The Alpha's pretend mate

chapter 2

AVELORA

No, I definitely wasn't hallucinating. But was he mistaken? There was no way I was his mate.

Maybe he was drunk.

I looked around, searching for some sort of sanity, but everybody wore the same expression I did. Shock. Disbelief. Some faces carried something worse, a look that told me exactly what they thought.

I wasn't worthy of being the mate of someone like him.

I became horrifyingly aware of everything around me. The sticky drink clinging to my skin. The suffocating silence. The prejudiced looks burning into me.

And Alpha Khyrix was close.

Too close.

I could see the faint line between his brows, the way his jaw tightened as he inhaled again. His gaze remained fixed on me, as if he were trying to solve a problem he had never asked for.

"No."

Natalia was the first to break the silence. She let out a mocking laugh, but there was nothing amused about it.

"That's not funny."

She shoved me aside and stepped in front of me, placing her hand against Khyrix's chest as though she had every right to stop him.

His gaze finally broke away from me, fury flashed behind his eyes.

"Move."

One word.

Yet somehow, it dragged the entire room into an even deeper silence.

Natalia froze.

For a second, she looked as if she couldn't believe he had spoken to her that way. Then she turned toward me, disbelief clouding her face, before spinning around and stalking away.

Her minions scrambled after her.

Khyrix faced me again. That lethal focus returned to his eyes.

I looked everywhere but at him, the floor, the walls, the chandeliers. Anything to escape the crushing weight of all those eyes boring into me.

He must be mistaken.

"What?"

"That?"

"That's the Alpha's mate?"

"Ew."

Their whispers grew louder, each one cutting through me with humiliating precision.

I took a step back immediately.

He noticed because something shifted in his expression.

"Don't." His voice was low andcommanding.

My body stopped before my mind could decide whether to obey. My own body had betrayed me, choosing to listen to him instead.

I let out a nervous chuckle.

"I didn't do..."

Before I could finish, he reached for me. The moment his fingers closed around my arm, a jolt shot through me like an electrical pulse.

Heat spread from where he touched me.

Khyrix went still. For one heartbeat, neither of us moved.

His eyes met mine, and something unreadable flickered across his face. Then he released me abruptly.

"There will be no announcement tonight."

The hall erupted.

"What?"

"They have to know the Alpha found his..."

"I don't think she's worthy."

"Her?"

"Yuck."

"I said no announcements."

This time, the growl beneath his voice rolled through the room and silence fell instantly.

My stomach dropped when he turned toward me.

"Come with me."

Humiliation clung to me as one of the guards ushered me away.

The moment we stepped behind the double doors, the voices erupted again. The heavy doors muffled them, but I didn't need to hear the words to know what was being said.

My legs threatened to give out beneath me. My heart raced like I'd been running from something.

Khyrix pulled me into a smaller room and shut the door behind us.

For the first time, we were completely alone, and somehow, that was worse.

His presence filled the room, overwhelming every thought in my head. An awkward silence stretched between us until it became unbearable.

"Ah..." He exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "This is complicated."

A short, hollow laugh escaped me.

"Wow. That's it?"

He looked at me.

"I was humiliated in front of every pack in existence, and that's all you have to say?"

"You think?" His eyes narrowed slightly.

"I didn't choose you." The words stung before I could process them.

"I know." My shaky voice betrayed me.

He paused.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Okay."

I inhaled slowly, forcing my breathing to steady. He hadn't chosen this, I shouldn't blame him for what the Moon Goddess had decided.

Khyrix studied me for a moment before speaking again.

"I need you to stay calm." I nodded, bracing myself.

He hesitated. Then his eyes met mine.

"You're not my mate."

My head snapped up.

"What?"

"You're not," he said evenly. "You were just the most convenient person there."

Something inside me dropped—hard.

It sank all the way to my feet.