Chapter 4 Shifting Truths

Zara's POV

The pack bonding ceremony was supposed to be a simple exercise.

Twenty students standing in a circle, shifting into their wolf forms, running together through the forest behind the academy.

A chance for the new transfers to prove they belonged with the elite.

Zara had never participated before.

She wasn't supposed to.

The broken ones stayed in the basement during ceremonies like this.

But Dr. Voss had specifically requested her presence.

"It's time, Miss Night," the director had said that morning, her cold blue eyes boring into Zara.

"Time to show the academy what you can do."

Now, standing in the circle with nineteen other werewolves, Zara felt like she was about to throw up.

Everyone was staring at her - some with curiosity, others with barely disguised disgust.

The broken omega, finally being forced to humiliate herself in public.

Kai stood directly across from her in the circle.

He'd tried to catch her eye several times, but she'd looked away.

She couldn't handle seeing pity in those silver eyes.

"Today, we strengthen the bonds that unite us as pack," Dr. Voss announced to the group.

"You will shift together, run together, hunt together. Remember, a pack is only as strong as its weakest member."

Several students glanced meaningfully at Zara.

The message was clear.

"Begin the transformation," Dr. Voss commanded.

Around the circle, students began to shift.

Bones cracked and reformed.

Muscles stretched and bulged.

Within seconds, nineteen beautiful wolves stood where students had been moments before.

Zara remained human.

She closed her eyes and tried to find the wolf inside her, the way she'd been taught years ago.

She imagined fur sprouting from her skin, her bones reshaping, her senses sharpening.

She'd tried this hundreds of times over the years, always with the same result.

Nothing.

"Miss Night," Dr. Voss said sharply.

"We're waiting."

Zara opened her eyes to find nineteen pairs of wolf eyes staring at her.

Some looked patient.

Others looked annoyed.

Kai's wolf was massive, with silver-tipped fur that matched his human eyes.

Even in wolf form, he was beautiful.

"I can't," Zara whispered, her cheeks burning with shame.

"Try harder," Dr. Voss ordered.

Zara closed her eyes again, digging deeper this time.

She thought about all the years of humiliation, all the whispered insults, all the nights she'd cried herself to sleep wondering what was wrong with her.

Something stirred in her chest.

Not the familiar ache of failure, but something else.

Something hot and angry and powerful.

The sensation grew stronger, spreading through her body like fire.

Her skin began to tingle.

Her bones felt loose, ready to reshape themselves.

This was it.

Finally.

Zara threw her head back and let the transformation take her.

But instead of becoming a wolf, something else happened.

Her body began to change, but not into anything that should exist.

She felt herself growing larger, and stronger.

Her senses exploded outward, taking in every scent, every heartbeat, every whisper of fear from the wolves around her.

When she opened her eyes, she was looking down at the circle from a much greater height.

Her reflection in a nearby window showed her the truth.

She hadn't become a wolf.

She'd become something with multiple wolf heads, each one larger than a normal werewolf.

Her body was covered in fur that seemed to absorb light, making her look like a creature carved from starlight and shadows.

The other wolves backed away, whimpering.

The transformation lasted only seconds before Zara collapsed back into her human form, gasping and shaking.

But the damage was done.

Everyone had seen.

Dr. Voss stepped forward, her face unreadable.

"Interesting."

"What was that thing?" one of the students whispered.

"That wasn't a normal shift," another added.

Kai had shifted back to human form and was staring at Zara with an expression of shock and something else.

Recognition?

"Everyone return to the academy," Dr. Voss announced.

"Miss Night, you'll come with me."

As the other students filed away, casting nervous glances over their shoulders, Kai approached them.

"Dr. Voss," he said carefully, "perhaps I could escort Zara back to"

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Storm," the director cut him off.

"Miss Night requires immediate medical attention. I'll handle this personally."

Zara found her voice.

"I'm fine. I don't need"

"You collapsed," Dr. Voss said firmly.

"Protocol requires a full medical evaluation after any... unusual manifestation."

She said the last words like they tasted bad.

As Dr. Voss led her away, Zara glanced back to see Kai still watching them.

His silver eyes were troubled, like he was trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces.

The medical wing was in the academy's north tower, a sterile white corridor lined with examination rooms.

Dr. Voss guided Zara to a room at the very end, one she'd never seen before.

Inside was equipment that didn't look like anything from a normal medical facility.

Screens covered in strange symbols.

Devices that hummed with energy.

And in the corner, something that looked like a scanning device with the same blue light she'd seen in the computer lab.

"Sit," Dr. Voss ordered, indicating a chair in the center of the room.

Zara obeyed, though every instinct told her to run.

The chair was comfortable, but she noticed the subtle restraints built into the armrests.

"Tell me about your parents," Dr. Voss said, activating one of the strange devices.

"I told you before. They dropped me off here when I was fourteen. I haven't heard from them since."

"And before that? What do you remember about your early childhood?"

Zara frowned.

"Normal stuff, I guess. We lived in a small town. My parents worked a lot. I don't remember much detail."

That was true.

Her childhood memories were strangely fuzzy, like looking through frosted glass.

Dr. Voss made a note on a tablet covered in the same strange symbols Zara had seen on the computer.

"And the transformation today. How did it feel?"

"Different," Zara admitted.

"Powerful. Like I was becoming something I was meant to be."

"Something with multiple heads," Dr. Voss observed.

"Something that terrified trained werewolves."

"I didn't mean to scare anyone."

"I'm sure you didn't."

Dr. Voss activated the scanning device, and blue light washed over Zara.

"But intention and result are often different things."

The scan lasted several minutes.

During that time, Zara noticed Dr. Voss's expression growing more and more interested.

Whatever the scan was showing, it wasn't what the director had expected.

"Remarkable," Dr. Voss murmured, studying the results.

"Your genetic markers are... unique."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, my dear, that you're far more special than anyone realized."

Dr. Voss turned to face her, and for the first time since Zara had known her, the director was smiling.

"It means your real education is about to begin."

Before Zara could ask what that meant, the door burst open.

Kai rushed in, followed by a security guard who was trying to grab his arm.

"Sir, you can't be in here!" the guard protested.

"It's all right," Dr. Voss said calmly.

"Mr. Storm was just leaving."

But Kai wasn't looking at the director.

He was staring at the scanning device, at the symbols on the screens, at the strange blue light that still lingered in the air.

"I know what this is," he said quietly.

Dr. Voss went very still.

"I beg your pardon?"

Kai's silver eyes met hers, and Zara saw something pass between them.

A challenge.

A recognition.

"I said I know what this is," Kai repeated, his voice stronger now.

"The question is, how long have you known what she really is?"

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

"Mr. Storm," Dr. Voss said carefully, "I think you should return to your dormitory.

"You're clearly confused."

"Am I?" Kai stepped closer to Zara's chair, and she caught that strange metallic scent again.

"Because I'm starting to remember things.

Important things."

He looked down at Zara, and she saw something new in his expression.

Not pity.

Not confusion.

Fear.

"We need to talk," he said to her.

"Both of us.

Tonight."

"That's quite enough," Dr. Voss snapped.

"Security, please escort Mr. Storm"

She stopped mid-sentence, staring at something behind Kai.

Zara followed her gaze and gasped.

The security cameras mounted in the corners of the room weren't just recording.

Their red lights were pulsing in a steady rhythm, and with each pulse, data streams flowed across their LED displays.

Data written in the same alien symbols she'd been seeing everywhere.

The cameras weren't from Earth.

And they weren't recording for Dr. Voss.

They were transmitting to someone else entirely.