
Survive the Alpha’s Trials
olegroup9 · Ongoing · 44.5k Words
Introduction
Sage didn’t come to Crescent University looking for trouble. She came to disappear.
But you don’t walk away after stumbling into a blood ritual in the dean’s office.
Now she’s marked. Watched. Owned.
Dragged into the Trials—where weakness gets you killed, and mercy gets you buried.
Rule one: trust no one.
Rule two: survive at any cost.
Rule three: never fall for the man assigned to break you.
Kieran Thorne isn’t just dangerous—he’s deliberate. Cold eyes. Controlled violence. The pack’s chosen enforcer. He’s supposed to train her, not corner her after dark. Not press her against his desk and growl mine like it’s already decided.
But Kieran is hiding more than scars and secrets.
And when Sage realizes she’s not a student in this game but a sacrifice, something inside her snaps.
She can kneel.
Or she can burn the whole damn system down.
She’s never been good at obeying.
Chapter 1
The library smelled like forgotten things—dust and old leather and secrets nobody wanted anymore. I pressed myself deeper into the corner of the archives section, where the overhead light had burned out two weeks ago, and nobody bothered to replace it. Perfect.
Darkness was safe. Darkness meant invisible.
My fingers traced the spine of a water-damaged copy of Mythology of the Pacific Northwest, but I wasn't reading. I was counting. Fifty-three seconds since the last footsteps echoed past my hiding spot. Ninety-two seconds before I'd need to make another sweep of the third floor. Two hours and seventeen minutes until my shift ended and I could disappear back to my dorm.
This was survival. Measured in seconds and silence.
"Still hiding in the dark, Winters?"
I didn't jump. Jumping showed weakness, and I'd learned young that weakness got you hurt. Instead, I turned slowly, forcing my face into that blank mask I'd perfected in six different foster homes.
Lyra Ashford stood at the end of the aisle, all honey-blonde hair and concerned eyes that never quite matched the rest of her perfect face. My roommate. The one person at Crescent University who refused to let me be nobody.
"Working," I said. My voice came out flat, deliberately boring. "Some of us have scholarship requirements."
"It's almost midnight." She moved closer, and I catalogued her appearance the way I catalogued everything—potential threat assessment. Designer jeans that cost more than my entire wardrobe. A cashmere sweater, despite the library's broken heating. Boots that didn't make a sound on the hardwood floor. That last part bothered me more than it should.
"The library closes at one." I shelved the mythology book, using the movement to put more distance between us. "I've got time."
"You've got shadows under your eyes and coffee stains on your sleeve." Her tone was gentle, which somehow made it worse. "When's the last time you ate something that wasn't from a vending machine?"
My stomach chose that moment to growl, betraying me. I'd skipped dinner again, too anxious about the strange sounds I'd heard coming from the restricted wing last night. Chanting, maybe. Or screaming. Hard to tell through the thick stone walls of this Gothic nightmare masquerading as higher education.
"I'm fine."
"You're always fine." Lyra sighed, leaning against the shelves with the easy confidence of someone who'd never had to fight for space in the world. "Look, there's a bonfire thing tomorrow night. Off-campus, near the old-growth forest. You should come."
"I don't do parties."
"It's not a party. It's just... people. Talking. Being normal college students." She paused, and something flickered across her face too fast for me to read. "You can't hide forever, Sage."
Yes, I could. I'd been doing it for nineteen years.
"I'll think about it," I lied, already knowing I'd spend tomorrow night exactly like I spent every night—alone, safe, invisible.
Lyra studied me for a long moment, and I forced myself to hold her gaze. Eye contact was important. Too little made you prey. Too much made you a challenge. I'd learned to find the middle ground, that sweet spot where people saw you but didn't really see you.
"Okay," she said finally. "But if you change your mind, text me. I'll save you a spot."
She left as quietly as she'd arrived, and I waited until her footsteps faded completely before I let my shoulders drop. The mask slipped, just for a second, and exhaustion crashed over me like a wave.
I was so tired of being afraid.
But fear kept you alive. Fear kept you moving. Fear was the only friend I'd ever been able to count on.
I finished shelving the returns and made my way through the routine closing checks. Lock the study rooms. Secure the rare books section. Turn off the computers in the research lab. The familiar tasks settled something jagged in my chest.
My phone sat heavy in my jacket pocket. I'd left it charging at the front desk earlier, and now the screen showed three missed calls from an unknown number. My pulse kicked up. Unknown numbers meant social services, or worse, someone from the system tracking me down. I'd aged out six months ago, but that didn't stop them from trying to pull you back in when it suited them.
I shoved the phone deeper into my pocket and grabbed my backpack from behind the circulation desk. Time to go.
The October air hit me like a slap when I pushed through the library's heavy oak doors. Cold enough to sting, sharp enough to clear my head. Crescent University sprawled before me in Gothic revival glory—all dark stone and pointed arches and shadows that moved wrong when you weren't looking directly at them.
I'd felt it the first day I arrived. This place was wrong. Beautiful and prestigious and absolutely drowning in secrets.
But the scholarship was a full ride, and beggars couldn't be choosers. So I kept my head down and my questions to myself and survived.
The main quad was empty this late, just the weak glow of antique street lamps fighting against the darkness. My dorm was a ten-minute walk across campus, past the dean's office and the administration building, and all the places where important decisions were made that never included people like me.
I was halfway across the quad when I realized I'd left my phone charger plugged in at the desk.
"Damn it." The words fogged in the freezing air. I could get it tomorrow, but tomorrow my shift doesn't start until noon, and I need my phone charged for the morning. Just in case. Always in case.
I turned back toward the library, and that's when I heard it.
Chanting.
Low and rhythmic, rising from somewhere beyond the library. Past it. The sound crawled up my spine and wrapped around my brainstem, primitive and wrong and utterly compelling.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to run. To go back to my dorm, lock the door, and forget I'd heard anything.
I walked toward it instead.
Because that's the thing about people like me, people who'd spent their whole lives being invisible—sometimes we forgot we were supposed to stay that way.
The chanting grew louder as I rounded the side of the library, following the ancient stone pathway that led toward the restricted administrative wing. No students allowed past this point. I'd never questioned it before.
Now my feet carried me forward like I was walking through a dream. Like I wasn't in control of my own body.
The dean's office sat at the end of the path, windows dark except for a faint red glow pulsing from somewhere inside. The chanting came from there, and beneath it, I could hear something else.
Screaming.
My hand found my phone, fingers already pulling it free, some dim part of my brain thinking I should call someone, do something, be anything other than a scared nineteen-year-old girl way out of her depth.
But I didn't call. I crept closer instead, drawn by the same sick curiosity that made you look at car crashes, made you read the scary stories even when you knew they'd give you nightmares.
The window was tall, arched, medieval-looking. I pressed myself against the cold stone wall and leaned just enough to see inside.
And my entire world shattered.
Last Chapters
#33 Chapter 33 Chapter 33: The Cage of Memory
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#32 Chapter 32 Chapter 32: The Weight of Mercy
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#31 Chapter 31 Chapter 31: Closer Than You Think.
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#30 Chapter 30 Chapter 30: Echoes in the Dark.
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#29 Chapter 29 Chapter 29: Through the Snow.
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#28 Chapter 28 Chapter 28: Teeth in the Dark
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#27 Chapter 27 Chapter 27: The Breaking Point.
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#26 Chapter 26 Chapter 26: Blood and Bonds.
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#25 Chapter 25 Chapter 25: Claws and Cover-Ups
Last Updated: 2/25/2026#24 Chapter 24 Chapter 24: Scent of Rivals
Last Updated: 2/25/2026
You Might Like 😍
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
The mafia princess return
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
Mated To My Ruin: A Dragon's Debt
But the prince lied. The dragon she touched bound itself to her soul and now she is trapped in the vampire kingdom with a king who has waited centuries for her return. King Caelan remembers everything. The love she destroyed and the great war she started. The lives she burned to ash with the very dragon now living inside her.
She remembers nothing.
He wants her to suffer for crimes she cannot recall. She wants to survive long enough to save her sister. But the bond between them refuses to stay buried and the dragon has its own plans. When she turns twenty and her fae powers awaken, Nyx discovers the truth is far more twisted than centuries of hatred.
The prince who sent her was the one who destroyed her family. The king who hates her saved the only person she loves. And the past life she cannot remember might be the key to stopping another war.
This time she will not run. This time she will burn the world herself if that is what it takes.
First Taste in a Century
But Lysander’s arrival spells disaster. In a clumsy accident, he doesn't just ruin dinner; he obliterates her state-of-the-art scientific instruments. With her life’s work destroyed and her synthetic supply cut off, the scent of his living blood overwhelms her engineered senses. Forced to break a century-long abstinence, she takes what she needs, only to find herself addicted not just to his taste, but to the man himself.
Using the equipment as a flimsy excuse to lure him back, Vivienne battles a terrifying new obsession. She craves his body despite believing he’s taken, despising her own weakness. Meanwhile, Lysander’s initial terror curdles into a forbidden fascination. Can a relationship survive when one person feels everything, and the other only hungers?
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
Cursed Fates
Human Capture (Up North #2)
Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.
Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.
One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.
But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
Twin Prince Alphas Student Mate
As her 18th birthday approaches, her brothers warn her about the powerful pull she might feel toward dominant wolves. But it's not just any wolves they need to worry about—it's her teachers. Cameron and Samuel are more than just older, wiser, and off-limits; they might just be her fated mates.
While navigating complex relationships, academic pressures, and the normal trials of young adult life, an unexpected threat jeopardizes the academy. Explosions rock their world, forcing Lyla and her love interests into a chaotic swirl of heroism, heartbreak, and hard choices.
Will Lyla follow her heart and let destiny lead the way, or will the very rules that bind their world tear them apart? Amidst turmoil and taboo, Lyla must make choices that could forever change the course of her life and the lives of those she holds dear.
Discover a story where love isn't just complicated—it's forbidden, ageless, and defies all rules. In a world of supernatural beings and extraordinary stakes, will Lyla's love life be another casualty, or her saving grace?
The Alpha & The Vampire Queen
Whips crack against her skin, blood pooling on the cold stone floor, while her mother's pleas fade into silence, abandoning her to the monster's wrath. Xander's protective cries turn to accusations under Penny's dark spells, fracturing their sibling bond into shards of mistrust and isolation.












