Chapter 2 Chapter 2
Kaelani POV
On the drive to school Kaia keeps glancing at me.
“Just say it already,” I mutter, not taking my eyes off the road.
She turns slightly in her seat.
“Okay first tell me about this dream.” She turns the radio down to hear me better.
“I woke up in the woods in the pack and there was a giant white oak. Inside I saw my Nana. She basically told me I was a witch and not just any witch but the High Priestess of our coven. Oh and if I don’t find the tree my magic will consume me, so I’m thinking sudden death.”
I shiver.
The words sound ridiculous when I say them out loud, but the fear sitting in my chest is very real. Every time I think about Nana fading away, all I hear is the same sentence over and over again. Find the tree before the magic consumes you.
“Holy shit that is so cool.” She grins.
“Of course she finds it cool,” Nyra giggles.
“Okay so mission of the year, find the tree before you turn into a ticking time bomb. Got it.”
I shake my head.
“Yeah pretty much.”
As we pull into the school parking lot, Crescent Moon Academy comes into view. It used to only house three of the largest packs in the realm, my pack The Blackridge Pack, The Blue Mountain Pack and The White Claw Pack. This year Crescent Ridge Pack and Harvest Moon Pack have joined the school as their packs have grown in size over the years.
Normally the sight of the school settles me. I've spent three years here. I know every hallway, every classroom and every shortcut. Today it doesn't feel familiar at all. It feels like everything changed overnight and nobody bothered to warn me.
Kaia grabs my arm before I move to get out.
“What about Kieran? Did you see how he looked at you? He has never even looked at you before.”
Kieran Vale.
Alpha heir of the Blue Mountain Pack and my little sister Aliza’s boyfriend.
Yet the way he looked at me today makes me think that won’t be the case much longer and that is drama I don’t need.
The strange part isn't that he looked. It's that Kieran has spent years acting like I barely exist. People don't suddenly become interesting overnight.
“Yeah I know it was weird, won’t be entertaining that at all.”
I climb out of the car.
The moment I do, conversations dip and students glance my way.
What the hell was that?
“Why is everyone staring at you Lani?” Kaia asks.
I shrug and throw my bag over my shoulder.
“I don’t know and I’m not standing here to find out.”
As we start walking toward the school, snippets of conversation reach me.
“Is that Kaelani Quinn?”
“Is she wearing a skirt?”
“Holy fuck she’s hot.”
Three years. Three years of these people seeing me almost every day and suddenly they're acting like I've appeared out of thin air.
“Ignore them,” Nyra says soothingly.
“It’s fine, I expected it.”
That doesn't make it any less annoying.
We step into the school.
“Good morning students please report to the auditorium for a few announcements.”
Principal Rivers’ voice echoes through the hall over the megaphone.
Kaia and I make our way inside and sit in the back close to the door.
After I take my seat, someone sits on the other side of me.
I look over.
And goddess, he is a god.
For a second my brain completely forgets how to function.
He looks at me and smiles, his gray eyes lighting up.
“Hey, do you mind if I sit here?” His voice is smooth.
My voice gets stuck somewhere between my brain and my mouth.
Before I can answer, Kaia beats me to it.
“Nope, it is perfectly fine. Ignore my friend, she isn’t used to seeing gods in person.”
I gasp in embarrassment.
I know my face is beet red.
If the floor opened up and swallowed me whole, I would happily go.
“what the hell are you doing?” I link her.
“Helping,” she replies before shutting me out.
Traitor.
He holds his hand out to me.
“Liam.”
I grab his hand and warmth spreads through me.
Not sparks. Not electricity. Just warmth. Like stepping into sunlight after being cold for too long.
He glances down at our hands and I pull mine back fast as if his touch burns.
“I’m Kaelani.”
“Quinn?”
“Yes, you know me?”
He laughs and gods it's amazing.
“No. I know your brother Ezra and your dad. I’m Liam Grey.”
Recognition hits me immediately.
Alpha heir.
Of course he is.
There is absolutely no way the Moon Goddess created a man that looks like this and didn't make him important.
“Stop drooling,” Nyra teases.
“The future Alpha of Crescent Ridge.”
His eyes lock on mine before flicking down to my lips.
Heat rushes through me.
“Yeah, you heard of me?”
“Yeah. As the Alpha’s daughter I’m required to know, especially those who are allies.”
My father made sure I knew every Alpha heir, Beta heir and future leader worth remembering.
Unfortunately he never prepared me for what to do when one smiled at me.
“That’s good to know.”
“So what’s the school like?”
“Drama. Lots of it,” Kaia answers immediately.
I look around the auditorium and in the back, leaning against the doors with Aliza on his arm, is Kieran.
His eyes are locked on me.
I squirm under his gaze.
There it is again.
That same look from this morning.
Like he’s trying to figure something out.
Or remember something.
What is going on this year?
Principal Rivers steps onto the stage and grabs his megaphone.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to a new year at Crescent Moon Academy..."
For once I barely pay attention.
My mind keeps bouncing between a magical tree, Liam Grey sitting next to me and Kieran staring holes through the side of my face.
When the announcements end and everyone starts filing out, Liam turns to me.
“So since I need a buddy, would you like to be mine?”
“She would love to be your buddy!” Kaia shouts.
“Kaia will you stop?”
At this point I’m considering leaving her at school and driving home alone.
I make my way to the table for Q.
“Name?”
“Kaelani Quinn.”
Mr. Greene looks up.
“Blackridge. Your brother was a great student.”
I smile.
“He is quite the overachiever.”
“Good luck in the tournament this year.”
The tournament.
Normally that's the thing I'd be thinking about.
Not witches. Not Alpha heirs. Not mysterious stares.
I walk back toward Kaia.
She and Liam are standing with a boy just as tall as him.
“Hey Lani, this is Sebastian, Liam’s Beta.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Finally I look down at my schedule.
Liam peeks over my shoulder.
He smells so good.
Like he put the smell of freshly fallen rain into a bottle and added mint.
“Oh we have Healer Sciences, Alpha Strategy and Governance, Combat and Lunch together. That should be fun.”
“It should be something.”
Just then Kieran walks up to us.
He stops directly in front of me and looks between Liam and me.
The tension is so thick you could cut it.
And somehow I seem to be standing in the middle of it.
“Quinn got a minute?”
His voice is deeper than I remember.
“You want to talk to me?”
I can't keep the confusion out of my voice.
“Yes, if you don’t mind.”
“Talk.”
His eyes flick to Liam.
Then back to me.
“In private.”
“Yeah I would rather not, so either say it here or not at all. I don’t need Aliza getting any wrong ideas.”
For a second something flashes across his face.
Frustration.
Disappointment.
Maybe both.
“You know what, never mind.”
He storms down the hall.
“Awwkwaaard,” Kaia sings.
Liam and Sebastian chuckle.
I shake my head.
“Okay moving on.”
I hold out my hand for Liam’s schedule.
He hands it over.
Our fingers brush.
That same warmth surges through me again.
My heart immediately starts acting like it has lost all common sense.
I spent the last three years proving I was as good as the future Alphas and Betas of the packs and I’ve never been this nervous around a guy outside of combat.
“Yes we can tell,” Nyra teases.
“Shut it wolf.”
“You have Werewolf History in room 116, so you're going to walk down this hall, then go right, then walk straight until you cross the doors to the catwalk. It’s the second door on the left.”
He smiles.
I immediately look down.
“Those were great directions. See you in class Kaelani.”
He walks backwards for a few steps before turning and disappearing down the hall.
My heart is still pounding.
Why is my body reacting to him?
And why is Kieran suddenly acting like I've existed all along?
I step into the classroom and stop in my tracks.
Sitting in the back is Kieran.
The only empty seat is next to him.
Heat crawls up my neck when he sees me.
A slow smile spreads across his face.
Part excitement.
Part hunger.
I swallow hard.
Yesterday Kieran Vale barely spoke to me.
Today he can't stop looking at me.
Liam Grey makes my heart do things it has never done before.
And somewhere in my pack is a tree that might be the only thing standing between me and whatever this magic is turning me into.
Whatever is going on this year—
I have a feeling the first day is only the beginning.
