Reborn at the Academy

Maya

“Stop breathing like that. You’re going to pass out before they even call your name.”

Lena’s hands are a frantic buzz on my shoulders, smoothing a wrinkle that isn’t there for the tenth time. My own hands are clenched in the folds of my simple gray dress, knuckles white. “I can’t help it. My heart is trying to escape my body.”

“Let it,” she says, her voice fierce. She pulls back, her bright green eyes scanning me from head to toe. “You look beautiful. Not that it matters. The Moon Goddess doesn’t care if your dress is silk or sackcloth.”

“Some people seem to think she does.” My gaze drifts across the crowded antechamber. It’s a sea of rustling fabrics and nervous laughter. Everyone is eighteen. Everyone is holding their breath tonight. The air is thick with the scent of pine from the ceremonial wreaths and something else, something electric and wild. Hope. It smells like hope.

Finn pushes himself off the stone wall he was leaning against. He doesn’t say much, he never does, but his presence is a solid, calming weight. “The probabilities of an unmated calling are less than one percent. You have nothing to worry about.”

I offer him a weak smile. “Thanks, Finn. Very reassuring.”

“He’s right,” Lena insists, looping her arm through mine. “And we all know the name you’re waiting to hear. It’s the only name you’ve ever waited to hear.”

Kael. Just thinking his name makes a nervous flutter start in my stomach. Kael of the Silvercrest Pack. Son of the Alpha. Future Alpha himself. He’s everything I’m not. Bold, confident, born to lead. I was born to fade into the background. ‘Don’t make waves, Maya,’ my mother has whispered to me my entire life. ‘Our family is safest when it’s unnoticed.’ My father would just nod, his eyes holding a quiet sadness I never understood. So I learned to be quiet. I learned to blend in. I became the girl no one really saw, sitting in the back of the class, training in the shadow of others.

But I saw him.

I’ve watched him for years. The way he leads the pack drills with an easy authority. The way his laughter rings out across the dining hall. The kindness in his eyes when he helps a younger student who’s struggling. He is my perfect, impossible fairytale.

“He probably doesn’t even know my name,” I whisper, the confession feeling like a betrayal to the desperate hope I’m clinging to.

“That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” Lena snaps, her loyalty a sharp, protective shield. “I saw him at the sparring grounds yesterday. You were practicing against that dummy, and you did that spinning kick you’ve been perfecting.”

My cheeks burn. “I tripped at the end.”

“It doesn’t matter. He was watching you. Not Seraphina, who was practically draping herself over his shoulder. You, Maya. His eyes were on you.”

Speak of the devil. A ripple of whispers follows Seraphina as she glides through the crowd, her crimson dress a slash of color in the muted room. She’s flanked by two of her followers, and her eyes, cold and calculating, land on our small group. She gives me a slow, deliberate once-over, her lip curling into a smirk.

“Still trying, Maya?” Her voice is like honey laced with poison. “It’s admirable, I suppose. In a pathetic sort of way.” She doesn’t wait for a response, just sweeps past, her gaze flicking over to where Kael is standing with his friends near the great oak doors.

I feel myself shrink. My mother’s words echo in my head. Don’t make waves.

Lena’s grip on my arm tightens. “Viper. One day she’s going to bite off more than she can chew.”

“She’s right, though,” I mumble. “Look at her. Look at me.”

“I am looking,” Finn says, his voice quiet but firm, forcing me to meet his steady gaze. “And I see the girl who outscored Seraphina on the tactical exam. I see the girl who sat with me for a week after my father died. I see Maya. The Moon Goddess sees that, too. Not the dress.”

Tears prick my eyes, and I blink them back fiercely. I can’t ruin the minimal makeup Lena forced on me. Tonight isn’t about tactical exams or being a good friend. Tonight is about something older, something elemental. The Mating Ceremony is everything. It defines your future, your status, your entire life. Your destined mate is your other half, your strength. To be chosen is a blessing. To be rejected… it’s a fate worse than death. A life sentence of pity and shame.

A deep, resonant chime echoes through the hall, silencing the nervous chatter instantly. It’s time.

“This is it,” Lena breathes, squeezing my hand one last time. “Your whole life is about to begin.”

We move with the rest of the students into the Great Hall. Torches flicker in their sconces, casting long, dancing shadows on the stone walls. The pack elders and our families are seated on raised platforms, their faces a mixture of pride and anxiety. At the front of the room, Headmaster Alistair stands before the sacred Moonstone, a massive, glowing crystal that pulses with a soft, silver light.

I find a spot near the middle of the crowd, Lena and Finn flanking me like guards. My eyes scan the room, searching, until they find him. Kael. He stands tall near the front, the firelight catching the silver streaks in his dark hair. He looks like a prince from one of the old stories.

For a single, breathtaking moment, his gaze sweeps over the crowd and our eyes lock. It’s just for a second, maybe less, but it happens. My heart doesn’t just flutter; it soars. A warmth spreads through my chest, a dizzying, powerful surge of hope. It’s a sign. It has to be.

Headmaster Alistair raises his hands, and a profound silence falls over the hall. The only sound is the crackling of the torches and the frantic beating of my own heart.

“Let the Mating Ceremony commence,” his voice booms, resonating with age and authority. “Let the Moon Goddess reveal her will.”