Moonbound Academy

Moonbound Academy

Chapter One

The Day Before the Moon Ceremony

Ellai

Tomorrow, everything would change. At least, that was what everyone kept saying.

Tomorrow was the Moon Ceremony. Tomorrow, the graduating students of Moonbound Academy would stand beneath the Silver Moon and discover whether the Moon Goddess had chosen a fated mate for them.

Tomorrow, I would finally leave this place. That last part was the one I was looking forward to most.

I tightened my grip around the books pressed against my chest and hurried across the courtyard, keeping my eyes fixed on the stone path beneath my feet.

One more day.

After years at Moonbound Academy, surely I could survive one more day.

“Careful, Omega.” I stopped. Of course.

Serena and Selena Ravenscar stood beside the fountain as though they had been waiting for me. Awful timing.

The twins were impossible to tell apart at first glance. Same long blonde hair. Same perfectly shaped features. Same expensive academy uniform altered just enough to make sure everyone knew the rules didn’t apply to them.

And exactly the same expression whenever they looked at me.

Disgust.

Serena tilted her head. “Wouldn’t want you tripping over yourself before tomorrow.”

Selena laughed.

“You know, with all those awards Ella’s won, you’d think she’d have learned how to walk by now.”

I looked towards the academy doors. Ignore them.

That had become my answer to most things involving the Ravenscar twins. They weren’t even graduating this year. They were a year below us. Yet somehow they had convinced their parents to allow them to attend tomorrow night’s celebrations. How is that fair!

Not because they cared about the Moon Ceremony. They wanted the party. And, more importantly, they wanted to watch everyone else discover their mates.

“I’m going to class,” I said quietly. Serena moved in front of me.

“You always are.”

Her eyes dropped to the books in my arms.

“Studying. Winning awards. Getting praised by every teacher in this place.” Selena stepped beside her.

“It’s embarrassing, really.” I swallowed. There were hundreds of things I could have said. That I studied because I enjoyed learning. That winning academic awards didn’t make me think I was better than anyone. That being an Omega didn’t mean I was stupid.

Instead, I said nothing.

Because I had learned years ago that answering them usually made things worse. A memory came without warning.

Selena knocking my books from my hands when I was twelve. Serena laughing while pages scattered across a muddy courtyard.

Pick them up, Omega.

Another memory. My first academy dance. A beautiful pale-blue dress my mum had spent months saving for.

Red juice deliberately tipped down the front before I had even reached the hall.

Oops.

Another. Their voices behind me after I had received the highest examination results in our year.

Teachers only like her because they feel sorry for her.

I blinked. The courtyard returned. I hated when that happened, without warning too. My memory has always been amazing, even when I didn’t want to remember things.

Sometimes the memories felt so close that I could almost hear their laughter again.

“Move.”

The voice behind me changed everything. The twins fell silent. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

Kaiden Ravenscar.

Their older brother. Future High Alpha. And the one person at Moonbound Academy I had spent years trying very hard not to think about.

Kaiden

I had watched my sisters torment Ella Ashwood for years. That was the truth. An uncomfortable one.

I hadn’t joined in. I had never laughed.

I had occasionally told them to stop. And somehow, until recently, I had managed to convince myself that was enough.

It wasn’t.

Ella stood between them now, holding her books tightly against herself. She was trying to look unaffected. I knew better.

Her jaw was tense.

Her shoulders were too stiff.

“Move,” I repeated.

Serena rolled her eyes. “We’re only talking.”

“No. You’re upsetting her.”

Selena looked offended.

“She can defend herself, she’s done it loads of times.”

“That doesn’t mean she should have to.”

Ella finally looked at me. For a moment, neither of us spoke.

I had known her almost my entire life. Yet lately, looking at Ella felt different.

Maybe it was because tomorrow we were graduating.

Maybe it was because tomorrow night I could discover the person the Moon Goddess had chosen for me.

Or maybe it was because I had spent too many years pretending I hadn’t noticed how beautiful Ella Ashwood had become.

Not just beautiful.

Everyone noticed that.

It was impossible not to.

Her long dark hair fell almost to her waist, and there was something about her eyes that made people look twice. But Ella had always been more than that.

She was intelligent.

Far more intelligent than most of the people who looked down on her.

She had won practically every academic award available at Moonbound.

She was kind even when people gave her no reason to be. And she had one of the strangest wolves I had ever seen.

Pure white.

Not pale grey.

Not silver.

White.

I had seen it only once, during one of our transformation exercises.

I had never forgotten it.

“Kaiden.” Serena folded her arms. “Why do you even care?” I looked at my sister.

Why did I care? I didn’t have an answer. Or maybe I had one I wasn’t ready to admit.

“Just leave her alone.”

Ella tried to walk past.

Selena deliberately shifted into her way. Ella stepped sideways.

Her books slipped.

I reached out instinctively.

My hand closed around her forearm.

The world exploded.

Ella

Pain shot through me. No. Not pain.

Electricity.

A brilliant silver-white bolt burst between Kaiden’s hand and my arm.

I gasped.

Kaiden stumbled backwards. My books crashed onto the ground.

For one impossible second the entire courtyard disappeared beneath a flash of white light.

And then I heard her.

My wolf.

Usually she existed as a quiet presence inside me.

Calm. Watchful. Different.

But now she surged forward so violently that my knees almost buckled.

I froze.

“What was that?” Selena whispered.

Nobody answered.

Kaiden stared at his hand. I stared at mine. Silver sparks seemed to dance across my fingertips before disappearing.

Students around us had stopped walking. Everyone was watching.

Great.

Because apparently years of humiliation weren’t enough. Now I could add exploding in the courtyard to the list.

“Ella?” Kaiden stepped towards me.

I stepped backwards. Something inside me reacted immediately.

Warmth spread through my chest. My wolf pressed harder.

Him. Stop. I didn’t know what she meant. I didn’t want to know.

The Moon Ceremony wasn’t until tomorrow. Mates weren’t revealed until the ceremony. Everybody knew that.

Unless …

No. Impossible.

“Are you hurt?” Kaiden asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I said I’m fine.”

I bent quickly to pick up my books. Kaiden crouched at the same time.

Our fingers almost touched. Another tiny spark jumped between us. We both pulled away.

His eyes met mine. He had seen it too. This time there was no pretending. I grabbed my books quickly.

“I have to go.”

“Ella—”

But I was already walking. Then running. I didn’t stop until I had reached the library.

Kaiden

“What did you do to her?” Serena’s question snapped me back into the courtyard.

“I didn’t do anything.”

Selena stared towards the doors Ella had disappeared through.

“What was that light?”

“I don’t know.”

But I intended to find out. My wolf had been pacing inside me since the second I touched Ella.

Not pacing. Fighting. Trying to get out. I had never felt him like this before.

Mine.

The word slammed through my head. I stopped breathing.

No.

Tomorrow was the ceremony.

Not today.

And Ella Ashwood, well Ella was an Omega. Wasn’t she?

I looked down at my hand. The place where I had touched her still tingled.

My sisters started talking again. Something about the party tomorrow. Something about what they were going to wear.

Something about which boys would be there.

I barely heard them.

For the first time in my life, I found myself wondering how much I actually knew about Ella Ashwood. And why my wolf seemed absolutely certain that she belonged with me.

Ella

The library was almost empty. Perfect. I went straight to the oldest section.

Pack History.

I selected both Ancient Bloodlines and Moon Goddess Mythology. My hands shook as I pulled books from the shelves.

There had to be an explanation.

Anything other than the one my wolf kept trying to give me.

I sat at the furthest table and opened the first book.

Nothing.

Second.

I turned pages faster. Then something caught my eye.

A drawing.

A wolf standing beneath a full moon.

A completely white wolf.

My heart stopped. I pulled the book closer. The text beneath the picture was faded.

Among the oldest stories of our kind exists the legend of the White Wolf.

I read faster.

Born rarely among the packs, the pure white wolf was once believed to represent a bloodline blessed directly by the Moon Goddess.

I stared at the words.

Blessed? That didn’t make sense. I was an Omega. My parents were ordinary wolves.

Our family had no remarkable bloodline.

I continued reading.

Ancient accounts speak of abilities lying dormant until the wolf reaches maturity. Some stories claim these gifts awaken only when the White Wolf encounters the mate chosen for them by the Moon Goddess.

My stomach dropped.

No.

I read the paragraph again.

Then again.

The mate acts as the key.

My hands went cold.

Kaiden.

The bolt.

My wolf.

Him.

I slammed the book shut. It was a myth. That was all. A stupid ancient story.

Tomorrow I would go to the Moon Ceremony.

I would stand beneath the moon like every other graduating student. And whoever my mate was would be revealed then.

Maybe it would be nobody.

That happened.

Not everyone found their mate at eighteen.

But one thing I knew for certain.

It could not be Kaiden Ravenscar.

Kaiden

By the time I reached home, Serena and Selena had already beaten me there.

I could hear them before I even entered the kitchen.

“Honestly, you should have seen Ella’s face.”

Serena was laughing. Selena lifted her hands dramatically.

“And then, boom! Light everywhere.”

Mum frowned and was looking between them.

“What are you talking about?”

“Kaiden touched Ella and they practically exploded.”

My father stopped moving. I noticed immediately. Dad noticed everything.

He had been High Alpha for nearly twenty years. Nothing surprised him.

Yet now he was staring directly at me.

“What happened?”

“It was nothing.”

Dad’s expression changed.

“Kaiden.”

I sighed.

“I grabbed her arm because the twins were bothering her.”

“We weren’t bothering her,” Serena muttered.

Dad ignored her.

“And?”

“There was some kind of shock.”

“What kind?”

“I don’t know. Electricity.”

His eyes narrowed.

“And your wolf?”

I looked at him. That question was too specific.

“How did you know?”

Dad stood.

“Come with me.”

“Dad. I need some time to think.”

“Now.”

The room fell silent. Even the twins stopped talking. I followed him into his study. I looked back at mum and she was smiling at me.

The door closed behind us.

For several seconds he simply looked at me.

Then he smiled. Not a big smile. But enough.

“What?”

He walked towards the window.

“The first time I touched your mother, I thought I’d been struck by lightning.” My chest tightened.

“No.” Dad turned.

“Yes.”

“The ceremony is tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t always begin at the ceremony.”

I stared at him.

“My wolf said”

“Mine?” I didn’t answer.

Dad’s smile grew.

“Thought so.” I ran a hand through my hair.

“Ella Ashwood cannot be my mate.”

“Why?”

“She’s an Omega.”

“And?”

“And I’m going to be High Alpha.”

Dad’s expression hardened instantly. “Choose your next words carefully.”

I looked away. Shame and embarrassment rushed through me. The words sounded worse spoken aloud than they had in my head. Ella being an Omega didn’t make her less than me. I knew that. So why had that been the first reason I reached for?

Ella being an Omega didn’t make her less than me. If anything, the thought suddenly irritated me.

How many times had I heard people treat her as though it did?

How many times had my own sisters done exactly that while I stood nearby?

A memory came back to me. Ella at thirteen, standing beside her locker while Serena mocked the second hand bag she carried.

I had walked past.

Ella at fourteen, sitting alone during lunch after Selena had spread some stupid rumour about her. I had done nothing.

Ella at sixteen, trying not to cry while my sisters laughed behind her. Again, nothing.

My stomach twisted. I had stood up for her today. But I should have done it years ago.

Dad seemed to read something in my face.

“If she is your mate, Kaiden, then tomorrow changes everything.”

I looked towards the study door.

“And if she isn’t?”

Dad was quiet for a moment.

“Then you need to find another explanation for what happened.”

I thought about the silver light. Ella’s frightened expression. My wolf’s reaction.

Mine.

Something told me my father already knew the answer. And somewhere across Moonbound territory, I suspected Ella was searching for the same one.

Tomorrow night we would stand beneath the Silver Moon.

Tomorrow we would leave the academy behind. Tomorrow we might discover who fate had chosen for us.

But as I stared at the hand that had touched Ella Ashwood, I had the strangest feeling fate had already made its decision.

And neither of us was ready for it.