Claimed by the Alpha CEO

The night Aurora Vale lost her family, the snow smelled like iron.

 A blanket of silence had draped over Crescent Hollow, her small hometown nestled deep in the woods-too quiet, even for winter.

She had fallen asleep reading in her bed, her fingers tangled in the fabric of her worn sweater, comforted by the scent of cinnamon her mother always added to the fireplace logs.

 The first scream shattered everything. She woke with a gasp, heart already thudding in panic. The sound of snarling and crashing glass filled the air outside her room.

Then came her mother's voice.

 "Aurora! Get Elias and run!" She didn't make it in time.

 Her mother had begun to shift, protecting her younger brother-but the rogues were faster. Bigger. Hungrier.

 Aurora saw fur, blood, and snow all blur into one horrific moment. Her father's final roar. Her brother's scream.

 And then silence.

 She didn't remember how she got away. Only the cold against her feet, the branches scratching her skin, the sob caught in her throat as she ran into the forest and didn't stop.

Nothing except the forest swallowing her whole as she sprinted barefoot through the trees, the wind freezing against her tear-streaked face.

That night carved a permanent scar into her soul. She didn't look back. She never got to say goodbye. She collapsed in the snow far from home, her body trembling, skin burning, her soul ripped apart.

 That was when she heard it. A soft voice, deep within her mind.

 "Live."

 Now, 5 years later, after moving from different towns. She stood at the edge of the city known as Crescent City, with her entire life packed into one old duffel bag and a single suitcase with a broken wheel.

The world here was louder-taller buildings, honking cars, glowing neon signs that didn't flicker with fire, but with electricity and indifference. 

 She tried to live through it for the past 5 years. But everywhere she settled, she felt unsafe. With no known relatives and no records of her birth parents, the university had offered her a rare late transfer-an escape disguised as a scholarship.