THE ALPHA HEIR'S FORBIDDEN PLUMP MATE

CHAPTER 3 – REJECTED BEFORE EVERYONE

The words hung in the air like a blade.

I reject you.

For a moment, Lyla couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The entire hall had gone silent, hundreds of eyes fixed on her, waiting to see what the wolfless girl would do now that the Alpha heir had just humiliated her in front of everyone.

"Did he just..." someone whispered behind her.

"He rejected her. In front of everyone."

The whispers spread fast, rippling outward like water disturbed by a stone. Lyla felt her face burning, her eyes stinging with tears she refused to let fall. Not here. Not in front of them.

Near the front of the crowd, Selena's lips curved into a slow, satisfied smile. She didn't even try to hide it.

"Well," Selena murmured to the girl beside her, just loud enough for Lyla to hear. "That's one way to put her back in her place."

Lyla's hands curled into fists at her sides.

Kaiden stood in front of her, jaw tight, eyes fixed somewhere over her shoulder like he couldn't bear to look at her directly anymore. But underneath his cold expression, something else flickered. Guilt. Regret. Something he was fighting hard to bury.

His wolf was screaming at him. Lyla could almost feel it, a low, furious growl vibrating just beneath his skin. But he didn't move. He didn't take it back.

He just stood there, letting the silence stretch until it became unbearable.

Lyla lifted her chin.

"Fine," she said, her voice steadier than she felt. "Your loss."

Then she turned and walked out.

---

She didn't run. She wouldn't give any of them the satisfaction of watching her fall apart. But the moment she cleared the hall doors and stepped into the cold night air, her composure cracked completely.

Her chest heaved. Her vision blurred.

Why did that hurt so much?

She barely knew him. She'd exchanged maybe ten words with Kaiden Blackwood in her entire life, most of them just now. So why did his rejection feel like it had torn something open inside her chest?

Lyla pressed her back against the cold stone wall of the courtyard, sliding down until she sat on the ground, knees pulled to her chest. The tears came fast after that, hot and humiliating, exactly the thing she'd promised herself she wouldn't do.

He looked at me like I was nothing.

Like I was less than nothing.

Her hands trembled in her lap. And that was when she saw it.

A faint silver light, glowing softly around her fingertips.

Lyla froze, staring at it through blurred vision. It shimmered for a heartbeat, delicate and strange, like moonlight had somehow gathered in her skin.

Then it vanished.

She blinked hard, certain she'd imagined it. Grief did strange things to the mind. That had to be it.

"Lyla?"

Maya's voice cut through the darkness. Footsteps hurried closer, and then Maya was crouching in front of her, worry written all over her face.

"Hey. Hey, look at me." Maya reached out, gently touching Lyla's shoulder. "I am going to hunt him down and personally end his entire bloodline."

A wet, broken laugh escaped Lyla despite everything. "Don't. He's not worth the trouble."

"He humiliated you in front of the entire academy. I think he's exactly worth the trouble."

Lyla wiped at her face, frustrated with herself for still crying. "I don't even understand why it hurts this much. I don't know him."

Maya's expression softened. "Mate bonds aren't something you choose, Lyla. Your wolf, or whatever's inside you, it doesn't care how well you know someone. It just knows."

"Well, mine clearly picked wrong." Lyla's voice cracked. "He looked at me like I disgusted him."

"He looked terrified," Maya said quietly. "There's a difference."

Lyla didn't answer. She didn't want to think about the flicker of guilt she'd seen in his eyes, because thinking about it meant hoping there was more to it, and she refused to hope for anything from Kaiden Blackwood ever again.

"Come on," Maya said, pulling her gently to her feet. "Let's get you somewhere warm. And somewhere far away from smug alpha heirs and their cruel little mind games."

Lyla let herself be led away, her humiliation slowly hardening into something else. Something colder. Something closer to anger.

*Fine. He rejected me. Let him live with that.*

She didn't need him. She didn't need any of them.

---

Back inside the hall, Kaiden remained frozen in place long after Lyla disappeared through the doors. Students slowly resumed their conversations around him, the shock of the moment fading into gossip and speculation, but Kaiden felt none of it.

He felt only the wreckage inside his own chest.

You had to do it,he told himself. You had no choice.

His wolf did not agree.

A sharp, violent pain tore through him without warning, and Kaiden doubled over, one hand slamming against the nearest pillar to keep himself upright. Someone nearby gasped. He barely registered it.

Inside his mind, his wolf was no longer growling.

It was roaring.

You rejected our mate.