Chapter 51 Chapter 51

Chapter 51 Chapter 51
Kaelani POV

The sound of beeping wakes me. I groan, turning my head away from the annoying sound without opening my eyes.
“Ugh, turn it off,” I say, my voice groggy.
“Well, that would require you to die,” Kaia says.
My eyes snap open, and I glare at her.
“Welcome back,” she says, grinning like she didn't just threaten my life within seconds of me waking up.
I look around the room, slowly realizing I'm not in my bedroom. The smell hits me next, clean and sterile, and then I notice the heart monitor beside me and the wires attached to my body.
Zaire is sitting in the chair next to me, leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. My parents are standing near the door, and Ezra is on my other side.
Every single one of them looks like they've been awake much longer than I have.
My eyes settle back on Zaire.
“Where did you come from?”
“I came from home. I came the moment Kaia called,” he says.
I glance at Kaia, and she shrugs like calling him in the middle of whatever happened last night was the most obvious thing in the world.
“What time is it?” I ask.
“7:15 a.m.,” Ezra says.
I sit up immediately. “I have school.”
Ezra pushes me right back against the bed.
“You are not going to school.”
My brows furrow. “I can't miss the second day of the trials.”
“You passed out after nearly destroying your room,” Ezra says. “I think the trials can survive without you for one day.”
“I can't.”
“Okay, tell us what happened,” Dad says, cutting in before Ezra and I can start arguing.
I look at him, then at Zaire. Last night rushes back all at once—the message, the shaking, the burning symbols. My stomach twists.
“Is my phone in here?”
Kaia grabs it and hands it to me.
I unlock my phone, open the message, and hand it to my father.
His eyes move across the screen.
Everything about him changes.
He looks at the message before showing it to Mom. Her face goes pale, and Dad's jaw tightens as his hand closes around my phone.
It doesn't go unnoticed.
They know something.
“What does it mean?” I ask.
Dad doesn't answer for a long moment.
“Lani,” he says softly.
“No, Dad. Please give me something. You've been training me for something my entire life, and then I get this.” I gesture toward the phone. “Someone knew exactly what to call me. They knew something was going to happen to me.”
Ezra takes the phone from Dad and reads the message.
“The Chosen One?” His brows furrow. “Awakening from what?”
He looks at our parents.
Mom and Dad exchange a look, and my stomach drops. I've seen that look too many times lately. It's the one they give each other right before telling me something about my own life that apparently everyone knew except me.
Mom finally speaks.
“Every ten generations, the firstborn daughter in my bloodline is reborn as the Chosen One. Also known as the First Alpha Queen.”
Nobody says anything.
“Everyone thinks the first ruler of wolves was a man, but it wasn't,” Mom continues. “She was the First Alpha Queen.”
My mind catches on one part before I can even process the rest.
“She was the first tribrid.”
Tri.
That's three.
“Wait.”
I sit straighter despite Ezra's earlier attempt to keep me in bed.
“You said tri. I have a wolf. I just discovered I'm a witch.” I point toward myself, trying to keep up with information that feels like it's coming faster than my brain can process it. “And not just any witch, but the High Priestess of all witches. Now you're telling me I'm something else?”
“Yes,” Dad says.
“What?”
Silence.
Long, deafening silence.
I look from Dad to Mom, waiting for one of them to answer. Neither does.
“We don't know,” Dad finally says low.
I stare at him.
How could they not know?
They're my parents. They're supposed to have the answers. They've known about this prophecy my entire life. Dad has trained me since I could walk because of it, yet somehow the biggest part of what I'm supposed to become is still a question mark.
“Okay, so who is looking for me?” I ask.
“We don't know.”
My frustration spikes.
“Well, what do you know?” I shout.
Dad's eyes widen.
“Kaelani.”
His Alpha tone rolls through the room, and my body immediately reacts to the command even though every other part of me wants to keep yelling.
I take a deep breath.
“I'm sorry, Daddy.” My anger disappears almost as quickly as it came, leaving everything underneath it exposed. “It just feels like my life is falling apart. Someone—or multiple people—are watching me, and they're waiting for, I'm assuming, my birthday to take me.”
My throat tightens, and this time I can't force the emotion back down.
“Why couldn't I just have a normal senior year? Nothing has gone how I wanted it to.”
Tears begin falling.
I wipe them away, annoyed that more immediately replace them.
“I didn't want any of this. I don't want any of this,” I say, my voice cracking.
I wanted school. The tournament. Kaia. Figuring out whatever the hell is happening between me and three boys who suddenly refuse to leave me alone. Normal teenage problems.
Not prophecies. Not people hunting me. Not finding out piece by piece that I don't even know what I am.
Zaire steps closer and takes my hand.
My fingers curl around his almost automatically.
The warmth from his hand grounds me somehow.
“Hey, look at me.”
I lift my eyes to his.
“You are okay. Whatever happens, you aren't on your own. Not anymore,” he says low.
His eyes stay locked on mine as one hand cups my cheek and the other remains laced with mine.
“I can't do this,” I whisper.
He raises a brow.
“You can. You've been training your entire life for anything someone throws at you.” His thumb brushes away another tear. “You also have three Alphas who won't let anything happen to you.”
He smirks.
Despite the tears still falling down my face, I smile.
Of course he'd find a way to bring the three of them into this.
He wipes away another tear.
“I'm still mad at you,” I say low, still smiling.
Zaire chuckles. “I know, but this is about the magic. Not about us.”
And strangely, I appreciate that more than another apology. He's not using me being scared as an opportunity to make me forgive him. He's just here.
“Zaire?” Dad says.
Zaire's hand drops from my cheek, but he doesn't let go of mine.
“Yes, sir?”
“What do you know?”
“Not much, sir. I had a dream a week ago about her tree. My grandmother said when I had the dream, it meant the next High Priestess had awoken and that I was meant to guide her.” He glances at me briefly. “But she said this one was special and that I had to be strong of mind and heart to help her down her path.”
Dad studies him closely.
“That's it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When is your birthday?”
“November fifteenth, sir.”
Dad nods. “Okay. In about two months.”
I don't know what my father's calculating, but the way he files that information away tells me the question wasn't random.
“I need to get out of here and go to school,” I say.
“Lani,” Mom starts.
“I'm fine, Mom. My magic is fine again.” At least it feels fine, which is good enough for me right now. “I can't do anything about whoever is coming for me right now. So until then, I'm going to focus on learning my magic, the rank placement trials, school, and the tournament.”
Sitting here terrified isn't going to make whoever sent that message disappear.
I throw my legs over the side of the bed and pull the heart monitor from my finger.
“I'm going to shower and get ready for school.” I look at Kaia. “Come with?”
“Obvi.”
She is already standing before the word fully leaves her mouth.
“I guess I'll see you guys at school?” Zaire asks.
I look back at him.
“Yes.”
I make it a couple of steps before stopping.
“Oh, and thank you for coming.”
“Always, Shorty.”
My cheeks warm, and Kaia catches it immediately.
Damn it.
I grab her arm and pull her out of the room before she can say anything in front of everyone.
“You guys are so cute,” she says the second we're far enough down the hall.
“Shut up.”
“It's cute how he tries to hide how much he wants you. It's cute.”
“You really need a new hobby.”
She throws her arm around my shoulders.
“Your life would be so boring without me.”
“My life has been anything but boring lately. I could actually use a little boring.”
“Okay, fair.”
When we get to my room and the door closes behind us, the smile slips from my face.
I turn toward Kaia.
“Okay, I need to tell you something.”
“Uh-oh. Chaos. I love it.”
“I'm serious, Kaia.”
Her smile disappears.
“My symbols burned. Almost like someone was doing something, or like my body was fighting something off.”
Her brows pull together.
I pause.
“That's why I blacked out.”
Saying it out loud makes the memory of that pain crawl across my skin again.
“What happened in the house?” I ask.
“The power went out for a second, and then windows started busting out across the entire Alpha floor,” she says. “Not just your room, Lani. The whole floor.”
My stomach drops.
“By the time I made it upstairs with my parents, Ezra and your parents were already running into your room.”
I look down at my arms. The symbols aren't glowing anymore, but knowing what they did last night makes me uneasy anyway.
“What the fuck is happening to me?” I murmur.
Kaia doesn't have an answer.
Neither do I.
“I'm scared, Kaia,” I say low.
That might be the hardest thing I've admitted all morning.
She climbs off my bed and pulls me into a hug.
“I am too, but I'm here, and I will always be here. We'll get through it together like we do everything,” she whispers, rubbing my back.
I take a deep breath, breathing in her familiar scent.
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“Besties.”
“Sisters,” I whisper.
“Always.” She squeezes me once before pulling away. “Now get ready before your guys start blowing up your phone.”
And just like that, she's Kaia again.
I roll my eyes, but I'm grateful for it.
I take a quick shower and stand in my closet. For a second, I automatically reach toward the side where most of my usual clothes are hanging before remembering the conversation from last night.
Blue and yellow.
I shake my head, already knowing those three are going to be entirely too pleased with themselves.
I settle on a royal blue pleated skirt and a yellow tube top with yellow gladiator sandals. I leave my curls out today and finish it off with a royal blue bag.
“Cute,” Nyra says.
I turn toward the mirror, looking myself over. It's definitely different from what I would've picked a week ago, but I actually like it.
When I step out of the closet, Kaia whistles.
“Now this is the Lani I love. Tomboy Lani was not you,” she says. “This? This is you.” She grins. “And I am loving this new you, girl.”
I look down at myself before smiling. “I'm still wearing my hoodies.”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Ready?” I ask.
“Sure am.”
She hops off the bed, grabbing her bag as we head downstairs.
When I step into the car, a small buzz settles beneath my skin, and my fingers tighten around the steering wheel. It's faint, nothing like what happened last night, but I can feel it. Like everything inside me is charged.
Please don't lose control at school.
The last thing I need is to start blowing out windows at Crescent Moon Academy.
The drive is quiet for a while before Kaia speaks.
“Do you think Zaire told Kieran and Liam what happened?”
My stomach flips at the thought of them knowing about the message.
“He probably did, especially since we're late.”
I don't know how I feel about that. A week ago, I would've hated the idea of three guys knowing something that personal about me. Now a small part of me expects them to know, which might be even more terrifying.
When we pull up outside the school, all three of them are waiting near the entrance, leaning against the wall.
Of course they are.
“Okay, that is creepy,” Kaia says.
I roll my eyes. “You're so fucking annoying.”
“Tell me I'm wrong.”
I can't, so I grab my bag instead.
When I step out of the car, all three of them groan.
Kaia cracks up laughing beside me.
I stop with one hand still on the car door. “What?”
“This is too revealing,” Kieran says low as his eyes trail over me.
My cheeks warm.
“It is not.”
“The skirt is too short,” he adds.
I roll my eyes. “Kieran, stop.”
“I'm serious.”
“And I'm ignoring you.”
Liam and Zaire still haven't taken their eyes off me.
“Can you two not encourage him?” I ask.
Liam slowly shakes his head. “I didn't say anything, Mama.”
“Your face is saying plenty.”
“When Kieran suggested both, I didn't expect this,” Zaire says low.
His eyes move over me once more before meeting mine, and the look on his face sends another kind of buzz through me that has absolutely nothing to do with magic.
“Okay, you three are too much. Come on, we're already late.”
“Rivers was waiting for you. Your dad called the school,” Liam says.
I freeze.
The warm feeling disappears immediately.
I turn slowly.
“He did what?” I ask quietly.
“He told him the truth,” Zaire says.
I close my eyes for a second. Of course he did. Apparently almost destroying an entire floor of the pack house earns you a personal call to your principal.
“Of course he did. Fine. Let's go then,” I murmur.
Kaia hooks her arm through mine as we head inside, and the guys fall into step around us.
The moment I step through the stadium doors, it feels like all eyes turn toward us.
Conversations don't completely stop, but enough people look our way that I notice.
“I was wondering when they would show up.”
“I mean, they do look cute together.”
Another whisper follows us as we make our way up the steps, but I can't make out the words.
A week ago, I would've wanted to turn around and disappear. Today, I keep walking.
We make our way up to the rest of our friends.
“Finally. We thought you would never get here,” Sebastian says.
“Is being dramatic a requirement for your friend group?” Kaia asks.
“Most definitely,” Liam and Canon say at the same time.
Kaia looks at me and points toward them. “See? This is why you fit in now.”
“Don't include me in this.”
Before any of us can say anything else, Principal Rivers' voice bellows across the stadium.
“Good morning, students. Now that all of our students are here, we can begin.”
My brows rise slightly at the very obvious reference to me, but I decide pretending I didn't notice is better than acknowledging it.
“Today we will be testing your sparring skills. Each spar will be scored on six main categories, plus a five-point bonus for winning the spar. Each student will participate in three spars today. Mr. Connors will assign each match.”
The stadium immediately fills with murmurs as everyone starts looking around, probably wondering who they'll be matched against.
“This is an all-day event. Students must remain in the building until they have completed all three spars. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen.”
Principal Rivers returns to his seat.
I lean forward slightly as the board begins to flicker.
Three spars.
Normally, I'd be excited. Sparring is one thing I know I'm good at. But the faint buzzing underneath my skin hasn't stopped since I left home, and suddenly being expected to fight three different people doesn't sound nearly as simple as it should.
The first pair appears.
Kieran Vale — Blue Mountain
vs.
Kaelani Quinn — Blackridge
I stare at the board.
“Ohhhhh, this is going to be good. The tension is going to be juicy,” Kaia says.
I slowly turn toward her.
“Eventually, you will get tired.”
“Not today.”
Of course not.
Kieran looks at me.
“Ready?”
“Always.”
The answer comes automatically, but the buzzing underneath my skin says otherwise.
I stand, adjusting my bag on my shoulder before looking toward the locker rooms. My heart is beating faster now, and it has nothing to do with being paired against Kieran.
He lightly touches my wrist.
A sharp static shock snaps between us.
I jerk my hand back.
Kieran looks down at his fingers before lifting his eyes to mine.
The concern on his face immediately replaces whatever amusement was there before.
“It’s okay. We'll figure it out. It's going to be okay,” he says.
I nod, even though neither of us has any idea if that's true.
The panic settles slightly, but the nerves don't go away.
Last night I shattered windows without touching them. This morning I woke up in the pack hospital. Now I'm about to step onto a sparring mat while enough energy is running beneath my skin to shock someone from a simple touch.
What is going to happen during this spar?
I shocked him.
And in a few minutes, he's going to be hitting me while I hit him back.
What the fuck is about to happen?
I force my feet to move before I can talk myself out of it.
I step into the locker room, and the sounds of the stadium dull the moment the door closes behind me.
For most of my life, fighting has been the easy part. Dad made sure of that.
Today, I'm not afraid of Kieran.
I'm afraid of what might happen when I fight him.