With that, Coach’s whistle went off and we were off.

Everyone in front of me took off at breakneck pace. I stuttered to start, shocked by the fact that someone had actually been nice to me. I tried to keep up but felt my lungs straining so I returned to the same rhythm I’d learned in high school.

Right, left, right, left.

It was easy falling back into the mechanics of running. It had been my escape in high school. In track, there was no orphans or parentless kids. It was you and the red track. You were measured by how fast you could go. And I could go fast.

I was peeling around my tenth lap as coach yelled ten minutes left. I pushed my legs harder. Five laps in ten minutes. It wasn’t undoable. I felt my legs beginning to die as I went harder and harder. I hit the corner of my fourteenth lap and broke into a sprint. I had no clue how much time was left but I knew I had to prove myself.

I flew by the crowd of finished wolves, pumping my arms and legs harder. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck as I repeated my mantra.

Prove it. Prove it. Prove to them you are worthy of being here!

I crossed the midway point of the lap when my soul was crushed. Coach’s whistle blew across the track and burned into my ears.

“Time up!” he shouted. “Smith!” he called my human last name and I stopped, keeled over, choking on my lungs. “You’re in supplementary!”

I walked back across the track and stood next to the woman with the white-blonde hair. She gave me a small, sad smile.

“That was really impressive,” she said quietly. “Normally wolfless don’t make it past ten laps.”

“Thanks,” I choked out. “Did anyone else miss it?”

She bit her lip and it immediately answered my question. Great. I groaned and slumped down to the ground.

A foot kicked at my heel and swiped it out from under me, causing me to topple over. I glared up at my assailant. It was, of course, Maximus.

“Only one this year to not finish the run,” he taunted. “And she’s wolfless. You can’t tell me it isn’t because of that.”

I pushed myself up and stood with my chest proud. “I’m wolfless but I still was close enough to almost beat your stupid run.”

“Almost,” Maximus repeated me with a smug smirk. “As in didn’t.” He chuckled and turned away from me.

“God,” I hissed. “I hate him.”

“He certainly doesn’t like you,” The blonde girl mused.

I groaned and ran a hand over my face. “Thanks,” I said. Maybe it’s because he knows you’re the Luna heir? The tiny voice in the back of my head said.

Chapter 4: The Potential Husbands

He can’t, I said. Unless he was getting information from someone else outside Alpha Academy. No one here knew who I was.

“Okay, damn – you kids and your chatting!” Coach shouted. “Do you even want to spar?”

There was some shouts, whoops and hollers around the group. Personally, I wished to crawl in a hole and die. Sparring?

“Smith!” Coach’s voice brought me out of my daydream. Loren shook me gently. I realized my face was set in a grimace, so I gave her a soft smile.

“Anddddd….” Couch peered down at his clipboard. “Wolfham.”

Great.

Just great.

Now Maximus was about to kick my ass and gloat about it for all of eternity. I looked across the sparring mat to find him waiting for me. He wiggled his fingers tauntingly and I felt my grimace return. I stomped over to the mat and took my defensive stance in front of him.

“Let’s get this over with,” I sighed.

Maximus grinned like a cat. “Gladly.”

He threw the first punch and I managed to block it with my forearm. It stung like hell and caused me to hiss in pain. As I was adjusting, he leg swept out and I was on my ass. I groaned and rolled back onto my feet. It felt like a mental bar had been taken to my ankle.

I looked at him as I retook my stance. His nose was wrinkled.

“You reek of human,” he hissed. “Have you ever even been around a wolf before?”

“Yes,” I threw back quickly as I threw the first punch this time. “Well, no.” I corrected myself. I was worried about giving myself away.

“Yes or no?” Maximus said leisurely. He threw a double cross that landed into my forearm twice. I grunted as I accepting the force.

“No,” I grit out as I threw another punch. He blocked the first at his ribs then used it to counter and landed one in my gut. I was back on my ass again. I huffed and blew a stray piece of hair out of my face. “I grew up with humans,” I managed to get out as I tried to hook my foot around the back of his calve and bring him down.

He barely moved.

I cried out in frustration before rolling over and getting back on my feet. He came at me harder this time. But his words sounded just as lazy as they were before.

“Raised by humans?” he questioned. He threw a hook. I barely blocked it. I was getting sloppy. “No wonder you don’t have any respect for the Higher packs—” Another hook, just barely missing my cheek. “—Though what wolf would abandon their daughter?—” Another punch, landing in my arm and causing my to cry out.

“—Clearly you were a massive disappointment—”

Punch. Punch. Block. Miss. I staggered back.

“—I mean what wolf is wolfless at your big age?—”

A kick to my thigh. My knee hit the ground.

“—Just face it, you’re nothing. Not even your parents wanted you.”

Another punch. This time, making contact with my cheek.

The rage ignited within me. I felt a fire wash over my with a tenacity that I had never felt before. I cried out as I threw my arm back towards Maximus. I swiped my nails across his bicep and he staggered back.

Slowly I watched as a trickle of blood pooled in a line then dripped down his inner arm. Maximus looked shocked. He ran his pointer finger over the cut, smudging the blood. He hummed and looked off in the distance.

I turned to see everyone looking at us in shock. No one had expected me to hurt Maximus. I slowly stood up and looked Maximus in the eye.

“I will prove to you that I belong here,” I said slowly. “And when I do, I expect that fucking apology.”

With that, I turned and walked off the sparring mat and into the locker room.

I showered quickly before everyone else came in. The blonde girl who had spoken with me earlier ran into me on the way out. She grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the locker room.

“I can’t believe you did that!” she whisper yelled. “No one’s ever made Maximus bleed. Let alone a wolfless!”

“Yeah,” I half laughed. “Me either. Something just came over me.”

“I’m Loren, by the way,” she said. She gave me a soft smile. “It seems like you need a friend.”

“I do,” I mumbled. I was so out of my element. I could feel eyes on me and I had no idea why. On that thought, my stomach grumbled loudly. I paused and looked at Loren.

“Um, do we get lunch?”

Loren laughed. “Of course,” she said. “You wanna hit the cafeteria?”

“Please,” I said back.

Loren led me to the cafeteria next to the gym. She told me there were several places across campus that I could eat at. There was even a steakhouse. I shook my head in awe. I didn’t think I’d ever been to a steakhouse. It certainly wasn’t my first choice when I had no money in the orphanage.

We walked inside the big cafeteria next to the gym and I was immediately overwhelmed. There was every type of cuisine I’d ever heard of and some I hadn’t. Everything was luscious and bright and covered in vegetation. Loren darted off towards something called the “sushi station” while I sauntered towards the sandwich station.

I got myself the usual, turkey on white with mustard, and a thing of water. I was incredibly dehydrated and exhausted after Basics that morning and contemplating getting some of the sushi Loren was walking around with as well. God knew my body could use the calories.

Instead, I stuck with my sandwich and walked up to the cashier. I tried to fish around my person for cash but the cashier said I was okay. He handed me my receipt with my balance on it and I felt my face fall.

Victoria had placed more than enough money in my account. Maybe I could’ve had the sushi? Instead, I waited for Loren to pay and then walked around with her to find an open table.

As we looked, the doors to the cafeteria swung open and Maximus strolled in. He was followed in by two other men. Both were equally as hulking. The man on his right had a permanent scowl on his face. His hair was a dark brown and he had slightly paler skin than Maximus. It was darted with freckles. It was an odd juxtaposition to his demeanor.

The second I recognized immediately. His name was Thorne Blythwitch. He had been around the castle when I was there. Victoria told me he’d be my knight one day. I shrugged it off at the time but now he was here.

And he had no clue who I was.

His hair was shaved on the bottom, a light brown. The top part was dyed blonde, pulled into a small ponytail, back off his face. He had a sharp jaw and a bit of facial hair above and below his lips. His face was neutral until he saw me. He paused and watched me walk by, eyes locked together.

I held his gaze as I kept going. I knocked into something and my sandwich flew off my tray leaving a smear of mustard in it’s path. The sandwich smacked against something and I cringed in response, eyes snapping shut.

When I slowly pried them open, Maximus was looking down at me, with murder in his eyes and mustard all over his white shirt.

“Oh she’s done for,” I heard over my shoulder.

I wanted to turn and glare at whomever said that but my eyes were locked on Maximus. He slowly ran a hand down the front of his shirt and some of the mustard sloshed to the ground. The rest coated his hand. He looked at me and pierced me with his golden eyes. I opened my mouth to speak and was cut off.

“Fucking hell!” Somone close screamed. I jerked my gaze. It was the man with freckles and dark brown hair. His scowl had somehow gotten worse.

“Watch where your fucking going!” He snapped. “I’ve never seen such a clueless person before.”

Maximus hummed, glancing down as his mustard covered hand. “Maybe if she wasn’t eyeing Thorne up and down, she would’ve paid better attention,” he said. Then he looked back up at me. “Though, I should’ve expected this kind of behavior from a wolfless human.”

That damn word again.

“Oh, I see,” the freckled man hissed. “This is the idiot who chose to scar you in Basics?”

Scar? Had I really cut him that deep? I was too busy musing my own strength to realize that the freckled man had stepped in closer to me. He was so tall, taller than Maximus. His entire being engulfed mine in a shadow and it showed what I really was.

An ant amongst giants.

Angry giants.

“Listen to me, girl,” the man snapped.

“Kairos,” Thorne warned. Though it had no actual warning. If anything he sounded bored.

Kairos.

I knew that name too.

Holy shit, were all three of these men supposed to be my potential husbands?

Chapter 5: The Hunt

Leave it to Victoria to find the absolute worst men possible. Though it did align with how she treated me my entire life.

Exactly, she never loved you, the voice in my head said.

Get fucked, I threw back at her.

Then I felt a force wrapped around my bicep. I snapped out of my internal monologue and Kairos’s hand was wrapped around me with a bruising force. I whimpered slightly.

“Listen to me,” he snapped. “You seem to not know much about wolf culture. Probably because no one cared about you enough to teach you—” His lips curled up in a sadistic grin. “—but you’re in the presence of the future king. We demand respect. Perhaps if you showed us it, we’d let you off with a warning.”

I jerked back against him but didn’t move an inch. I raised an eyebrow. “And how would you like me to do that?”

“Kneel,” he spat.

I looked around me. Everyone was watching. The whole school would know how much of a compliant bitch I was if I didn’t stand up to this idiot. I’d be walked all over for the rest of my time here. I had to set me foot down now and assert my dominance.

“No,” I spat back.

His eyes were also a gold, but these were darker, angrier than Maximus’s. “Who do you think you are? A princess?”

Well, apparently, yes, my head said.

Not helping…

“I don’t put up with bullies,” I sneered at him. “Which, clearly, you are. So let me go, and back off.”

Kairos glared at me for a moment, nostrils flaring. His entire face shook with rage. It was a shame, if he wasn’t so angry he might be handsome. Finally, he let go of my arm and shoved me away.

I “oofed” as I landed in the middle of Loren’s chest. Kairos was still glaring at me before he turned and addressed the crowd. His sick smile was back.

“We have our first hunt!” he announced. The crowd whooped and hollered and I felt a panic run through my chest so deep it shook my bones. “First one to make her submit, wins,” he continued. Then he looked back at me. “Bonus points if you take her down in the process.”

My eyes widened at him then glanced back at the crowd in the cafeteria. Everyone had gotten to their feet and was slowly inching towards me. Some were snarling and others were sniffing the air trying to get my scent.

“Zora,” Loren whispered from behind me. “You need to run.”

“It’s no use,” I threw back. “They’re faster than me as humans and even more as wolves.”

“Just try, dammit!” Loren shoved me towards the door of the cafeteria. I stumbled a bit and heard Kairos laugh at me. I kept backing towards the door slowly, eyes on the people in front of me. They kept edging closer and closer. My hand hit the metal of the door handle and I ripped it open and took off in a sprint.

My legs were utterly exhausted still from the morning run. I felt every muscle in them protest as I took off full speed. I had no idea where I was going and kept running as I heard howls behind me. I couldn’t pause to look and see how close they were and risk slowing down.

I pushed and pushed, my lungs and thighs burning, until something large cut in front of me and made me stutter to a stop. A massive wolf, with glowing purple eyes and grey fur, stopped in front of me. It snapped it’s jaws and I pivoted in a different direction.

I kept running until another wolf cut me off, this one an auburn with gold eyes. I pivoted again and ran towards a building. A third wolf cut me off at the entrance and I swerved to run in the back alley. My heart was pounding out of my chest.

Finally, I turned a corner and expected an escape but was met with a dead end, a fence as high as two of me stacked end to end.

“Fuck!” I screamed. The howls and grows were closer. I turned around and found four wolves in front of me, hackles up and teeth bared. There was a giant blonde wolf in front, pacing back and forth.

“Submit!” she barked. “Apologize!” It sounded like she was in my head. Her words bounced off the sides of my skull. I was shocked. The wolves could speak?

“Or what? You’ll eat me?” I said. I tried to show as little fear as possible, despite the fact I was quaking to my core. “If Kairos wants to play this little game, it’ll end when I decide.”

The blonde wolf’s snout curved into a grin. “Good luck.”

Then they charged. I immediately started throwing kicks and punches to ward them off. My fingers dug into the sides of the fence and I lifted myself away from their snouts. They chomped below my feet and then started to get up on their hind legs. I took that as my chance and swung my feet onto the top of the grey wolf’s head.

She whimpered with the force of my full weight on her head. I pushed off and launched myself into the sky. I flailed a bit before grabbing the top of the fence and swinging myself over. I dropped to the ground on the other side as the wolves were still snarling.

My ass felt bruised and I hobbled back up to my feet. I tried to break into a full sprint again but it came out as a limpy run.

“FUCK YOU, BITCHES!” I yelled over my shoulder.

I ran out of the alley way and heard more wolves howling. Fuck, could the communicate with each other that I had escaped? I didn’t let myself think about it for too long. I was focused on finding a place to hide. I kept running when I felt a force collide with me.

My world spun on it’s side and I finally realized, this may be my end.

I blinked a few times to get the blurry spots out of my vision. My head felt like it was run over by a bus. I staggered to my feet. A hand wrapped around my wrist. I tried to shake it free when I looked at the person attached to it.

Of course, it was Maximus.

“Let me go,” I hissed.

“Come on, little human,” he teased. “Just give up. Submit and recognize you’re nothing at this school.”

Chapter 6: A True Alpha

I yanked my arm. “I’m am so sorry I covered you in mustard,” I yanked again. I wasn’t moving. “But this stupid murder game is a bit much!” With one more yank, my wrist slipped from his grip.

I took off again and wondered how long I could go without being caught again. My legs pushed and pushed but I was running out of gas. The howls and snarls were getting louder. But then, a cold voice boomed through the chaos.

“Enough.”

All the wolves stopped, some whimpering in pain while some were still snapping their jaws. The voice was loud enough in my brain to cause me to fall to my knees, my hands over my ears. The ringing in my brain stopped and I looked up.

Striding across the field was a man in elegant maroon robes. They floated across the grass like he was flying. His hair was long and wavy, tucked behind his ears. He had eyes so pale, they looked white instead of yellow. I could sense the power radiating off him. It was the same power that ebbed off my mother in sheets.

He was a true Alpha. Not just the heir like the rest of the people at the school.

One of the wolves next to me shifted back to their human form. They stood tall but their hands were shaking. “Professor Lunerly,” they started. “We were just partaking in this year’s hunt. It’s tradition—”

“Don’t tell me about tradition,” the man in the robes said. His voice sounded like velvet on my ears. “I, too, attended Alpha Academy.” He looked down at me.

“What I didn’t do, however,” he said. “Was pick on the wolfless.”

“But, she was the weakest!” Another wolf-turned-human protested. “And Kairos—”

“Mr. Moonraiser will be compensated for the hunt this year,” the professor said. “But the rest of you are dismissed to afternoon classes.”

A few of the wolves tried to protest but ended up giving up as they watched Professor Lunerly’s mouth set in a thin line. One by one, they all shifted back to their wolf forms and took off across campus. As they all disappeared, I looked up at my savior.

He couldn’t have been much older than me, but he felt like. The way he held himself was the way someone of great age and power presented themselves. It was the same kind of royal behavior I felt around the castle when I was there.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

The man barely acknowledged it, instead turning on his heel and beginning to walk towards the admissions building. He paused once to check if I started to follow him, then motioned me forward. I strode across the grass to keep up with him.

We went up the stairs and into the building. Professor Lunerly led me through the dark oak halls and into a room. The word “HEADMASTER” was written across the door in curly font. He motioned towards a chair in front of a desk to which I sat in. He took the seat behind the desk and gently pushed an old rotary phone towards me.

“For you,” he said.

I furrowed my brows but picked up and handle of the phone and held it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Zora!”

It was Victoria. Great. Exactly what I needed after fighting for my life all day.

“Vict —er – your highness,” I said when I caught Professor Lunerly’s gaze.

“You shouldn’t need such formalities,” Victoria said. “Valentin is a family friend.”

I glanced up at Professor Lunerly. His mouth was set in a line still. He looked unfriendly. He looked proper.

“Right,” I said into the phone, drawing out the word.

“So how was your first day?” Victoria said.

“Um, well,” I ran a hand over my face. “I didn’t pass the run. Missed it by like a quarter of a mile. Then I spilled a sandwich all over a student. Which cause the hunt to start, where a bunch of angry wolves started to chase me and try and kill me. And then Professor Lunerly ended it and brought me here.”

I half-laughed. “So pretty eventful.”

“My Gods,” Victoria laughed along. “You certainly are my daughter. Causing such a commotion on the first day!”

“I’m sure your commotion was much more positive than mine,” I grumbled.

“Well, sure, yes,” Victoria said. “The princess-heir was starting her education. At a different school than her mother! Highly scandalous.”

I hummed. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. We both sat in silence for a moment before Victoria sighed.

“Have you met any of and fiancé candidates yet?”

I snorted. “Unfortunately,”

“Unfortunately!?” Victoria balked. “Oh goodness, the sandwich.”

“The sandwich,” I repeated. “Though I think Maximus was more angry that I cut him than that I spilled mustard all over him.”

“You cut him?!” I had never heard Victoria so surprised. “Oh heaven’s above! What on earth prompted you to do that!”

“He was being a dick!” I threw back. “Pummeling my into the ground during Basics. Telling me I was worthless! Using my wolfless-ness as an insult!”

Victoria sighed. “All of this wouldn’t have happened if you had chosen a suitor.”

“Well I’m glad I didn’t!” I snapped. “They’re all absolute assholes who seem to think the earth moves for them.”

“They should!” Victoria raised her voice. I was shocked. She’d never gotten snarp with me. She must’ve realized because she sighed deeply again. “There is much for you to learn, Zora. The High Pack Alphas are highly respected. Wolfham and Moonraiser packs are of those High Packs. Their names alone demand people to bow at their feet.”

“That’s so stupid!” I protested. “So should I change my last name to Luna and start fighting people?!”

Victoria paused. I hated that I knew what she was going to say.

“You could,” she said, softly. “It would make schooling much easier for you. People would fall at your feet instead of chase you.” She paused again and sighed, again.

“But you must choose one of the suitors before you reveal yourself. For your safety.”

“Safety?” I snorted. “Because, what, people will try and get in my pants to get to the throne if I’m not ‘taken’.”

“Precisely,” Victoria said. She was utterly serious. I, however, was joking. Another sigh. “I promise you all three of the men I chose are valuable and honorable candidates.”

“Valuable and honorable, my ass!” I said. Professor Lunerly’s eyes went wide. “They are arrogant and pretentious. I don’t need them for ‘safety’ and I’ll graduate from this stupid school without the Luna name.”

With that, I hung up the phone. I looked up at Professor Lunerly. One of his eyebrows was raised in curiosity.

“Do you always speak to your mother in such a tone?”

I snorted and slumped back in my seat. “She left me to rot in an orphanage for eighteen years. Victoria deserves it.”

The professor hummed then sat back in his own chair. He brought his fingers to his lips in thought. They were long and elegant, just like his face.

“Your mother asked that I keep an eye on you,” he said. “That is why I intervened today. Given your temper, can I assume I’ll have to do that a lot?”

“If everyone else can leave me alone, you won’t have to,” I snapped.

“So yes, then?”

I rolled my eyes. “Most likely.”

Professor Lunerly hummed again. It was beginning to get on my nerves. These stupid people and their non-verbal comments.

He got up from behind the desk and motioned towards the door. I followed him and went to open the door when his hand pressed it back shut. He stood a mere inch from me and looked down at me.

I caught several gold flecks in his otherwise white-yellow eyes. They looked like little freckles on his irises. They were utterly beautiful. His eyes were framed with long, brown eyelashes that fluttered against his cheeks. I felt myself locking eyes with him

“Try to keep your head down,” he said, softly to me. “For both of our sakes.”

“I can make no promises,” I said back, still locked gaze to gaze. “Trouble seems to follow me.”

“That it does,” the professor mused. He opened the door slightly and ushered me out. His eyes were still locked with me. “Princess.”

“Professor,” I replied.

“Princess?” a voice said.

I snapped my head up to see Maximus reclined against the wall in front of me. I’d been caught.