The Alpha’s Fat Mate

Chapter 3

Lilly

I wanted to disappear.

Not tomorrow.

Not next week.

Right now.

Because Kaiden was staring at me, and I had absolutely no idea why.

His dark eyes remained fixed on my face as I stood in the doorway, my fingers curled tightly around the strap of my backpack.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t think.

All I could do was stare back at him, desperately trying to work out what I’d done wrong.

Had I somehow annoyed him?

Had he seen me in the cafeteria?

Had Madison told him something?

My mind raced through every possibility, each one more terrifying than the last.

“Lilly?”

The teacher’s voice startled me.

I jerked my gaze away from Kaiden.

“Sorry.”

A few students laughed.

Of course they did.

Apparently, even walking into a classroom was something I could get wrong.

“Take your seat, please,” the teacher instructed.

I nodded quickly and hurried towards my desk.

I could feel Kaiden watching me.

Every step seemed to take an eternity.

I kept my eyes on the floor, praying he would lose interest before I reached the back of the classroom.

When I finally sat down, I released a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.

My hands were shaking again.

I shoved them beneath the desk.

Get a grip, Lilly.

He hasn’t done anything.

Not yet.

That last thought made my stomach twist.

I hated that my mind automatically expected the worst whenever Kaiden was involved.

But fear wasn’t always rational.

Sometimes, it was simply what happened when you’d spent too long learning that the wrong person’s attention could turn an ordinary day into a nightmare.

And Kaiden was the last person I wanted paying attention to me.

“All right, everyone,” our teacher announced. “Before we begin, I have an announcement.”

I stared at the open textbook on my desk.

If I concentrated hard enough, perhaps I could pretend I was anywhere else.

Perhaps I could become invisible.

Perhaps—

“Lilly.”

My heart stopped.

I slowly raised my head.

Kaiden stood beside my desk.

He’d crossed the classroom without my noticing.

Up close, he was even more intimidating.

He was taller than most of the boys at school, with broad shoulders and a confident posture that made it seem as though he belonged wherever he stood.

His expression was unreadable.

“What happened to you?”

I blinked.

“What?”

His eyes narrowed.

“Your hands. They’re shaking.”

I immediately folded them into my lap.

“They’re not.”

The moment I said it, I regretted it.

Kaiden’s jaw tightened.

“Don’t lie to me.”

My throat went dry.

“I’m sorry.”

He stared at me.

For a moment, I thought he might demand an explanation.

Instead, his gaze shifted towards the classroom door, where Madison had just entered.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw him standing beside me.

Then she smiled.

It was the same sweet, poisonous smile she’d worn all morning.

“Kaiden!” she called. “I was looking for you.”

He didn’t look at her.

His attention remained on me.

“Did someone do something to you?”

The question caught me completely off guard.

I stared at him, unable to understand what I was hearing.

Was he asking because he cared?

The thought was so ridiculous that I almost laughed.

Kaiden didn’t care about me.

He barely tolerated my existence.

Whatever this was, it couldn’t possibly be concern.

“No,” I whispered.

His gaze hardened.

“Lilly.”

My name sounded like a warning.

I flinched before I could stop myself.

Something changed in his expression.

It was brief, but I saw it.

His eyes flickered towards my face, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

For one strange second, he looked almost angry.

Not the casual irritation I’d seen before.

Something deeper.

Something I couldn’t understand.

Then Madison appeared beside him.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, glancing between us.

Her eyes settled on me.

The warning in them was unmistakable.

Don’t say anything.

I lowered my gaze.

“Everything’s fine,” I whispered.

Kaiden remained silent.

Madison slipped her hand around his arm.

“Come on. We’re going to be late.”

He didn’t move immediately.

Instead, he looked down at me one last time.

“Don’t leave the classroom after the bell.”

My stomach dropped.

“What?”

His eyes narrowed.

“Did I stutter?”

“No.”

“Then you heard me.”

He turned and walked away with Madison.

I sat perfectly still.

My mind struggled to make sense of what had just happened.

Don’t leave the classroom after the bell.

Why?

What did he want?

Was I in trouble?

Had I broken some rule without realising it?

I glanced towards Madison.

She was whispering something to Kaiden, her expression animated.

Then she looked over her shoulder.

Straight at me.

Her smile disappeared.

And for the first time that day, I realised something that frightened me almost as much as Kaiden himself.

Madison wasn’t simply enjoying making my life miserable.

She was afraid of something.

I just didn’t know what.

⸻

The lesson passed in a blur.

I tried to concentrate on the teacher’s explanations, but my thoughts kept returning to Kaiden.

Don’t leave the classroom after the bell.

The words repeated themselves until they seemed to echo inside my skull.

I’d considered sneaking out before the lesson ended.

I’d even packed my books early, hoping to slip through the door before he noticed.

But every time I looked towards the front of the room, I saw him standing near the windows, talking quietly with Tyler.

He hadn’t looked at me again.

Not once.

And somehow, that made everything worse.

I didn’t know what he was planning.

I didn’t know why he’d spoken to me.

I didn’t know why he’d asked whether someone had hurt me.

The uncertainty gnawed at me.

At least when Madison bullied me, I knew what to expect.

Cruel words.

Humiliation.

Sometimes a shove or a stolen possession.

It was awful, but familiar.

Kaiden was different.

His moods were difficult to read, and his position within the werewolf community meant people rarely challenged him.

If he decided he had a problem with me, who would stop him?

Nobody.

That was the answer.

Nobody would.

The bell rang.

Chairs scraped against the floor as students gathered their belongings.

I remained seated, pretending to search through my bag.

Maybe he’d forgotten.

Maybe he’d been speaking to someone else.

Maybe—

“Lilly.”

My fingers froze around the zip of my backpack.

I closed my eyes briefly.

Of course he hadn’t forgotten.

Slowly, I looked up.

Kaiden stood beside my desk.

Tyler was behind him, wearing an expression that suggested he was enjoying himself immensely.

Madison hovered near the doorway.

All three of them were watching me.

My stomach twisted.

“Come with me,” Kaiden ordered.

I swallowed.

“Where?”

His expression darkened.

“Do you always ask so many questions?”

“No. I mean—”

“Then get up.”

I scrambled to my feet so quickly that my chair tipped backwards.

The crash echoed through the classroom.

A few students laughed.

My face burned as I bent to retrieve it.

“Leave it,” Kaiden snapped.

I froze.

He stared at me.

“Now.”

I followed him.

What else could I do?

We walked out of the classroom and into the corridor.

Students moved around us, their conversations faltering as they recognised Kaiden.

Some glanced at me curiously.

Others whispered.

I heard my name once.

Then again.

My pulse quickened.

I knew how this would look.

Kaiden, the future Alpha, walking through the school with me.

Lilly.

The human girl nobody wanted.

The girl who couldn’t even get through a day without someone humiliating her.

What possible reason could he have for wanting to speak to me?

The possibilities made me feel sick.

We stopped near an empty classroom at the end of the corridor.

Kaiden opened the door and stepped inside.

Then he turned towards me.

“Come in.”

I hesitated.

The room was empty, the afternoon sunlight falling across rows of desks.

I didn’t want to enter.

I didn’t want to be alone with him.

But refusing the future Alpha wasn’t something I felt brave enough to do.

I stepped inside.

He closed the door behind us.

The click sounded deafening.

I immediately moved towards the nearest desk, putting a little distance between us.

Kaiden noticed.

Of course he noticed.

His eyes narrowed.

“Why are you acting like I’m going to hurt you?”

I stared at him.

For a moment, I couldn’t believe he’d asked me that.

Was he serious?

Did he honestly have no idea how frightening he was?

I looked down at my hands.

“I don’t know.”

“Look at me when you answer.”

I forced myself to raise my head.

“I said I don’t know.”

The words came out a little louder than I’d intended.

Silence fell.

My eyes widened.

Oh, no.

I’d done it now.

I’d spoken back to him.

I immediately lowered my gaze.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Stop apologising.”

I flinched.

Kaiden dragged a hand through his dark hair, looking increasingly frustrated.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then he asked, “What happened in the corridor before class?”

My stomach tightened.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play games with me.”

“I’m not.”

He took a step closer.

I instinctively moved backwards.

His expression changed.

Again, that strange flicker crossed his face.

He looked at me as though he was trying to understand something that made absolutely no sense to him.

“I felt something,” he said finally.

I stared at him.

“What?”

“Something strange.”

My heartbeat quickened.

I thought about the growl I’d heard outside the bathroom.

The impossible sensation that had spread through my chest.

The feeling that something inside me had awakened.

I swallowed hard.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kaiden watched me for several seconds.

Then his nostrils flared slightly.

His expression shifted.

“What are you?”

The question sent a chill down my spine.

I stared at him, bewildered.

“What do you mean?”

“You heard me.”

“I’m Lilly.”

The answer sounded stupid even to my own ears.

Kaiden’s jaw tightened.

“I know your name.”

I pressed my lips together.

I didn’t understand what he wanted from me.

I was human.

An ordinary, painfully ordinary human girl.

I’d never transformed into a wolf.

I’d never experienced anything supernatural.

I’d never even been particularly close to a werewolf, apart from the students who treated me like dirt.

At least, that was what I’d always believed.

“I don’t know what you felt,” I whispered. “I don’t know what happened. I haven’t done anything.”

My voice cracked on the final word.

I hated that he could hear it.

I hated that my fear was so obvious.

And I hated the way he kept looking at me, as though he expected me to provide an explanation for something I didn’t understand myself.

For a long moment, Kaiden said nothing.

Then he stepped away.

“Go to class.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“You’re dismissed.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

I grabbed my bag and hurried towards the door.

My fingers fumbled with the handle.

I could feel him watching me.

Just before I stepped into the corridor, his voice stopped me.

“Lilly.”

I froze.

Slowly, I turned around.

He stood in the middle of the empty classroom, his expression hard to read.

“Don’t tell anyone about this conversation.”

My stomach sank.

“Why?”

His eyes darkened.

“Because I said so.”

I nodded quickly.

“Okay.”

I left before he could change his mind.

I didn’t stop walking until I’d reached the other end of the corridor.

Then I pressed a trembling hand against my chest.

I didn’t understand what had happened.

I didn’t understand why Kaiden had questioned me.

And I certainly didn’t understand why he’d looked almost unsettled when he’d asked what I was.

But one thing was clear.

Something had changed.

I could feel it.

And if Kaiden had noticed it too, then I was in far more trouble than I’d realised.

Because the last thing I wanted was to become interesting to the most powerful boy at school.

I wanted to be invisible.

I wanted to be left alone.

I wanted my life to stop hurting.

Instead, I’d somehow managed to attract the attention of the one person I’d spent years desperately trying to avoid.

And I had no idea how to make him forget I existed.