Raven's POV:
The ride wasn't as long as I'd imagined it would be. It's my first time stepping out in public, and honestly, I'm not sure who I am anymore. Who am I? I am Raven Blackwood, daughter of Alpha Silas Blackwood and Luna Rhea Blackwood. But that doesn't mean much. Because I'm not an Alpha. I'm an Omega.
A secret my father is determined will die with me.
That's a secret my father is determined to bury. A secret he's willing to take to the grave, along with anyone who dares to expose it. My father—proud, powerful, and relentless—covered up my weakness by telling everyone I was cursed by witches. That's why I'm weaker than the other Alphas, he says. A convenient lie to mask his shame, and the bitter truth.
That lie became my life. It's the story that explains why I'm not the perfect heir. Why I'm not strong. But the truth is, my birth bred nothing but hatred between my mother and father.
My birth created a chasm between my mother and father, a divide that never healed. They're only together for the pack, for appearances. The love between them died long ago. And my father? My father abandoned us long ago—me and my mother. He found solace with his mistress, Magro, a she-wolf who bore him the perfect child. A daughter. An Alpha like him. He moved her into the palace without hesitation. Megan, my new stepsister, grew up with everything I never had: affection, attention, the title of "Alpha's daughter." It was supposed to be mine.
She was raised alongside me, given the privileges that should've been mine. She received the love, the training, the respect, while I was left to rot in the shadows of their deceit.
My mother? She's bitter, filled with resentment for my father's betrayal. And most of the time, I'm the one who bears the brunt of that anger. Her frustration, her rage… it's always directed at me.
She took it all out on me. Her anger, her hurt, her sense of betrayal—everything was channeled into me. I was the only target left, the only one who couldn't fight back.
But today? Today, I finally escape it all. I'm finally free from that suffocating, toxic environment. I'm about to enroll in the Elite School for Alphas—a place where all Alpha children are required to go at sixteen. It's a tradition, a rite of passage.
Where they're trained to become capable leaders. But my father did everything in his power to stop that from happening. Every year, he created some new "illness" that supposedly kept me on the brink of death, just so the authorities couldn't force me to go. For two years, he kept me locked away from attending the school. He planned to keep doing it until they get tired and stop bothering the sick alpha's child.
But when I turned eighteen, the authorities made a surprise visit. They had to see for themselves whether I was fit to attend.
When they found me in the library, stumbling around in a daze, they decided I was fit after all. Despite my small frame, despite my weak status, they said I was ready. All they saw was a body that could make it through the physical tests. So, despite being two years older than my classmates, they admitted me with the new batch of Alphas.
Of course, I won't look like them. My Omega nature makes me small—shorter and weaker. Heck I'm smaller, shorter than even my stepbrother and stepsister, you'd think I am the youngest . Megan, the daughter of my father's mistress, is taller, stronger. Mark, too, towers over me. I'm no Alpha. I don't have their build or their strength.
I'll be in the same class as Mark, though. He enrolled three days earlier, escorted by my father. As for me? I'm lucky. My father sent a driver to take me there. At least I'm free from the constant surveillance, free from the suffocating weight of my father's gaze, free from the threats of death if anyone discovers my secret. Lucky that my father even allowed me to leave at all. The drug-filled blockers he gave me will last for months, keeping my scent hidden, keeping my pheromones suppressed. He made sure I was injected with enough scent-blockers to last me three months—maybe even overdose me with it. He doesn't trust me. He doesn't trust anyone.
It's a dangerous game, but as the drugs take hold and the dizziness washes over me, I can't help but feel something I haven't felt in a long time: relief. Relief that I'm finally leaving that hellhole. I'll miss nothing about it. Not the cold walls, not my father's cruelty, not the suffocating tension in the air every time I walk through those halls. For the first time, I get to experience the world on my own terms. I don't have anyone breathing down my neck, dictating every step I take.
The driver stops at the gate of the school, as far as he's allowed to go. A new chapter of my life begins here, a little taste of freedom.
For the first time in a long time, I feel… something. A glimmer of hope. Maybe it won't be as bad as I thought. Maybe this is the beginning of something more than just surviving.
I step out of the car and take a deep breath. The air smells different. It smells like freedom.
But I couldn't have been more wrong. It felt less like stepping out of the frying pan and more like falling straight into the fire.
I'd just pulled my suitcase out of the car, waved the driver off, and started walking toward the gates, my head swimming with a thousand new things. Everything was so different. The air, the sounds, the faces—all these little details that had been hidden from me for so long. I was too busy admiring it all to pay attention to where I was going.
And then, bam.
I slammed into something hard, tall, and...cold. My body jolted, and I stumbled, losing my balance completely. Down I went, landing flat on my butt in the dirt. My heart raced as I looked up, embarrassed and disoriented.
It wasn't a wall I'd hit.
It was a guy. A big guy.
He stood there, towering over me, his eyes dark and unreadable. He had the kind of face that looked like it was carved out of stone—sharp jaw, cold expression, and a presence that demanded attention. Two other guys flanked him, their smug grins matching the arrogance radiating from their leader.
"Well, well. If it isn't the little sickly Blackwood's child," the guy said, his voice dripping with disdain.
I swallowed hard, every nerve on edge. Yeah. Definitely not the friendly kind.