Instructor Cocksure’s dark eyes scanned the rows as he spoke.
"For centuries, the Triad has survived on a strict biological clockwork. Alphas command. Betas guard. Omegas nurture. It is a perfect system. Until the Moon Goddess decides to tweak it."
At the back of the room, Garrett, the Pack Beta’s heir, lazily spun a silver pocketknife. "In other words, you mean when she births a freak, sir."
"I mean when she grants a Chosen spark, Garrett," Cocksure corrected, stopping dead in front of the boy’s desk. The sudden weight of Cocksure’s dominant pressure made the desk legs creak against the floor.
"An unexplainable power that mocks the hierarchy. A wolf who can snap an Alpha’s spine with a thought. The Lycan Council invented the mandatory therapy and consultation screenings to catch them early, but the tests are a failure. They cannot differentiate between a naturally strong Alpha and a god-spark."
The students looked between themselves, a collective, uneasy murmur flowing through the rows.
"So how do we know?" a girl near the front whispered.
"You don’t. Not until you awaken," Cocksure said softly. "And when you do, a physical manifestation occurs. A glowing wolf-head crest burns its brand permanently into your palm. When that mark appears, your normal life ends. You are shipped to Sanatio Academy, and you become property of the school."
Garrett snorted, closing his knife with a snap. "Well, nobody in this room is getting shipped off. If anyone’s awakening tonight, it’s Victoria. She’s the strongest Alpha bloodline we’ve seen in three generations."
"And what about the other one?" the girl at the front asked. "The orphan girl living in the Alpha’s house? Lena?"
The classroom erupted into vicious snickers.
"Lena Louvel doesn’t pass off," Garrett mocked, tossing his knife into the air and catching it. "Seventeen years old and she still suffers from an identity crisis. She thinks we don’t know she uses Omega and Beta scent spray just to pass inspection. If the Moon Goddess gave a divine spark to a talentless dog like that, it would be a joke."
"The fact she even showed her slut face in school today. After what she did last night... such an audacious whore."
The rest of the wolves in the class murmured bitterly about the events of last night.
Before Cocksure could discipline the class, the door was pushed open.
Toby, a low-ranking pack runner, stood in the frame, trying to catch his breath. But it wasn’t his dramatic entrance that caught the room’s attention.
"The training field," Toby gasped, pointing a frantic hand behind him. "Victoria. Lena–"
That was all he said before passing out cold.
"About time Victoria cleaned up the house. Let’s go watch."
Garrett was on his feet before the rest of the class. Within seconds, the classroom emptied.
Cocksure didn’t bother stopping them. He just stood by the window, his eyes locking onto the distant, crowded chain-link fence of the training field below.
Down on the field, the gravel was biting deep into Lena’s knees.
The cheap Beta scent spray she’d applied that morning–simply because she wanted to try something new–was completely gone, replaced by the sour tang of her own sweat.
As the first female in the pack to be born as an Alpha, Victoria’s aura was a physical weight, pushing Lena down into the dirt every time she tried to find her footing.
"Get up," Victoria taunted, forcing her further into the ground.
"I said. Get. Up."
Around the perimeter of the chain-link fence, half the senior class was already arriving, their faces pressed against the wire like wild fans at a bloodsport.
Lena didn’t appreciate the humiliation. Hence, she refused to obey this time.
"Crush her, Vic!" Garrett’s voice boomed from the front of the crowd. "Show the whore what happens when she touches things that don’t belong to her!"
Lena choked back a breath, her fingers digging into the small, sharp stones of the courtyard. She hadn’t come out here to fight. Not exactly.
She had come to talk, hoping to settle what happened at the coming-of-age party.
But looking up at Victoria, whose upper lip was curled to expose gleaming, white fangs, Lena realized how stupid she had been.
However, it was either Victoria or the Luna.
"Victoria, stop," Lena started. She took a slow step back until her heel touched the iron wire of the fence.
Her heart was hammering, but her mind was already calculating.
She looked at Victoria, then cut her eyes toward the crowd of seniors pressing against the chain-link barrier. Lena knew she couldn’t win a physical fight.
Victoria was faster, stronger, and backed by generations of predatory Alpha genetics. However, Alphas had one fatal flaw: they were slaves to their own pride. Especially in front of an audience.
"Why should I stop?" Victoria sneered, circling her.
She couldn’t stop now. Being strong was the only thing she could say she was better at. If she wasn’t dominating Lena physically, she felt utterly inferior.
"Because we don’t need to do this," Lena said, keeping her voice level, pitching it just loud enough to carry to the front row of onlookers. "You don’t know what will happen. You don’t know if... if I’ll awaken right now and destroy you."
The entire courtyard went dead silent. Then, Victoria threw her head back and laughed.
As annoying as it was to watch, that was the exact reaction Lena had predicted.
Lena hadn’t said it because she believed she would awaken. She said it because she needed a distraction.
While Victoria was busy preening for the crowd, soaking in the absurdity of the threat, Lena silently adjusted her footing.
She dug the toe of her sneakers into the loose gravel, gathering a heavy pile of sharp stones beneath her foot.
Come closer, you arrogant bitch, Lena thought, her fists balling tightly at her sides.
"Destroy me?" Victoria wiped a tear from her eye, her dominant Alpha pressure suddenly exploding from her posture as she stepped into Lena’s space.
The heavy aura made Lena’s lungs tighten, but she forced her chin up.
"Take a good look at yourself, Lena. If anyone is awakening tonight, it’s me. The elders predicted it. But if you think it’d be you... be my guest. Attack me."
Victoria took a step back, raising her hands up in mock surrender as she pressed Lena further into the ground with her aura. Lena struggled against the pressure for a moment before dropping her hands into the earth in complete surrender.
To Victoria, this was a boring way to show her dominance. The girl wasn’t even challenging her! Using her feet to kick Lena lightly, she sneered, "Come on. Get up. Show us how you’ll destroy me."
Lena, however, remained kneeling on the ground, her hands and knees forcefully pressed into the stone-filled earth.
The plan was painful, but she had achieved her goal.
Victoria was completely relaxed, entirely convinced she had once again proven she was the strongest.
Her guard was completely down.
The exact moment Victoria reached down and pulled her hair, forcing her face up, Lena gathered and launched the pile of gravel straight into Victoria’s perfect, unprotected face.
Victoria shrieked, her hands instinctively flying up to shield her eyes from the flying stones.
It was the only opening Lena was ever going to get. She stepped into Victoria’s guard, threw her entire body weight behind her right fist, and aimed straight for the Alpha’s throat.
WHAM!
...
Author here...
Hey, everyone! Before we dive any deeper into Lena’s story, I want to drop a quick, honest note about the tone and direction of this book.
"Hybrids: I Tame Alphas and Lycans" is not a fluffy, sweet romance. It is a dark, gritty, and highly toxic thriller. The Alphas and Ascendants ruling this campus are dangerous, possessive, and unhinged predators who do not understand or respect standard boundaries.
Lena is a survivor trapped in a brutal gauntlet, and her journey will involve heavy themes, intense psychological power struggles, and visceral physical conflicts.
I’m sharing this now because I want the darkness and the toxic character dynamics to feel like an intentional part of the plot, not just random shock value.
Now, if you don’t like dark romance or you’re trying to read your first dark romance, I’d advise you to drop this book immediately. (For ya mental health.)
Whereas, if you love ruthless female leads who fight back with everything they have, and dangerous, morally gray male leads who cross EVERY LINE (iykyk)... You’re in the right place!
Buckle up, because the stakes are only going to get higher and the world is about to get a lot more intense. (I’m being fr.)
Thank you all so much for reading and supporting my work! Smash that collection button, leave a review, and tell me your thoughts on my ML’s psycho behavior in the comments! 💀🖤