THE ALPHA IS IN MY FRESHMAN YEAR

For many years the werewolves had been fighting amongst each other to secure land and ensure the survival of their packs. After endless wars, the werewolves decided to come together and form THE UNION. Under the new agreement, four packs were created and assigned different duties. The Prime Pack is in charge of governance, lawmaking, and administration. They ensure the Union remains stable, create policies, and mediate disputes between packs. They are the ruling authority, the heart of the Union's leadership. Their colors are blue and white, and their symbol is a Crowned Wolf. The Iron Claw Pack showcased massive strength and were put to security, defense, and military training. They protect the Union's borders, train warriors, manufacture weapons, and station members in every pack to ensure safety. They are the Union's shield and sword. Their colors are red and black, and their symbol is Silver Claw Marks. These are three parallel gashes that represent the pack's strength, precision, and fearlessness in battle. The Golden Grain Pack ensures that everyone in the Union is fed. They farm the land, raise livestock, store food, and manage the supply chain. They are the backbone of the Union. Without them, everyone starves. Their colors are gold and brown, and their symbol is a Golden Wheat Stalk. A single stalk of wheat representing growth, sustenance, and the individual's contribution to the community. The Silver Leaf Pack is responsible for healing, medicine, scientific research, and psychology. They grow medicinal plants, train healers, and study the mind and body. They are the Union's caretakers, keeping everyone alive and healthy. Their colors are silver and green, and their symbol is a Silver Leaf wrapped around a Crescent Moon. Wolves who commit heinous crimes are banished to the outskirts and become rogues, living off scraps and whatever they can hunt. However, most of them stray near the city walls, desperate and dangerous. Some of their children are shown mercy. The Ember-Born are adopted by families across the Union, taught skills, and if they prove themselves, they are placed for different duties in the Union. Their colors are maroon and grey, and their symbol is a Small Ember or Flame. This is a kindness that the Prime Pack prides itself on. A charity day is held each year near the walls, and rogue children are given a second chance at life. TANSY'S POV Tonight is the night of our high school graduation. I stand in front of the mirror, hardly recognizing the girl staring back at me. The dress is long and brown, the kind of rich, warm brown that only comes from good dye, and across the bodice a stalk of wheat is embroidered in gold thread so fine it catches the candlelight every time I breathe. Golden Grain has never sent us anything like this before. Every year before, it was plain cloth to wear to school nothing else. This year, for graduation, the Union sent dresses. I slide my feet into the gold heels, wobbling once before I find my balance, and pin the last of the gold hair accessories into place, small wheat-shaped clips that Cindy will tease me mercilessly for. "Tansy." My mother appears in the doorway, and for a moment she just looks at me, one hand pressed to her chest. "Look at you." I turn in a slow circle, unable to keep the grin off my face. "Can you believe it? A real dress. Gold heels. I feel like I should be attending a wedding, not a graduation." "You look beautiful, sweetheart." She crosses the room and fixes a clip that has already come loose, her fingers gentle in my hair the way they have been my whole life. "But listen to me. Tonight is not about the dress." "I know, I know." "I mean it. Tonight is about your university selection. That is what matters. You behave yourself, you stand where you are told to stand, and you do not go wandering off to gawk at the other packs no matter how interesting they look." She pulls back to study me, and her expression softens even as she says it. "I am proud of you either way. But do not waste tonight." "I won't," I promise I leave the house and step out into the cool night air. The Granary is quiet behind me, the fields stretching out in the darkness, the livestock settling in for the night. I take a deep breath, letting the familiar scent of earth and hay fill my lungs, and then I shift. My wolf form is sleek and brown, built for endurance and long distances. I stretch once, feeling the familiar rush of warmth as my body transforms, and then I start running. The road to Union Central is long, I have spent my whole life inside the borders of the Granary. I have never been this far from home before. The landscape changes as I run, the open farmland giving way to rolling hills, then to clusters of buildings, then to something I have only ever seen in pictures. The city is enormous, sprawling, a maze of glass and steel and stone that rises toward the sky. Union Central is the most built-up area in the Union. The buildings here are tall and modern, their windows catching the moonlight and reflecting it back in a thousand different directions. Some of them are old, built from pale stone that has stood for centuries. Others are new, all glass and sharp angles, towering over everything below. Lights glow in every window, warm and golden, and streets stretch out in every direction, lined with lamps and bustling with movement. Wolves stream past me on the road, their coats catching the light as they run. Some are sleek and fast, darting ahead with purpose. Others are slower, more cautious, their eyes scanning the unfamiliar streets just like mine are. Some are already in human form, adjusting their graduation clothes as they walk. Others shift back as they near the city center, their bodies blurring and reforming into human shapes. I have never seen anything like this before. At the Granary, the tallest building is the grain silo. Here, everything towers above me, casting long shadows across the streets. I stop to stare at a fountain in the middle of a square, its water glowing faintly in the moonlight. I pause to watch a group of wolves shift back to human form, their clothes appearing seamlessly as they transform. Every time I think I have seen everything, something new catches my eye. By the time I reach Union Central, I am breathless. I find Cindy waiting on the sidewalk just outside the gates, already shifted back into her human form. Her dress is maroon, simple where mine is embroidered, with a small flame stitched in amber-orange thread at the collar in place of a family crest. She has done something different with her hair tonight, pulled half of it back so the flame pin catches the light. "You beat me here," I say, shifting back and smoothing down my dress. "Again." "Some of us don't get distracted by everything on the way," she says, but she is already reaching for my hand, turning me in a slow circle to admire the dress properly. "Okay. Wow. Golden Grain finally understood the assignment." "You look incredible." She loops her arm through mine as more wolves shift back to human all around us, a ripple of fur giving way to fabric across the gathering crowd. "Ready?" Before I can answer, a man steps up onto the low wall beside the gates, his voice carrying easily over the crowd without him needing to raise it. He wears a midnight blue suit jacket over a crisp white dress shirt, tailored close and buttoned all the way to the collar. He is the students' warden, sent from the Prime Pack to shepherd tonight's graduates, and even his suit seems designed to remind everyone exactly who sent him, a small crowned wolf embroidered in silver thread over the breast pocket. "Graduates, if you would make your way inside," he calls, sweeping one arm toward the doors. "Find your pack's designated section. We begin shortly." The crowd surges forward, and Cindy squeezes my hand once before we are swept apart, funneled toward our own sections along with everyone else. I barely have time to be nervous about it. I am too busy staring. The Grand Hall is enormous. I have seen pictures of it in books, but pictures could not capture the sheer weight of the place. The ceiling arches so high that the golden chandeliers look like distant stars suspended in darkness. The walls are carved from pale stone, veined with gold that catches the firelight and shimmers like living veins. Tall arched windows line both sides, their stained glass depicting the founding of the Union, the four packs coming together, the first Prime Alpha raising his hand in oath. Tonight, those windows are dark. The glass reflects only the glow of a thousand candles and the warm amber light of the chandeliers above. Every pack inside the Grand Hall looks like something out of a painting. A girl from Silver Leaf drifts past in a richly green gown with silver embroidery at the hem, a crescent moon and leaf stitched over her heart where my own dress has its wheat stalk. Her hair is woven with small white flowers that seem to glow faintly even in the torchlight. A boy from Iron Claw strides by in a black suit with a wine-red tie, silver claw marks embroidered across the breast pocket. He stands straighter than anyone, his jaw set, his eyes scanning the crowd like he is already looking for a threat. A group of Prime Pack students walks past in navy suits and gowns with white accents, the crowned wolf embroidered in silver thread over their hearts. They move with the easy confidence of wolves who have never been told they do not belong. I find my own section at last, gold and brown as far as I can see, and settle in among the familiar faces of the Granary. But I cannot stop turning my head, catching glimpses of the other pack's colors and shine. Then, all at once, the hall falls silent. Leander, the Prime leader, steps up onto the podium at the front of the room, and even from across the hall I feel the whole crowd straighten at once. He is tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in a dark blue suit over a crisp white shirt, cut so sharp it looks almost like armor beneath the torchlight. The symbols of all four paks are embroidered large across the breast of his jacket. He represents the Union. Everyone knows who he is, and a step behind him, quiet and composed in a way that makes the whole room lean forward without meaning to, Elijah, his son, comes to stand at his side. He does not so much as glance at the crowd. I cannot stop looking at him either way. My eyes go warm and a little too wide, cataloguing every detail like I am trying to memorize him for later, which, if I am being honest with myself, I probably am. The navy of his suit, cut so clean it looks like it was made for exactly this moment. The way his dark hair falls.The sharpness of his jaw, the stillness in his shoulders, the quiet, unreadable calm on his face while an entire hall holds its breath around him. He is, without question, the most handsome Alpha I have ever seen. I might actually faint. Across the hall, in the small cluster of maroon and grey, Cindy is watching Tansy, and her mouth curls into a knowing smirk. She has known Tansy long enough to recognize she is busy fangirling after Elijah showed up, and she is already looking forward to teasing her about it later.