POV: Dante Nightshade / Aria Blackthorn
DANTE
Dante Nightshade was bored.
He watched from the Apex Hall balcony as the new students filed into the Grand Hall like sheep to slaughter. Pathetic. Every year, the academy accepted weaker and weaker wolves. None of them would last a semester.
He had three rivals to eliminate this year. Two Alphas who thought they could challenge Nightshade dominance, and one Beta who'd made the mistake of looking at him wrong. By winter, all three would be gone—expelled, broken, or dead.
It didn't matter which.
Thinking about who to destroy first? Kai Sterling asked, leaning against the railing beside him.
Dante's best friend and future Beta knew him too well.
The Silverstone Alpha, Dante said. He's getting too confident.
He'll be easy. The real question is— Kai stopped mid-sentence. What the hell is that?
Dante followed his gaze to the entrance.
A human girl walked through the doors.
His wolf exploded to life.
For twenty-one years, Dante's wolf had been cold, controlled, barely interested in anything. His father had beaten emotion out of him young. Trained him to be a weapon, not a person. His wolf reflected that—efficient, deadly, empty.
Until now.
Now his wolf was screaming.
The girl was small, dark-haired, covered in bruises. She looked like she'd been through hell and walked out the other side still standing. When the crowd parted around her like she was poisonous, she didn't flinch.
She just kept walking.
Dante's chest tightened. His wolf surged against his control, trying to break free, trying to get to her.
Dante? Kai's voice was sharp with concern. Your eyes are glowing.
Impossible. Dante never lost control.
The girl's eyes swept the balcony—and locked directly onto his.
She didn't look away. Didn't submit. Didn't show fear.
She looked at him like she was memorizing his face for later.
His wolf growled one word: MINE.
No, Dante said aloud.
No what? Kai asked.
But Dante was already moving toward the stairs. He needed to understand what just happened. He needed to make her submit, to prove this was nothing, to break whatever spell she'd cast.
He needed to destroy her before she destroyed him.
ARIA
The Grand Hall was massive, filled with hundreds of wolves who all stopped to stare at me.
I kept my chin up and walked forward like I owned the place. Like I wasn't terrified. Like the weight of their hatred wasn't crushing my lungs.
A man stood at the front on a raised platform. Tall, silver-haired, with eyes that looked ancient and wrong. The same man from the trial who'd smiled at me.
Students, his voice carried effortlessly. Welcome to Silvercrest Academy. I am Magister Corvus, and I will shape you into weapons worthy of your bloodlines.
The students around me straightened with pride.
This year, we have something special, Corvus continued, his eyes finding mine in the crowd. A human test subject. Aria Blackthorn will undergo our integration trials to prove whether humans can survive among wolves.
Whispers erupted. I felt hundreds of eyes turn toward me again.
The trials begin in forty-eight hours, Corvus said. I expect most of you to help her... understand her place.
Translation: They could hurt me as much as they wanted, and he'd call it testing.
Sorting will now commence. When your name is called, step forward.
One by one, students were sorted into houses. Apex Hall for future Alphas. Luna Wing for pack leaders. Shadow Den for warriors. Omega Commons for everyone else.
When they called my name, Corvus smiled. Aria Blackthorn. Special Category: Test Subject Zero. Omega Commons, basement level.
The basement. Of course.
A guard led me away while Corvus continued the ceremony. My room was a cell with a cot, a sink, and bars on the tiny window. Previous occupants had carved marks into the stone walls—counting days.
The longest count was twenty-eight.
Then the marks just... stopped.
I touched the scratches, feeling the desperation in each line. Twenty-eight days. That's how long the last human survived.
I'd have to do better.
DANTE
He found her after the ceremony, cornered her in a hallway before she reached her cell.
She didn't run. Just turned to face him with those dark, defiant eyes.
You shouldn't have come here, human, Dante said, stepping closer. His wolf was going insane, torn between wanting to claim her and wanting to kill her for making him feel anything.
You shouldn't have made that my problem, wolf, she shot back.
The disrespect should have enraged him. Instead, his wolf practically purred.
He grabbed her wrist—electricity shot through the contact. Her pulse jumped under his fingers, but she didn't pull away.
Do you know what I am? he asked softly, dangerously.
An asshole with a superiority complex?
His wolf laughed. Actually laughed. What was wrong with him?
I'm Dante Nightshade. Heir to the most feared pack in North America. I've killed more wolves than you've probably met. He leaned close enough to see gold flecks in her brown eyes. I'm going to enjoy breaking you.
She smiled—sharp and cold. Get in line. Everyone before you failed.
The challenge in her voice made his blood burn. He wanted to slam her against the wall, make her submit, prove he was in control.
Instead, his wolf whispered: Don't hurt her. Protect her. MINE.
He released her wrist and stepped back, disturbed by his own reaction.
Forty-eight hours, he said. Then the trials begin. Try to survive long enough to make it interesting.
He walked away before he did something stupid.
But he could feel her eyes on his back the entire way.
ARIA
Back in my cell, I stared at the wall of scratch marks.
Twenty-eight days.
I pulled out the knife I'd stolen from the transport and carved my own mark: Day 1.
Then beneath it: They'll be counting my victories instead.
I touched my chest where that strange pulling sensation had flared when the black-haired Alpha grabbed my wrist. The same feeling from the transport, but stronger now.
Three connections. Three threads pulling at my heart.
The Alpha who'd cornered me—Dante—was definitely one. But who were the other two?
I moved to the tiny window. Outside, in the darkness, I saw movement.
Three shadows stood in the courtyard below, perfectly still. Watching my window.
One was tall and broad with silver eyes that glowed even in the dark—Dante.
One was golden-haired and beautiful, radiating charm even from a distance.
One was massive and scarred, silent as death itself.
All three were staring at my window like they were fighting the urge to break down my door.
I stepped back, heart pounding.
Raven's words echoed: They're already connected to you.
The threads in my chest pulled tighter, burning like brands.
And deep in my bones, I felt something else. Something ancient and hungry, waking up after eighteen years of silence.
My wolf.
Except it wasn't a wolf at all.
It was something they should have killed in the womb.
Something that could destroy them all.
The scratches on my wrist from the silver chains began to glow with pale light.
Outside, all three Alphas tensed simultaneously, their heads snapping up like they'd felt something change.
I pressed my hand against the glowing marks, trying to make the light stop.
It didn't.
It spread up my arm like living fire, and for the first time in my life, I felt power.