*FERAL: claimed by my rival*

*classes with monsters*

*CHAPTER 5: CLASSES WITH MONSTERS*

The sky didn’t crack.

It tore.

Light poured down like the moon itself had split open.

The triple mark on our wrists — red, red, gold — burned so bright I had to look away.

And then, just as fast, it was over.

The light was gone.

The armies were still there.

My father. Kael’s father. Two lines of wolves with bared teeth and silver at their hips.

Silence.

Kael and I were still standing in the Council Chamber doorway.

Hands linked.

Bleeding.

Marked.

“Blood for blood,” Kael repeated. His voice didn’t shake. “But not ours.”

Alpha Rowan stepped forward. My father.

His eyes went straight to my wrist. To the gold.

“You’ve been corrupted,” he said quietly. Too quiet. “Both of you.”

“Or freed,” I said.

That was the wrong thing to say.

He moved.

Fast. For an alpha his age.

I didn’t even see the blow coming.

Kael did.

He pulled me sideways and took the hit on his shoulder.

The same shoulder that was still healing from the silver.

He went down.

And the Bond screamed.

Pain exploded in my own shoulder. White hot.

I hit the ground next to him, gasping.

“Kael!”

He was already up. Teeth bared. Eyes fully wolf-gold now.

“Touch her again and I’ll show you what a real war looks like.”

That did it.

The courtyard erupted.

Not into a full fight. Not yet.

But into noise. Shouting. Shifting. The sound of 200 wolves deciding which side to pick.

Thorne slammed his staff on the stone. The crack echoed.

“ENOUGH!”

Everyone froze.

He looked old. Tired.

“You want to kill each other? Fine. Do it somewhere else.

But not here. Not in my academy.”

He pointed at me and Kael. “You two. Inside. Now.

The rest of you. Stand down or I’ll have you expelled and your packs fined into the ground.”

No one moved.

Then, slowly, the weapons lowered.

My father looked at me one last time.

“This isn’t over, Elsa.”

“I know,” I said.

He left.

Alpha Varn followed, dragging Kael’s younger brother with him.

The armies dispersed. Like fog.

But the tension stayed. Thick enough to choke on.

*AFTERMATH*

Thorne locked the Council Chamber doors himself.

Then he turned to us.

“Sit.”

We sat. On the floor. Because the chairs felt too far away.

Kael was still bleeding. I pressed my hand to his shoulder.

The Bond dulled the pain for both of us.

“You’ve done it now,” Thorne said. “You’ve started a new pack.

Do you have any idea what that means?”

“We have an idea,” Kael said.

“Do you? You have no territory. No elders. No laws.

You have each other, a 200-year-old ghost, and every alpha in this country who wants you dead.”

He sighed. “And you have classes in 2 hours.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Classes,” Thorne repeated. “This is still an academy, children.

You think war stops homework?

You wanted to lead a pack. First lesson: you do it while the world is still watching.”

Kael laughed. It was half hysterical. “Classes with monsters.”

“Exactly,” Thorne said. “And you are now the biggest monsters in the room.”

*MONDAY MORNING*

The academy didn’t know what to do with us.

We walked in together.

Not holding hands. But not apart either.

The Bond wouldn’t let us be more than 10 feet away without itching.

The halls went quiet.

Whispers. Stares.

Some people bowed.

Most looked like they wanted to spit.

First class: Pack Law and History.

Professor Miri. Ancient. Blind in one eye.

She took one look at us and said, “Well. This will be interesting.”

She made us sit in the front.

“Since you’re rewriting history, you might as well learn it first.”

Lesson 1: The Treaty of Blackthorn.

The one that started the war.

The one my great-grandfather signed.

The one that mentioned “the third brother” in one line and then never again.

Kael raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Varn?”

“What happened to him? Rikka?”

Miri went very still. “Who told you that name?”

“We met him,” I said.

The whole class turned around.

Miri closed her book. “Class dismissed. Everyone out.”

When we were alone, she locked the door.

“You need to be very careful,” she whispered. “Rikka is not a ghost. He is a debt.

And debts always come to collect.”

She looked at our wrists. “That mark. It’s not just a Bond.

It’s a key.

He used you to unlock himself.”

“What does he want?” Kael asked.

“The same thing he wanted 200 years ago,” Miri said. “To end the war.

But his way isn’t peace. It’s erasure.

He wants to erase both packs and start over.

With you as his puppets.”

My stomach dropped.

Second class: Combat Training.

Of course.

Instructor Hale. Ex-military. No patience.

“You two. Spar.”

The entire class watched.

We didn’t want to.

But the Bond pushed us to the mat.

We circled each other.

Everyone expected blood.

Instead, Kael dropped his sword.

“So? You gonna hit me, Luna?”

“No,” I said. “Are you gonna hit me, Alpha?”

“No.”

We stood there.

Hale threw a training dummy between us.

“Then fight THAT together.”

So we did.

Back to back. In sync.

Because the Bond showed us each other’s moves before we made them.

When we finished, the dummy was in pieces.

And the class was silent.

Hale just nodded. “Huh. Monsters. Good.”

*LUNCH*

We ate in the library.

Alone.

Because no one wanted to sit with us and everyone was scared not to.

Kael pushed his food around. “This is weird.”

“What?”

“Being hated and worshipped at the same time.”

I nudged his foot under the table. “Get used to it, new Alpha.”

He looked at me. Really looked.

“You’re handling this better than me.”

“I’m not,” I admitted. “I threw up twice this morning.”

He smiled. Small. “Me too.”

The lights flickered.

Both of us went still.

_“Class is in session,”_ Rikka’s voice whispered in our heads.

_“Lesson one: Trust.”_

On the table, in spilled ink, words formed:

_BRING ME ONE OF YOUR PARENTS. ALIVE._

Then it was gone.

Kael swore. “He’s serious.”

“I know,” I whispered.

Third class: Politics.

Where we learned exactly how screwed we were.

Professor Vale put a map on the board.

“Here is Blackthorn territory. Here is Blood Moon territory.

And here,” he circled a tiny spot between them, “is where the new Luna-Alpha Pack claims to exist.”

He looked at us. “You have 3 square miles. And two nations that want you erased.”

He smiled. “Good luck.”

After class, a note was slipped into my bag.

No name. Just:

_Meet me at the Mirror Chamber. Midnight. Come alone.

- R_

*MIDNIGHT*

I didn’t tell Kael.

I tried.

But he was asleep on the floor again and I didn’t want to wake him.

The Bond would tell him anyway if I got hurt.

The Mirror Chamber was cold.

The walls were still cracked from the last time.

And in the center, standing in front of the prophecy, was Rikka.

He wasn’t a wolf this time.

He was a man.

Tall. Black hair. Gold eyes.

And scars. Everywhere.

“You came alone,” he said. “Good.”

“Did I have a choice?”

“No.” He smiled. It wasn’t kind. “But you made the right one.”

He walked around me.

“You’re stronger than I thought. Both of you.

The Bond should have broken you.”

He stopped. “Why didn’t it?”

“Because we didn’t let it,” I said.

Rikka laughed. “Interesting.

Most people break. Or they kill.

You two chose a third thing.”

He stepped closer. I could smell snow on him. “I like that.”

He grabbed my wrist. The mark flared.

Pain. Memory.

I saw him. 200 years ago. Young. Angry.

Begging his brothers not to fight.

Being thrown into the stone.

Screaming.

“Do you know what it’s like,” he whispered, “to be forgotten?”

I shook my head.

“Good. Don’t.”

He let go.

“Your parents will come for you at dawn. Both of them.

They will offer you a deal.

Your life, in exchange for killing the other.”

He tilted his head. “What will you do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Liar.” He tapped my forehead. “You do.

And that’s why you’re dangerous.”

He walked to the wall. Touched the prophecy.

_One must fall so the other may rise._

“Wrong,” he said. “The translation is wrong.

The old tongue is tricky.

It says: _One must fall. So the third may rise._”

He turned to me. Gold eyes bright.

“Me.”

The floor shook.

“Rikka—”

“Don’t worry, little Luna. I don’t want to hurt you.

I want to use you.”

He smiled. “Bring me one of your parents tomorrow.

Or I’ll take them both.

And then I’ll take the academy.

And then I’ll take the world.”

He vanished.

Like smoke.

I was alone.

Shaking.

*DAWN*

I ran back to the East Tower.

Kael was awake. Standing by the door.

He’d felt me leave.

“Where were you?”

“The Mirror Chamber.”

“With him?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t yell. He just pulled me in and checked me for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I said. “But we’re not.”

I told him everything.

The key. The translation. The demand.

Kael listened. Jaw tight.

“So it’s a trap,” he said when I finished.

“Always has been,” I said.

A knock.

Thorne.

“Your fathers are here. They want to speak. Together.”

We went to the courtyard.

Both Alphas were waiting.

And they were not fighting each other.

Which was worse.

Alpha Rowan spoke first.

“We’ve discussed it.

One of you must die.

We don’t care which.

Choose. Now. Or we choose for you.”

Alpha Varn nodded. “The war ends today.”

Kael and I looked at each other.

The Bond was calm. Steady.

Like it was waiting.

I stepped forward.

“You want a choice? Fine.

We choose neither.”

Both Alphas frowned.

“What?”

“I said we choose neither,” I repeated. “We’re not killing each other.

And we’re not killing for you.

If you want a war, you’ll have to fight it yourselves.”

Kael took my hand. “And if you touch her, you’ll have to go through me.

And him.”

He pointed.

In the trees. In the sky. On the roofs.

Wolves.

Dozens of them.

Students. Guards. People who had sat in our classes.

Wearing no crest.

Wearing our mark.

The Luna-Alpha Pack.

My father’s face went red. “Traitor.”

“Maybe,” Kael said. “But I’m not a murderer.”

The standoff lasted 10 seconds.

Then Rikka’s voice, in all our heads:

_“Well done. Lesson two: Power.

Now for lesson three: Sacrifice.”_

The ground under the Alphas split open.

Not an earthquake.

A door.

Stone stairs leading down. Into darkness.

And from the dark, a voice. Not Rikka’s.

Older. Female.

_“The Moon requires payment for a new pack.

One life.

Or the Bond breaks and both die.”_

The stairs waited.

The voice waited.

Everyone waited.

Kael looked at me.

I looked at him.

And we both knew.

Someone had to go down there.

*TO BE CONTINUED...*