Alright, now this was weird she thought. The teacher who only smiled and was in a good mood while he explained the test, now kept frowning seeing her information. Even after a few moments had passed, he did not say a thing, as his face looked more and more taken aback with each elapsed second.

Her heart started pounding in her chest. Was there truly a problem with her?

Did she make a mistake coming here? She avoided for so long getting tested, fearing the abnormal of her situation, and she walked on her own accord in the lion's den in the end. But she could not help it, she truly wished to become a watcher, it was her most fervent goal.

She wished it so much that she did not even second guess her mother's words, so much so that she even dared to get tested, under the probing gazes of others for being the only female.

Leaving aside the fact that there were two wolf consciousness inside her mind, which had already stunned the teacher into silence. After checking Waning, the teacher frowned even more. Had she known that the procedure of the testing involved each wolf at a time, and they would only see the information displayed for the one wolf she wished to get tested, she would've hidden Waning's existence, as she had always known that Waning seemed stronger than Crescent.

She had kept her hidden all these years, and even avoided shifting into her form because she knew that once she transformed, Waning's aura would barely be suppressed.

The clear evidence of this being that, when she shifted for the very first time, she changed into Waning's wolf form during the second time she felt her bones crack and rearrange themselves, causing a huge commotion. Even though during her first change, when she shifted into Crescent's form, nothing in particular happened.

She still remembered how the trackers kept rumbling in the forest howling and growling, as they searched for the intruder that was trying to oppose their alpha. It was not her intention to release the threatening aura, to defy the leadership. The problem was that regrettably this was what her shift was seen as, a challenge for the leader's position.

Being faster than them, fortunately, they did not manage to catch a glimpse of her, before she ran and hid in an inconspicuous place to change back to her human form.

At that time, the three decided that they would only change into Crescent's form because, even though Crescent was also as strong as a regular alpha, with Crescent's and Waning's power combined it was easier to suppress her aura. Each time she shifted, no one could detect her wolf in the forest.

Waning never complained because of this reason, she never protested she had to be suppressed. She assured Celia that if the latter assumed Crescent's form to run in the woods, the shift would bring comfort for her also.

Coming here for the test, Celia reckoned that she was just as strong as a watcher so it would not be strange for her to finally shift into Waning's form as well. Surrounded by so many alpha ranked werewolves, in an Academy where higher ranked werewolves were seen as the norm, Waning's form would be no different than the others', so shifting into her form wouldn't be seen as challenging their power and position.

Her second wish besides being a watcher had been to let Waning run free, without anyone feeling threatened by her power, but now she had a gut feeling this wish would still be impossible to accomplish.

After the teacher's initial silence that felt like a lifetime, now he kept mumbling to himself "It can't be! One man rank. It can't be!" His quick change in mood as he went from silent, to pale, to amazed had been too weird, to say the least. So she wanted to ask him what the problem was, but being afraid of his reaction, she stayed silent, waiting for him to speak first

Awkwardly retracting her hand from the Seer, she suppressed Waning's aura, as she waited for the results. What was done could not be undone, unfortunately.

They stayed like this for a few more minutes, neither of them daring to look at the other, until Gabriel managed to regain his composure and with a hoarse voice finally spoke.

"I am sorry, but your rank is impossible. Although I do not think the Seer is wrong, it has never been wrong. Not to mention, his highness has also used it to check his power regularly, and at the same time to check if the Seer has maintained its efficiency, so its readings has always been flawless. It is never wrong, it has been used for hundreds of years for thousands of werewolves. It can't be wrong, it just can't." He blabbered his words, the earlier eloquence he had displayed in the amphitheater nowhere in sight.

"What exactly is the problem?" Celia asked, still trying to maintain her composure. Though his repeated use of the words "it can't be wrong" had her a little worried.

He sighed, in an attempt to regain his composure, and spoke more fluently this time. He was still a teacher and a high ranking official. If he would lose his composure so easily, what would others think of him?

"The Seer has checked your wolf's power. It is rank 1, that is to say... the same rank as our current king's." He replied with an inquisitive tone. Had she known her strength already? Was this why she had avoided being tested before?

Her eyes widened at the revelation, one she would not have imagined even in a thousand years. Waning was this strong... why? Her genuine expression was a clear indication that it was news to her as well.

"B-but you said that rank 1 is only held by his highness. H-How can my rank also be the same?" She said stuttering, after a few seconds of silence, as she tried to understand his words.

"That is why, I said it is impossible. I have to notify his highness and the Council of this, as soon as possible. We must know the reason your rank is so high. I should call them now!" Gabriel stated flustered, searching with his eyes for the phone.

"Teacher you assured me earlier that you will only notify them if one is accepted or rejected. Please do not tell them what you found out. All I want is to be a watcher, nothing more. I do not want to be a guinea pig. I do not want further tests done. All my life I have lived for others, I just want to be free doing what I want." Celia spoke with a trembling voice. She had never spoken so much at once before, but now she was trying to the best of her abilities to get her opinion heard.

"I am sorry, I did say that. But for your circumstances I have to. I have no choice but to let them know." Gabriel apologized, as his eyes finally found the phone, and he had already lifted it from his desk.

""

He was in the process of dialing his phone, when the sound of a higher ranked wolf boomed inside the room. It instantly froze him, stopping his body just as he was about to press dial. Being the only two people in the room, Gabriel realized the commanding voice came from none other than her first ranked wolf, Waning, it was a superior alpha's power.

Much like his highness's wolf, when her wolf roared all were obliged to listen, so he could only bow obediently, showing his neck in submission as he reflexively put the phone down. It had been the first time a candidate wolf made him submit. His rank was only below the werewolves that made up the Council, nonetheless, he was easily made to do her bidding.

"The clear and imposing voice continued ordering unbothered.

Pup, he was called a pup. He would have laughed, if it was in another situation, but the beauty before him could not be offended.

"Yes, as you command." Was the reply his body instinctively gave, regardless of his free will.

As Waning retracted her suffocating aura, only then did Gabriel sit upright again, just in time to see Celia's black eyes turn to their normal chocolate color.

"I am sorry. She is not usually willful. She only does whatever I ask of her normally. It was not my intention to command you. She has never used this voice on anyone before." Celia exclaimed apologetically, as she regained control of her body. She could not deny inside her mind that she approved Waning's actions, but it was still awkward to face the teacher. She had actually commanded a famous werewolf that she had heard stuff of legends about, a person in direct subordination to the king of werewolves... and Waning had even called him a pup.

"Well, she is your wolf. She will act on her own, if she feels your safety is threatened." Gabriel stated helplessly, and sighed as he continued.

"Fine, I promise I will not say anything. Well I cannot say it, even if I want to. The command of a higher ranked wolf can only be retracted by said wolf or another high ranking one. So unless his highness asks me expressly if you have two wolves, or your exact rankings, I will not divulge them."

"Thank you." She said finally relieved her secret would be kept hidden.

"There is no need for thanks." Really no need he thought to himself, he did not do it on his own accord after all.

"Can I ask, how exactly do you have two wolves?" Gabriel curiously inquired.

"I do not know how or why. When I shifted for the first time, at the age of thirteen, I felt the change of my body happening two times, and as a result I gained two wolves. But why such a thing happened to me, I have no way of finding out.

My grey wolf, Crescent, also does not know the reason, and Waning keeps herself suppressed most of the times, as her aura could easily be detected, unless she stays hidden deep within my mind. She does not interact with me often because of this reason, only if she deems I need her help.

But I did ask her once if she knew the reason, and she did not say anything, so I will not ask again. She will choose herself, whether to tell me or not." Celia explained honestly.

"Fine. Perhaps we will learn in time. We will be seeing each other more anyway in the future, in classes and during your watcher duties. We will talk further, if we find out more." Gabriel resigned stated.

"I have not taken all the exams to be a watcher yet, so ...." She tried to express her worry, but did not manage to speak further, because he interrupted her.

"A first ranked werewolf, and you worry about not passing the exams? Hahaha...' Gabriel finally laughed, resuming his usual carefree face from before she was tested.

"Do not worry, we will see each other in the future. Please tell the next candidate to wait 10 minutes before entering. I may not look like it, but I need a break." He continued to say, finally gesturing for Celia to take her leave.

She nodded and exited the room.

Once alone, Gabriel slumped on his chair a little drained from the previous aura and tension. Ohhh how he wished he could tell his good friend Celia's rank. She could possibly be Salas's mate. He was already 100 years old, but he still had not found her. Surely the king of all werewolves would be the only befitting of a female mate of her rank, his equal. If she was not his mate, then no other werewolf could be.

With this in mind, he checked her file again, she was 22 years old and had never left her pack's territory.

His friend had checked the packs for more than 50 years searching for his mate, which he unfortunately never found. After 50 years of constant searching, he gave up, and closed his heart to even the prospect of having another werewolf as his mate and queen, other than his rightful mate.

He was already a hundred years old. Normally, werewolves had a minimum life expectancy of 200 years. Salas, as a high ranking werewolf, had an even longer life, but who could say for certain exactly how long his life would be. It had made even the Council worry, as he reached his current age, and still had no heir to the throne.

What if the reason for not finding his mate was that she had not been born yet? He gave up the search before her birth, and thus Celia Blair was never checked.

He sighed again. Well anyway, his highness made constant inspections to the Academy, and even if not, as he had already checked it this year, he could possibly still come for the start of the courses in autumn.

It would be three months later, but he had already waited for so long... what was 3 months more. And with his abilities he could probably smell her, if he even came near the gates. It was not necessary to actually see her face to face, to check if she was his mate, so in due time they would find each other.

***

Three weeks had passed since the Seer test.

Seeing her pass it, the other candidates gained another level of respect towards Celia.

Out of the 1000 people or more that first signed up for the exam, only about 300 remained, just after the first test. They were the ones ranked 3rd and 4th.

The IQ test and the liberal discussion test diminished their number even more, so for the melee combat only 100 candidates remained.

Celia was between the remaining candidates, and she was actually placed first for the second and third test. The first test was confidential so no one knew her ranking, but she was at the very least a 4th rank.

During this time she kept mostly to herself as always. But in the eyes of the other candidates it felt like she bloomed further, like she looked even more beautiful than when she first arrived. At the beginning she felt more introvert and not easily approachable, but now as she was more certain of herself and she also felt more at ease in their presence, they could even greet her when they passed by, and each time she would respond. These facts seemed to add to her attractiveness. She seemed even more charming than the first day they saw her.

During her time at the Academy, Celia had called her family only once, not that they called her also. Only her brother messaged asking how she was from time to time or if she was eating properly, but with her mother she had only spoken once.

It was the time she called to inform her family she had passed the first three tests. But when her mother answered the phone, after she had waited for quite a while for the call to be picked up, the latter told her to take care of herself, and quickly mentioned she did not have the time to talk at that moment, but she assured her she would call her back later. She waited for the call that never came, so they did not know of her progress.

She also tried later to call her sister, but Brianna did not respond to her calls at all. She sighed, as she figured her sister was still angry at her for leaving so abruptly, so she gave up trying to call and only left a message for her, telling her to take care of herself and, even though she was not one to talk of her feelings, she also told her younger sister she loved her very much.

The last Monday finally came. She was a bit nervous, but still felt she was as ready as she would ever be for the final test. She had used the rest of the weeks, other than Mondays on which the tests were held, for training.

She had self-trained since young, but she always did so covertly, and only in her scarce free time, but now she could do it freely and even use all of her time for it. Jake also trained with her and, as he had professional training, it helped her further.

The one hundred people gathered in the massive Amphitheatre located in the heart of the Academy. They had become quite close to each other in the last month, but now everyone was wary of the other.

On this day, out of the one hundred still remaining candidates, only ten would get to be admitted for the watcher course, and everyone wanted to be in those ten places.

A fierce battle was sure to take place...