Claimed by the Four Alphas: A Crescent Veil Academy Story

Zara’s pov The iron bucket dropped on the stone floor, spilling filthy water over my bare feet. “Scrub until I can see my face on that floor.” Aunt Ruby snapped, tossing the tattered rag at me like she was flinging waste to the dustbin. “And if I find one speck of dust, you can sleep outside with the strays tonight.” I didn’t answer. I knelt quietly, hands already stinging from yesterday’s bruises. I dipped the worn cloth into the bucket. My knees were hurting, and my back was aching, but I didn’t complain. Complaining only made it worse. I just kept scrubbing like every other day. My aunt, Ruby sat in her old wooden chair, watching me like her prey. Her red hair was tangled, and her eyes had the same anger they always did. “You turned eighteen a few weeks ago,” Aunt Ruby said, sipping her tea. “Still no wolf, no shift, no howl. You’re nothing but a broken mutt.” I froze for a while, the wet cloth slipping through my fingers. My birthday has come and gone, but the wolf inside me never showed. I’d heard most wolves shift on their eighteenth birthday, but not me. I glanced at the faded locket hanging from my neck, the only thing I had left from my parents. Inside was a tiny picture of two smiling faces I barely remembered. I’d found it in the attic of the cottage we had moved into after my parents died fifteen years ago. I was cleaning the attic, and the locket was found near the toy chest I used to have as a toddler. I searched through the attic for more belongings of my parents, but I couldn’t find anything. I show my aunt, and she snatches it from me, threatening to throw it away, but I plead with her that this is all I had from them. I was only twelve at the time, so the locket had been there for years, and I knew nothing about it. I honestly don’t know what came over my aunt back then, but she let me keep it. I suddenly remembered the times I had asked Aunt Ruby over and over if my parents had wolves. Aunt Ruby only shrugged and said they were different, then she’d change the subject. Whenever I pressed her, she’d become angry and make my life worse than it already was. I didn’t understand why Aunt never shifted either, but she opened up to being old then insulting my father, who was her brother, for being useless. Maybe he wasn’t a werewolf, I thought; she would show me records and tell me stories of how awesome she was and say little to nothing about my parents. I had thousands of questions, but that was all I could get. My aunt bragging about her past life. My aunt hid it all. I was just a small, powerless loser to her. “Ouch!!!” Hot tea splashed across my cheek, burning as it dripped down my skin and soaked the collar of my dress.” “Worthless girl, who told you to stop scrubbing?” Aunt Ruby scoffed, slamming the chipped teacup on the table. “Get back to work.” I blinked though the sting “Y-yes,” I whispered, dipping the filthy cloth back into the bucket and returning to scrubbing the kitchen floor. “I doubt it,” she muttered, pacing behind me. “You’re too busy living in that empty head of yours. What are you always thinking about? Fairy tales or what? I said nothing. I knew better. She leaned in close, her breath hot against my ear. “You’ll never be one of them. You’re wolfless, broken, and cursed. It’s good your parents aren’t here to witness their kid who has no future. Her words stung more than the tea. But I kept my head down. That’s what you do when you’ve been told all your life you’re nothing. You stay small, stay silent, and stay out of the way. A sudden knock echoed through the cottage. Not on the door, on the window. Aunt Ruby’s head snapped toward the sound. I followed her gaze. Floating outside, glowing faintly in the dim light, was a golden envelope. It hovered for a second, then gently settled on the windowsill. Aunt Ruby narrowed her eyes. “What in the—” She walked towards the window and yanked it open. She snapped the envelope so quickly I started to believe a story she once told about being a retired royal assassin. I watched as she broke the seal and unfolded the letter . She barely read the first few lines before her hands fell still. The letter slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor like a dry leaf. I walked slowly, my heart pounding. I had never seen my aunt like this. I picked up the letter. My name was written at the top in elegant writing: Miss Zara Winters, You are hereby invited to attend Crescent Veil Academy, a training institution for elite werewolves chosen to defend the realms from the Vortex. We are aware of your unique bloodline. Your presence is not requested . It is required. Prepare for departure tomorrow. Please proceed to Shadowbrook station, where transport will be arranged. Show this letter to the guide then move to Platform Nine. Crescent Academy 1321 Crescent Ridge, Stormcrest Province North of the Highvale Range Headmaster Julian Drayke I read the letter again. My hands held the letter like my life depended on it. At this point it did. They knew me. They knew me. They knew something about me I didn’t. Something about my parents, maybe. Something about the wolf I never had. “Give me that,” Aunt Ruby yelled. I took a step back. “You knew about this?” “Give me the letter.” She charged forward, but I clutched it to my chest. “Why won’t you ever tell me the truth?” I demanded. “About my parents. About why I haven’t shifted. About why—“ “I said stay out of it!” she screamed, her face red with fury. “You think Crescent Veil Academy wants you? A wolfless nothing? Goats would serve more purpose in that academy than you. They sent this by mistake. You’re not going!” “I am going,” I said, more steady than I’d ever sounded before. Her eyes went wide. “You’re not leaving.” Before I could react, she ripped the letter clean in half, then again and again until it was nothing but gold scraps scattered on the floor. I fell to the floor trying to collect the pieces, but she shoved me aside and locked the door behind her. “Try to run, and I’ll drag you back by your hair, but then again, you’re too weak for that,” she hissed. I didn’t cry. I did my chores and went to my room. That night I struggled to sleep. I lay still in the dark, listening to my aunt’s snoring through the walls. With a heavy heart I stared at the moonlight, searching for answers in its glow. Part of me wanted to stay. It was ridiculous, but it was real. I’d lived with Aunt Ruby for most of my life. She was cruel and bitter, but she was all I’d ever known. What if she was right? What if Crescent Veil Academy didn’t want me? What if they looked at me and saw nothing? What if…I had no wolf at all? I touched the locket. My fingers curled around it like it could answer the questions that had haunted me since I was a child. I switched on the light in the lamp, looking at the torn pieces of the letter lying in a wrinkled mess on the floor. I knelt down before them, hands trembling as I tried to fix the letter. Why would such a prestigious academy want me?. Aunt Ruby had tried to destroy the letter as well, to make it disappear like every other hope I ever had. But the words still remained clear in my head. Your presence is not requested . It is required. I was needed. They knew me. All I could do was get all my answers there. I could also be a werewolf; I could train and even become great.