CHAPTER TWO — The One Who Felt Like Fate

I didn’t know how long I ran.

My legs burned, lungs screaming, the world blurring past me as the trees swallowed my tears. The forest had always been my refuge the one place where the pack’s whispers couldn’t follow, where my name didn’t feel like a curse on someone’s tongue.

My chest hurt, not from the run, but from the way my father’s words still echoed inside me.

You will never be more than what you are.

I didn’t stop until my feet carried me to the narrow path only two people knew existed. A sharp turn between thick vines, a fallen oak that formed a natural arch, and then there it was.

Our place.

The clearing opened like a secret the world had agreed to keep. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, painting gold over the grass. The old training posts stood where we’d built them years ago, scarred from endless sparring sessions and stubborn dreams.

I dropped to my knees, breath hitching as everything I’d been holding in finally spilled out. My hands curled into the dirt.

“I did everything right,” I whispered to the empty air. “Why is it never enough?”

A familiar scent reached me before I heard the footsteps warm, grounding, unmistakably him.

“Bella?”

I didn’t look up. I didn’t trust myself to.

Rohan stepped into the clearing, tall and broad-shouldered, his presence calm and steady like always. He’d been my shadow since childhood my training partner, my protector, my safe place when the world felt too heavy.

“Hey,” he said softly, kneeling beside me. “What happened?”

I laughed weakly. “You could say my life just fell apart.”

He waited. He always did. Never pushed. Never rushed me.

I pulled the letter from my pocket, now wrinkled and worn, and handed it to him.

His eyes moved across the page. I watched his expression shift surprise, then confusion, then something darker I couldn’t quite place.

“You got accepted,” he said slowly.

I nodded. “I trained for it in secret. Every night. Every bruise… every failure… it was all for this.”

His jaw tightened. “Bella”

“My father said I’d disgrace the family,” I rushed on, the words spilling like blood from a wound. “Selene laughed at me. They all think I’m a joke.”

Rohan exhaled deeply, rubbing a hand over his face.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

The way he said it made my stomach sink.

“You don’t believe I can do it,” I whispered.

“That’s not” He paused, searching for words. “The Alpha Academy isn’t like training here. It’s brutal. Political. Dangerous. They don’t accept omegas easily especially female ones.”

“I know that!” My voice cracked. “That’s why I have to go.”

He looked at me then, really looked at me, and the worry in his eyes hurt worse than anger.

“Bella, listen to me,” he said carefully. “They won’t protect you there. And I can’t be there to stop them if something goes wrong.”

“So you don’t believe in me either,” I whispered.

“That’s not what I’m saying!”

“But it’s what you mean.” I stood, stepping back from him. “You trained me. You saw how hard I worked. And still… you think I’ll fail.”

He stood too, reaching for me. “I think the world is cruel to people like us.”

I shook my head. “No. You think I’m weak.”

Silence stretched between us, thick and aching.

“Bella,” he said quietly, “I don’t want to lose you.”

The words almost broke me.

But then another presence rolled into the clearing powerful, commanding, electric.

My breath caught.

The air shifted, heavy with authority. My instincts screamed before my mind could catch up.

Someone else was here.

I turned slowly.

He stood at the edge of the clearing like he belonged to the forest itself tall, broad, with sharp features and eyes that seemed to pierce straight through me. His aura pressed against my senses, strong and undeniable.

Alpha.

Not just any Alpha.

Power.

My knees nearly buckled as something deep inside me reacted violently heat blooming under my skin, my heart racing, my wolf howling in recognition.

No.

No, no, no

The bond snapped into place with a force that stole my breath.

Mate.

I staggered back, gasping, one hand clutching my chest.

“What” I whispered, panic flooding me.

Rohan stiffened beside me. “Brother,” he said sharply.

Brother.

My eyes flew to him.

This was Rohan’s brother?

The Alpha’s gaze snapped to me, eyes darkening as realization struck. I felt it then the invisible thread pulling tight between us, ancient and undeniable.

His expression shifted from confusion to shock… then to something dangerously close to awe.

“You,” he murmured.

I shook my head, stepping back again. “No. This, this can’t be happening.”

The bond pulsed, warm and terrifying, lighting every nerve in my body.

I had spent my whole life being told I was nothing.

And now fate had chosen me.

The Alpha stepped forward instinctively, his voice low. “You’re”

“Don’t,” I said, breathless. “Please.”

I couldn’t handle this. Not now. Not after everything.

Rohan moved between us, jaw clenched. “Stay back.”

The Alpha’s eyes flicked to him, sharp. “You knew?”

“I didn’t,” Rohan snapped. “But she’s not some prize for you to claim.”

The tension was suffocating.

I felt torn in two fear and something dangerously close to longing warring inside me.

The Alpha inhaled slowly, steadying himself. “I didn’t come here for this,” he said. “I came to get you, Rohan. The council summoned me early.”

His gaze flicked back to me, softer now, conflicted.

“But I won’t pretend I didn’t feel that,” he added quietly.

My heart hammered.

I wrapped my arms around myself, grounding my shaking body. “I don’t want a bond,” I whispered. “I just want a chance.”

Something shifted in his expression then respect, maybe.

“You have more strength than you realize,” he said.

Rohan looked between us, torn, protective instincts warring with loyalty.

“I’m leaving for the Academy,” I said suddenly, surprising even myself. “With or without anyone’s blessing.”

Silence followed.

Then the Alpha nodded once. “Good.”

I blinked.

“You’ll need allies there,” he continued. “Enemies too. But you won’t be invisible.”

Rohan stared at him. “You’re not serious.”

“I am,” his brother replied. “And if she’s going to survive what’s coming… she’ll need to be stronger than all of us.”

His gaze locked with mine, intense and unreadable.

The bond pulsed again soft, steady, inevitable.

For the first time since the letter arrived, something inside me steadied.

Maybe this path was dangerous.

Maybe it would break me.

But as I stood between two Alphas one who feared losing me, and one fate had chosen for me I realized something profound.

I was no longer running.

And this time…

I would fight.