E L E V E N

NOVA NYX

I felt the prickle of awareness the moment I stepped into my room.

There was a suspicious lump sized shape in the middle of my bed, surrounding by my blankets and comforter.

My shoulders tensed when that lump shape thing started to move.

I swear to god, if those assholes out there were pranking me then I was going to throw more than a wooden spoon at their heads.

More like something sharp and pointy.

And I wouldn't miss.

With stiff fingers, I gripped the blankets and yanked them off of my bed.

I cried out in shock.

"Brutus!" I threw my arms around his thick neck, plunging my fingers in his grey wrinkly fur "Oh my god! I can't believe you're here!"

He perked up at my voice, those cloudy eyes of his seeking me out from the sound of my voice.

"How did you get here sweet boy?" I sniffled, wiping the stupid tear that managed to escape at seeing the last piece of home I had.

"Atlas had him camping out in his room for the night" Kassian's familiar voice "I'm surprised you didn't hear all of this poor guy's whining. He really missed you."

I turned to find Kassian leaning against my doorframe, regarding me with an unknown emotion in his green eyes.

I turned back to my sweet dog, bending down and touching my forehead to his.

"I missed him more" I kissed the sharp point of his head, an after effect caused by his abusive previous owners "He doesn't like being away from any of us longer than a few hours."

"Ah" Kassian nodded his head "That might be the reason I found Atlas passed out on the floor next to this poor guy. He was trying to comfort him."

Brutus snuggled closer into my side nudging my hand with his sharp head.

"Huh" I hummed.

"What?"

"I never took Atlas as an animal person."

Kassian snorted.

"Aren't we all considered animal people Princess?"

My lips twitched at the remark.

"I thought they sent him with my mom and brothers" I closed my eyes when Brutus flipped onto his side and pawed the air, motioning for me to continuously rub his belly "Why didn't they send him with them?"

"You don't want him here?" Kassian asked quietly "You didn't like the surprise?"

"Of course I want him here" My eyes snapped to his "But from what the council was implying, anything from my old life was considered a distraction. Why would they let me keep my dog if they wouldn't even let me stay in contact with my family?"

"The council doesn't know he's here" Kassian said, "And if it's alright with you, we'd like to keep it that way considering pets are officially off limits at Crescent Academy. Apparently there's enough wild animals running around as it is."

While he tried to play it off as no big deal, and make light of the situation, I saw through his thinly veiled facade.

"Whose idea was this?" I asked, having a sneaking suspicion of already knowing the answer "If it wasn't the Penta's, whose idea was it to bring my dog here?"

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You" I blinked, confirming my thoughts "It was your idea... But... why?"

He shrugged "You looked like you could use a friend."

With those final words, he disappeared into the hall and headed towards his room.

Leaving me to dissect not only his words but one of the most thoughtful gestures anyone has ever given to me.

"Come on bud" I whispered "It's time for bed."

~~~~~~~

"Uh..." The moment I stepped into my closest, I was immediately assaulted by an overwhelming amount of clothes.

What held a few items of clothing yesterday, mainly two uniforms and a couple sets of jeans, t-shirts, and satin pjs, now was filled with different styles of clothes, ranging from designer to generic brands and then some.

Don't even get me started on the shoes...from heels to a rainbow assortment of Docs, it seemed like whoever bought me these outfits had also taken into account the matching footwear.

My mouth gaped open when I also saw the brand new uniforms, these ones looking more luxurious and form fitting than the last ones.

My finger grazed over the small golden pin on the collar of my blazer, five little paw prints arranged into what looked a Pentagonal shape.

Before I even had time to question what that meant, the alarm on my phone rang.

My eyes widened when I realized I only had ten minutes to get dressed and move my ass out the door.

Dammit...looks like I'll be skipping breakfast.

Again...

~~~~~

1. From the Beginning: The History of Wolf Shifters and the First Packs

2. Basic Shifting 101

3. Shifter Defense

4. Learning the Lore

5. Study Hall

6. Living from the Land: Medicinal Review.

I was late...

On my first official day...

Wonderful...

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die when I opened the classroom door to my History of Wolf Shifters class and everyone's eyes immediately shifted to me.

"Ah!" The Professor ushered me inside "You must be our new student! How excellent! Please, take a seat in any free available spot. We just started our lesson."

My face burned even more as I had to walk across the large expansive classroom, that could double as a freaking auditorium with how big it was.

I would have thought it was the auditorium if Phoenix hadn't shown me on the tour that all classrooms in Crescent Academy were built like this considering that they needed as much space as they could in order to house dozens and dozens of shifters per course.

The moment I passed a particular group of girls in the front row, whispers started flying around from all directions.

"That's her?"

"She doesn't seem like much."

"Dude! She's hotter than I expected for someone that hung out in Norm world!"

"Saoirse's going to fucking flip her lid!"

"I bet her wolf is super strong."

I frowned at that last statement, tucking myself into the corner seat at the farthest row in the back.

"Class" the Professor clapped his hands "Let's focus back on the topic at hand."

He sat on the corner of his desk and glanced down at his open planner.

"Now where were we?"

~~~~~~~

By the time lunch came around, I was exhausted.

Both physically and mentally.

Because while the stares, whispers, and assessing gazes were a lot, the classes were even harder than I expected.

And while I didn't expect things to be easy, since I wasn't born with shifter knowledge like the other students were, I didn't know just how quite hard this shifter thing could be.

Harder than it sounds believe it or not... especially for someone who came from a shifter family like I did.

"Uh..." a soft voice said from behind me "I think you're sitting at the wrong table."

I turned my head and found a small girl standing behind me, her expression shy and eyes down cast as she fidgeted in her Maryjane shoes.

Her dark auburn hair was braided neatly down her back and her uniform hung off her small frame like they were two sizes too big.

"Oh, sorry" I gathered my bags "I didn't know that this table was taken."

"It's not that," she said quickly, placing her tray down on the table "It's just that it would be social self-destruction to sit with me."

I paused, looking as her cheeks turned red.

"Why?"

"What?" she asked, startled.

"Why would it be social self-destruction to sit with you?" I asked, sitting back down in my seat.

She blinked at me "Because you're an Heir."

"So?"

"And I'm a Gene" she said like it explained everything.

This time, I blinked up at her "A what?"

She sat down hesitantly "No one explained the hierarchy here to you?"

I shook my head

"No one's explained much to be except the bare minimum" I let out a humorless laugh "Apparently, it's on a need to know basis."

"Then I don't think I should be the one to tell you" Her expression turned hesitant "I..."

"Please..." I begged "You're the first person here that seems genuine and I much rather have the truth come from you than have a twisted version come from someone else."

"You've only known me for a few minutes" She twirled the loose thread of her blazer around her finger, momentarily cutting of the circulation, before releasing it and freeing her finger "I could be the biggest liar you've ever met."

"I have a pretty good bullshit meter" I smiled at her "And mine is telling me that you're not like that."

She gaped at me for a moment before a look of resolve set in her blue eyes, her spine steeling as she came to a decision.

My lips twitched.

"The first thing you should know about Crescent Academy is the Hierarchy" her voice was low as she spoke the words, her eyes flickering to the students in the surrounding tables next to us.

"There's a caste system here, and as much as administration likes to pretend it doesn't exist, that system determines who and how much these people are willing to get away with it" her lips pursed "The higher you're up in the ladder, the more you able to get away with. You're basically untouchable."

"Just how high is this metaphorical ladder?" I reared my head back "And how much can these people get away with?"

"There's Four tiers" she sighed "Each one more power-hungry than the last."

"That bad?"

She nodded.

"First you have the Pures, Those who come from families who are only from the most purest of shifter Packs" she nodded to a packed table filled with those from different breeds of life, all gorgeous and laughing with each other like there wasn't a care in the world.

"Next you have the Halves or Half Bloods" she continued " Those who have one parent that is one hundred percent Wolf shifter and the other is another type of shifter. However, to be accepted into the Academy, the Wolf gene must be dominant gene in the child born of these two shifters"

"There are other shifters out there besides Wolves?" I asked, surprised "Just how many shifters are there?"

"Not as many as you'd think" She listed them off on her fingers "Bears, Dragons, Panthers, Kitsunes."

"Holy shit" I leaned back in my seat "What the hell is a Kitsune?"

Her eyes widened at my words "You really don't know anything about our world, do you?"

I shook my head, picking at my plate "I really don't."

She shot me a pitying smile that I chose to ignore.

"Next you have the Genes" she changed the subject "Those of us born to purebred wolf shifters but have a mutation in our DNA that makes it impossible to shift into our wolves. We have plenty of the shifter gene to be admitted to the Academy, even more than the Half bloods, but due to our inability to shift we aren't considered worthy enough."

"What's the fourth one?" I asked, cocking my head to the side "You said there were four castes in this place. What's the last one?"

"The most rarest one of all" she whispered "The Heirs. Descendants from the Original five Packs."

"They're really that important?"

"Yes, you are" she corrected me with smile "You're the leaders of our community."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes "I think you're exaggerating on the importance of these Heirs."

"Uh...I don't know if you know this but ever since you've stepped into the lunch room, everyone's eyes have been on you."

"What?" I gasped, my own eyes widening "That's not true."

I turned and almost immediately those hundreds of eyes who were on me immediately darted away.

The only pair that remained were a set of brown eyes so dark they almost looked black.

A scowl was on her face as she glared at me with such hatred in her eyes.

It wasn't until the boy sitting next to her, who had the same dark eyes and hair color as her, nudged her, whispering something in her ear.

"Who's that?" I asked, nodding towards the Pureblood table "The girl, right in the middle."

"That's Saoirse Kyoto Fowl" she whispered "Heir Fowl's niece. That boy next to her is her brother, Yuto."

"And they're Heirs too?"

She shook her head "They would be if they're parentage wasn't in question."

"What do you mean?"

"Word has it that Heir Fowl's nephew, the Heir before her, had a wife who was a bit promiscuous" she said "Because of that, their legitimacy status is being question by the Packs, especially since Heir Fowl is retiring once Yuto graduates."

I glanced at them again and while her gaze was no longer on me, I could still feel the hatred radiating off her in waves, aimed directly at me for some reason.

"Can they hear us?" I murmured, looking back at my new friend "Can they hear what we're saying?"

She shook her head.

"Imbued in the tables, our doom rooms, or the Professors private offices are little fragments of sound stones" she explained "And unlike the name implies, the stones make it impossible for others to eavesdrop on private conversations."

A shadow fell over the table, and we both simultaneously turned our heads to see Atlas standing there.

"Jade" Atlas acknowledged my new friend before turning his attention to me "Nova."

Jade looked like she was a second away from fainting at Atlas' attention.

"If you'd excuse us" he nodded for Jade to head out "We have some things we need to discuss."

Jade gathered her things quickly, scrambling as far away from the table as soon as possible.

"Of course..." she stuttered, gazing down at the floor before glancing up at me "I'll...I'll see you later."

I smiled softly at her, waving to her retreating form before turning back to the man sitting across from me.

My smile faded when my gaze met his serious amber ones.

"What is it?"

"I'm to escort you to your final class" he said simply.

"Why?"

"Because this class is the hardest one of all" he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms "And Coach is a hard ass. I'm to act as the buffer between you and everyone else."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair "Why you?"

"Because Coach purposely failed Kassian six times and hates Phoenix's guts" he said "I'm the only Heir he can tolerate to be around."

I was quickly leaning that one thing about Atlas was that he was never going to be someone to mince words in order to spare another feelings.

He called it like he saw it and while it was an admirable trait, I could vaguely see how it could get irritating for me going forward.

Like when he opened his mouth in the next moment.

"And since you can't shift, I have a feeling Coach is going to be on your ass more than the others."

"I thought he was supposed to remain unbiased?" I frowned "You know, as part of the faculty and all."

Atlas just stared at me, not saying a word to defend the shifting Professor.

"Right" I nodded my head, catching what he was saying without words "I'm guessing he doesn't like non-shifters?"

Atlas shook his head.

"He doesn't like Heirs" he said "We don't know why but Coach is especially hard on us for some reason. Kass thinks it's just because he's an emotionless prick."

My lips twitched "But you don't."

He shrugged "No one can understand why coach acts the way he does."

The Bell rang just as I was about to ask more questions.

"Come on," Atlas stood, nodding towards the cafeteria door "Best not to be late for his class or else he'll make you run five extra miles."