"Keep moving."
The guard's shove jolted me forward. My boots scraped against stone as the gates loomed higher, darker, hungrier. Werewolf Academy. The place whispered about in every pack—where heirs came to sharpen their fangs, where the weak vanished.
My pulse thudded, but I didn't slow.
"First year?"
The voice slid over my shoulder like a blade. I turned. A boy leaned against the iron post, arms crossed, a smirk tugging his lips. His eyes—silver, sharp, and far too knowing—scanned me head to toe.
"Does it matter?" I shot back.
"It does." His smirk widened. "Inside, you're prey until proven otherwise. Guess which one you look like."
Heat prickled under my skin, but before I could retort, another figure stepped closer. Taller. Broader. His presence pressed against me like fire, his stare fierce enough to choke.
"She smells different." His tone was low, commanding.
The silver-eyed boy's smirk dropped. "Back off, Rylan."
Rylan. Even his name carried weight.
Before I processed more, a shadow sliced between them. Cold. Controlled. The third boy's eyes were black as night, his expression carved from stone. He gave me one glance—one sharp, merciless sweep—and I swore my skin split open under it.
"Weak," he said flatly. "Won't last a week."
My jaw clenched. "Wanna bet?"
That earned a flicker of surprise across his otherwise frozen face. Just a flicker. Then silence.
A chuckle echoed above us. My head jerked up.
The fourth one sat perched on the gate's arch, golden eyes glowing in the dusk. He lounged as though the iron spikes beneath him were a throne. "Don't waste energy, brothers. She's already mine."
The ground felt like it shifted under me.
"Yours?" Rylan growled.
"Claimed," the golden-eyed one said lazily. "First glance was enough."
The silver-eyed boy's smirk returned, sharper this time. "You can't claim what the academy hasn't tested."
The black-eyed one said nothing. He only stepped closer, his silence heavier than their words, until my lungs burned from it.
I forced myself to breathe evenly. Four boys. No—four alphas. Their energy tangled around me, sharp, suffocating, magnetic.
And every gaze was locked on me.
The gates behind creaked. Then slammed shut with a final, echoing boom.
I spun. Iron bars stretched sky-high, cutting me off from the world outside. Trapped.
"Welcome to your new life," the guard muttered before walking away.
The silver-eyed boy pushed off the post, strolling past me. His shoulder brushed mine deliberately. "Try not to die too fast. I'd hate to be bored."
Rylan lingered, heat radiating from him. His eyes flared, catching the moonlight. For a moment, I thought he might say more. He didn't. He just growled under his breath and stalked into the courtyard.
The black-eyed one lingered longest, silent as a grave. His stare pinned me, dissecting me without mercy. Then he turned, coat sweeping behind him like shadows.
Only the golden-eyed boy remained, still perched above. His smile was fire and danger and invitation all at once. "See you inside, mate."
My chest tightened. Mate? No. He couldn't mean—
But his grin widened as if he'd read my denial. Then he leapt down, landing soundlessly a breath from me. His golden eyes flickered, wolf and man intertwined. "Run if you want. I'll always find you."
Then he vanished into the academy's depths, leaving me alone in the shadow of the gates, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Four alphas.
One academy.
And me—already marked.