Bianca

I came to this new school today furious.

I wore a silk rose-colored skirt and my new perfume from Paris, which pairs beautifully with smiling through clenched teeth.

An illegitimate child. An illegitimate child who could no longer attend school in the royal pack, forced to be exiled to another pack to attend school in secret—damn it, why did my useless mother have to make me an illegitimate child?!

You see, I should have been raised in the royal pack, but no, my mother just had to be the mistress.

Not the wife. Not the Luna.

Just the bitter secret no one wanted to acknowledge, a bastard of a child.

My father tries because, well, guilt suits him well. It bought me luxury cars, diamonds, and enough designer handbags to crush a lesser girl. But money isn’t legacy. Bloodlines don’t lie.

Even if they won’t admit it, I’m just as royal as any of them.

So when I arrived this morning, and people assumed I was the female alpha… well. I smiled, tilted my chin high, and accepted their awe like I’d been born for it.

Because, duh, I was.

Honestly, what was I supposed to do—correct them? Apologize for being mistaken as someone powerful?

No thank you.

And anyway, the female alpha and I, we’re basically cousins. So it’s not like the students were wrong wrong. Close enough, right?

And then there was him. Callum.

Broad shoulders, sharp jaw, that scar above his brow that makes him look dangerous in all the right ways. Every girl at this school practically melted when he looked their way, but he was at my side. Escorting me through campus like I belonged on his arm.

Cause I did.

As we walked, Toby—Callum’s little student council sidekick—kept fluttering around me like some loyal courtier, telling me how the student council was at my disposal. That I could contact him anytime I needed something. “We’re here to serve you, Princess,” he said.

I almost laughed. Princess. Finally, someone was saying it out loud.

I turned to Callum and gave him my softest smile. “By the way, am I troubling you, sir? I don’t want to pull you away from your work.”

He looked down at me with those storm-colored eyes and said, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve known since we were young that we’d be together. Your matters are my matters.”

Then he paused, his fingers brushing my earlobe—so gentle, so unexpected I flinched.

“Your ears are bare…” he murmured. “Those earrings I sent you earlier this year should suit you well. I hope you’ll wear them.”

Gods, the heat. I ate it up.

“Right,” I muttered, trying to hide the flush rising in my cheeks as he pulled away. “The earrings. Sure.”

Of course, I had never received them. I wasn’t the princess.

But that didn’t matter.

Eventually, Toby caught up with us again, looking nervous. He whispered something to Callum, something about a wolfless girl, Liora, apparently, being bullied.

Right, that girl. She’d been standing there at the gates, looking so… plain. Like she’d rolled out of bed and biked here from a homeless camp.

Still, something about her, wolfless and all, bothered me more than the usual nobodies. Like a thorn I couldn’t quite pull out.

Toby said Jessica was bullying her. Apparently, in my name.

I caught myself from laughing out loud. I had servants already?

Callum looked concerned, and I could already see where this was going.

“She’s just overzealous,” I said sweetly, stepping in before he could act. “Jessica admires me. She’s just trying to protect me. Isn’t that flattering?”

He hesitated, and for a second, I thought that might be the end of it.

But then he told me something that made my blood run cold.

“I need to be honest about something. Something I felt. That girl,” he said, “the one from the gate… I think…she’s my fated mate.”

I blinked.

Her?

The wolfless reject with the attitude problem? The one who had the audacity to question him?

I eyes Callum curiously. Telling me, the Princess, that with so much at stake for his pack? Definitely a risk.

How cute.

I smiled, slowly, deliberately.

My hand slipped onto his arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze… just tight enough to remind him who I now was.

“Then you’ll reject her,” I said. “Because you love me. We’re arranged, remember?”

Liora

“Callum would like to speak with you,” Toby repeated when I didn’t reply, avoiding my eyes. “During combat class. Please be prepared.”

Prepared.

Fighting? Sure, easy.

Facing Callum?

My mind broke into a million different plans.

Combat class took place on the school’s open training field. A wide dirt arena under a too-bright sky, ringed by spectators and students who pretended not to watch but always did.

The others were already shifting—wolves with gleaming coats that matched the hair on their heads, fur bristling, baring teeth like they had something to prove.

I stayed near the edge, standing perfectly still. The charm around my neck pulsed faintly, keeping my aura dulled and scentless. As far as anyone knew, I was just another wolfless girl who didn’t belong.

Jessica made a point of circling back toward me, her wolf form was rather small, this red mix of mousey brown and fawn. But I didn't pay any attention to her deliberate display of arrogance.

I was thinking about him.

Callum.

The so-called perfect heir. My mate. My... fiancé.

The earrings I’d received weeks ago—silver, etched with royal crestwork—had confused me when they arrived. No note. No explanation.

Now I understood. They were from him. From Callum. A gesture, I assumed, from a boy who thought he was fulfilling some flattery, sending trinkets to a girl he'd never seen.

Mia returned to my side shortly after. Her cheeks were red, her posture tense.

“I couldn’t shift again,” she muttered, frustrated. “I was so close this time.”

She wasn’t, but I nodded, still watching the field. No point in drowning her spark.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

I hesitated, then gave her a faint smile. “That I might have to talk to someone I don’t really want to talk to.”

Her eyes widened. “Is it a him?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to. Mia’s gasp was soft but breathless. “Oh stars... You found your fated mate? Already?”

She didn’t need to know who, but yes.

Even so, I couldn’t live my life bound by arranged marriages and bloodlines. I’d come here to be seen for who I was, not for the crown people imagined on my head.

If Callum would only notice me when I was wearing the right name... was that love?

Still, I needed to speak with him. Face to face.

When he finally arrived, the reaction was immediate. Girls froze mid-swing. A few giggled nervously. One outright dropped her training weapon.

Callum walked across the arena with combat gear in hand, handing off supplies to Bianca like it was a royal ceremony. She accepted them with a smile too perfect to be sincere.

Then he turned and walked toward me.

The crowd’s eyes followed. My pulse stayed even, but my body tensed like it knew what was coming before I did.

I stepped forward from the shadows as he neared, keeping my voice even. “If we’re going to talk, we should go somewhere else. Somewhere quieter.”

Maybe… I could tell him the truth.

But he looked at me, his jaw tightened.

“No,” he said flatly. “We’ll speak here.”

A beat passed, and then his voice raised, just loud enough for those around us to hear.

“I don’t know who you are, but let me make this clear, this” Callum paused, meeting my eyes. “It ends here — ”

“— In the name of the Moon Goddess, I reject the bond, Liora Belrose.”

Liora

The words were still hanging in the air.

The training field had gone quiet, eerily quiet. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath, waiting to see if I would break.

Behind me, I could hear whispers rising, soft, sharp-edged things.

“Wait... did he say what I think he said? Severed a bond? Like…mates?”

“They’re mates? Her?”

“The alpha heir and a wolfless?”

Jessica’s voice cut through the murmurs like a blade, triumphant and sneering. “What?! No way! Liora doesn’t deserve him! Doesn’t she know Callum and Princess Bianca are meant to be together?”

But before I could say anything I felt it; a pause, a delay.

The rejection… hadn’t gone through. I still felt the tether, frayed but intact.

Maybe I know the real reason behind this—because when he rejected me, he didn’t use my real name.

My real name carries the royal family’s surname. A rejection without using the true name isn't valid.

Clearly, Callum had thought of this as well. He looked a little surprised.

We locked eyes. His eyes narrowed, like I was an inconvenience he’d nearly discarded.

My teeth clenched, anger was the only thing I could feel.

“Do you love her?” I asked, voice low but clear. “Or are you just rejecting the mate the Moon Goddess gave you because she isn’t wearing a title?”

His jaw tightened. “That’s not something you should know.”

Before I could speak again, she appeared.

Bianca.

She walked with the grace of someone who thought she owned every step. And then—she kissed him.

On the cheek.

My lip twitched.

“Isn’t that the answer to your question?” she said, her voice as sweet as rot. “Don’t you get it yet?”

Jessica laughed, full and cruel. “Poor little wolfless. Guess you’re not so special after all.”

The ache in my chest twisted, sharpened by the sound of it. I didn’t look away. I wouldn’t give them that.

Mia edged closer to me. I could feel her trying to shrink in the face of all that attention on me, but she didn’t run. She stood there, quiet, until the silence started to thicken around us.

“I think you’re both being awful,” she said, barely above a whisper.

Why was she sticking up for me?

Mia whispered tremulously, "…I, I, Liora, maybe you don't feel the same, but for the first time, someone is talking to me and eating with me…"

"I wish I could protect you… and be your friend…"

Jessica whipped around, her eyes sharp. “Excuse me?”

Mia flinched but didn’t back down. “You don’t get to treat people like this just because they’re different.”

Jessica’s expression turned vicious. “You really think someone like you gets to talk to us? You’re disgusting, a fake. Always dressed so conservatively, but everyone knows that for a few bucks, you put out to anyone. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s not true!” Mia whimpered.

Bianca narrowed her eyes at Mia, and something flickered behind her painted smile. Calculation.

“I suppose,” she said lightly, all faux grace, “there’s one fair way to handle this. A duel.”

She turned toward the crowd. “If Mia wins, she stays. If she loses... well. Maybe another school would suit her better.”

Then she smiled. “And who better to face her than the princess herself—me. Naturally. All in the name of keeping the peace, of course.”

I could feel Mia shrink beside me. Her pulse was racing. Her hands shook.

...Friend.

She was the first person who wanted to be my friend.

Not a princess.

Just me.

“No,” I said, stepping in front of her. “She’s not fighting you.”

“You?” Bianca blinked, mock surprise flashing across her face. Her voice lilted upward like I’d told a joke. “You’re going to fight me?”

I raised my chin. “I am.”

Jessica’s laugh turned into a delighted squeal. “This is going to be good!!”

Bianca stretched her fingers, slow and dramatic, the air shimmering faintly as her claws extended. She smiled like this was a game she had already won.

“Fine,” she said, tilting her head. “I’ll go easy on you.”

Then she lunged.

She was fast. I was faster.

“You won’t need to.” I said.

Before her claws could even fully form, I moved. I stepped into her guard, pivoted on the balls of my feet, and brought my hand up in one fluid motion. The sound cracked through the arena like a whip.

Her head snapped sideways. She staggered back, hand flying to her cheek, eyes wide with disbelief.

“You dare—!” she shrieked, voice warping with rage.

She charged again, wild this time. Less technique, more temper.

Bianca’s foot lashed out. I caught her ankle mid-air and twisted, sending her stumbling. She caught herself with a furious growl, hair spilling from its perfect waves.

She crashed to the ground, breath leaving her lungs in a startled gasp.

The crowd was silent now.

I didn’t move. I didn’t smirk. I just stood there, steady and unbothered, watching her try to scramble back to her feet.

Hatred twisted Bianca's face, and she raised her hand to strike me. I gently dodged, but the necklace around my neck made a noise—

...My charm.

It hit the ground with a soft metallic clink, barely audible.

The moment it touched the dirt, the air shifted. My aura—sealed for so long—rushed outward like a broken dam. It rolled over the arena in a wave. Commanding. Pure alpha.

Gasps rang out like falling dominoes.

“Oh my...What's this?!"

“She...That wolfless?!"

Bianca froze mid-step. Everyone looked like forgetting how to blink.

I didn’t look at them. I looked at him. Would he sense the truth?

Callum— My mate's eyes locked onto mine, wide with something that wasn’t quite disbelief and not yet understanding. “You...?!”

Someone’s mumbled voice said what everyone was thinking.

“Why… does she look like a female alpha?”