Chapter 3 Selene's POV
“Move before you short-circuit the hallway too, human girl.”
Laughter followed behind me as I tightened my fingers around the strap of my bag and kept walking.
I didn’t turn around.
If there was one thing I had already learned about Ironveil Academy, it was that showing weakness here was like pouring blood into shark-infested water.
The wolves would smell it instantly and I was already drowning enough.
I walked faster through the silver-lit corridor while whispers followed me from every direction.
“That’s her.”
“The human.”
“She doesn’t even smell like one of us.”
“I heard Alpha Kael cornered her.”
“That’s because she is nosy.”
And there was more laughter. My chest tightened painfully.
Three days.
I had only survived three days inside Ironveil, and somehow the entire academy already knew my name. Not because I was special but because I didn’t belong here.
I swallowed hard and looked away from the stares burning into my skin. My mind drifted back to the cemetery, to the grave.
VOSS.
My mother’s surname even now, the memory made my stomach twist.
Why would someone with my mother’s family name be buried inside Ironveil Academy grounds?
And why did the grave have no death date? I could still remember the cold feeling that crawled across my skin when I saw it.
Isolde Voss the name wouldn’t leave my head, neither would Alpha Kael. I frowned immediately at the thought of him.
Annoying, arrogant, insufferably handsome.
The entire academy practically worshiped the ground he walked on, and somehow he always looked at me like I was a problem he couldn’t solve.
Or maybe a mistake.
The memory of his silver eyes staring directly into mine yesterday made my pulse quicken.
I hated that, I hated how nervous he made me feel and more importantly I hated how unsafe this place made me feel.
I was human, completely human, no claws, no wolf, no supernatural strength. Every day inside Ironveil felt like I was standing in the middle of a battlefield without armor.
One wrong move and I would die.
A loud buzzing sound suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts. The electronic classroom door in front of me flickered violently.
The keypad sparked students immediately back away.
“What the hell?”
“It is glitching again.”
Then the screen flashed red before the metal door suddenly slid open by itself.
Silence filled the hallway slowly, several heads turned toward me. My heartbeat dropped no, not again.
The same thing had happened yesterday in the west wing and in the cafeteria before that.
Every time I got nervous or emotional, something electronic nearby started malfunctioning.
I forced an awkward laugh. “Looks broken,” I muttered weakly.
Nobody laughed back.
A blond girl wrinkled her nose at me. “Ever since she came here, weird things keep happening.”
Another student stepped back cautiously even though the wolves nearby looked restless. One boy suddenly growled under his breath while staring directly at me.
The sound sent chills down my spine. I hurried past them before anyone could say anything else.
But deep down fear slowly settled inside me because they were right, weird things were happening around me.
And I had no idea why.
Night came with heavy rain.
Most students were inside the dorm towers preparing for combat training tomorrow, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the cemetery.
Especially the grave I sat on my bed staring at the tiny paper where I had secretly written the name earlier.
Isolde Voss.
My fingers trembled slightly. “Mom…” I whispered softly.
No one had ever told me anything about Ironveil, nothing about wolves, nothing about this place.
So why did her surname exist here? And why did I suddenly feel like everyone was hiding something from me?
I grabbed my hoodie before I could change my mind. If answers existed, I would find them myself even if it terrified me.
The cemetery looked even worse at night. Cold fog crawled between the gravestones while dead trees swayed violently in the wind.
I wrapped my hoodie tighter around myself as I carefully stepped through the muddy path.
Every instinct screamed at me to leave but I kept walking. Lightning flashed across the sky for one brief second, the hidden graves became visible again beneath the trees.
No death dates, just names like the people buried there had never truly died.
My breathing became uneven as I stopped in front of Isolde Voss’s grave again. Rain dripped down my face while I stared at it.
“Who are you?” I whispered shakily.
The wind suddenly stopped completely and silence swallowed the cemetery. Then a low growl echoed from the woods behind me.
I froze.
Another growl followed closer this time slowly, I turned around. Something massive moved between the trees.
My blood ran cold instantly. It wasn't a normal wolf, this thing looked wrong.
Its body was twisted unnaturally large, with black veins spreading beneath its gray fur. Its glowing red eyes locked directly onto me while saliva dripped from enormous fangs.
My legs nearly gave out.
The creature snarled violently then charged terror exploded inside me. I turned and ran.
Branches scratched my arms as I stumbled through the cemetery, my breathing becoming frantic.
The creature crashed through trees behind me with horrifying speed. It was gaining on me. I was going to die.
A scream ripped from my throat as I tripped against a broken gravestone and hit the muddy ground hard.
Pain shot through my knees, the creature lunged. Its claws raised toward my face instinctively, I threw my hands forward and touched it.
The world suddenly went silent.
The creature froze instantly, its glowing red eyes widened in shock. Its massive body weakened rapidly and I stared in horror.
“What…?”
The wolf collapsed onto the ground trembling violently.
Its glowing eyes slowly faded until nothing remained except dull emptiness and dead silence filled the woods.
My breathing shook uncontrollably as I stared at my hands.
I didn’t understand I hadn’t done anything, a branch cracked somewhere behind me.
I whipped around instantly and someone stepped out from the shadows between the trees.
Tall, cold, terrifyingly calm, rain slid down his dark coat while his silver eyes studied me carefully.
He was not shocked, not confused, almost amused. Like he had just confirmed something he already suspected.
Fear crawled down my spine as he slowly glanced at the creature beside me then back at me.
His lips curved slightly. “Interesting…” He said quietly.
My heart pounded harder as he took one slow step closer.
“You really don’t know what you are.”
