They're In

Dahlia ~

The imposingly tall Gates of The Kingmaker Academy stood proud in front of me.

I turned to my twin sister Sienna to find her equally awed.

“I am having second thoughts about this whole thing, Dahlia.”

“Its too late to turn back now, and besides we can't turn back,” I said, “you know what's at stake.”

Her eyes softened with understanding and then she stepped forward to knock on the gate hoping someone would open it.

The gates groaned open before her fist could touch the metal surface, to reveal the most beautiful luscious environment I had ever seen.

Perfectly cut grass and hedges, beautiful conifers lined the roads precisely spaced. Flowers of different kinds had butterflies playing on them.

And the air… it smelled of wealth, the kind I had never even imagined before.

“Do people actually learn here?” Sienna questioned.

“Indeed they do,” her answer came in the form of an aged masculine voice. We both gasped simultaneously and turned around to face him.

The elderly man approached us from a nearby maze, he held an elegant walking stick and he was well dressed looking very formal in a black tuxedo.

“And what are you two young men here for?” He asked, a curious brow was quirked up.

For a moment I was stunned at the fact that he was referring to us as young men.

But then I remembered the sound of the scissors as I chopped off my luscious silver hair and brought the rest to cover up parts of my forehead and brows and I also remembered the fact that we were dressed in the most boyish clothes we could salvage with bandages bound tightly around our chest to hide the mounds of our breasts.

“We are here to enroll in this esteemed Alpha Academy sir,” Sienna had made her voice extremely deep, it sounded so fake to me that it was almost comical.

But of course I would not laugh, at least not while this man looked at us with such skepticism.

“You are three weeks late, admissions are closed,” The man said.

I cursed in my mind.

We should have come much earlier!

My foster parents recently adopted a young man and he was sent to this particular academy about four weeks ago. We should have entered the trunk of the car and gone with them.

But no, Sienna said that idea was too foolish to even consider— it probably was but at least it was better than not getting admitted at all.

My foster mother could not take in and they needed someone to become the new Alpha of the family and become the new heir of the family fortune.

They had two beautiful and fully capable daughters, but they never saw us as anything good and they treated us like utter trash, it would be over their dead bodies that we would become female Alpha’s.

Sometimes I couldn't help but wonder why they had even adopted us in the first place.

“However you both seem particularly bright, so I will speak to the Proprietress about your admissions.” the man said.

“Please follow me” he added.

Relief flooded through my veins as we walked with the man.

We followed him to the main building which had several large windows and was made of white marble that appeared ancient, I was curious about how old this academy was.

Inside looked even better, luxurious in a way that made one nervous and anticipating.

Massive chandeliers hung from vaulted ceilings that were so high I could barely make out the fancy paintings on them. The place was so airy bright with an exotic ambience, beautiful tall palm trees decorated the inside, and rays of sunlight bathed them from the numerous arched windows.

I couldn't believe I was going to be studying there for three months! I had not even been there for a day and I was already sure I would miss it, I wanted to live there forever.

“Sit here,” the man instructed, gesturing towards two beige chairs stationed just outside a huge fancy white door that looked at lease twenty feet high.

Was this place built for giants or something?

The man entered the door and after a while, he peeked his head out.

“You can both come in, the Proprietress will see you now.”

I rose to my feet and followed after Sienna, we entered the office and the Proprietress was seated behind her desk.

She looked so menacing and her gaze was scrutinizing and all knowing behind her thickly rimmed glasses. Her hair was scarlet red and some curly strands escaped the ribbon she used to tie her curls up.

She also looked very young, around our age, too young to be the Proprietress of this grand school.

“They’re in,” Those were the first words she said, never taking her eyes off us.

My brows raised in confusion.

“What?” the elderly man beside us said, obviously shocked as well.

“I said they're in, Vincent, have someone show them around and let them be given their uniforms.” She elaborated. “They’re three weeks behind and they need to settle in fast so they can catch up.”

I looked at her with my lips parted in utter confusion, she just gave me an easy wink and gestured for us to follow Vincent.

We did as instructed, after all, we had a whole three months to stay here hopefully within that time she would reveal to us why she let us in so easily.

Vincent led us through the grand corridors of our new Academy, and I had to consciously remind myself not to gawk at every single thing I saw.

“First, I'll show you the dormitories where you'll be staying,” Vincent said.

“You’ll find everything you need there, but be mindful—this is not your average academy. Your fellow students are future alpha’s do they tend to be quite unhinged most of the time and there is always a fight for dominance, since there are no girls around they fight over practically everything else, you both seem like calm little Omega’s and that’s too bad because these boys will gulp you up.”

I gulped thickly, we were girls, we would be utterly doomed if any of these students discovered our secret.

As we walked through the corridors, the air became lighter, filled with faint echoes of laughter and conversation.

When we turned a corner, we found ourselves in the recess area— a sprawling courtyard enclosed by tall, ivy-covered walls. Students lounged in small groups on benches and lush green lawns.

Several curious gazes turned to our direction as we walked through, though I was sure to keep my head low.

They all looked so masculine, my fake boyish attire and the tightly bound bandages around my chest suddenly felt far too fake— we would definitely be the shortest here.

And then I saw them.

Four young men stood leaning recklessly against the decorated stone fountain in the center of the courtyard, and they immediately commanded attention from everyone.

They were too perfect to be real—tall, athletic, and devastatingly handsome in a way that felt almost unfair to everyone else.

Each of them radiated confidence and raw power in their own special ways, their polished uniforms fitting them as if they were tailored by gods.

One had striking platinum blond hair that caught the sunlight like a halo, his icy blue eyes sharp and calculating. Beside him stood a quiet looking red haired boy with sharp cheekbones and piercing green eyes and full red lips.

The last of the group was perhaps the most intimidating of all—a broad-shouldered guy with messy, dark brown hair and a chiseled jawline, his lips set in a near-permanent scowl.

Their collective energy was magnetic, dangerous even, and they all looked at us as if they were sizing us up—

“Those young men are known as the Vicious Boys.” Vincent’s voice interrupted my train of thoughts and I did not miss the warning in his voice. “You’d do well to stay away from them. They’ve earned their reputation.”

I nodded quickly, making a mental note to avoid them.

Just as I thought I couldn’t take their intense scrutiny any longer, my heart nearly stopped.

My ‘foster’ brother, Kaden, was among them.

My foster parents must have a thing for picking up the strangest looking people from wherever.

Because there was me and Sienna with our shock of white hair and equally piercing silver eyes and then there was him.

He had the softest looking black hair ever and he had the strangest markings on his body — at least the parts I could see.

They crawled up his neck like black vines — dark against his olive skin and they resembled curse sigils, corrupting his body. One of the vines ran across his face corrupting his left eye and turning it pale blue which contrasted with the hazel of his other eye.

He stood slightly apart from the others, his tall, lean muscular frame was relaxed and his sharp eyes pinned on us.

His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed slightly as his head tilted in recognition.

My stomach twisted with uprising dread.

He knows. He has to fucking know— we were utterly screwed — we had to avoid him at all costs.