Chapter 1
Bri
The iron gates of Crimson Star Academy loomed before me like the jaws of some ancient beast, ready to swallow me whole. The academy sat just outside Tenebrae City, deep in the realm of Tenebrosity, where paranormal creatures thrived in shadows and secrets. Fitting, considering what waited inside.
I adjusted my duffel bag on my shoulder, ignoring the way my hands trembled. Not from fear—never from fear—but from the weight of what I was carrying. The secret that could destroy me if anyone discovered it. The truth about what I really was.
“You sure about this, Bri?” My best friend’s voice crackled through my phone’s speaker.
“No,” I admitted, staring up at the Gothic architecture that seemed to claw at the overcast sky. “But when has that ever stopped me?”
She laughed, but it sounded hollow. We both knew what this place was. Crimson Star Academy wasn’t just some elite paranormal training facility. It was where they sent the dangerous ones. The powerful ones. The ones who didn’t fit neatly into vampire or werewolf society.
The ones like me.
I ended the call and stepped through the gates. They slammed shut behind me with a finality that made my stomach clench. The grounds sprawled before me—manicured lawns giving way to dense forest, modern training facilities butting up against centuries-old stone buildings. Everything about this place screamed money and secrets.
“Fresh meat.”
I spun toward the voice. Three girls stood near the fountain, all perfectly coiffed and radiating the kind of casual cruelty that came with privilege. Vampires, by the look of their pale skin and the way they moved—too fluid, too graceful.
“Lost, little wolf?” the tallest one purred, her eyes flashing red.
My fingers curled into fists. The anxiety that had been building since I left Portland spiked, and I could feel the familiar heat building under my skin. “Not lost. And definitely not little.”
“Feisty.” She smiled, fangs extending. “I like that. Makes it more fun when they break.”
I took a step forward, feeling the tension coil tighter in my chest. “Want to test that theory?”
“Miss Ekhart.”
The voice cut through the tension like a blade—deep, commanding, and cold enough to frost the air between us. I turned, and my breath caught.
He stood at the top of the stone steps leading to the main building, a dark silhouette against the grey sky. Even from this distance, I could feel the weight of his presence, the raw power that radiated from him like heat from a forge.
Professor Kieran Sullivan. I’d seen his photo in the academy materials, but nothing had prepared me for the reality of him.
He descended the steps with predatory grace, and I got my first real look at him. Pitch-black hair, styled back but with a few strands falling across his forehead. Ice-blue eyes that seemed to see straight through me. Sharp features that looked carved from marble. And tall—Jesus, he had to be at least six and a half feet, maybe more.
He wore all black—tactical pants, fitted shirt that did nothing to hide the muscular build beneath, combat boots. This wasn’t a man who taught from behind a desk.
“Commander Sullivan,” the vampire girl corrected herself, suddenly looking nervous.
So he wasn’t just a professor. Interesting.
Those ice-blue eyes swept over the scene, lingering on me for a moment that stretched too long. Something flickered in their depths—recognition? Impossible. We’d never met.
“Classes begin in one hour,” he said, his voice carrying effortlessly across the courtyard. “I suggest you all find your way to orientation. Miss Ekhart, you’ll come with me.”
It wasn’t a request.
The vampire girls scattered like leaves in the wind. I stood my ground, meeting his gaze even though every instinct screamed at me to look away. To submit.
I didn’t do submission.
“Is there a problem, Miss Ekhart?” He’d closed the distance between us without me noticing, now standing close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
“Should there be?”
His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. “You’re late.”
“Traffic was hell.”
“You took a bus. There was no traffic.”
So he’d been watching. Tracking my arrival. The thought should have unsettled me. Instead, it sent a strange thrill down my spine.
“Then I guess I’m just naturally tardy, Commander.” I loaded the title with just enough sarcasm to toe the line of insubordination.
Something dangerous flashed in those ice-blue eyes. “You’ll find that attitude won’t serve you well here, Miss Ekhart. Crimson Star Academy isn’t like other institutions. We don’t coddle. We don’t make exceptions. You either rise to our standards, or you wash out. Usually in pieces.”
“Good thing I’m not here to be coddled.”
“No.” He leaned in slightly, and I caught his scent—pine and smoke and something darker, more primal. “You’re here because you have no other choice. Because every other academy rejected you. Because your power is too unstable, too dangerous to be left untrained.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know everything about you, Brianna Ekhart.” The way he said my full name made it sound like a threat and a promise. “I know about the incident in Portland. I know about the three vampires you put in the hospital. I know about the fire.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “They attacked me first.”
“And you responded with enough force to level a city block.” He straightened, putting a professional distance between us once more. “That’s why you’re here. To learn control. To learn discipline. To learn that power without restraint is just destruction waiting to happen.”
“And you’re going to teach me that?” I couldn’t keep the skepticism from my voice.
His smile was sharp enough to cut. “I’m going to try. Though I suspect you’ll fight me every step of the way.”
“You’re damn right I will.”
“Good.” He turned, clearly expecting me to follow. “I prefer students with fire. They’re more satisfying to break.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. Should have just followed him like a good little student. But I’d never been good at should.
“You can try to break me, Commander,” I called after him. “But I guarantee you’ll be the one who ends up bleeding.”
He paused mid-step, glancing back over his shoulder. For just a moment, something that might have been approval flickered across his face.
Kieran
I watched her walk away from my office window, that defiant stride of hers cutting across the courtyard like a blade through silk. Brianna Ekhart. The file on my desk was three inches thick—incident reports, psychological evaluations, power assessments that made even the Council nervous.
They’d sent her to me because no one else would take her. Because I specialized in the broken ones, the dangerous ones. The ones who burned too bright.
Three vampires hospitalized. A city block leveled. And yet she’d walked into my office with her chin up and fire in her eyes, daring me to judge her.
The beast inside me stirred, intrigued. It had been a long time since anyone had challenged me so openly. A long time since I’d felt this particular hunger—not for blood or violence, but for the thrill of breaking something beautiful and watching it either shatter or become something even more magnificent.
I’d noticed her trembling hands when she arrived. The way her eyes darted around like she was calculating escape routes. The nervous energy that radiated from her in waves. Whatever she was hiding, it was eating her alive.
And I wanted to know what it was. Wanted to peel back every layer of defense she’d built until I found the raw truth underneath. Wanted to see what she became when all those walls came down.
The thought should have concerned me. I’d spent two centuries building control, learning to cage the monster that lived in my bones. I didn’t get obsessed. Didn’t let students under my skin.
But Brianna Ekhart wasn’t like other students.
And this was going to be a problem.
