Dandelion
The first thing Ella Ashcroft did every morning wasn’t brush her hair.
It was checking her phone.
Hospital Balance: Paid.
She stared at the notification until the tightness in her chest eased.
Another week of her mother’s treatment had been covered.
Another week her mother was still alive.
That was enough.
Ella slipped the phone into her pocket before forcing a smile she no longer needed to think about. Smiling was easier than crying.
Outside her tiny attic bedroom, the Magnus mansion was already awake.
“Ella!” Ginna’s sharp voice echoed down the hallway.
“I’m coming.”
Ella hurried downstairs, smoothing the wrinkles from her oversized academy blouse. The white fabric strained around her curves no matter how carefully she tucked it into her navy skirt. She’d stopped trying to make it flattering months ago.
Nothing she wore escaped ridicule anyway.She entered Ginna’s room just as the blonde Alpha tossed a pair of polished shoes onto the floor.
“You’re late.” Ginna snarled.
“It isn’t seven yet.”
“So?”
Ella lowered her gaze. “Sorry.”
“Polish them again.”
“They’re already polished.”
“I said again.” Ginna’s voice rose.
Without another word, Ella knelt and began rubbing the leather with a soft cloth while Ginna sat before her vanity, curling perfect golden hair.
“You missed a spot.”
“There isn’t one,” Ella muttered.Ginna’s icy blue eyes met hers through the mirror.
“What did you say?”
Ella swallowed. “I’ll do it again.”
“That’s better.”
By the time Ginna finished her makeup, Ella had repolished the shoes twice, packed Ginna’s school bag, prepared breakfast, and cleaned the spilled foundation from the vanity.
Only then did she have three minutes to eat.One slice of toast. Cold. Standing.
She was halfway through her first bite when Alpha Magnus entered the dining room.
His broad frame seemed to fill the space, his silver-streaked hair impeccably combed despite the early hour.
“You’ve lost weight,” he observed.
Ella blinked.
Had she?
“I... don’t know, Alpha.”
He nodded toward the untouched fruit bowl.
“Eat properly.”
Before she could thank him, Ginna scoffed.
“Don’t encourage her, Father. She’ll get even bigger.”
Silence settled over the room.
Ella carefully placed the toast back on her plate.
Alpha Magnus didn’t reprimand his daughter.Instead, he simply adjusted his cufflinks.
“The car is waiting.”
That was how things always were.
He wasn’t cruel. He simply never stopped Ginna. And because he paid every bill at St. Catherine’s Hospital, Ella couldn’t resent him.
Not when every heartbeat her mother had depended on came from his generosity.
Alpha Academy looked less like a school and more like a castle pulled from an old fairy tale.
Towering spires pierced the clouds.
Stone wolves guarded the entrance.
Students from dozens of werewolf packs crossed the courtyard in immaculate uniforms embroidered with their family crests.
The moment Ginna stepped from the car, conversations erupted.
“Ginna!”
“Our future Luna!”
“You look gorgeous!”
She smiled effortlessly, accepting compliments like they belonged to her.
Ella climbed out after her, balancing three bags, a garment box, Ginna’s fencing equipment, and a stack of textbooks.
Someone laughed.
“There comes the pack mule.”
“I thought the academy hired staff.”
“No,” another girl giggled. “That’s just Ginna’s omega.”
Heat crept into Ella’s cheeks.
She kept walking.
If she reacted, it only became worse.
“Careful,” a boy called loudly. “The ground might crack.”
Laughter echoed across the courtyard.
Ella tightened her grip on the books until the edges dug into her fingers.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of lavender from the academy gardens.
She focused on that instead.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Keep walking.
“Move faster,” Ginna snapped without looking back.
Ella hurried after her.
First period was Combat Strategy.
Professor Hawthorne projected a battlefield onto the enormous crystal screen.
“Today’s exercise is simple.”
The old Beta smiled.
“If your army is outnumbered three to one, how do you win?”
Hands shot into the air. Students proposed ambushes. Retreats. Hostage negotiations.
Every answer was rejected.Professor Hawthorne sighed. “No one?”
Beside Ella, Ginna scribbled furiously.
She frowned.
Ella glanced at the map.
There.
A narrow mountain pass. A frozen river. Supply routes exposed on the western flank.
Without thinking, she leaned closer to Ginna. “If you collapse the eastern ridge, it’ll force the larger army into the river. They lose their numbers.”
Ginna froze. “What?”
“The river ice is thin.”
“How do you know?” Ginna narrowed her eyes in scrutiny.
“The shadows.”
Ginna looked again. Tiny dark streaks stretched across the frozen water.
Cracks.
No one else had noticed.
Seconds later, Ginna raised her hand. “Professor.”
He looked over.
“I believe the correct strategy is to collapse the eastern ridge and funnel the enemy onto unstable ice.”
The classroom fell silent.
Professor Hawthorne stared. Then smiled broadly. “Excellent!”
Students applauded.
“Ginna Magnus, brilliant as always.”
Ginna sat a little taller.
Ella quietly erased the sketch she’d made in the margin of her notebook.
No one looked at her. That was fine.
Invisible people survived.
Lunch was always the hardest part of the day.
Ella carried her tray toward the corner table she’d claimed since the beginning of the semester.
She never reached it.
A shoulder slammed into hers. Milk splashed across her uniform. The tray clattered onto the floor. Mashed potatoes spread across polished tiles. Someone whistled.
“Oh no.”
“So clumsy.”
Ella knelt immediately. “I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” a timid first-year whispered. The girl reached for a napkin.
Before she could help, Ginna appeared. “It actually was.”
The first-year backed away.
Ginna folded her arms. “If she watched where she was going instead of staring at food, maybe she wouldn’t embarrass herself.”
Another wave of laughter.
Ella quietly gathered the broken pieces of her plate.
A sharp edge sliced her palm. Blood welled instantly.
She didn’t react.
Pain was familiar.
Humiliation hurt more.
By late afternoon, the academy buzzed with whispers.
Two prefects hurried across the courtyard. Teachers abandoned their classrooms. Students clustered around the central fountain.
“What happened?”
“I heard someone disappeared.”
“No...”
“I heard they found a body.”
A cold chill crept down Ella’s spine. Bodies didn’t appear at Alpha Academy. This was supposed to be neutral ground. Safe.
Far above the crowd, ravens suddenly burst from the bell tower in a frenzy, their cries tearing through the evening sky.
Ella looked up. For just a heartbeat, the world around her seemed to slow. The fear rolling through the courtyard wasn’t merely visible. She could feel it.
Like ripples brushing against her mind. Hundreds of emotions.
Panic.
Confusion.
Grief.
Her wolf stirred beneath her skin.
With just one breath. One thought. She could calm every single person here. She could make the fear disappear.
No.
Ella clenched her bleeding hand until the sting anchored her.
She buried the instinct. Buried the power. Buried the wolf.
No one could ever know what she truly was.
Not if she wanted to live long enough to see her twenty-first birthday.
