Alpha Rylan Blackthorn!

Aria’s POV

The sunlight barely touched the stone walls of Bloodrose Academy. Thick clouds loomed low, pressing against the gothic towers as if the sky itself was trying to crush the place. Even the daylight here felt grim, like it didn’t dare shine too brightly.

I sat stiffly in the back row of Advanced Combat Theory, my notebook untouched, hands gripping the edges of the desk so tightly my knuckles ached. The professor, a narrow-shouldered man with nervous eyes and a twitchy mouth, droned on about hierarchy structures and battlefield tactics. His words blurred into the background as whispers filtered in from the girls around me.

“Rylan’s back today,” one of them whispered excitedly.

“God, he’s so hot when he’s pissed,” another said, giggling. “Did you see him after the Blood Trials? He was covered in blood and still looked like a freaking god.”

“Alpha Rylan Blackthorn,” someone else breathed. “He’s the second-born, but honestly… the scariest one.”

My pulse stuttered. Blackthorn. Again. Another one?

My shoulders stiffened. If Zayne was ice, cold and calculating, this one—Rylan—was fire. And from what I’d overheard in hushed corridors and trembling conversations, fire that burned for fun.

I was still recovering from yesterday—from Zayne, from the slap, from the humiliation and cruelty I’d tasted the second I stepped onto these cursed grounds. I wasn’t ready to face another Blackthorn.

But fate didn’t care.

The door burst open with a thunderous bang.

Everyone jumped. The professor flinched so hard he dropped his tablet.

And there he was.

Alpha Rylan Blackthorn stormed in like a thunderstorm given human form. He was tall, broader than Zayne, with storm-grey eyes that crackled with violence and power. His black leather jacket was half unzipped, revealing a tight grey shirt clinging to his chiseled frame, streaked with faint traces of blood—not his, I guessed.

The entire class fell silent.

And then the screaming started.

Not from us—from him.

“YOU FUCKING FILTH!” he roared, and before I could blink, he crossed the room in three brutal strides and punched the Beta sitting three seats from me straight in the face.

The boy’s head snapped back with a crack. Blood sprayed from his nose, splattering the desk.

Chaos erupted.

Students screamed. Some laughed. Most just scrambled out of the way. The professor shouted, “Alpha Blackthorn! Stop this right now!”

But Rylan didn’t even look at him.

“You thought you could lie to me?” Rylan growled, grabbing the Beta—whose name I didn’t even know—by the collar and slamming him into the wall hard enough to make the whole room shake. “You thought spreading rumors about me behind my back wouldn’t get back to me?”

“I-I didn’t!” the Beta choked, his voice trembling, blood bubbling at his lips. “I swear, it wasn’t me!”

Rylan slammed his head against the wall again.

“FUCKING LIAR,” he snarled, and this time he drew back his fist and punched him in the gut. The boy doubled over, coughing violently, collapsing to the floor.

The professor tried again, voice cracking. “Alpha, please—”

Rylan turned his head slowly and glared at him.

The look alone shut the man up. The professor stepped back, face white, jaw clenching. He didn’t try again.

Everyone else?

They laughed.

Cheered.

“Get him, Rylan!” someone hollered.

“Teach the bastard a lesson!”

But I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My feet were frozen. My breath caught.

This wasn’t a school.

It was a pit.

And Rylan was the wolf who ruled it by tooth and claw.

He lifted the Beta by the collar again, eyes glowing with alpha fury. “Say it again. Say you didn’t tell them I went soft during the Trial. Say you didn’t run your filthy mouth—”

“I swear—” the boy sobbed.

Wrong answer.

Rylan kicked him. Full force. A brutal crack echoed as the Beta crumpled, gasping, ribs likely broken.

Something in me snapped.

My whole body trembled, but I stood.

"That’s enough!" I yelled, voice high and shaking.

Silence fell again—this time deadly.

Rylan froze.

His eyes lifted, zeroing in on me like a predator spotting the lone rabbit in a field of corpses.

I regretted it the second I saw his face.

His eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared. His mouth curled into a grin—slow and wicked.

"And who the fuck are you?"

My knees went weak.

Still, I said, "You’re going to kill him."

Rylan took a step toward me.

I instinctively stepped back.

He took another.

I backed up again, bumping into the desk behind me.

He kept coming, every movement slow and deliberate, like a beast toying with prey.

“You’ve got guts,” he murmured, voice low and venom-laced. “I’ll give you that. But you must be dumber than hell to think that makes you safe.”

My throat tightened. “I wasn’t trying to—”

“What?” he snapped. “Trying to interrupt me?”

My back hit the wall.

He loomed over me, so close I could feel the heat of his body and the sharp tang of blood clinging to his clothes.

“I don’t take orders from strays,” he said, eyes glinting. “Especially cursed, shiftless ones who don’t belong.”

A breath hitched in my throat.

I turned my head slightly, blinking fast. But the tears still fell.

And he saw them.

Of course he did.

“Look at that,” he mocked, voice dripping in cruelty. “Crying already? I haven’t even touched you.”

Laughter exploded behind him again.

I turned to look at the Beta still lying in a broken heap. Blood pooled beneath his mouth.

“You think you’re brave?” Rylan whispered. “You think you’re some kind of hero?”

“I think you’re a fucking monster,” I whispered, before I could stop myself.

His expression twisted into something unreadable.

The kind of rage that didn’t explode—but imploded. Quiet. Controlled. Terrifying.

He took one final step, so close I could feel his breath on my lips.

"You’ve just made yourself very interesting, stray," he murmured.

And with a smirk, he turned and walked away.

Leaving silence, blood, and terror in his wake.

The classroom door slammed shut behind him with a final, thunderous crack.

Silence stretched—long, heavy, suffocating.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

It was like his shadow still lingered, coiled around our throats like a chokehold of fear. My heart was thundering in my chest, so loud it roared in my ears. My knees were weak, the sting of tears still hot on my cheeks.

But then I saw him.

The Beta boy—slumped on the floor, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, his eyes dazed, one hand clutched to his ribs. He looked barely conscious, barely alive.

Without thinking, I pushed past the frozen desks and dropped to my knees beside him.

“Hey—hey, are you okay?” My voice trembled, but I kept speaking. “Can you hear me? You’re safe now. He’s gone.”

His eyes fluttered open, unfocused. “F…fuck…” he wheezed.

“I know. I know,” I whispered, gently brushing his blood-matted hair off his forehead. “Don’t try to talk. Just breathe. I’ve got you.”

I looked around, expecting someone—anyone—to help.

But no one moved.

Some looked away in discomfort. Others watched with faint smirks, entertained by the chaos like it was a bloody play put on for their amusement. No one offered so much as a tissue or a hand.

Monsters, all of them.

I turned back to the boy, pressing the sleeve of my hoodie against his bleeding mouth. “You need a Healer. What’s your name?”

“C-Cai…” he rasped.

“Okay, Cai. I’m Aria. I’m gonna get you out of here.”

He winced as he tried to shift. “Don’t. Ribs—fucked.”

“I figured,” I whispered, tightening my hold to keep him steady. “Don’t move.”

The professor finally stirred, clearing his throat weakly. “Ms… Ms. Winters, maybe you should—”

“No,” I snapped. “You let him beat this boy to a pulp in your classroom and you did nothing. Sit down.”

Shock flickered across the professor’s pale face. He sat.

I reached for Cai again, swallowing the rising panic in my throat. I wasn’t strong. I wasn’t trained. I wasn’t even shifted yet. But this? This I could do. I could help someone who didn’t deserve this.

I glanced at his chest. The bruising already spread in deep purple splotches. At least two ribs—maybe more—were cracked, if not broken. He needed help fast.

“I’ll get you to the infirmary,” I said softly.

He laughed—a wet, choked sound. “You’re… insane.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

I slowly helped him sit up, bracing most of his weight against my shoulder. His breath hissed between clenched teeth.

“Don’t… don’t let him see you doing this,” he muttered. “Rylan. He’ll make it worse.”

“He already made it bad enough,” I snapped.

I looked up again. The others had gone back to whispering, laughing, scrolling through their tablets like none of this mattered.

“Cowards,” I muttered under my breath, helping Cai stand fully.

His blood soaked into my clothes. I didn’t care.

Step by step, we moved toward the door.

Just as we reached it, a girl with platinum blonde hair and sharp red lipstick smirked at me. She sat cross-legged on her desk like it was a throne.

“I give you two days,” she said with a sneer. “Before you’re broken or begging.”

I didn’t answer.

I didn’t need to.

Because something had ignited inside me—not just anger or fear. But something older. Deeper.

Something feral.

And Rylan Blackthorn had just lit the match.