Chapter 24
Cole sat motionless after Tamara left, her parting words echoing in the silence of his classroom. The scent of her perfume still lingered in the air—sweet and earthy, like crushed wildflowers. A scent he had once found distracting… now, it barely registered.
His thoughts were consumed.
*Lena.*
Her name alone carried weight—a deep, unshakable echo beneath his skin that had haunted him ever since he first saw her all those years ago. Every time they crossed paths in the halls these past few weeks, the feeling surged anew. That pull. The charged air. The ancient thread in his blood whispering one undeniable truth: *mate.*
But he had never said a word. He couldn’t.
She was human—or at least, that’s what he had always been told. Young. Unawakened. The bond hadn’t fully reached
