THE ALPHA HEIR'S FORBIDDEN PLUMP MATE

CHAPTER 2 – THE ALPHA HEIR'S MATE

This wasn't possible.

Kaiden stood frozen in the courtyard, every instinct in his body screaming the same impossible truth. His wolf wasn't just reacting. It was clawing at him from the inside, desperate to get closer to her.

Her. The wolfless girl. The one everyone laughed at.

No. This had to be wrong.

He forced his eyes away from Lyla and kept walking, his jaw locked so tight it ached. Students moved aside as he passed, murmuring the usual respectful greetings, but Kaiden barely heard them. His mind was somewhere else entirely, replaying a conversation from years ago.

"Your mate will define the future of this kingdom," his father had said, standing over him in the throne room, voice cold as stone. "Choose wrong, Kaiden, and you won't just fail yourself. You'll fail everyone who depends on this bloodline."

Kaiden had believed him. He still did.

So why did his wolf want a girl with no wolf of her own?

*Mate,* the voice inside him growled again, quieter this time, but no less certain.

"Not her," Kaiden muttered under his breath. "It can't be her."

But even as he said it, he could still smell her. Faint. Warm. Underneath the ordinary scent of soap and nervous sweat, there was something else. Something he couldn't name. Something old.

His wolf recognized it even if Kaiden didn't.

And that terrified him more than anything.

The Moon Ceremony hall filled quickly, torches lining the stone walls, the full moon visible through the high glass ceiling above. Lyla stood near the back with Maya, trying to make herself as small as possible.

It wasn't working.

She could feel eyes on her. Whispers passing from student to student like a wildfire she couldn't outrun.

"Ignore them," Maya said under her breath. "They're just bored."

"They're staring at me like I'm about to combust."

"Well, you did make quite an entrance earlier." Maya's eyes flicked toward the front of the hall. "Speaking of entrances."

Lyla followed her gaze and immediately regretted it.

Kaiden Blackwood stood near the front, flanked by academy officials, his expression unreadable. But his eyes weren't on the officials. They weren't on the crowd.

They were on her.

Lyla's stomach dropped. She looked away quickly, heart hammering against her ribs for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Why is he looking at me?" she whispered.

Maya frowned. "I have no idea. But he hasn't stopped since we walked in."

The ceremony began, an academy elder speaking about tradition and legacy, about the bonds that shaped packs for generations. Lyla barely absorbed a word of it. She was too aware of the weight of Kaiden's stare, too aware of the strange warmth spreading through her chest every time their eyes met.

Then he started walking.

Straight toward her.

The room fell silent, one student at a time, until every eye in the hall had turned to follow the Alpha heir crossing the floor. Lyla's pulse roared in her ears. This couldn't be happening. He wasn't supposed to even know her name.

"Lyla," Maya whispered, gripping her arm. "He's coming this way."

"I can see that," Lyla breathed.

Kaiden stopped in front of her, close enough that she had to tilt her head to hold his gaze. Up close, his eyes weren't just gold. They were burning, conflicted, like he was fighting something happening inside his own skin.

For one impossible second, hope bloomed in Lyla's chest. A wild, foolish hope that maybe, just maybe, someone like him could look at someone like her and not see something to mock.

"Do you feel it too?" Kaiden asked quietly, his voice rough.

Lyla's throat tightened. "Feel what?"

He didn't answer right away. His gaze moved over her face like he was searching for something, some proof that this wasn't real, that his wolf had made a mistake.

He inhaled slowly, and something shifted in his expression. Confusion. Then something darker.

"What are you," he murmured, so quiet only she could hear it.

Lyla blinked. "What?"

Kaiden's jaw tightened. Whatever softness had been in his eyes a moment ago vanished, replaced by something guarded and cold. Around them, the entire hall waited, breathless, certain of what came next. A claim. A mate bond sealed in front of the whole academy.

Lyla waited too. Some small, hopeful part of her had already started to believe it.

Kaiden looked directly into her eyes.

"I reject you.”