Chapter 4: Recognition
968 Words
Kade's POV
One second Seren is standing frozen behind a tree.
Next, she's moving faster than anything I've ever seen.
She doesn't shift, stays in human form, but the way she moves isn't human. It's fluid, powerful, wrong in the same way her scent is wrong. She hits the rogue from the side, her small fist connecting with its jaw hard enough to snap its head back.
The rogue staggers.
Seren doesn't stop.
She flows around it like water, her movements precise and devastating. Every strike lands exactly where it needs to, exploiting weaknesses that shouldn't be visible to someone without formal combat training.
Surrogates don't learn to fight.
They're not worth the effort.
But Seren fights like she was born to it, like violence is a language she speaks fluently. The rogue tries to catch her, its massive claws swiping through empty air again and again.
She's too fast.
My wolf goes absolutely insane.
He throws himself against my control, howling with recognition and need and something else I don't have a name for. It takes everything I have to stay human, to not shift and throw myself into the fight beside her.
Beside her.
Not to protect her.
She doesn't need protection.
To fight with her, as her equal.
The thought shocks me so badly I almost miss what happens next.
Seren plants her feet, and power explodes from her body. Not physical force, something else. It rolls across the clearing like a wave, and every wolf present, including me, feels the weight of it.
The rogue drops to its belly, whining.
Submitting.
To a Surrogate Beta.
"Impossible," Marcus breathes.
Seren sways on her feet, her eyes unfocused. The power vanishes as quickly as it appeared, leaving her looking small and fragile again. She blinks, staring at her hands like they belong to someone else.
Then her eyes roll back, and she collapses.
I'm moving before I think, catching her before she hits the ground. She's light in my arms, too light, and unconscious. Her scent surrounds me, wildflowers and winter and underneath it something new.
Something that smells like a pack.
Like home.
Like mine.
My wolf howls the word inside my head. Mine, mine, mine.
No.
She can't be.
The bond snaps into place with devastating certainty, a golden thread connecting my chest to hers. I feel her heartbeat like it's my own, feel her exhaustion and confusion bleeding through the connection.
The mate bond.
With Seren Ashfall.
With the girl I've tormented for three years.
"Kade?" Vera limps closer, holding her injured shoulder. "What just happened?"
I don't answer. Can't answer. My entire world has tilted sideways, and I'm still trying to find my balance.
Marcus shifts back to human form, pulling on his shredded clothes. "She took down a rogue. A Surrogate took down a rogue. That's not possible."
"We need to get back to the academy," I say, my voice rougher than usual. "Now."
"The Challenge isn't over."
"I don't care about the f*****g Challenge." The words come out as a growl. "Seren needs medical attention."
The use of her first name makes everyone stare. I've never called her anything but Surrogate before. Never acknowledged her as a person with a name and an identity beyond her rank.
Everything has changed.
Everything.
I lift her carefully, cradling her against my chest. She's still unconscious, her breathing shallow but steady. The mate bond hums between us, new and overwhelming and completely unwanted.
This can't be happening.
My father will never accept a surrogate as my mate. The pack will see it as a weakness, proof that I'm not fit to lead. Everything I've worked for, every sacrifice I've made to be the perfect Alpha heir, destroyed because fate decided to pair me with someone impossible.
I should reject her.
Right now, before she wakes up, before the bond strengthens any further. It's allowed, legal, if done quickly enough. One sentence and this nightmare ends.
The words stick in my throat.
My wolf snarls a warning, daring me to try.
We make our way back through the forest, moving faster than is strictly safe. The rogue stays where Seren commanded it, still whining softly. Broken. Defeated by a girl who shouldn't have that kind of power.
What is she?
Dean Morven meets us at the forest edge, his expression shifting from annoyance to shock when he sees Seren unconscious in my arms.
"What happened?"
"Rogue attack," Marcus says before I can respond. "Seren fought it off. She saved us."
Morven's eyes narrow. "A Surrogate fought off a rogue?"
"Saw it myself," Vera confirms. "She moved like an Alpha. Faster. Hit harder. Then she did something, released some kind of power that made the rogue submit."
"Impossible."
That word again. Everyone keeps saying it, but the evidence is right here in my arms, breathing softly against my chest.
"Get her to the medical wing," Morven orders. "I'll contact Professor Thane. He'll want to know about this immediately."
I carry Seren through the academy halls, ignoring the stares and whispers that follow. Students press themselves against walls to let me pass, their eyes wide with curiosity and confusion.
The Alpha heir, carrying a Surrogate like she's precious.
Let them stare.
The mate bond pulses steadily, tying me to the impossible girl in my arms. I lay her on a medical cot, stepping back reluctantly when the nurse shoos me away.
"She'll be fine," the nurse says, checking Seren's pulse. "Just exhausted. Whatever she did drained her completely."
I should leave.
I should go back to my room, pretend this night never happened, figure out how to break a mate bond before it destroys everything.
Instead, I pull up a chair and sit beside her bed.
Waiting.
Because my wolf won't let me do anything else.
- Writer
