My Bully Is My Fated Mate

CHAPTER 2

The Golden Boy And The Beast

I hated mornings. Not because I was lazy, but because mornings meant school, and school meant pretending I didn’t care about things that actually hurt me.

By the time I got to Westbridge High, the hallways were already crowded with students laughing too loudly and shoving books into lockers. The air smelled like perfume, coffee, and cheap cafeteria pancakes. Veronica walked beside me with an iced coffee in one hand and her bag hanging halfway off her shoulder.

“You look sleep-deprived again,” she said.

“I was writing."

“You say that like it’s an actual excuse.”

“It is a valid excuse," I retorted.

Veronica snorted. “At this point your mystery readers online know you better than your own family.”

I adjusted the strap of my bag quietly, feeling uncomfortable because she wasn’t wrong. The only place I ever felt important was online. It was never here, at home, and definitely not in this hallway.

My gaze drifted across the crowded corridor automatically, searching for someone before I could stop myself. And there he was—Adrian Cole. He stood near the trophy display surrounded by people as usual, sunlight pouring through the tall windows behind him like the universe itself had decided he deserved cinematic lighting. He laughed at something one of the football players said, and the sound carried through the hallway easily.

My good Lord! Even his laugh was attractive.

“You’re stare yearning again,” Veronica muttered beside me.

“I am not.”

“You absolutely are.”

Heat rushed to my face instantly the moment Adrian looked up directly at me, smiling. And my heart nearly stopped.

“Morning, Ellie," he said, revealing his perfect set of teeth.

I almost walked into somebody.

“Hi,” I managed awkwardly, but smoothly. Very smooth.

Adrian stepped away from the group and walked toward us, effortlessly confident in a way people like me could never be.

“You finished the history assignment?” he asked.

I blinked in surprise. “Uh… yeah.”

“Can I see your notes later? I missed half the lecture yesterday because of practice.”

Veronica stared at him dramatically. “Imagine looking like that and still asking Ellie for help.”

Adrian laughed softly.

“It’s called surviving senior year.” His blue eyes landed back on me, warm and easy. “You coming to the regional competition in two weeks?”

My stomach tightened immediately at that.

Crestfall scouts would be there, and everybody knew it.

“Maybe,” I answered carefully.

“You should,” Adrian said. “You’re probably one of the smartest people in this school.”

The words hit me harder than they should have. Probably because nobody ever said things like that to me. Adrian always did it so casually too, like he didn’t realize simple kindness could stay with someone for days.

“Thanks,” I murmured.

Then the atmosphere shifted, and I felt it before I even heard him. The hallway suddenly grew quieter in one particular direction, with students instinctively moving aside to let the almighty Kael Beaufort through.

He was noticeably tall with wide broad shoulders, covering his ash grey hair was a dark hood, with hands shoved into his pockets like the entire school and world bored him. He walked beside two other boys from the lacrosse team, but unlike them, Kael wasn’t smiling. His golden eyes were fixed directly on me, and for some reason my chest tightened in an unpleasant yet strange way.

Veronica muttered under her breath. “Great. Satan arrived.”

Kael stopped beside Adrian, towering over almost everyone nearby.

“What’s this?” he drawled lazily. “Study group for emotionally damaged people?”

Several students laughed, and I looked away immediately.

There it was. The familiar humiliation that I could never get used to, yet I could always count on it.

Adrian sighed. “Leave her alone, Kael.”

Kael ignored him completely. His gaze dragged slowly over me, sharp enough to make me uncomfortable.

“You always wear clothes three sizes too big or is today's special," he said, as if he couldn't stand me.

My fingers tightened around my bag strap.

Veronica glared at him. “Do you ever shut up?”

Kael smirked faintly, but his eyes never left mine. “That sounded defensive.”

“Because you’re being a jerk,” she snapped.

Normally, Kael enjoyed his reactions. That was what made him such an asshole and typical Kael. But today felt different, like he looked angry..., not amused, not entertained—just angry. And I didn’t understand why.

“You know,” Kael continued coldly, “if you spent less time hiding behind books, maybe people would actually notice you.”

That one hurt, and the hallway went painfully silent because it was true. Kael always somehow found the exact thing that would hurt most.

Adrian frowned. “That’s enough.”

But Kael still stared at me intensely, like he was waiting for something, a reaction maybe, or for me to cry. But unfortunately for him, I learned years ago that crying in public only made humiliation worse. So I forced my expression to be blank instead.

“I have class,” I said quietly, stepping around him. But the second I passed, Kael suddenly grabbed my wrist, too fast and too rough and my breath painfully caught in my throat.

The hallway froze. Kael’s fingers wrapped around my skin tightly enough to hurt me, and then suddenly he went completely still with a strange look crossing his face.

I could see confusion and shock in his eyes, and then his grip loosened slightly. His eyes darkened as he stared at me like something was horribly wrong or horrifyingly familiar.

“What the hell…?” he muttered under his breath.

I frowned, trying to pull away. “Kael—"

Then he inhaled sharply like he caught some kind of scent, and his entire body tensed.

For one strange second, the gold in his eyes seemed brighter than normal and unnatural. But it disappeared so fast I thought I was going nuts. The look on his face changed again. This time it wasn't disgust for me nor mockery, it was far more unsettling, like hunger.

Veronica stepped forward immediately. “Okay, psycho, let her go.”

Kael blinked suddenly like he’d snapped out of a trance, and then his hand released mine instantly. The hallway remained awkwardly silent, and even Adrian looked confused now.

Kael stared at me for another long second before stepping back slowly, his jaw tightening. Then, without saying a word, he turned around and walked away just like that.

The crowd slowly started moving again, whispering quietly.

Veronica grabbed my arm. “Are you okay?”

I looked down at my wrist. A faint red mark remained where Kael had touched me, but somehow that wasn’t the part bothering me most. It was the look on his face, like he’d seen something impossible or recognized something he wasn’t supposed to.

And for the first time since I met Kael Beaufort…

I felt truly afraid of him.