The billionaire’s rogue:bound by blood

The blood test

The high school gymnasium, usually a place of squeaking sneakers and the rhythmic bounce of basketballs, had been transformed into a cold, clinical interrogation chamber.

Row after row of folding chairs held the student body of Hollow Creek High. At the front, the school’s "Mandatory Wellness Screening" was underway, but it looked more like a military intake. Men in sterile white coats moved with robotic efficiency, but their movements were too precise, their eyes too observant. They weren't nurses. They were Silverton tacticians.

"They’re using a Rapid-DNA sequencer," Kaleb whispered, his voice trembling as he tapped furiously on a handheld deck hidden beneath his backpack. "Jax, this isn't a flu screen. They’re looking for the Zenith marker. If that needle touches your skin, the alarm won't just go off in this room—it’ll go off at the Silverton Command Center. We’re talking a five-minute window before the tactical teams breach the gym."

Jax sat in the third row, his legs bouncing with a restless, kinetic energy. He was wearing a thick, long-sleeved hoodie despite the stifling heat of the gym. Underneath the fabric, his skin felt like it was on fire. The Rogue Fever was peaking, and the presence of so many people—so much warm, pulsing blood—was making the wolf behind his ribs roar for release.

"Can you loop the results?" Jax asked, his voice a low, raspy vibration.

"I’m trying," Kaleb hissed. "But their firewall is bio-linked. I need to get into the main hub, which is sitting right next to Marcus Silverton."

Jax looked toward the stage. Marcus stood there like a stone statue, his arms crossed over his chest, watching the students with a predatory hunger. Beside him stood Maya. She looked pale, her storm-grey eyes scanning the crowd until they landed on Jax.

The Blood-Bond hit him like a physical punch to the gut. Fear. He felt her fear. She wasn't afraid of the wolves; she was afraid for him.

"Next! Jaxson Thorne!" the nurse called out.

The gym went silent. Jax was the king of this school, the billionaire heir, the star. All eyes followed him as he stood up. He felt the weight of the Bond pulling him toward Maya, a tether of gold and silver light that only the two of them could see.

As Jax walked toward the testing station, Sarah Miller stepped into his path. She had already been tested—the Vampires were experts at faking human biology—and she looked smug. But as Jax passed, she leaned in, her cold breath hitting his neck.

"Don't let them see what you are, Jax," she whispered, a warning hidden in a caress. "Because if the Hunters don't get you, my father will. He doesn't like his toys being shared with... Hunters."

Jax ignored her, stepping onto the stage. He locked eyes with Marcus Silverton.

"Mr. Thorne," Marcus said, a thin, cruel smile touching his lips. "The pride of Hollow Creek. I trust you have nothing to hide from our medical team?"

"Just a busy schedule, sir," Jax replied.

He sat in the chair. The nurse reached for his arm, pulling back the sleeve of his hoodie. Jax’s forearm was a corded mass of muscle, his veins protruding as the wolf fought to break through. The nurse wiped his skin with an alcohol swab. The scent of the chemical made Jax’s nostrils flare.

Maya took a step forward, her hand twitching toward the dagger hidden in her tactical boot. She was going to do something. She was going to blow her cover to save him.

Don't, Jax thought, projecting the command through the Bond with every ounce of his will. Stay down, Maya.

She froze, her eyes widening as his voice echoed in her mind.

The nurse picked up the needle. The tip was silver-plated.

Just as the needle was an inch from Jax’s skin, the lights in the gym flickered and died. A high-pitched, electronic scream ripped through the air—the sound of every speaker in the room blowing out at once.

"System failure!" Kaleb shouted from the crowd, his "distracted student" act perfect. "The grid is crashing!"

In the darkness, Jax’s vision shifted to thermal. The room turned into a map of heat signatures. He saw the nurse’s hand shaking. He saw Marcus reaching for a weapon. And he saw Maya.

She was moving toward him.

Jax didn't wait. He felt the Bevel erupt from his fingertips, slicing through the leather of his hidden gloves. He reached out, not to strike, but to grab the DNA sequencer. With one squeeze of his obsidian claws, the multi-million dollar machine crumpled like a soda can, sparks flying into the dark.

"Jax!" Maya’s voice whispered in his ear.

She was right there. He could smell the forest and the silver on her. She grabbed his hand—the one with the claws. He expected her to flinch, to scream. Instead, she pressed her palm against his, her fingers intertwining with his monstrous ones.

"Go," she hissed. "My father has a secondary scanner. If the lights come back on and you're still here, he’ll kill you."

"Why are you helping me?" Jax rasped.

"Because I can feel your heart beating in my chest, you i***t!" she snapped, her voice breaking. "Now move!"

Jax turned, leaping over the medical table and disappearing into the backstage shadows just as the emergency generators kicked in. Red strobe lights began to pulse, casting a hellish glow over the chaos.

He burst out of the gym’s rear exit and into the cold afternoon air. He didn't stop running until he reached the edge of the Thorne Estate’s woods. His chest was heaving, the "Golden Boy" hoodie torn and stained with the grease of the machine he’d destroyed.

Kaleb was already there, waiting by the Porsche, his face frantic.

"I did it! I fried the hub!" Kaleb cheered, but his face fell when he saw Jax’s eyes. They weren't just gold anymore. They were a burning, luminous amber that didn't fade. "Jax... the machine. It got a partial read before I crashed it. It didn't get your name, but it flagged a 'Zenith Signature' in the building."

"They know I'm here," Jax said, looking back at the school. "Not who, but what."

"It’s worse," Kaleb said, holding up his tablet. "I intercepted a transmission from Sarah’s father. The Vampire Clan thinks the Hunters are moving in on their territory. They’re launching a counter-strike tonight at the Thorne gala. They’re going to use you as the bait to draw Marcus out."

Jax looked at his hands. The Bevel wouldn't go back. The wolf was tired of hiding in billionaire suits.

"Let them come," Jax growled, the sound echoing through the trees like thunder. "The Hunters want a monster. The Vampires want a tool. They’re both going to find out what happens when you corner a Rogue."

Behind him, a twig snapped.

Jax spun around, his claws ready to shred. But it wasn't a Hunter. It was Sarah. She stood in the shadows, her red eyes glowing with a hunger that made the "Golden Boy" world feel like a distant, shallow dream.

"The Bond is strong, Jaxson," she said, her voice a silk-wrapped blade. "I felt you touch her. I felt the way your blood sang for that... human. You’ve made a mistake. You chose the girl who hunts you over the girl who could have made you a god."

"I don't want to be a god, Sarah," Jax said. "I just want to be free."

"In this town?" Sarah laughed, a cold, melodic sound. "Freedom is just another word for 'extinction.' See you at the party, Jax. Try not to bleed on the carpet."

She vanished into the mist, leaving Jax alone with the weight of two worlds on his shoulders. The Blood-Bond with Maya was thrumming in his head, a steady, desperate pulse. He knew she was being questioned by her father right now. He knew she was lying for him.