KOL
Elyse.
That was the only name echoing in my head.
My wolf pressed restlessly beneath my skin, stirred by the strange reaction I had when I touched her… when I breathed in her scent.
Honeysuckle and frost-bitten pine.
The scent was maddening. It had nearly pushed me to lose control in the infirmary.
Fuck.
I had never lost control before. Not over Elyse.
Not once had her scent overwhelmed me like that. It had always been something soft and faint. Vanilla. Gentle and barely noticeable.
But now…Now it was different.
Everything about her felt different. What the hell had they done to her?
"Maybe you're finally noticing it," my wolf, Aegor, said inside my head. "About time, don't you think?"
"No," I muttered under my breath.
Not with Elyse.
She was someone else's girl. I had never looked at her that way before. Never once thought of her as someone meant for me.
Don't get me wrong. She was the most beautiful girl in school. Smart. Popular. The kind of girl people expected to see beside an Alpha one day.
The kind my mother would approve of.
A girl from the Valerius house was, in my mother's opinion, the ideal match.
She was a Valerius herself and had always expected me to follow that path. Whether the Moon Goddess Selene chose a fated mate for me or I chose one myself, my mother wanted it to be someone from a powerful line. Someone smart and pretty enough to hold the position of a Luna.
But Elyse wasn't someone I had ever imagined wanting.
"Your standards might be too high," Aegor said dryly.
I shoved his voice aside with an irritated roll of my eyes.
He wasn't helping. I could bet my two cents he felt nothing and only wanted to get into her pants.
Of course, the heat season was upon us. Anything to calm his libido I had knowingly starved.
Something struck me hard in the face.
For a split second, my vision blurred, then the pain registered.
I gasped, staring at Eric, my frenemy, who also happened to belong to a rival house. Then I looked at his fist as he shook it smugly.
"Are you going soft already, your royal Alpha?" he mocked with a shallow bow, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "I could've sworn my fists would never connect with your face."
I flexed my jaw, pain flaring in the area. He was right.
They normally wouldn't have.
But my damned thoughts about Elyse had distracted me just enough.
I blocked his wooden sword, then drove a swift kick into his side.
"Ouch!" Eric staggered back, clutching his ribs before shooting me a glare.
"I'm going soft, huh?" I grunted, raising my sword and pointing it at him.
My expression hardened even though this was only practice. We were demonstrating techniques for the first years.
It had been Professor Marcus Vance's instruction. Our combat instructor was currently lounging off to the side, scrolling through his phone while drinking coconut water straight from the coconut itself.
Even when he wasn't looking, he somehow always knew exactly what was happening.
It was unsettling.
"Aha," Professor Marcus said lazily without lifting his eyes from the phone. "Take that. Take that."
I couldn't tell if he was mocking Eric or me.
Either way, I didn't care.
I just wanted this session over so I could return to the dorm and get my thoughts straight.
"I won't let that insult slide!" Eric barked, charging at me again.
He swung hard.
Our wooden blades collided with a dull crack.
Instead of meeting his strength head-on, I rolled my wrist and let my sword slide along his. The wood caught just beneath his grip. With a quick twist, his weapon tore free from his hand and clattered across the stone floor.
Eric snarled, his eyes blazing.
I smirked and gave a small shrug. The worst thing anyone could do in a fight was come at me head-on.
They would lose.
That wasn't bragging. Or maybe it was. I had earned the right. I trained harder than anyone else in this academy. Having a father like mine demanded it.
And as his only Alpha heir, I dared not disappoint him.
Eric grabbed his fallen sword and started toward me again, but the sharp ring of the bell cut through the air.
"Bravo!" Professor Marcus exclaimed, stopping Eric in his tracks.
He set his coconut down and began clapping.
"I'm always impressed by your skill," he said with a nod in my direction.
Then he turned to Eric and shook his head in disappointment.
"Even the Cassian aggression can't save you. It's tragic to lose every time in the one place your house is supposed to excel."
"He caught me off guard," Eric snapped, scowling at me.
"Excuses, excuses," Professor Marcus tutted. "I expected more from you as the leader of your house. You still have much to learn. Not everything can be solved with aggression. The library might do you some good."
"I didn't even want to be in this stupid practice anyway," Eric muttered.
He tossed his sword onto the ground and stalked away.
Professor Marcus didn't seem bothered in the slightest. He simply turned back to the students and began instructing them.
"This isn't history class," Professor Marcus said dryly. "You'll learn all of that in depth later. For now, the basics will do."
He gestured toward the group of first years watching us.
"We have seven bloodlines in this academy, and every one of you belongs to one. Each bloodline has its own strengths. And if you must know, House Cassian excels the most in battle."
He paused and turned toward me with a slight grin. "No offense to the Aurelians."
"None taken," I replied.
He wasn't wrong.
Every werewolf possessed the basic abilities of our kind, but each bloodline carried a natural dominance in a particular trait. The house system at the academy simply grouped students according to whichever ability their bloodline expressed the strongest.
That was why I belonged to House Aurelian. The Alpha bloodline, though I was a natural born Alpha, not just because it was seen in me.
What set house Aurelian apart was the ability to lead, command, and influence other wolves.
Eric, on the other hand, possessed raw strength and superior combat instincts. That was why he belonged to House Cassian. The warrior bloodline.
"That being said," Professor Marcus continued, clapping his hands together once, "you all saw how your seniors fought."
The first years nodded eagerly.
"Good. Who wants to try?"
Several hands shot into the air.
He pointed to two students, who quickly stepped forward to spar.
The moment they began, Professor Marcus returned to his coconut water and his phone, as if the entire lesson no longer required his attention.
I let my gaze drift away from the fight. My thoughts wandered back to Elyse.
And the strange, unsettling reaction I had felt when I touched her earlier.