~004: Mate

Calla

A scream echoes from the hallway, sharp and panicked. My body jerks. My breath shortens. Everything freezes inside me for a second, like my brain just disconnected.

“Hey nerdy, move out if you won’t keep the line,” Sasha snaps from across the line, loud as ever, lips glossed and permanently annoyed. She’s leading the cheer squad today, same energy, same dramatic eyeliner.

I blink at her, disoriented. There’s a weird tingling down my spine, like something electric passed through me and a sudden sweet scent that brushes past my nose — warm and strange, like cedarwood drenched in something almost... sinful. I sniff the air like a lost bloodhound. But it's gone as fast as it came.

“The captain just fainted!” someone yells, sprinting toward the rink entrance.

There's sudden shock on everyone's face.

Casen, Blaire's boyfriend, suddenly drops his stick and takes off, sprinting off the ice. "Babe" Blaire calls out for him, startled, she drops her pom poms before she rushes after him. Sasha turns with a shock, confused, then sees the wave of chaos crashing past her.

“What the hell—Ron?” she gasps, throwing her pom poms in the air, eyes wide as she bolts too.

The entire team abandons the drills. Coaches yelling. Skates skidding. No one’s explaining anything, they’re just moving. And I follow them. I don’t know why—I just do.

The corridor near the locker rooms is packed already. I push past a few students, duck under an elbow, nearly stumble into Blaire. She’s standing frozen in place. I shift around her.

And that’s when I see someone lying flat on the floor.

Ronan is on the floor, pale, unmoving. Casen’s kneeling beside him, yelling something I can’t process. There’s blood on his clothes and his nose, and his chest isn’t rising—wait. His chest isn’t moving.

Oh God.

My med brain kicks in before I even understand what I’m doing. My legs move. I rush forward.

“Back up,” I say, breathless, dropping beside Ronan, knees hitting the floor.

“Hey—get her outta here,” someone shouts. I noticed how they aren't allowing anyone part of the team.

Hands grab at my arm. I slap them off.

“I’m a medical student!” I bark, pressing my fingers to his neck. No pulse. “He's not breathing.”

Casen’s shaking, holding Ronan’s shoulder. “Hey Man... Stop playing around!”

“I need space!” I shout again. “Don’t touch me!”

I press against Ronan’s chest. His body is warm but too still. Blood trickles near his temple. My hand slides over his ribcage, checking, calculating. CPR? How hard do I—

The second my palm presses lower—

He jerks.

I press harder, gasping. His eyes fly open. Blazing gold like the sun.

What the actual—

His hand lashes out fast, gripping my wrist. The force pulls me closer to his body, he sniffs my neck.

“Mate.”

The word rumbles from deep in his chest, low and raw like it’s scraping through his throat. I blink. My entire body feels cold and hot at the same time.

His eyes hold mine—burning, alive—then suddenly dim. He collapses back. But something flashed across his face before he collapsed.

“Holy shit,” I whisper.

I sit there, frozen, his blood on my hand, his scent all over me again—sweet, warm, musky and completely addictive. I feel dizzy.

“What—what was that?” I mutter. “What kind of—what did he say?”

Casen’s grabbing Ronan again, calling for help. One of the coaches pushes through. People are yelling. Everyone’s panicking again.

I’m still kneeling.

There was something... something not human in those eyes. The color. The flicker. And—

I swear to God—

For a split second, I saw his face flash like a wolf's face pressing through his skin. Just for a second.

Just for a second. My body is trembling.

“Calla!” Blaire yanks me up by the elbow. “What the hell are you doing?!”

I stumble to my feet, heart slamming against my ribs.

“I saw it,” I whisper.

“Saw what?!”

“I—he grabbed me and—” My voice is cracking. “He said mate. And then—then his face—God, Blaire, I saw it. It changed. Like a wolf or something. I swear to God I saw it—”

Blaire stares at me like I’ve lost my entire mind. “Calla.”

“I’m not crazy—don’t look at me like that.”

She’s dragging me away, pulling me from the chaos as a group lifts Ronan onto a stretcher. Casen walks beside them, pale and shaken, his hands covered in blood.

Sasha is sitting against the wall, sobbing silently now, arms wrapped around her knees, mascara streaked.

“I swear I saw it,” I whisper again as we stop at the end of the hallway. “His face—changed. Just for a second.”

Blaire puts both hands on my shoulders. “Okay. Let’s breathe. You’re in shock, Calla.”

“I’m not in shock. I mean…maybe I am—but I know what I saw.” I inhale shakily. “And he smelled like…God, I don’t even know how to describe it. Like some expensive, masculine perfume with... I don’t know... pine or firewood? Like something wild but…good. Seductive. I didn’t even think I liked that kind of scent but it was just—”

“Okay, wow.” She gives me a look. “So now you’re describing his cologne?”

“He called me mate. What does that mean?”

“Maybe he was delirious,” she says. “Probably thought you were Casen or something. He hit his head hard.”

“Still, Blaire, that image was so real.” I hug myself, my hands still trembling. “There was this pull, like gravity. Like something slammed inside my chest when he touched me.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“Because none of this makes sense! I saw a freaking wolf face!”

She sighs. “Calla—”

“I swear on every medical textbook I own…his face changed.”

Blaire's quiet, just stares at me.

A nurse from the school clinic hurries past us, joining the group wheeling Ronan out. They disappear around the corner.

“Are they taking him to the hospital?” I ask, suddenly nervous.

“I think so. He’s bleeding and passed out twice. Where else would they take him?”

I stare down the hallway, still not believing what just happened.

“You think I’m crazy?” I ask.

“Completely,” she deadpans. “Also dramatic, and possibly high.”

“I’m serious!”

“I know you are. Which is why it’s concerning.” She gives me a once-over. “You okay?”

“No.”

“Good. At least you’re honest.”

We stand there for a second, quiet as the noise fades down the hallway.

“I can’t stop thinking about that scent,” I murmur.

“Calla.”

“I mean it. I smelled it earlier…like just before the scream. It was there. Then gone. Like my body was trying to tell me something.”

“Oh my God.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. “You need sleep. And probably therapy. Definitely not romance novels.”

Blaire watches me, eyes narrowed. “Look, maybe you just... connected. People feel weird things in emergencies. Adrenaline. Fear. Hallucinations.”

“You ever hallucinate someone's face changing into a damn wolf?"

“Can’t say I have.”

I glance down at my hands, still stained with a little of his blood.

She sighs. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here before you start barking.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It is a little.”

I let her drag me away, but my thoughts don’t leave the hallway.

What the hell is happening to me? Was that really a hallucination? It was so real.