THE ALPHA HEIR'S FORBIDDEN PLUMP MATE

CHAPTER 5 – THE BOY WHO MADE HER LAUGH

Lyla braced herself for another miserable day the moment she stepped into the dining hall.

She scanned the room out of habit now, cataloging exits, avoiding Selena's usual table, keeping her head low. Two days at Blackmoon Academy and she'd already learned the rules of survival.

So when someone dropped into the seat across from her without asking, she nearly choked on her tea.

"You looked like you needed rescuing from your own thoughts," the boy said, flashing an easy grin. "I'm Darius. Darius Hale."

Lyla blinked at him, waiting for the insult that usually followed an introduction like this. It didn't come.

"I know who you are," Darius continued, leaning back casually. "Whole academy does, thanks to a certain someone's dramatic announcement last night."

Lyla's shoulders tensed. "If you're here to mock me too, you can save it. I've heard every version already."

"Mock you?" Darius raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"

"Because that's what everyone does." The words came out sharper than she intended.

Darius studied her for a moment, something unreadable in his expression. Then he shrugged, completely unbothered. "Sounds exhausting. Also, sounds like everyone here has terrible taste in entertainment."

Despite herself, Lyla felt the corner of her mouth twitch.

"There it is," Darius said, pointing at her. "I knew you had a smile hiding somewhere under all that suspicion."

"I'm not smiling."

"You absolutely are smiling."

"I am actively trying not to."

"Even better." Darius grinned wider. "Means I'm winning."

Lyla let out a laugh before she could stop herself, quick and surprised, like it had escaped without her permission. It felt strange. Foreign. She couldn't remember the last time laughing at this academy hadn't come at her own expense.

"See," Darius said, satisfied. "Was that so painful?"

"You're ridiculous."

"I've been told." He stood, brushing off his jacket. "Come on. I'll show you around properly. Someone clearly forgot to give you the tour that doesn't involve public humiliation."

Lyla hesitated, glancing around the hall. A few students were watching, whispering, but for once it didn't feel like the usual cruelty. It felt like curiosity.

"Fine," she said, standing. "But if you're secretly planning to embarrass me somewhere private, I want you to know I bite."

"Duly noted." Darius's eyes glinted with amusement. "Though I have a feeling you're full of empty threats."

They walked together through the academy halls, and for the first time since arriving, Lyla felt something close to normal. Darius pointed out shortcuts, told embarrassing stories about professors, made fun of the academy's overly dramatic architecture. He never once mentioned her weight. Never once mentioned her missing wolf.

He talked to her like she was just a person.

She hadn't realized how much she'd been starving for that.

---

Across the courtyard, Kaiden felt it the moment it happened.

A shift in the air. A change in her scent, lighter now, threaded with something warm and unfamiliar. Happiness. She smelled like happiness, and it hit him with the force of a physical blow.

He turned toward the sound of her laughter before he'd even registered moving.

Lyla stood near the fountain with Darius Vale, her cheeks flushed, her smile wide and unguarded in a way Kaiden had never seen. Darius said something, and she laughed again, the sound curling through Kaiden's chest like smoke.

His wolf snarled.

*She is not laughing for him.*

Kaiden's hands curled into fists at his sides. He had no right to feel this way. None. He was the one who'd rejected her, the one who'd humiliated her in front of the entire academy, the one who'd told her to stay away.

He had no claim to the jealousy currently burning through his veins.

That knowledge did absolutely nothing to stop it.

He crossed the courtyard before he could think better of it, his expression carefully arranged into something neutral, something that had nothing to do with the fury clawing beneath his skin.

"Lyla," he said, stopping in front of them. "We need to discuss the academy's new curfew regulations."

Both Lyla and Darius turned to look at him. Darius's expression shifted into something amused, entirely too knowing. Lyla's face, on the other hand, hardened instantly.

"Curfew regulations," she repeated flatly.

"Yes." Kaiden kept his voice even. "As Alpha heir, I'm responsible for briefing new students on academy policy."

"Funny," Lyla said, "you didn't seem interested in briefing me on anything yesterday."

Darius made a small sound that might have been a poorly disguised laugh.

Kaiden's jaw tightened. "This is different."

"Is it?" Lyla crossed her arms. "Because from where I'm standing, this looks exactly like yesterday. You showing up uninvited, acting like you have some claim over what I do."

"I don't have a claim over you," Kaiden said, the words tasting bitter even as he spoke them.

"Good. Then you won't mind if I finish my conversation with Darius."

She turned back to Darius, deliberately, pointedly ignoring Kaiden completely. Darius shot him an easy, unbothered smile, clearly enjoying every second of Kaiden's discomfort.

Something inside Kaiden snapped.

He reached out and grabbed Darius's arm, not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to make his intention unmistakable.

"Stay away from her," Kaiden growled.

Darius glanced down at the hand on his arm, then back up at Kaiden, one eyebrow raised in lazy defiance.

"Why?" he asked. "She's not yours.”