Rejected Omega, Crowned Luna Queen

Chapter 3

Karis' POV

I stood silent in the line as I awaited for the morning check session to end, my shoulders squared, my breathing steady, forcing myself to blend in even when every instinct in me screamed that I did not belong here.

A month had passed since I ran away to Lunaris Academy to hide myself, a whole month of pretending and of surviving.

"I'll never get married to an old man like the rogue King! I will not become a vessel to just birth warriors for his clan," I recalled what I had told myself on the day when I had left home, the words still burning with the same defiance that had pushed me this far.

"My future is bright and I am not a freak. I will awaken my wolf when the time is right," I added silently, as if trying to remind myself, as if saying it enough times would make it true.

A teacher walked towards me and I had to raise my head to notice him, my heart tightening slightly at his approaching figure. There was a female behind him, her presence far more unsettling than his.

He passed me and walked towards the boy behind as he ascertained our body physiologies, his attention shifting away from me just enough for me to breathe again.

This semester was meant to be for testing which students had what powers and what each of their abilities could do.

I was a mere beta, at least that was what I was masquerading myself as.

I had no wolf and it had been weeks since I was living as that. As Kane, the new boy who was often called effeminate because of how soft my body was, because I did not fit into whatever image they had of strength.

Even my hair, I had overheard many students whispering about how soft it was, even though it had been cut short on the night I ran away from home with all my savings.

As if there was a peculiar way a man's hair was supposed to be.

The lady passed me and I heaved a quiet sigh of relief, my chest loosening slightly at the thought that I had not been caught, that my secret had not been found out.

But not long after she took a step forward, she paused.

And then she walked right back to where I was standing.

My breath hitched.

She peered at me, her gaze sharp and observant, as though she could tell from a single glance that I was not who I claimed to be.

I worried that she might have discovered it.

"Has the lotion failed?" I asked myself, panic rising in my chest as I recalled the masking lotion I had paid for using bundles of my clothing and a piece of jewelry I had stolen from my step sister, Carissa.

It was originally meant to be mine but because I had no one to fight for me, her mother had taken it away from me and given it to her daughter simply because she demanded it.

"Why do you smell that way?" the lady asked.

Her voice was calm, but there was something beneath it. Something probing and laced with suspicion.

She was one of the few female teachers there were in the academy. It wouldn’t be surprising if she could figure out that there was something wrong with me.

"What way, mistress?" I asked, forcing steel into my voice, dragging it lower and rougher, masking it as deep as I possibly could.

"Your eyes…. why are they brown? Your lashes are also so fluffy," she added, her gaze narrowing slightly as she reached out to touch me.

But she stopped midway as I moved away, my reaction instinctive, my body betraying the fear I was trying so hard to suppress.

For a split second, everything around me went still.

If I made one wrong move, everything I had risked to come here would crumble.

She stared at me from head to toe and there was nothing giving me out. My chest was bound and thus, as flat as it could be. So how would she be able to tell that something was off about me?

"What are you doing? We have no time to waste," Teacher Draven whispered to her, his tone edged with impatience.

He was the man whom she had been following.

"There's something about him that I still can't seem to pinpoint," she whispered back at him, her eyes never leaving me.

"What is it about him?" He shot back, clearly irritated.

She paused for a while as she stared at me once more, her gaze lingering and probing. My chest was heaving loudly, my heartbeat pounding against my ribs as I feared my secret being discovered at any moment.

"What's it about you that's confusing her, Kane?" Teacher Draven walked back to me and asked, his voice firmer now as he demanded an answer.

"I'm Kane Wilde. A scholarship student of Lunaris Academy. I am the descendant of a beta who was banished from his pack ages ago, thus a rogue. I joined Lunaris Academy to sharpen my strength," I introduced, my words flowing out smoothly despite the storm raging inside me.

Mr. Draven turned towards the lady beside him, as if trying to inquire whether she was already satisfied by my answer.

She said nothing.

Instead, she stepped closer.

And then she began to sniff me.

My entire body stiffened as she leaned in, her proximity suffocating, her senses far too sharp for my comfort.

"He's a beta's son. Didn't you hear that? He's not supposed to have a scent, remember?" Teacher Draven corrected her, his tone dismissive as he dragged her away from me.

The bell suddenly rang and the students began to disperse as the first session was over. It wouldn't be until later that we would have to go for training.

I heaved a sigh of relief as they walked away, my shoulders finally loosening as I began to walk back to my dorm room.

Did the lotion give me off? I asked myself as I continued walking, unease settling deep within me.

What had happened that made her almost discover the truth through my lies?

I needed to get back to the dorm, as that was the only place that would grant me the privacy I currently needed.

As I was the only one in the room for now or at least, that was what I had been told.

"Don't mind Lady Cathe, Kane. She's always like that," a voice said from behind me.

I turned to find the well-known omega boy named Noah talking to me, his expression easy, almost friendly.

Since coming to Lunaris Academy, he was always the only one who did.

Others considered me weak or below their status standards, as only two things were worshipped in Lunaris Academy.

One being strength and the second wealth.

I managed to nod, though my mind was elsewhere, racing and searching for a way to excuse myself. If Lady Cathe could discover that there was something off about me, then Noah might be able to do so as well.

I needed to leave before he found out anything.

A group of boys began to approach him and I used that opportunity to slip away, breaking into a run as fast as I could.

Not wanting him to catch up with me or to know where I was going.

I could hear someone calling my name from behind me, but I paid a deaf ear to it, refusing to look back, refusing to stop.

When I reached the front of my dorm room however, I was shocked to find my bag outside, carelessly thrown onto the ground like it meant nothing.

Someone was inside.

And they had dared to throw my things out.

Anger surged through me.

I tried to push the door open, but it was locked.

I twisted the doorknob again, harder this time, my frustration rising but unknowingly, the person inside was opening the door at that exact moment.

As the door suddenly flew open, not by my control but theirs, I lost my balance and stumbled forward, my body tipping dangerously.

But before I could fall, a hand caught my waist.

My breath hitched.

When I looked up, I was shocked to discover that it belonged to an unfamiliar face.

A face I, of all people couldn't bring myself to stop staring at.

For a moment, everything else faded. From the noise, to the fear and the chaos inside me.

All I could see was him.