CHAPTER 4
1689 Words
POV: KAEL
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Those are the words that echo in my head as the trees blur past me like streaks of ink on paper. I run faster. My breath tears through my throat, hot and ragged, and the only thing louder than my feet slamming against the forest floor is my wolf snarling in my head.
"Calm down," I mutter, even though I know it's useless. He's pacing, snapping, clawing at my skin like he’s trying to rip his way out.
Ever since she fell.
Ever since I smelled her blood.
Ever since her eyes locked with mine, brief, dazed, and confused, everything else has been spiralling. I can’t think straight. Can’t breathe right. Can’t even shift without nearly breaking my spine in half.
Sera Lennox. That’s her name. It shouldn’t matter. But it’s tattooed on my mind like a brand.
I kick a branch hard enough to snap it in two, then slam my fist into a tree trunk. Bark splinters. My knuckles split open.
I had to leave the school.
If I hadn't, I was sure I was going to lose my mind.
Her scent won’t leave me. Wildflowers. Rain. It’s burned into my memory. I still feel the jolt I felt when I saw her hit the ground. Like something inside me snapped. Like something ancient woke up.
I grip the tree beside me and slam my forehead against it once. Twice. It doesn’t help.
“You good, Kael?”
I froze..
My cousin Rowan steps out from the trees, shirt half-buttoned, hair messy. Patrol shift.
“Do I look good?” I snap.
He shrugs. “You look like something crawled out of your spine and is chewing on your soul, so… no.”
“Then don’t ask stupid questions.”
Rowan leans against the tree. “Word is, you broke a goalpost at practice. Almost broke Jonah too.”
“Didn’t mean to.” I run a hand through my hair.
“People are talking, Kael.” His voice drops. “The elders. They are saying you’re losing control.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I said I’m fine.” He holds up his hands like he’s done. “I’m just saying, if this is about a girl…”
I glare at him.
He whistles. “s**t. It is about a girl.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I push past him and walk fast. I don’t want to talk about this. Especially not with Rowan. He has a mate already. He won’t get it.
Back at the house, I barely make it past the front door before the growl hits me.
“Where the hell have you been?”
My father's voice cuts like ice.
I turn slowly. My father is standing by the fireplace, arms folded, power rolling off him in waves. Beside him, my mother watches me with Luna-quiet eyes. She doesn’t say anything. Yet.
“In the woods,” I say.
“All day?”
“Yes.”
He steps forward. “What happened at school?”
I keep my jaw tight. “Nothing.”
“You broke the goalpost, Kael. Hurt the goalie. Everyone saw it. It is all anyone has been talking about.”
“I said it was an accident.”
“You don’t get to make accidents.”
My mother’s voice is soft, but it silences the room. “Kael. Tell us the truth. Is your wolf acting up?”
I can’t lie. Not to her. Not when she looks at me like that.
I nod once.
My father curses under his breath. “This is what I warned them about. We should have picked a mate for him a year ago. Done the mating ritual then too. He is going rabid.”
“I am not going rabid.” My fists clench. “And I don’t want a mate to be picked for me.”
“You are the heir. You don’t get to want anything. You serve. You obey. Your every want and desire takes a back seat to what is good for the pack!”
My mother puts a hand on his arm. “Let him speak.”
He bites down on whatever else he wants to say.
I breathe slowly. “There was a girl. At school. I don’t know who she is. But when I saw her… my wolf—he just—reacted. I couldn’t stop it.”
Silence.
My mother’s eyes sharpen. “Describe her.”
“Brown eyes. Dark hair. New girl, I think. She was at cheer practice.”
My father’s jaw locks. “A human.”
“Maybe.”
“You are not supposed to feel the bond with a human.”
I shrug. “Well, I do.”
My mother exhales like she already knew. “The Binding Moon is coming.”
“I know.”
My father paces. “The elders already want to move your mating date forward. Aria’s family is starting to worry.”
“I don’t care about Aria.”
“Care or not, she’s who you are promised to.”
My voice sharpens. “Not anymore.”
“Kael—”
“I said no. The whole point of a binding moon ritual is that I didn't have a mate. I have one now. The goddess sent her to me now. Doesn't that count?!”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he says. “But let me ask you, do you want a human mate? Are you willing to lose Aria and the power she brings with her?”
A door slams upstairs before I can answer, and we all look up to see who it is.
Speak of the devil. Aria.
She comes down like a storm—hair perfect, lips tight, eyes full of lightning. “So it’s true?”
I don’t answer.
“You have got a thing for some random human now?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
She marches up to me. “I have been patient, Kael. I have tried. But you don’t talk to me, you don’t touch me, and now you are breaking s**t at school over another girl?”
I turn my face away. “Aria, please.”
“No. You don’t get to shut me down again.”
“I can’t give you what you want.”
“You owe me, Kael.”
“I owe the pack. Not you.”
The words come out too harsh. Her eyes flash with pain before she shoves past me and storms out the door.
My mother sighs while my father just rubs his temples.
I head upstairs before either of them can start another speech.
I need air. I need space. I need her scent out of my head.
But I know that’s not happening.
Not tonight.
*********
I step into the gym because it’s the only place that ever clears my head. I just need to hit something. Get the rage out. Burn the restlessness out of my bones. But then I hear it.
The soft squeak of sneakers. I freeze behind the bleachers.
And there she is.
Sera Lennox. On the court. Alone. In the dark, with only the emergency lights humming above her, like she belongs here. Like she’s not the very reason my wolf is pacing, clawing, snarling inside me.
She’s trying to practice again. Her knee’s wrapped up, and she winces every time she lands. But she’s not stopping. Her hair’s pulled back in a messy ponytail, her eyes dark with that same fire I saw before she fell.
Why the hell is she doing this to herself?
I grip the railing beside me so hard it creaks. I should leave. This isn’t safe.
I don’t move.
I just watched. Like a coward. Like a predator.
She’s not like the other girls. Not polished. Not fake. There’s something raw about her. Real. That realness pulls something dark and aching out of me.
I try to back away.
But then the ball she’s been tossing up slips from her fingers. Rolls toward me. I don’t even think. I step forward to grab it.
And she freezes.
“Who's there?”
Her voice cuts through the gym. Soft. Sharp. It lands right in my chest.
I press back into the shadow. My pulse is racing so fast it makes me feel sick. She can’t see me. She can’t.
She takes a step forward.
I swallow.
She squints into the dark. “Hello?”
Another step.
I clamp a hand over my mouth. I’m shaking. I can’t let it out. Not here. Not now. Not in front of her.
But she keeps coming.
“Look, if you are one of the basketball guys coming to scare me off the court, don’t bother,” she says, voice stronger now. “I’ve had worse.”
My jaw tightens.
You don’t even know what’s out here, girl.
Another step.
She’s close now. Way too close.
And I can see her face. Her eyes. The bruising on her elbow. The little wrinkle between her brows. My breath catches.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
The word slams into me like a punch.
I close my eyes. Bite the inside of my cheek. Hard. I can't let her get closer. I can't lose control. If I shift now, if I touch her—
She’ll be claimed.
And everything changes. Everything falls apart.
But she’s still looking. Still walking forward.
“Seriously,” she says, slower this time, a bit unsure. “Is someone there?”
I step back too fast. My foot hits a stray ball. It rolls across the floor.
Her eyes snap to it.
She starts walking faster now. Right toward me.
“Okay, that’s not funny,” she says, glancing over her shoulder like maybe she suddenly realises she’s alone. “If this is a prank—”
She stops.
Dead in front of me. Just ten feet.
I feel the shift pulling at my spine. My teeth ache. My skin itches.
No.
I can't.
- Writer
