The Alpha’s Fat Mate

Chapter 2

Lilly

By the time I reached my first class, my hands had finally stopped shaking.

Mostly.

I slipped into the classroom and headed straight for the desk at the back, keeping my head down as I passed the other students. It was a habit I’d developed over the years. If I didn’t draw attention to myself, there was a chance people might leave me alone.

A small chance.

But I’d learned to take whatever I could get.

I dropped into my chair and shoved my damaged assignment into my bag.

My stomach growled.

I ignored it.

I hadn’t eaten breakfast. There hadn’t been anything worth eating at home, and I’d been too busy trying to get out of the house before my father woke up in another foul mood.

Besides, I wasn’t particularly hungry anymore.

Fear had a way of killing my appetite.

I pulled out my notebook and opened it to a fresh page, determined to concentrate on something other than the morning’s humiliations.

Unfortunately, peace was never something I was allowed to keep for long.

“Is this seat taken?”

I looked up.

Madison stood beside my desk, smiling sweetly.

My stomach sank.

Behind her, Tyler was grinning.

Two of their friends hovered nearby, already looking entertained.

I knew that smile.

Madison only smiled like that when she was about to do something horrible.

“No,” I whispered.

“Good.”

She dropped into the chair beside me without asking permission.

Tyler took the seat in front of mine and turned around, resting his arms across the back of his chair.

“So, Lilly,” he said, “how’s life treating you?”

I stared at my notebook.

“Fine.”

“Fine?” He looked at Madison. “Did you hear that? Her life is fine.”

Madison pressed her fingers to her lips, pretending to be shocked.

“But I thought her life was a complete disaster.”

Their friends burst out laughing.

I tightened my grip on my pen.

Don’t react.

Whatever they said, whatever they did, I had to remember that reacting only encouraged them.

“Actually,” Madison continued, leaning closer, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

I didn’t answer.

She didn’t need me to.

“Do you ever look in the mirror and wonder what went wrong?”

The question struck somewhere deep inside me.

I kept my eyes on the page, but the words blurred.

I’d wondered that very thing more times than I could count.

I’d wondered it when I caught sight of myself in shop windows.

I’d wondered it when girls at school compared clothes and hairstyles while I stood nearby, pretending not to listen.

I’d wondered it every time someone laughed when I walked past.

And I’d wondered it when I was younger, before I’d understood why my father looked at me with such hatred.

Maybe there really was something wrong with me.

Maybe I’d been born wrong.

Maybe that was why my mother had died.

The thought slipped into my mind so easily that I barely noticed it.

Then I felt sick.

My mother had died giving birth to me.

I’d never known her voice, never felt her arms around me, never had the chance to ask her what she’d wanted me to be when I grew up.

All I had were a handful of photographs and the knowledge that my father blamed me for losing her.

I knew it wasn’t my fault.

At least, I knew that in the same way I knew the sky was blue.

But there were days when knowing something and believing it felt like two completely different things.

“Lilly?”

Madison snapped her fingers in front of my face.

I blinked.

“What?”

“Earth to Lilly!” She laughed. “Honestly, do you ever listen when people talk to you?”

“Sorry.”

The word came automatically.

Madison’s smile widened.

“God, you’re pathetic.”

Tyler reached across the desk and snatched my notebook.

“Hey!”

The protest escaped before I could stop it.

His eyebrows shot up.

“Oh, look! She can speak!”

He flipped through the pages.

“What’s this rubbish?”

“Give it back, please.”

He stopped turning the pages.

For a moment, he simply stared at me.

Then he grinned.

“Please?”

He looked at Madison.

“She really thinks being polite is going to make us like her.”

Madison laughed so hard she had to grip the edge of the desk.

I felt my cheeks burning.

“Tyler, stop it,” I whispered.

He held the notebook above my head.

“Come and get it.”

I stared at him.

He was enjoying this.

They all were.

And the worst part was that I couldn’t even make myself reach for it.

I knew what would happen if I did. Tyler would pull it away, Madison would laugh, and the entire classroom would turn to watch me struggle.

I’d end up humiliated again.

So I sat there, staring at the notebook that contained my notes, my homework, and the little pieces of my life I’d tried to organise into something that made sense.

“Give it back,” I repeated.

Tyler’s smile faded slightly.

“What was that?”

I swallowed.

“Please give it back.”

He tossed it onto the floor.

It landed open beside my desk.

A few sheets tore loose.

“There. Happy?”

I stared at the pages scattered across the floor.

No.

I wasn’t happy.

I was exhausted.

Exhausted from apologising for things that weren’t my fault.

Exhausted from making myself smaller so other people could feel bigger.

Exhausted from walking into school every morning knowing someone would find a new way to remind me that I didn’t belong.

But I bent down and gathered my notes anyway.

Because what else could I do?

“All right, everyone, settle down.”

Our teacher entered the classroom, carrying a stack of books.

Madison immediately turned around in her seat, her expression transforming into an innocent smile.

Tyler faced the front.

Their friends stopped laughing.

Just like that, everything was normal again.

Nobody asked why I was crouched beside my desk collecting torn pages.

Nobody noticed the way my fingers trembled.

And nobody cared.

I returned to my chair and carefully placed the papers inside my notebook.

Then I sat up straight and tried to focus on the lesson.

For the next forty minutes, I copied notes from the board and answered a question when the teacher called on me.

I even managed to forget, briefly, that Madison and Tyler were sitting only a few feet away.

Then the bell rang.

And my brief escape from reality ended.

⸻

By lunchtime, I was counting the minutes until the school day finished.

My English assignment had been ruined, my notebook was falling apart, and I’d received three anonymous messages on my phone calling me disgusting.

I hadn’t replied to any of them.

I didn’t know who had sent the messages, but I had a pretty good idea.

I deleted them and shoved my phone into my pocket.

Then I headed towards the cafeteria.

My stomach was aching with hunger now, but I had only enough money for something small. I could get a drink and perhaps a piece of fruit if I was lucky.

I joined the queue, keeping my gaze lowered.

The cafeteria was crowded and noisy.

Students gathered around tables, talking and laughing as they ate. The smell of hot food filled the room, making my empty stomach twist painfully.

I bought the cheapest sandwich available and turned towards the seating area.

That’s when I saw him.

Kaiden.

He sat at the centre of a large table near the windows, surrounded by members of the school’s most influential werewolf families.

Even from across the room, he was impossible to ignore.

He didn’t need to shout to command attention.

He didn’t need to threaten anyone to make them listen.

People simply seemed to understand that Kaiden wasn’t someone they wanted to cross.

His friends laughed at something one of them said.

Kaiden barely smiled.

He was leaning back in his chair, one arm resting along the backrest, looking completely at ease in a room where everyone else seemed conscious of his presence.

I stopped walking.

My fingers tightened around my sandwich.

I hadn’t realised how close I was to his table.

A wave of panic washed through me.

There were empty seats at several tables nearby, but taking one would mean sitting close enough for Kaiden to notice me.

I couldn’t do that.

I wouldn’t.

I turned towards a smaller table in the corner, hoping to reach it without attracting attention.

“Lilly!”

My heart lurched.

I froze.

Madison stood beside the table I’d been approaching, holding a drink in one hand.

Her eyes dropped to my sandwich.

Then she smiled.

“Oh, look. Lunch for one.”

I tried to walk around her.

She moved into my path.

“Where are you going?”

“To sit down.”

“Here?”

I glanced at the empty chair.

“Yes.”

Madison looked at the table as though I’d suggested sitting on a pile of rubbish.

“Sorry, sweetheart. This table’s taken.”

I looked around.

There wasn’t a single person sitting there.

“But nobody—”

“Did I ask for your opinion?”

My mouth snapped shut.

Madison stepped closer.

“You really don’t know when to stop talking, do you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re always sorry.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s pathetic.”

I tried to step around her again.

This time, she knocked the sandwich from my hand.

It hit the floor.

For a moment, I couldn’t move.

I stared at it lying beside my shoe, the bread separating from the filling.

That sandwich had been my lunch.

It was all I’d had money for.

And now it was on the filthy cafeteria floor.

A laugh escaped from somewhere behind Madison.

Then another.

My throat tightened.

“Oops,” Madison said.

She didn’t sound sorry.

She sounded delighted.

I crouched to pick up the sandwich, even though I knew I couldn’t eat it anymore.

I didn’t want to leave it there.

I didn’t want to waste what little money I’d spent.

And I certainly didn’t want anyone to know how much it mattered to me.

But before I could reach it, Madison planted her shoe on the bread.

I stared at her.

She stared back.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

Something inside me cracked.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

It was simply the quiet breaking point of someone who’d spent too long swallowing hurt because she was afraid of what would happen if she finally let it out.

I lifted my head.

“Why do you do this to me?”

The words came out before I could stop them.

Madison blinked.

For the first time that day, she looked genuinely surprised.

Then her expression hardened.

“Excuse me?”

I should have stopped.

I should have apologised.

I should have walked away.

Instead, I heard myself speak again.

“I haven’t done anything to you.”

The cafeteria seemed to grow quieter.

Madison’s face flushed.

“Are you accusing me of something?”

“No. I just—”

“You just what?”

My courage disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

I lowered my eyes.

“Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought.”

She stepped aside, allowing me to retrieve my ruined lunch.

Then she leaned closer.

“Listen carefully, Lilly. Nobody here likes you. Nobody wants you sitting with them, talking to them, or pretending you’re one of us.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“And if you keep embarrassing yourself by thinking you deserve better, I’ll make sure everyone remembers exactly where you belong.”

She straightened and walked away.

I remained crouched on the floor.

My face burned.

My eyes stung.

I wanted to cry so badly that it hurt.

But I wouldn’t.

Not here.

Not in front of them.

I picked up the sandwich, wrapped it in a napkin, and threw it into the bin.

Then I walked out of the cafeteria.

I didn’t stop until I reached the empty corridor outside the girls’ bathrooms.

There, with nobody watching, I pressed my back against the wall and covered my mouth with one hand.

A sob escaped anyway.

I hated myself for crying.

I hated Madison for making me cry.

And I hated the fact that tomorrow, I’d have to come back and endure it all over again.

I wiped my cheeks with the sleeves of my jumper.

I needed to pull myself together.

The bell would ring soon, and I couldn’t afford to be late.

I took a shaky breath.

Then another.

And as I lifted my head, I heard something that made every muscle in my body tense.

A low, unfamiliar growl.

I spun around.

The corridor was empty.

I stared towards the stairwell.

Nothing moved.

My heart began to race.

Perhaps I’d imagined it.

Stress could do strange things to a person, couldn’t it?

I pressed a hand against my chest and tried to calm my breathing.

Then the growl came again.

This time, it seemed to come from somewhere inside me.

I stumbled backwards.

What was happening?

I closed my eyes, frightened by the strange sensation spreading through my chest.

For one impossible moment, I felt something that wasn’t mine.

A surge of anger.

A flash of pain.

And beneath it all, an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

It was so intense that my knees nearly buckled.

Then it vanished.

I opened my eyes.

The corridor remained empty.

My heart pounded as I stared at my trembling hands.

I didn’t understand what had just happened.

I didn’t understand why I’d heard a growl when there was nobody around.

And I certainly didn’t understand why, for one brief moment, I’d felt as though someone else was hurting just as much as I was.

The bell rang.

I jumped so violently that I nearly cried out.

Students began pouring into the corridor, laughing and talking as they headed towards their classrooms.

Nobody noticed me standing there.

Nobody noticed anything unusual.

I swallowed hard and hurried towards my next lesson.

I told myself I was tired.

I told myself I was hungry.

I told myself that the strange sensation had been nothing more than my imagination playing tricks on me.

I repeated those explanations until I almost believed them.

But as I walked into the classroom, I caught sight of Kaiden standing beside the teacher’s desk.

He turned his head.

Our eyes met.

And suddenly, that strange sensation returned.

Only this time, it was stronger.

Something inside me stirred.

Something wild.

Something that seemed to recognise him.

Kaiden’s expression changed.

For one brief second, the confident, untouchable future Alpha looked almost startled.

Then his eyes narrowed.

He stared at me as though he’d sensed something he couldn’t explain.

My blood ran cold.

Because whatever had just happened between us, I knew one thing with absolute certainty.

Kaiden had noticed me.

And I was terrified of what would happen next.