The Alpha’s Fat Mate

Chapter 5

Lilly

I knew something was wrong the moment I walked through the school gates.

People were staring at me.

Not everyone, but enough to make my stomach twist.

Two girls standing near the entrance whispered to each other as I passed. One of them glanced at my face before covering her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hide her laughter.

A group of boys near the lockers stopped talking when they saw me.

Then one of them snickered.

I lowered my head.

Please, not again.

I’d barely survived yesterday.

The thought of enduring another day like it made my chest ache.

I adjusted my backpack and hurried towards the main building, hoping I could reach my locker before anyone decided to make me the centre of attention.

“Lilly!”

I stopped.

I knew that voice.

My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag.

Slowly, I turned.

Madison Price stood near the entrance, looking as though she’d spent the morning preparing for an audience. Her blonde hair fell in perfect waves around her face, and her clothes probably cost more than everything I owned.

Tyler stood beside her.

Neither of them looked particularly pleased to see me.

That should have been a relief.

Instead, it frightened me.

Madison only looked that serious when she was planning something.

“Come here,” she ordered.

I glanced towards the main building.

“I need to get to class.”

Her eyebrows rose.

“Excuse me?”

I swallowed.

“I don’t want to be late.”

Tyler laughed.

“Listen to her. She’s suddenly got somewhere important to be.”

Madison folded her arms.

“Since when do you get to decide when we’re finished talking to you?”

I stared at the ground.

“I didn’t mean—”

“Of course you didn’t.” She stepped closer. “You never mean anything, do you? You just wander around making everyone miserable by existing.”

The words landed exactly where she intended.

I felt them settle somewhere beneath my ribs, heavy and familiar.

I’d heard similar things before.

From students.

From strangers.

Sometimes, from my own father.

After a while, it became difficult not to wonder whether there was some truth hidden beneath all those insults.

I hated that I thought that way.

I hated that Madison could make me question myself with a few cruel words.

But I couldn’t seem to stop it.

“Look at me when I’m speaking to you,” she snapped.

I raised my eyes.

Madison studied my face.

Then her expression changed.

“Oh, I get it.”

I frowned slightly.

“What?”

Her smile returned.

“You’re trying to get Kaiden’s attention.”

My stomach dropped.

“What?”

“Don’t act stupid, Lilly. We all saw you with him yesterday.”

A few students nearby turned towards us.

I felt my face heat.

“He asked me something. That’s all.”

Madison laughed.

“Really? And what could the future Alpha possibly want with a human like you?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

Her smile vanished.

“Careful.”

The single word made my stomach tighten.

I knew that tone.

It was the warning she used when she wanted me to understand that the next few minutes could be considerably worse.

Tyler stepped closer.

“Madison asked you a question.”

“I told her the truth.”

He tilted his head.

“You know, Lilly, I reckon you’ve developed a bit of an attitude.”

My heart began to race.

I didn’t have an attitude.

I was trying to get to class.

I was trying to make it through the day without being humiliated.

I was trying to survive.

But none of that mattered.

They had decided I was guilty, and that was enough.

Madison grabbed the strap of my backpack.

I gasped.

“What’s this?”

She tugged the bag towards her.

“Give it back,” I whispered.

She ignored me and pulled it from my shoulder.

My books shifted inside, and I reached instinctively to steady it.

“Madison, please.”

She opened the front pocket.

“What have we got here?”

“Nothing. Please don’t.”

She pulled out my pencil case and tipped it upside down.

Pens and pencils scattered across the pavement.

A few students laughed.

Madison examined the battered pencil case before tossing it towards Tyler.

“Honestly, Lilly. Does everything you own look like it’s been dragged through a rubbish bin?”

Tyler caught it.

“Probably because she found it in one.”

They laughed.

I crouched to collect my pens.

My cheeks burned so badly that I could feel the heat spreading down my neck.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to tell them to leave me alone.

But the fear of what they might do if I stood up for myself held me in place.

Madison tipped the contents of my backpack onto the ground.

My textbooks hit the pavement.

My notebooks followed.

Then a small photograph slipped from between the pages of my English folder.

I froze.

No.

Not that.

Madison picked it up.

For a moment, her expression was blank.

Then she looked at me.

“Who’s this?”

My throat closed.

“Please give it back.”

She turned the photograph towards herself.

It showed a woman with long brown hair and warm eyes, smiling at whoever had taken the picture.

My mother.

The only photograph I had of her that I kept with me.

Madison’s lips curved.

“Your mother?”

I couldn’t speak.

She glanced at Tyler.

“Did you know Lilly’s mother died giving birth to her?”

Tyler shrugged.

“Yeah. Everyone knows that.”

The laughter around us faded into whispers.

I felt as though the entire courtyard had suddenly tilted.

Madison looked back at me.

“That must be awful.”

For one foolish second, I thought she might be sincere.

Then she continued.

“Imagine being so unwanted that your own mother couldn’t even survive having you.”

The world went silent.

I couldn’t hear the students around us.

I couldn’t hear the traffic beyond the school gates.

All I could hear was Madison’s voice repeating those words inside my head.

Your own mother couldn’t even survive having you.

I knew it wasn’t true.

I knew my mother hadn’t chosen to die.

But the cruelty of the words tore through the fragile defences I’d spent years trying to build.

My vision blurred.

“Give it back,” I whispered.

Madison held the photograph above her head.

“What was that?”

“Please.”

She smiled.

“Ask nicely.”

I stared at the photograph.

My mother was smiling.

She looked happy.

I wondered what she’d thought about before the picture was taken.

I wondered whether she’d have liked me.

Whether she’d have hugged me.

Whether she’d have told me that none of this was my fault.

My eyes filled with tears.

“Please, Madison. It’s all I have.”

Something flickered across her face.

For a brief moment, I thought she might return it.

Then she tore the photograph in half.

The sound was tiny.

Barely more than a whisper.

But I felt as though she’d reached inside my chest and ripped something apart.

I stared at the two pieces in her hands.

I couldn’t breathe.

Madison dropped them at my feet.

“There. Now you can stop carrying around your little sob story.”

I looked down.

The photograph lay on the pavement, my mother’s smiling face divided into two pieces.

Something inside me went terribly still.

I didn’t cry.

I didn’t speak.

I simply crouched and picked up the photograph, carefully gathering both halves in my trembling hands.

Madison laughed.

“God, you’re pathetic.”

Tyler nudged one of my books with his shoe.

“Come on, Madison. We’re going to be late.”

She glanced at me one last time.

“Try not to embarrass yourself around Kaiden today. I’d hate for him to realise how desperate you are for attention.”

Then they walked away.

The students who’d gathered around us gradually dispersed.

Some continued laughing.

Others avoided looking at me.

Nobody helped me.

Nobody said a word.

I remained on the ground, collecting my belongings.

My fingers trembled as I slipped the torn photograph into the front pocket of my backpack.

I would fix it.

Somehow.

I would find tape and carefully join the pieces together.

The photograph would never be the same again, but it was all I had.

I couldn’t lose it.

Not her.

Not the last piece of my mother.

I shoved my books into my bag and forced myself to stand.

My legs felt weak.

My chest hurt.

And for the first time in a long while, I couldn’t convince myself that I was going to be okay.

⸻

Kaiden arrived at school twenty minutes later.

He was halfway through the entrance when he noticed the students gathered near the courtyard steps.

They were whispering.

Laughing.

Looking towards the main building.

He ignored them initially.

There was always something happening at Briarwood High, and he had no interest in involving himself in the petty dramas of teenagers who seemed incapable of going a single day without creating problems.

Then he heard a familiar name.

“Lilly.”

He stopped.

Two boys standing near the lockers were talking.

One of them laughed.

“Did you see her face? I thought she was going to cry.”

The other shrugged.

“Madison went too far this time.”

Kaiden turned towards them.

“What happened?”

Both boys fell silent.

One swallowed.

“Nothing.”

Kaiden’s expression hardened.

“I didn’t ask what didn’t happen.”

The boy glanced nervously at his friend.

“Madison was messing with Lilly.”

Kaiden felt something tighten in his chest.

“What did she do?”

“I don’t know everything. She took her bag and tipped it out. Then she ripped up some photograph.”

The words barely registered before a strange sensation swept through him.

It was sudden.

Violent.

A surge of anger so intense that his hands curled into fists.

For one disorienting moment, he felt as though someone had struck him.

His chest tightened.

His breathing changed.

And somewhere deep inside him, something powerful stirred.

His wolf.

Kaiden went completely still.

His wolf had always been a constant presence in the back of his mind, a familiar instinct he could call upon whenever he needed it.

But this was different.

His wolf wasn’t responding to a threat against him.

It was reacting to something that had happened to Lilly.

That made no sense.

Lilly was human.

She wasn’t part of his pack.

She wasn’t a friend.

And yet the fury rushing through him was so overwhelming that he had to force himself to remain where he stood.

The boy in front of him shifted uncomfortably.

“Alpha?”

Kaiden barely heard him.

He was looking towards the main building.

He needed to find Lilly.

He needed to know what had happened.

And he needed to understand why the thought of her crying had awakened something inside him that he couldn’t control.

⸻

I made it through my first two classes without speaking to anyone.

I’d repaired the photograph as best I could using a strip of clear tape I’d found in the classroom supply cupboard.

The tear remained visible.

I could still see where Madison had divided my mother’s face.

But at least I could keep the pieces together.

That was something.

By the time I reached the corridor outside my next class, I had almost convinced myself that the worst part of the day was behind me.

Then I turned the corner.

And walked straight into Kaiden.

My books slipped from my arms.

I gasped as they hit the floor.

For one horrible second, neither of us moved.

Then I scrambled to collect them.

“I’m sorry.”

The words came automatically.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Kaiden didn’t answer.

I picked up one book.

Then another.

My hands shook so badly that I nearly dropped them again.

Please don’t be angry.

Please don’t shout at me.

Please just let me go.

“Lilly.”

I froze.

His voice was different.

Not softer, exactly.

But there was something in it that made me look up despite myself.

His eyes moved over my face.

Then down to the backpack clutched against my chest.

“What happened?”

My stomach tightened.

“Nothing.”

His jaw flexed.

“Don’t lie to me.”

I flinched.

He noticed.

Something changed in his expression.

Again.

That strange, unreadable look I’d seen the previous afternoon.

He glanced towards the corridor behind me.

“Was it Madison?”

I stared at him.

How did he know?

I shook my head quickly.

“No.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Lilly.”

I lowered my gaze.

“Please.”

The word slipped out before I could stop it.

For a moment, silence stretched between us.

Then he asked, “Please what?”

I swallowed hard.

“Please don’t make this worse.”

The instant I said it, I wished I could disappear.

I hadn’t meant to say that.

I hadn’t meant to reveal how frightened I was.

But the words had escaped, and now they hung between us.

Kaiden stared at me.

I couldn’t read his expression.

I couldn’t tell whether he was angry or confused or simply irritated that I was wasting his time.

I just wanted to leave.

Finally, he spoke.

“Look at me.”

I forced my head up.

His eyes searched my face.

Then his gaze dropped to the corner of the photograph protruding from my backpack.

“What is that?”

My fingers immediately covered it.

“Nothing.”

He looked at my hand.

“Show me.”

My heart began to pound.

“No.”

The word came out so quietly that I barely recognised my own voice.

Kaiden went still.

I stared at him, horrified by what I’d just done.

I’d refused the future Alpha.

I’d told him no.

And now he was looking at me as though I’d surprised him.

“I—I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I didn’t mean—”

“Stop apologising.”

I pressed my lips together.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he stepped back.

“Fine.”

I blinked.

He glanced towards the classroom door.

“Go to class.”

I didn’t move immediately.

I couldn’t quite believe he was letting me leave.

“Now, Lilly.”

I hurried past him.

I didn’t look back.

I didn’t stop until I was safely inside the classroom, seated at my desk with my books spread in front of me.

Only then did I allow myself to breathe.

I pressed a hand against my chest.

My heart was still racing.

I didn’t understand Kaiden.

I didn’t understand why he’d asked about Madison.

I didn’t understand why he’d seemed almost angry when I refused to show him the photograph.

And I certainly didn’t understand why I’d felt that strange sensation again when I’d stood in front of him.

But there was something I knew.

Something that frightened me more than all the unanswered questions.

For the first time in my life, I had told someone no.

And Kaiden had listened.

I should have felt relieved.

Instead, I was left wondering what would happen the next time he decided he wanted something from me.

Because I had a terrible feeling that, whatever was happening between us, it was only just beginning.