You must be mistaken. There's no way the Alpha heir is my mate.
The words screamed in my head, but I couldn't make my mouth work. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think past the single word echoing in my skull like a death sentence.
Mate.
Darius's hand clamped around my wrist before I could process what was happening. He yanked me up from the table, his grip hard enough to bruise.
"Outside. Now."
Celeste started to stand. "Hey, wait—"
"Stay out of this," Darius snapped, and she sat back down like she'd been slapped.
He dragged me through the dining hall. Every head turned. Every conversation stopped. The blonde girl at the Alpha table looked furious, her perfectly glossed lips pressed into a thin line. Students whispered behind their hands, their eyes tracking us like we were the night's entertainment.
My feet stumbled to keep up with his pace. "Let go of me."
He didn't respond. Didn't even look back. Just hauled me out the doors and into the courtyard, away from the main pathways, toward the shadows near the training building.
When we were finally alone, he released me so suddenly I almost fell.
I caught myself against the stone wall, my wrist throbbing where his fingers had been. "What the hell is your problem?"
He turned on me, and the look on his face made my stomach drop. Rage. Pure, barely controlled rage.
"My problem?" His voice was low, dangerous. "My problem is that the universe just played the cruelest joke in existence."
I straightened, ignoring the tremor in my hands. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't lie to me." He stepped closer, and I could feel the heat radiating off him. His wolf was right there, just beneath the surface, fighting to break free. "You felt it too. I know you did."
I wanted to deny it. Wanted to tell him he was insane. But the pull was still there, thrumming beneath my skin, trying to drag me toward him like gravity.
"It's a mistake," I said, forcing the words out. "There's no way you're my mate."
"You think I want this?" He laughed, bitter and harsh. "You think I want to be tied to someone like you?"
The words hit like a physical blow.
"Someone like me," I repeated slowly.
"Weak," he said, ticking off each word like a list. "No wolf. No lineage. No power. You're barely more than a human, Elara. What kind of mate bond is that?"
My hands curled into fists. "I didn't ask for this."
"Neither did I." He dragged a hand through his hair, pacing like a caged animal. "Do you have any idea what this means? What people will say when they find out the future Alpha's mate is a wolfless nobody?"
"Then reject me," I shot back. "Break the bond. Walk away. I don't want you either."
He stopped pacing. Turned to face me. And for just a second, something flickered across his face. Something that looked almost like pain.
But then it was gone, replaced by that cold, cruel mask.
"You don't get it, do you?" he said quietly. "Rejection doesn't work that way. The bond doesn't just disappear because we want it to. It'll eat at both of us until we either accept it or one of us dies."
My breath caught. "You're lying."
"I wish I was."
Silence stretched between us. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear laughter from the dining hall. Normal students living normal lives while mine fell apart.
Inside me, something stirred.
It started as a whisper. A flutter. And then it grew, spreading through my chest like wildfire.
My wolf.
After eighteen years of silence, after a lifetime of being told I was broken, incomplete, wrong—she was finally here.
And she was furious.
She howled inside my mind, loud and desperate, reaching for the bond that connected us to Darius. Reaching for him like he was air and she was drowning.
Mate. Ours. Need him.
No.
I shoved her down, fighting against the instinct with everything I had. My pride screamed louder than she did, reminding me of every insult, every cruel word, every time I'd been told I wasn't enough.
I would not let this bond define me.
I would not let him define me.
"I don't care what the bond says," I told him, my voice steadier than I felt. "I don't want you. I don't need you. And I sure as hell won't beg for scraps of affection from someone who's spent his entire life making mine hell."
Darius's jaw tightened. "Careful, Elara."
"Or what? You'll reject me?" I stepped closer, meeting his glare head-on. "Do it. Save us both the trouble."
For a moment, I thought he might actually do it. Thought he might sever whatever twisted connection had formed between us and let me walk away.
But then I heard them.
Footsteps. Whispers.
I turned and saw shadows near the corner of the building. Students. At least three of them, peeking around the edge, watching us like we were a reality show.
"Is he really going to reject her?"
"She doesn't even have a wolf. This is insane."
"Janessa is going to lose her mind when she finds out."
Janessa.
My sister.
His fiancée.
God, I'd almost forgotten about her. Perfect, beautiful Janessa with her golden hair and her flawless wolf and her picture-perfect life. The girl who'd always been everything I wasn't.
And now I was her worst nightmare.
Darius must have heard the whispers too because his expression darkened even further. He grabbed my arm again, gentler this time but still firm, and leaned in close enough that only I could hear.
"Listen to me very carefully," he said, his breath warm against my ear. "You will not tell anyone about this bond. Not Celeste. Not your family. No one. Do you understand?"
I jerked away from him. "You don't get to give me orders."
"I'm trying to protect you," he hissed.
"From what? The truth?"
"From them." He gestured toward the students watching us. "From the pack. From every wolf who will see you as a weakness to exploit. You think it's bad now? Wait until they find out the future Alpha is bonded to someone who can't even shift."
His words cut deeper than I wanted to admit.
Because he was right.
I'd spent my entire life being the outcast. The disappointment. The girl who didn't belong. And now, instead of escaping that, I was tied to the one person who could make it a thousand times worse.
A memory surfaced, sharp and unwanted.
I was seven. My cousin had just shifted for the first time, and the whole family celebrated. My aunt threw a party. My uncle gave him a silver pendant shaped like a wolf. Everyone cheered.
And I stood in the corner, watching, wondering why I was broken.
That night, I'd made myself a promise. I would never depend on anyone. Never let someone else have power over me. I would survive on my own terms, even if it killed me.
I looked at Darius now, standing there with his perfect face and his perfect life, and felt that promise burn inside me all over again.
"I don't need your protection," I said coldly. "And I don't need you."
Something flickered in his eyes. Surprise, maybe. Or respect. I couldn't tell.
But then it was gone.
He stepped back, putting distance between us, and when he spoke again, his voice was ice.
"Good. Because I don't want you."
The bond screamed in protest. My wolf howled, clawing at my insides, begging me to stop him, to fix this, to make him stay.
But I stood there and watched him walk away.
The students scattered as he passed, disappearing into the shadows like they'd never been there. But I knew they'd spread the news. By morning, the entire Academy would know that Darius Fenrir had dragged me outside. They'd speculate. Gossip. Tear me apart piece by piece.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I leaned against the wall, my legs suddenly too weak to hold me up. My wolf whimpered, hurt and confused, not understanding why I'd let our mate leave.
Because he's not ours, I told her silently. He never will be.
But even as I thought it, I could still feel him. The bond stretched between us like a tether, pulling tight every time he moved farther away.
Celeste found me a few minutes later.
"Elara?" She approached cautiously, like I might bolt. "Are you okay?"
I pushed off the wall and forced a smile. "I'm fine."
"You're a terrible liar."
"Good thing I'm not trying to convince you."
She studied me for a long moment, then sighed. "Whatever just happened with Darius... it's not your fault. He's always been a jerk."
"Yeah." My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. "Always."
We walked back to the dorms in silence. Students stared as we passed, but I kept my head up, refusing to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.
When we reached my door, Celeste hesitated.
"If you need anything—"
"I'm fine," I repeated. "Really."
She didn't look convinced, but she nodded and left.
I locked the door behind me and collapsed onto the bed. My wolf paced restlessly, whining, searching for the bond we'd just severed.
He doesn't want us, I told her. And we don't need him.
But the bond hummed beneath my skin, calling me a liar.
I stared at the ceiling, exhaustion pulling at my edges. Tomorrow, I'd have to face the whispers. The stares. The inevitable confrontation when Janessa found out.
Tomorrow, I'd have to pretend this didn't hurt.
But tonight, alone in the dark, I let myself feel it.
The rejection.
The loss.
The cruel twist of fate that gave me a wolf and a mate in the same breath, only to rip both away before I could even understand what they meant.
And somewhere across campus, I could feel him too. Darius. The bond stretched between us, thin but unbreakable, a constant reminder of what we both refused to accept.
He didn't want me.
And I would survive that.
I had to.