SAMANTHA'S POV

We entered a dormitory, and she stopped suddenly and faced me, making my heart skip a beat.

Everything about the lady frightens me, and I don't seem to understand why.

“This is your dormitory,” she announced, with a cold voice.

“You can unpack here,” she added coldly as she turned around and walked towards the door.

“Remember, you are to report to the Crescent Chamber at 7 PM; the blood moon initiation, mandatory for all first years, will be taking place there,” she said with all seriousness.

“Failure to attend will lead to forfeiture of enrollment,” she added, her voice low now as she moved closer to the door.

"Also remember to bring your own blade, human,” she blurted out coldly; her last word made me feel a chill run down my spine.

What was she going to do with the blade she had requested that I bring alone? This question rang in my head, as panic started kicking in.

The lady was already gone, so I made my way towards my bed.

I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled out my phone from my bag, as I felt the urge to call my parents and let them know that I had arrived here safely. But there was no signal, making me feel even worse.

Maybe I shouldn't have accepted the admissions. I thought within me, as my heart raced with the possibility of what could be done with the blade she had asked me to bring.

I was still dwelling in my thoughts when a knock on the door interrupted me.

I immediately stood up and adjusted my shirt. I tried to look like someone who actually belonged here, but it was so hard now.

I opened the door, and just then my eyes met with the one guy I have heard so much about.

I recognize him immediately. He was Kael Blackwood, the Frost Fang Alpha heir, a cold and dangerous alpha heir with the heart of stone.

According to what was told about him, he was mean and didn't mind killing just anyone who went up against him, and right now I was standing before him.

He was tall, 6.2 ft, or maybe 6.3, with dark hair that fell across his forehead, like he had been running his hands through it all day.

He had gray eyes, the color of storm clouds, and a scar, thin and white, cutting through his left eyebrow.

He was also wearing the exact same expression I had seen on every wolf so far.

Confusion and disgust, and underneath it, something that looked almost like hunger, and coldness.

"You're the human," he said, with his eyes widened in disbelief, while he stared at me.

"Y…yes," I stuttered on my words, with my heart beating rapidly inside my chest.

His lips twitched, not quite a smile, but a chuckle. "Have you gotten any warning yet?" he asked me with his cold and deep voice.

"Yes, many actually," I responded to him while he stared at me for a while without saying any word.

He slowly stepped closer, just one step, but it was enough, and I felt the air change. I felt my heart hammering in my chest as I blinked my lashes rapidly while taking a few steps back.

"I don't know how you got in," he muttered with his deep and cold voice as he finally stopped seeing the anxiety in me.

"I don't know why the Moon Goddess would let someone like you step foot on this ground, but I think I know what will happen tonight at the Blood Moon initiation." He spoke, grinning.

"Please enlighten me," I said, hoping to get a little hit of what I was up against.

"Every first year cuts their palm over the Crescent Stone, and the blood activates the wards, and the Moon Goddess decides who belongs here." He explained and let that hang in the air between us.

"You're saying the moon goddess will reject me?" I asked him, with my eyes widened in confusion.

"I'm saying," he said, leaning in, close enough that I could see the gold flecks in his gray eyes.

"That if the wards don't recognize you, they will burn you out, because human blood doesn't mix with moon magic," he explains, making me swallow the leap that had formed in my throat.

My palms became sweaty immediately hearing him say that, but I wasn't going to show him I was frightened, so I immediately placed my hands behind me as I faced him fully again, trying hard to hide my fears.

I couldn't afford to be weak before him, because that's what they were all expecting of me, but I won't give them their desires.

"Then it's a good thing I'm not here to mix; rather, I'm only here to learn," I said loudly, satisfied that the words came out of my mouth just as I hoped.

He stared at me for a long moment, and then he did something unexpected; he laughed.

Not mean, like the guy on the bus; genuine and surprised. “Hmm,” he exhaled.

"You're either very brave or very stupid," he said, with a smile plastered on his face, and his gaze still fixed on me.

"Can I be both then?" I asked him, my voice low but steady.

"That's the worst combination I know of," he said, while I just kept calm for a moment, not knowing what to say at this point.

He straightened up, suddenly businesslike, then straightforwardly held out his hands to me. "I'm Karl, by the way. Kael Blackwood, the Frost Fang Alpha heir." He said and paused to catch his breath before he continued.

"This is my pack's dormitory, which means you're my responsibility until the initiation." He added, his hands still stretching forward to me.

"Lucky me," I said, taking his hands now, while his smile deepened as we disengaged.

He turned and started walking away, but I didn't bother to move; I just stayed where I was when he stopped suddenly.

"The initiation is in a few hours, so come with me. You need a blade, and you also need to know the rules before you accidentally challenge someone to a death match," he said.

“Okay, give me a minute,” I said as I rushed back inside my room.

I grabbed my jacket before rushing back out. “Are you ready?” He asked me, with a face that held no emotions, while I nodded as he continued walking as I followed behind him.

I counted three flights of stairs, two secret doors that Karl opened by pressing specific stones in the wall, and one skeleton that I was pretty sure was just for decoration as we walked on.

"The packs keep their own weapons," Karl explained as we walked. "Frost Fang is in the north tower, and Ember Claw is in the east. Shadow Prowl in the catacombs. Dawn Pack in the infirmary; they're healers, mostly," he explained further.

"What about humans?" I asked him while he stopped walking and turned to face me.

"There are no human weapons here; there has never been a human student before you," he explained, making me swallow hard.

"So what am I supposed to cut myself with?" This question rang out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Karl reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife, small and elegant. The blade was silver and something else. Something that seemed to drink the light instead of reflecting it.

"Moonstone steel," he said, holding it out to me. "It can cut through anything and also heal anything, and it's been in my family for three generations." He said, placing it in front of me.

I looked at the knife and looked at him. "Why are you helping me?" This question rang out before I could stop it.

"I'm not helping you." His jaw tightened as he continued.

"I'm making sure that when the Moon Goddess rejects you, she does it cleanly; a bad cut with a bad blade could kill you, and I don't want a human death on my pack's territory." He responded to my question.

I finally took the knife, and it was lighter than I expected. "Thanks," I blurted out, grinning, while I scanned the knife with my eyes.

"You don't have to thank me; the initiation starts in an hour, so be ready." He said coldly, and with that, he turned around and walked away.

When he was gone, I looked down at the knife in my hand. The blade pulsed once softly, almost like a heartbeat.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

SAMANTHA'S POV

It was finally time for the initiation, and I just walked into the crescent moon.

The Crescent Moon Hall was a circular room carved directly into the bedrock beneath the Academy, with walls that looked less like stone and more like dried blood.

In the center, a slab of black rock shaped like a crescent moon, and above it, a glass ceiling that showed the sky just beginning to darken, the first hints of red bleeding into the clouds.

There were maybe forty first-years in the chamber, and all of them were wolves, and they were all watching me.

I felt their eyes like hands on my skin, measuring and weighing, deciding whether I was prey or just pathetic.

Principal Vex stood at the head of the room, next to the Crescent Stone. She raised her hand, and the chamber went silent before she began.

"Tonight, you shed your first blood on Nightshade ground, and tonight, the Moon Goddess sees you, and she decides if you are worthy to be here or not." She spoke, her voice soft but firm.

A murmur rippled through the crowd. I didn't feel any excitement or fear; all I felt was just a strange, hollow calm.

"Now, every one of you is going to approach the stone in accordance with the pack; the Frost Fang pack will go first," she spoke further, with her face, which held no expression.

Karl stepped forward, and of course, he moved to the stone, pulled a blade from his belt matching the one he'd given me, I noticed, and drew it across his palm.

Blood welled up in his palm, dark and thick, and it dripped onto the black rock.

Just then the stone sang, and I heard it. A low hum that vibrated in my teeth, the blood soaked into the rock like water into sand, and for a moment, Kael's eyes blazed gold. A full wolf, beautiful and terrible.

"The Frost Fang heir is accepted, so the other can proceed now," Vex said, and immediately there was loud clapping in the room.

And one by one, the wolves approached. One by one, they bled, and one after the other the Stone accepted them, and within a few minutes it was finally my turn.

"Samantha Carter, the scholarship student, step forward. "I heard the principal say with a loud voice, loud enough for anyone at a distance to hear.

The murmuring got louder, and I heard someone laugh as I slowly took a few steps away from where I had stood.

“She is just a human that got in by mistake; I believe she will definitely get rejected or probably even die at the spot." I heard them laugh as I walked closer to the stone.

Felt their eyes on me, and immediately my heart started to beat rapidly. What if they were right about me dying on the spot? This thought rang in my head as my palm became sweaty immediately.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as I pulled out the knife Karl had given me and pressed the edge to my palm.

“Don't hesitate; just do it,” I told myself, and finally I drove the blade into my palm, cutting it.

The pain was sharp and immediate, and blood spilled down my fingers, hot and red and so alive it almost glowed, as I pressed my palm to the Crescent Stone.

Just then everything went wrong; the stone screamed instead of singing like it did with the other.

A sound that wasn't sound, that ripped through the chamber and sent wolves to their knees.

The black rock cracked, not the stone itself, but something under it, something ancient and sleeping and suddenly, violently awake.

I tried to pull my hand back, but I couldn't. My blood was pouring into the stone now, faster than it should, faster than was possible.

And then I smelled it; for the first time in my life, I smelled myself.

Moonflower and storm wind: something old and dark and powerful that made me want to run and never stop.

And just behind me, someone gasped, making me turn, still stuck to the stone, still bleeding, and just then, I saw them.

Four boys, four wolves, and four heirs, by the looks of them, and every single one of them had their eyes locked on me with an expression I finally understood.

Karl Blackwood was the closest. His gray eyes were pure gold now, his wolf rising to the surface, as he took a step toward me like he couldn't help himself.

"No," he breathed. "No, that's not possible." He said, making me stare at him in confusion.

"What's not possible?" My voice came out strangled.

A red-haired boy I hadn't met yet shoved past Karl; his eyes were the color of embers. "She imprinted on all of us, and I can feel it. Can't you feel it too?" He asked and gazed at the others.

The third boy hung back, with his dark hair and darker eyes, watching me like I was a puzzle he'd been waiting his whole life to solve.

The fourth blond, with golden eyes and with hands that were already glowing with healing light, just stared at his palm. At the mark that was forming there was a mate mark.

They all had it, spreading across their skin like fire, and principal Vex's voice cut through the chaos.

"Silence," she spat.

The chamber went silent, and even the Stone stopped screaming.

Vex walked to me with a puzzled expression and looked at my palm, still pressed to the rock, still bleeding, then looked at the four heirs; she looked at the marks blooming on their skin.

"Well," she sighed softly; her voice was very calm. "This hasn't happened in a thousand years." She added, still staring at the marks in their hands.

I finally wrenched my hand free, and just then the wound on my palm started healing, closing up like it had never been cut at all.

"What's happening to me?" I said in a whisper as I stared at my palm once more.

Vex looked at me, and for the first time, the principal's expression cracked.

"You're not human, Samantha Carter; you never were." She said, making me stare at her in confusion, trying so hard to understand what she meant by that.

Behind me, the four alphas took a collective breath; their wolves were straining against their skin, wanting and needing me.

"The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes," Vex continued.

"Which means she put you here for a reason and she gave you to them for a reason." She paused and gestured to the four boys.

"By dawn, every pack in the territory will know what happened tonight, and they will call it an abomination, a glitch." She spoke further.

"But it's not a glitch," I said before I could stop myself.

Vex smiled. It was not a nice smile. "No," she agreed. "It's not a glitch; it's so real." She added and slowly turned to address the other people watching all this while.

"The Initiation is over, so all first years, return to your dorms," she announced.

The wolves filed out in stunned silence, but the four heirs didn't move; they stood in a loose circle around me, bound by something none of them understood.

SAMANTHA'S POV

“Samantha, come with me; we need to talk,” Vex said with a cold voice, as she walked past me toward a side corridor, clearly expecting me to follow.

I stood there for a moment, considering my options, as I stared at the four alphas who were still staring at me. I didn't hesitate anymore and followed her.

Her office was at the top of the west tower. Circular room, windows on all sides, bookshelves stuffed with ancient texts that looked like they would crumble if I breathed on them.

A massive desk dominated the center, covered in papers and maps and something that looked like a family tree.

"Sit," Vex said, pointing her hand to the chair opposite hers. I sat without any hesitation.

"Tell me about your family, Miss Carter." She said, taking her seat as well, with her gaze fixed on me fully now.

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat as I stared at her. My palms were becoming sweaty already.

"Ma'am, I'm human, and I already told you, my parents are human, and that's the whole story," I explained to her.

"Your adoptive parents or your biological parents?" She asked me, making me stare at her in confusion.

I blinked. "What?"

"I mean, do you know if you were adopted by the human?" She asked again.

"I…" I stopped. "I wasn't adopted; I mean, no one ever told me that I was adopted or mentioned anything about me being found somewhere," I responded to her while she swallowed hard, taking a deep breath too.

“Okay, but does any of their attitude towards you show that you were adopted?” She asked further, and staring at her right now I could see curiosity all over her as she leaned forward.

I kept calm for a while, trying to recall my life with them.

“No, from what I know, they have never treated me badly; plus, they have every single picture of me, from my first day on this world until my current age,” I explained to her with a polite voice.

“Hmm,” she exhaled. “Then do you know if they have any ancient family secrets?” She asked further, her voice low and calm, while I immediately shook my head.

“No, they have never mentioned anything as such,” I responded to her with a soft but firm voice.

She immediately ran her hands through her hair before speaking further.

“Okay then, you may go,” she said, facing another direction.

I immediately got on my feet and walked out of her office.

I was already so tired; I had a long day, so a little rest will really be of so much good to me right now, I thought as I made my way back to my dorm.

Once I arrived at my dorm, I didn't hesitate to get changed and climb into my bed.

A loud knock woke me at 7 AM. I had fallen asleep the moment I entered my room the previous night, exhausted from all the revelations and the weight of everything that happened last night.

The knock came in again, sharp and insistent, pulling me out of a dreamless void into harsh reality.

"I'm coming," I spoke, wrapping my palms in my eyes, as I dragged myself to the door and opened it.

My eyes met with the four alphas standing in the hallway, making me gasp.

Karl looked impeccable, as always; the others were at their best, with one smiling like he was genuinely happy to see me, while another one just stood a little away, quiet.

"D…do you need anything?" I stammered over my words.

One of them stepped forward, grinning from ear to ear, as he finally spoke up. "Good morning to you, princess," he teased me, making me fake a frown.

“I'm not a princess, so please don't call me that,” I told him, hoping within me that he would call me again.

Strangely, I liked it, but I didn't want to make that known to him. “Okay, whatever. I'm Adrian Lockhart, alpha of the Dawn pack, and you are?” He asked softly, still grinning.

“I'm Samantha Carter, a human like you all know,” I responded to him while his smiles deepened as the other guy stepped further.

"I'm Darius Ash, the Ember Claw heir," the other guy introduces himself. While I just stared at him as he continued. “And that is Carla Vale, the alpha heir of the Shadow Prowl pack,” he said, pointing at the other guy, who kept his distance.

“It's nice to meet you all,” I said, waving my hands at them.

“So, you are our mate, ahhh?” He said with a smile curved at the corners of his lips.

“Yes, but I wished I wasn't,” I responded to him tiredly.

“Enough of the talk; we should be in the council hall by now,” Karl spoke up from behind Darius.

"Oh, my bad, we really need to go now, princess,” Adrian spoke up again, making me frown.

“I have said you shouldn't call me princess already,” I frowned.

"Okay, my bad, but we need to be in the council hall right now,” he said, grinning, while I widened my eyes in confusion hearing him mention the council hall.

“What are we doing in the council hall anyway?” I asked him.

“After what happened last night, the council members want to see us all,” Adrian responded to my question, making me gasp, and immediately panic settled in.

I hate drawing attention to myself, and right now that was happening, and I just wish there was a way I could probably stop it.

“So shall we?” Darius asked, while I just swallowed hard and nodded.

“Lead the way,” was all I could say as they all turned around and started walking away from the entrance of my dorm.

The Council Chamber was even more intimidating in daylight, and its tiered seating was packed with wolves from all four packs.

The elders sat in front, their faces carved from stone, and the principal stood in the center, holding a scroll that looked ancient.

"Samantha Carter," Mrs. Vex called to me as I entered the hall, while my gaze snapped to her almost immediately. "Come forward," she added.

I took a deep breath as I walked to the center obediently, and the four alphas took their positions behind their pack sections.

The air was thicker and full of sharper tension, but I tried my best to not let it get to me, especially now, at least.

“About what happened last night in the Crescent Stone Hall," she began.

“The Council has been discussing it all morning, and they have finally reached a decision," Vex announced, while I swallowed the leap that had formed in my throat as I stared at her.

"This decision is one we must all accept," she added. A murmur rippled through the room, and Vex held up her hand for silence.

"Samantha Carter." She was saying when Alpha Blackwood interrupted her.

I knew immediately that it was Karl's father, because Karl carries a resemblance to him, but Karl was younger and more handsome than he is.

“According to our ancient history, the bond with the four alphas is an abomination, so we have come up with a solution to it,” Alpha Blackwood said coldly, while I just stared on as he continued.

“You have to pick just one of the alphas and bond with him,” he retorted, while I blinked my lashes rapidly as I stared at the four of them again.

“And you have from now until graduation to pick,” he added coldly.

“And what if I can't pick one before then?” I asked him with a low but steady voice, with my heart beating rapidly as I awaited his response.

“Then you will be killed,” he said with a cold voice, making me swallow hard as my heart beat rapidly inside of me.