by Emera Rose
Jaz’s eyes dart to mine, surprised to have someone rooting for her in the crowd. As light as a whisper, I hear, Strong. It’s a female’s voice and there’s an accent to it. It’s so light, I can barely make it out. It’s only when I hear it again and realize that I don’t see her mouth moving that I realize it’s coming from Jaz, and I can hear it directly in my mind.
I let my inner wolf reach out, but the link between Jaz and I is very weak. She’s not ready yet, but she will be. She’ll be part of my pack and soon.
Roxana gasps loud and squeezes my hand.
She’s one of us! Yes! I’m so happy!
Roxana jumps in her seat a bit, clearly excited to have our pack getting bigger and with another woman. This is going to be interesting.
Jaz turns back to Erin just as she shifts and lunges for her. Jaz dodges the attack, but I can see she’s too worried about her surroundings.
“Jaz! Fight!” I stand up and yell. No one in my pack is going to lie down like a punk. Jaz turns to me again, the confusion on her face slowly giving way to acknowledgement. She rolls and I see her body shaking but only for a second. I expect to see her body turn into that of a wolf, the same as her opponent.
I wasn’t expecting wings to sprout where her arms were.
“Holy shit!” Jasper leans forward in his chair.
Jaz flaps her wings once as her entire body changes into a bird with serpent-like features. Erin jumps up from the ground and tries to use her large mouth to catch her. Jaz opens her mouth and a long stream of fire shoots out.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing, and based on the amount of cursing the crowd is doing, neither can they. Jaz is a shifter-werewolf hybrid. I assume that means she can turn into different wolves, but I wasn’t expecting a fucking dragon.
Erin will not be put down that easy though. As the fire makes its way to her, she erects a sphere around herself.
“What the hell is that?” I look over to Jasper.
“Erin is a witch-werewolf hybrid. She’s even beaten Keira in other blood moon assemblies. That’s a protection shroud. Perfectly formed too,” Jasper whispers back.
In a flash, Jaz dives down to the ground, but instead of landing face first, she shifts again effortlessly into a snow-white wolf. Her teeth are longer than usual, sharper and glistening with a thick liquid.
Erin drops her shield and runs straight for Jaz. They rear up and swipe at each other with their paws. I move around in my seat as if I’m the one fighting. Once Jaz fully accepts her place in my pack, I’m going to have to teach her some better defensive moves. She’s leaving herself open too much.
There’s a loud howl from Erin as Jaz sinks her teeth into her opponent’s neck. I don’t see a lot of blood, but Erin’s quickly losing her will to fight. Jaz must have some sort of venom on her fangs. When Erin goes completely limp, Professor Softhowler runs over and declares Jaz the winner.
The entire assembly erupts in applause and Jaz shifts back into her human form. She puts her head down, her mane of curly hair falling to cover her face. She glances once at me as she rushes back to her seat.
The next match is between two werewolves. They’re both juniors and very uncoordinated. I try to reach out to them, but I feel no connection to either of the Lycans. Their match is over quickly and I’m not overly impressed with either of them.
“The Lycans will fight now.” Roxana leans over and tells me, “This basically will separate the have from the have nots. Any Lycan who gets called during a blood moon assembly is usually highly regarded from then on. Most get places on the council after they graduate.”
I nod and look over my classmates. I assume it will be some of the upperclassmen, as they have been training the longest.
“Xavier, come take your place,” Professor Softhowler calls out.
I nod, as that makes sense. Xavier is a senior and built like a tank. He’s highborn Lycan and has been combat training all his life. Quickly, Xavier shifts into his Lycan form. It’s a mindfuck. He’s even more intimidating this way as he waits for his opponent to be called.
I look back toward Barrett and his crew. As upperclassmen, it would make sense that one of them . . .
“Zev, come take your place.”
You can hear the dead speak, it’s so quiet. Not one student makes a sound as they sit in shock upon hearing my name being called.
Fuck, I’m in shock.
My inner wolf stands at attention, teeth bared, licking its lips. They’ve issued a challenge. Time for me to prove what I know, and what they all will know soon enough—in my veins is the blood of a Bonovich, the true alpha.
I stand and Roxana nods her head once. There’s no fear. She has no doubt that I will emerge the winner.
I step forward into the small area and walk toward Xavier. He lowers his snout toward me and growls, trying to scare me.
I scoff and take a step back.
Who the fuck does he think he is?
Instantly, I phase. I rear up once and land so my snout is level with his, though I’m at least a half a foot taller than he is. I growl loudly, never moving my gaze from his. He tries to snap back, but my growl grows in intensity, the vibrations rippling through the ground underneath us.
Xavier shakes his head and tries to get a better stance, but I hover over him, my gaze almost daring him to make a move.
My teeth bear at him and I see his ears fold down and lay back against his skull. I move forward, but instead of moving closer to fight, Xavier’s front legs bend and he crouches all the way down to the ground.
Complete submission.
I sniff him for a second before I huff and walk away. Professor Softhowler walks over to where I’m standing. Instead of just announcing me the victor, he studies me. I turn slightly and the moonlight catches on my fur, and that iridescent cyan blue color glows briefly.
“Bonovich? You’re a Bonovich?” he questions in disbelief.
I nod my head once.
He turns toward the crowd in amazement.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a first, flawless victory.” He motions in my direction and the students clap. I can tell most of them are still in as much shock as Professor Softhowler was a moment ago, but they get louder as they’re excited to have witnessed something like this.
I trot off to the side so I can phase back and put some clothes on. I shoot Roxana a glance only to see her wink at me and blow me a kiss.
After the matches, there were a few more demonstrations, mostly from the staff. As the night wore on, it became evident that something more was going to happen.
The entire council has shown up.
“This doesn’t happen. Yes, the council wants to be responsible for all the decisions made by the school, but they don’t socialize with us. They think us too untrained, uncivilized, inexperienced. I could go on,” Roxana says as we watch member after member of the high society come out of the school.
No one else notices, they’re all having a good time.
A loud bell sounds to get everyone’s attention.
I look over to Jasper to see if he has any idea what’s going on. When I look past him, I see some of the faculty walking up as well, looks of confusion also on their faces. They don’t know what this is either.
“My fellow wolves,” a voice I didn’t expect to hear speaks up.
I lunge forward as Mason Grim steps to the center. Roxana and Jasper grab hold of me before I can make a move.
He continues, “I know it is unusual for the high council to end the blood moon assembly, but in light of current events, I have words I would like to share with you.”
Everyone grows quiet and gives the false alpha their attention.
“For so long we have lived in mostly peaceful times, we have grown strong, and we have included those who would have once been only excludable. But now our kind is at a crossroads. We can stay on the path we have always been on and slowly, monstrosities like the rackeds that attacked a few days ago and cultists will tear our numbers down
. Or, we can bond together and prepare for the war to come. As you all know, I, Mason Grim, am the true alpha—”
“Liar!” I bellow out. I can’t stand it.
I will not sit back and let him fill these people’s heads with the poison falling from his lips. It’s time they all know the truth. Time for them all to know who I really am.
I step forward so everyone can see me, making sure to keep his gaze before stepping slightly to the side and turning toward the student body.
“This man, this monster, stands before you with false claims. He says he is the true alpha when any of our teachers and books will tell you that the true alphas are of the Bonovich line.”
“The Bonovich line died out decades ago. There are no more,” someone shouts out from the back.
“Wrong. I stand in front of you, the Bonovich blood flowing through my veins and the power that comes with it. This man,” I say as I point a finger at Mason Grim, “had my family killed and tried to erase my bloodline so that he could gain that power. He had the rackeds created so that there would be more Lycans with his bloodline. He set them loose on your fellow classmates so that he could kill me and retain his ill-gotten seat of power.”
“You have no proof of this! None!” Mason yells out, his body shaking in anger.
“I have all the proof I need,” I reply quickly before I go back to addressing the crowd. “Know this, I may be a young Lycan, but the burden of alpha falls to me. I will be taking my place and all of you have a choice right here, right now, to follow this power hungry, false leader or stand behind me and build our kind up for the evil I’m sure will come our way.”
Whispers rush through the crowd as people whisper among each other about what I had just said. Slowly but surely, a clear divide has begun to form. When I look behind me, there are people I recognize, like Headmaster Rhodes, Jaz, and Xavier, along with students I don’t know. On the other side behind Mason Grim are people I expected to follow him, like Barrett and his troop. But what I wasn’t expecting, and based on the way she’s squeezing my arm neither was Roxana, is Kori to be on the opposite side as well.
Mason doesn’t even turn to see who stands with him. He walks toward me quickly, getting right in my face. I don’t flinch at all.
“You don’t know what you just started, boy. You’ll wish you died along with your parents in that house when I’m through with you. There will be no mercy,” he growls out.
“From a devil like you, I would expect no less,” I answer.
He pushes past me, those who chose his side following behind him.
I look at those who chose my path. I can’t show the fear or uncertainty I might feel at this moment. I’m a Bonovich, the sole heir and true alpha. I may not be the most experienced, but there is one thing I do know for a fact—Mason Grim’s days on this earth are numbered.
Epilogue
Kori
“I made a grave mistake in not choosing you,” Mr. Grim states from where he sits in the back of his town car that led us away from Bloodborn Academy only a few short minutes ago.
I cock a brow and look over to him, curious at what he means. “I’m sorry?” Usually, I’d reply with some sort of smartass or sassy remark, but today isn’t the time, nor the place.
“I said, I should’ve chosen you, Kori. Not your sister. I wasted all those years in training Roxana to be what I thought she could be, but now I realize it should’ve been you. It always should’ve been you. I see now she’s too weak to do what is needed of her.”
Pressure pushes down within my chest as I feel like I’m being choked from the inside out.
He said my sister.
I’m not dumb. I knew the rumors about him sleeping with my mother, but I never once thought it was more than some upper Lycan gossip being thrown around. The highborn Lycans will do whatever they can to throw you off your game, even make up nasty rumors about your parents. However, now I have confirmation. I was always what they said I was—a bastard child, a Grim.
“Why . . . why didn’t you tell me who I was? That I was your daughter?”
He shakes his head and rubs a hand through his thick hair. “I suppose I was trying to protect you. I knew of the stressors Roxana was always under since she was at the top of the food chain. If I was able to save you from it, I was going to.”
I listen to what he’s saying, but I’m not dumb. He might be trying to twist this like he acted to protect me, but in all reality the only person he wanted to protect was himself. All men are like that, only concerned about themselves. Imagine what the other highborn Lycans would think of him when they learned he had a daughter with a woman who wasn’t his mate. I can’t imagine they’d appreciate the way he betrayed her.
“You can be honest with me, Father. No matter how gritty it is, I can handle it.” I choose my words wisely in an attempt to coax him into telling me the truth. It’s only because of my time with the Grim family that I know he keeps much close to his heart.
We’re the only two people in the town car besides his driver, but the privacy screen is pulled up so the man wouldn’t be able to hear a thing even if he wanted to.
Mr. Grim, er, my father, clears his throat and looks directly into my eyes. “Kori, your mother isn’t who you think she is. She was a human I had ripped off the streets, strung out on drugs, and injected with my DNA. She was nothing more than a weak lab rat. Someone I didn’t have high hopes for. You see, I was injecting fertile human women with a serum to see if, one, they would turn like the werewolves did, or two, if I had members of my team inject the serum while they were ovulating directly into the egg, if there would be successful pregnancies. You were the only one who survived. The cream of the crop, so to speak.”
What he’s saying sounds . . . morbid, like something taken from a creepy Netflix show. Mad scientist meets dude with a creepy fetish. Ew.
“So, what happened to the others?” I almost don’t want to ask, but I need to know. I need to know what happened to my other siblings, even if they weren’t successes like I am.
“Some were exterminated due to their . . . deformities. While others are secured in a safe location where my team conducts testing on them to further our research.” He stops speaking and reaches out to touch my face. For the first time, his fingertips graze against my skin and he cups my jaw in his hands. “You, my dear, are the most precious of my abominations. The best of them all.”
His words sting like being stung by a wasp . . . but I show no reaction.
I break our gaze for a moment and look down to the floor. “What does this mean about my parents?”
He cackles. “Betas of mine who I ordered to act as your parents. They were simply doing as I told them. They’re of no relation to you, Kori, and honestly, you shouldn’t waste your breath focusing on them, or people like them. You are the strongest of them all, and I know we’ll create great things together. You and I, my daughter, we will destroy Zev and those who made the mistake of following him.”
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