Chapter 2

Zoe’s POV

Tears blurred the edges of my room as I hugged Kelly, my cat, for what could be the last time. “I’ll miss you, furball,” I whispered, brushing a tear from her velvet cheek.

“Two minutes!” my father’s voice echoed telepathically through the mindlink. Of course, he didn’t bother knocking. Alpha privilege.

I gave Kelly one last nose boop and inhaled the scent of home—wolf musk, pine, and Mom’s lavender soap. My room was chaos incarnate—scribbled maps, prank blueprints, and a crossbow on the bookshelf. Everything I loved, everything that made me me, I was being torn away from.

The house that had seen every one of our pranks, every night training in the woods, every secret smile from my parents... I was leaving it behind. Not because I wanted to. Because we’d pushed too far.

At least we were together—me and the Gang. That was the only mercy the Moon Goddess had shown.

The truck was already packed when I climbed into the backseat, arms crossed, face like thunder, refusing to sit up front with Dad. A tiny protest in a war I had already lost.

Mom kissed my cheek, a little too long. “You’ll be fine, sweetheart. You’ve always landed on your feet.” Her eyes shone with pride, worry, and something unspoken. Like she’d once made this same ride.

I didn’t respond. If I did, I might cry again.

Lyra slumped next to me, headphones in, eyes closed but not asleep. Seris clutched a leather-bound journal, quietly muttering mantras under her breath. Damon was flicking a coin in the air, Kael was brooding, and Draven—well, Draven looked ready to kill someone.

“We’ll be back,” Draven said under his breath. “And this time, we’ll bring Asheville to its knees.”

A chuckle nearly escaped me.

We were halfway to exile when Alex, our Beta, passed us each a sheet of paper like it was our death warrant.

Asheville Academy Rules:

No phones allowed on school premises.

No ragging or violent activity.

No pack wars.

No shifting allowed.

Mindlinks shall be blocked on school grounds.

Mind. Link. Blocked.

“THIS IS JUST NOT FAIR! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY PREPOSTEROUS!!” the twins shouted in unison, as if they’d rehearsed it. Which they probably had.

Dad and Alex? Laughing.

“Dad, we’ll forget our powers at this rate!” I wailed, flinging the paper like it was cursed.

Dad just smirked. “You’ve got no idea about the courses yet. Trust me, you’ll remember everything.”

“Oh, and no whoring around, boys,” Alex added, fighting a grin. “They sniff that out from five miles away. You get caught, it’s straight to the Red Room.”

Even I blinked. The Red Room?

“What is the Red Room?” Jacob asked, gulping.

“You’ll find out soon, kid,” Dad said with a wink that was far too cheerful for someone sending his children into purgatory.

We groaned collectively.

But then the truck stopped.

And silence fell.

We stepped out and stared.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes, then blinked again.

Nope. Not a hallucination.

In front of us stood the most magnificent red stone building I had ever seen. A clock tower taller than anything I’d imagined loomed in the center like a sentinel. Five floors in each wing, carved in impossibly precise detail. The red stone shimmered like it was melting under the sun, making the whole place look like a giant velvet cake of doom.

Lush green lawns unfurled across the campus like a dream. White fountains gushed at every turn, trimmed hedges shaped like wolves, dragons, and things I couldn’t even name. A stadium-sized playground sprawled to one side. And behind it, a plaza—gym, pool, library, even a damn shopping center.

It was Hogwarts on steroids.

And our jaws?

On. The. Floor.

That’s when we heard the click.

“DAD!” Keisha screamed.

Dad and Alex stood there, smug, holding their phones like loaded weapons. They’d taken a picture—that picture. Us. Drooling. Gaping. The once-feared Shadow Gang looking like starstruck puppies.

“Delete it!” I snapped.

Too late.

Send button: tapped.

Everyone in the pack would now have that image. Not the slick action shots we posted online. Not the mysterious silhouettes mid-prank. No, this one was real—open mouths, glazed eyes, a collective look of “WTF.”

“This is parental abuse,” Damon muttered.

“This is revenge,” Kael corrected grimly.

“Greetings, Alpha Stone!” came a voice too sugary to be trusted.

A woman in her fifties approached, draped in a blazer with the Asheville emblem stitched in gold. “Welcome to Asheville. I’m Stella Baker, Headmistress. I’ll take over from here, if I may?”

Dad nodded with way too much enthusiasm. “They’re all yours. Discipline them hard, Stella.”

Hold. Up.

Wait.

“Stella?” I narrowed my eyes.

Dad saw the suspicion blooming and sighed. “She, your mother, Alex, and I… were classmates here.”

My stomach dropped.

That’s how they knew everything. The traps. The loopholes. The Red Room. It all made sense now. Our worst nightmares were born here—and now, they were sending us back into it.

“This place made us who we are,” Alex said.

“I don’t want to be who you are,” I muttered.

But they were already leaving.

“Be good. Don’t get expelled. And if you get caught, blame Kael,” Dad called over his shoulder.

A few seconds later, they were gone.

We stood there, a band of notorious misfits, staring at the gothic gates of discipline hell.

“Guys,” Seris said slowly. “This place is a trap.”

“No,” I said, straightening my shoulders. “This place is our next mission.”

Draven grinned. “Operation: Wreak Havoc?”

“Operation: Make Them Regret Ever Accepting Us.”

And as we marched toward the velvet prison called Asheville, one thought burned in my chest like wildfire—

They thought they’d tamed the Shadow Gang.

But this?

This was just our beginning.