~007: A human mate?

Ronan

I can hear faint breathing, my heartbeat is even. I slowly open my eyes to a familiar ceiling, the brightness immediately piercing through my eyes. Compared to the thick darkness I was in, it's so bright and blinding, I squint. Everything is too white, too sterile.

I turn my head slowly, my neck stiff, and see Casen buried in documents as he sits on the couch at the corner of my room. His head is low, brows furrowed like he’s trying to figure out how to solve world problem with paperwork. I try to get up.

“Ugh…” I groan softly. My body still feels light, like it’s not mine. My limbs are here, but they feel… distant, hollow. Like I’m borrowing them.

Casen’s head shoots up. “Alpha?” He’s on his feet before I can blink. “Fuck it, man, you almost made me lose my senses.” He groans as he rushes to the side table, pours water from the small silver flask, and shoves the glass into my hands.

I gulp it down. It tastes like heaven and pain. My throat feels like sandpaper, like I’ve been screaming in my sleep.

“You’ve been out for three damn days after that drama,” he says, pressing his palm to his forehead like he’s reliving the chaos. His brows draw together, sharp.

Three days?

I force out words. “I felt strange… like I connected to someone, but all of a sudden it snapped.”

My voice is rough, dry, but I get the words out. I look at him, my eyes demanding an explanation.

He exhales heavily. “Yeah. Someone raised an alarm that you collapsed during practice. When everyone rushed there, Calla, Blaire’s friend, the new nerdy girl in the cheer squad…she tried to help as a medical student— But then… you suddenly jerked up, grabbed her, called her mate, then passed out again.”

He stands awkwardly, one hand buried deep in his pocket, the other gesturing wildly as he talks. He still looks a little pale himself.

“The nerdy?” I ask, frowning. That’s a damn curveball. I blink a few times, trying to place her face. The shy, quiet one. Always in big glasses and oversized cardigans.

Casen nods, shoving both hands in his pockets now like he doesn’t want to deal with my reaction.

“Huh… no wonder I couldn’t tell where the scent was coming from.” My eyes snap open. I sit straighter, adrenaline punching through the fog in my brain. I turn sharply to Casen, my voice dropping to something more serious.

“A human?”

He nods again, pressing his lips so hard together I wonder if he’s chewing his teeth off. His silence confirms it.

“Hah! What the fuck is this situation? Has the moon goddess lost it?” I growl. My voice bounces off the walls, deeper than I expect.

“You bet…” Casen says, trying to keep it casual, but I can hear the tension under his words. “Well, the good news is that connection woke you up and seems to have strengthened Darko a bit.” My wolf stirs at the name, Darko. Casen shrugs, like he’s trying not to make a big deal out of it. “The facts are true…only your true mate can wake and save your wolf.”

He shakes his head. “Damn such a curse. You should really ask your old man what kind of offense your ancestors committed to taint the Alpha bloodline with such weakness,” he mutters under his breath with a crooked grin.

I glare at him, clearly not amused.

“And not just anyone… but that nerd?” I say, still trying to process it. “What the fuck? Such a weak thing is my mate? I mean, she’s ugly… no fashion sense… doesn’t know anything else apart from those textbooks.”

I growl louder, tossing the covers off my legs like I can shake her off too.

Casen bursts out laughing. “You didn’t feel this repulse when you grabbed her waist and almost kissed her, calling her mate like you were about to marry her in the fucking hallway.”

I freeze. “Jeez… don’t even say it,” I mutter, waving my hand. “That’s so fucking embarrassing.” I groan as I swing my legs off the bed. My balance is off, but I force myself up just as the door creaks open.

Two healers walk in. Middle-aged...

"Oh, I made sure no one checked on you when you passed out." Casen mind-links me, his lips not moving. *Didn’t want them to find out about Darko’s condition. They’ll assume it was just exhaustion now that you’re up.*

Smart. That’s why he’s my beta.

The healers do their checks quickly. Poke here, pulse there. One of them frowns at my heart rate, but the other shrugs it off. “Just make sure you get some rest, Alpha,” one says as they pack up.

When they leave, I collapse back into the chair, still not used to how fragile I feel.

“I feel unless the bond is completed, Darko won’t survive, Ronan,” Casen says after a long pause. “So the earlier you accept ‘that nerd,’ the better things will become.”

He grabs the glass of whiskey he left on the table earlier, takes a deep sip, and waits for my reaction.

Fuck. That truth hurts.

It hits me in the chest like a goddamn truck. I stare at the wall like it’ll give me answers.

“But that’s less the situation, man,” I finally mutter. “She’s a human. Humans can’t know of our existence. The pack would never accept such a weak thing as their Luna.”

I clench my fists. My knuckles turn white. “How do we even complete the bond? See why I said the moon goddess is finally going insane?”

My voice breaks, not out of weakness but frustration. It echoes around the room before dying in Casen’s silence.

He finally slumps into the armchair across from me, whiskey in one hand, eyes watching me like I’m the one on fire.

“We’ll figure it out,” he says, voice low.

“How?” I shoot back. “You saw the way she looked at me when I woke up—confused as hell.”

“She doesn’t even know she’s your mate yet, and Darko came out for a split second that was what frightened her” Casen says quietly.

That makes it worse.

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” I mutter. “Maybe it’s better she never knows.”

Casen leans forward. “Darko knows. And he’s barely hanging on, man. You can lie to everyone else, even yourself, but your wolf knows her. And he will get her, she's your mate.”

Silence stretches.

I hate that he’s right.

My chest tightens again. Not just from Darko, but from the damn weight of everything.

I look up.

He holds my gaze. “We figure this out, Ronan. Quietly. Smartly. But we don’t give up.”

I sigh, dragging a hand through my messy hair. My head is pounding now. And underneath all that... I can still feel her. That strange calm, that sudden light when I touched her.

Calla.

Just the name sounds too gentle for what I’m going through.

“Fuck…” I mutter under my breath. “This is gonna be a mess.”

Casen chuckles. “Welcome to fate.”