The Alpha’s Fat Mate

Chapter 1

Lilly

The first thing I heard when I stepped through the school gates was laughter.

Not the happy kind.

The cruel kind.

The kind that made my stomach tighten because, after years of being the favourite target of Briarwood High’s most popular students, I’d learned that laughter usually meant someone was about to make my life miserable.

And lately, that someone had been Madison Price.

I kept my head down and tightened my grip on the straps of my backpack, hoping that if I walked quickly enough, I might make it to my first class without anyone noticing me.

It was a stupid hope.

People like me didn’t get to go unnoticed.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

Madison’s voice carried across the courtyard.

My footsteps faltered.

Please, no.

Not today.

I’d barely slept the night before. My father had spent most of the evening drinking, and the sound of his fists pounding against my bedroom door had kept me awake long after he’d finally passed out.

All I wanted was one quiet day.

One day where I could sit in class, do my work, and make it through the hours without feeling like I wanted to disappear.

Apparently, that was too much to ask.

“Hey, Lilly! I’m talking to you!”

I stopped.

There was no point pretending I hadn’t heard her. Madison never let anyone ignore her, especially not someone she considered beneath her.

Slowly, I turned around.

She stood near the steps leading into the main building, surrounded by her usual group of friends. Her long blonde hair fell perfectly over her shoulders, and her expensive clothes looked as though they’d come straight from a fashion magazine.

Everything about Madison screamed perfection.

Everything about me screamed the opposite.

Her gaze travelled down my body, lingering on my worn jeans and the oversized jumper I’d chosen to hide beneath that morning.

Her lips curled.

“Oh, sweetheart.” She pressed a hand against her chest in mock sympathy. “Did you get dressed in the dark again?”

A few people snickered.

Heat crawled up my neck.

I stared at the ground.

“Sorry,” I whispered, though I had absolutely nothing to apologise for.

Madison tilted her head.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of your clothes begging for mercy.”

The laughter grew louder.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

Don’t cry.

Whatever you do, don’t cry.

Crying only made them worse.

Madison knew that. She’d figured it out months ago, and ever since then, she’d treated every tear she managed to force from me like a personal victory.

Her boyfriend, Tyler, stepped forward.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and carried himself with the kind of confidence that came from knowing nobody ever challenged him.

He looked me up and down before wrinkling his nose.

“Seriously, Madison. Why do you even bother talking to her? She’s not worth the effort.”

A few students laughed again.

I wished the ground would open beneath my feet.

Instead, I stood there, burning with humiliation while dozens of people watched.

Some looked amused.

Others looked uncomfortable.

Not one of them said a word.

That was the worst part.

I’d stopped expecting kindness a long time ago. But there was still a small, pathetic part of me that hoped someone might eventually decide that what was happening to me wasn’t funny.

Someone might tell Madison to stop.

Someone might ask if I was okay.

Someone might simply stand beside me.

But nobody ever did.

Because Madison was popular.

Tyler was popular.

And I was Lilly.

The girl nobody wanted around.

The girl with the dead mother.

The girl whose father drank too much.

The girl who never seemed to have enough money for new clothes, whose hair was always a little messy, whose face was too round, whose body was too big, and whose existence apparently offended people simply because I dared to occupy the same space as them.

I’d heard every insult imaginable.

Fat.

Ugly.

Pathetic.

Worthless.

Sometimes I wondered whether I’d eventually stop feeling the sting of those words.

I hadn’t yet.

“Move,” Madison ordered, brushing past me.

Her shoulder slammed into mine.

I stumbled sideways, my backpack slipping from one shoulder.

A notebook fell to the ground.

Then another.

Papers scattered across the concrete.

The laughter erupted around me.

“Oh, look!” Madison exclaimed. “She can barely walk without falling apart.”

Tyler planted his shoe on one of my papers.

I stared at it.

It was my English assignment.

I’d spent hours completing it the night before, working beneath the dim light of my bedside lamp while my father shouted downstairs.

Tyler glanced at me.

“Want it back?”

I nodded, unable to force words past the tightness in my throat.

He smiled.

“Ask nicely.”

My cheeks burned.

“Please.”

He lifted his foot, only to drag it across the paper as he stepped away.

The sole left a dark streak through my carefully written work.

“There you go.”

Madison laughed.

I crouched down, my hands shaking as I gathered my belongings.

I wanted to hate them.

I wanted to stand up and scream at them, to tell them they had no right to treat me this way.

But wanting something and being brave enough to do it were two very different things.

So I picked up my papers.

I smoothed the creases.

I swallowed my tears.

And I pretended that my heart wasn’t breaking.

Again.

“Pathetic,” Madison muttered.

Then she turned away, apparently satisfied that she’d ruined my morning.

I should have felt relieved when she left.

Instead, I felt the familiar heaviness settling in my chest.

It was only the beginning of the day.

I still had hours to survive.

And then I remembered something that made my stomach twist.

Kaiden.

My fingers tightened around the damaged assignment.

I hadn’t seen him yet.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t here.

In fact, the thought of him being somewhere inside the building was enough to make my palms sweat.

Madison frightened me.

Tyler frightened me.

But Kaiden terrified me in a way neither of them ever could.

Because Madison and Tyler were cruel teenagers who enjoyed making my life miserable.

Kaiden was the future Alpha.

And everyone knew what that meant.

At Briarwood High, his name carried a weight that made people straighten their backs when he entered a room. Conversations quietened when he passed. Students moved out of his way without being asked.

Even teachers treated him differently.

He was powerful, respected, and accustomed to getting whatever he wanted.

And I had learned the hard way that the last thing Kaiden wanted was to be inconvenienced by someone like me.

Especially me.

I still remembered the day I’d accidentally spilled a drink near him in the cafeteria.

It hadn’t even touched his clothes.

I’d apologised immediately, stumbling over my words while trying to clean the small puddle from the floor.

He’d looked down at me with an expression of such cold disgust that I’d felt as though I’d done something unforgivable.

Then he’d told me to watch where I was going.

Three ordinary words.

Nothing particularly threatening.

But there had been something in his voice, something in the way his eyes had settled on me, that had made my entire body go rigid.

He hadn’t needed to shout.

He hadn’t needed to touch me.

His contempt had been enough.

I’d spent the rest of that day avoiding him.

And every day since, I’d made sure to stay out of his way.

I knew which corridors he usually used between classes. I knew which tables he sat at during lunch. I knew how quickly the atmosphere changed whenever he appeared.

I paid attention to those things because I needed to.

Because the last thing I wanted was to give Kaiden another reason to look at me.

I didn’t understand why his opinion mattered so much to me.

Perhaps it was because everyone else seemed to care what he thought.

Perhaps it was because he had the power to make my life even worse without lifting a finger.

Or perhaps, deep down, I was frightened of what would happen if I ever became the object of his attention.

I didn’t want him to notice me.

I didn’t want him to speak to me.

And I certainly didn’t want to find out what would happen if I ever made him angry.

I just wanted to get through school without being humiliated.

Was that really too much to ask?

“Lilly.”

My entire body stiffened.

That voice.

I knew that voice.

I turned slowly, and my heart seemed to drop straight into my stomach.

Kaiden stood several feet away.

He was dressed in dark jeans and a black shirt, his broad shoulders making him look even more intimidating than he already was. His dark hair fell carelessly across his forehead, and his expression was unreadable.

But his eyes were fixed on me.

On me.

Not Madison.

Not Tyler.

Me.

My mouth went dry.

For one terrible second, I couldn’t remember how to breathe.

I immediately lowered my gaze.

“Y-yes?”

The stammer escaped before I could stop it.

His jaw tightened.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

Fear shot through me.

I lifted my head, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes for more than a fraction of a second.

I knew I should say something.

I knew I should ask what he wanted.

But my mind had gone completely blank.

Kaiden glanced at the papers clutched against my chest.

“What’s that?”

“My assignment.”

The words came out so quietly that I wasn’t sure he’d heard them.

His gaze moved back to my face.

“Speak up.”

I flinched.

It was small.

Barely noticeable.

But I saw his eyes narrow.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

The moment the words left my mouth, I hated myself for saying them.

Sorry for what?

For answering him?

For existing?

For being afraid?

I didn’t know anymore.

Kaiden took a step towards me.

I took one backwards.

His expression darkened.

“Do I scare you, Lilly?”

The question struck me like a slap.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Every instinct screamed at me to tell the truth.

Yes.

You scare me.

You scare me so much that I spend every day hoping I won’t cross your path.

You scare me because everyone listens to you, and I don’t know what you’ll do if I ever give you a reason to turn against me.

You scare me because I already have enough to fear when I go home.

But I couldn’t say any of that.

Not to him.

Especially not to him.

“N-no.”

His eyes narrowed further.

“Don’t lie to me.”

My fingers dug into the edges of my papers.

“I’m not.”

The words were barely audible.

For a moment, he simply stared at me.

Then his gaze dropped to the crumpled assignment in my hands.

“Get out of my way.”

I moved immediately.

Too quickly, probably.

But I didn’t care.

I stepped aside, pressing myself closer to the wall as he walked past.

He didn’t touch me.

He didn’t threaten me.

He didn’t need to.

I held my breath until his footsteps faded down the corridor.

Only then did I realise my hands were trembling.

I stared after him, my chest aching with the effort of keeping my emotions under control.

Why had he spoken to me?

What had I done?

Had I somehow annoyed him without realising it?

The questions crowded my mind, each one feeding the fear already twisting inside me.

I hated that I reacted this way.

I hated that a single conversation with Kaiden could leave me shaking.

Most of all, I hated that I couldn’t make myself stop being afraid.

I pressed my forehead against the cool wall and closed my eyes.

Just get through the day, Lilly.

That’s all you have to do.

Get through the day.

Then go home.

The thought should have comforted me.

Instead, it made my stomach turn.

Because school might have been cruel, but home wasn’t a safe place to escape to.

And somewhere deep inside me, a quiet, exhausted voice whispered that one day, something would have to change.

I couldn’t keep living like this forever.

I just didn’t know how to make it stop.

Not yet.