Chapter 4

<Denial Bites Hard>

ADRIAN 

The birthday party ended yesterday, but Lucas had asked to see me today after dinner. Now here I was on my way to the stairway, because it would be emptied out.

It was past 10pm now, so everyone would either be in bed or at the parties that are held every night around here, so there was no chance that someone would overhear our conversation.

Before I got down to the stairway, I could already see Lucas down there pacing. He looked battered, and even if it was hard for me to accept it, it was not troubling me as much as it was him.

“Adrian, please tell me the truth. You were trying to mess with me so that I'll stay away from you. It's fine. I'm pissed now and I'll stay away from you, so stop this. Please.” The pleading tone in his voice broke me a little, but I couldn't change a thing.

“You know I'm not messing with you. You felt it too.” I didn't even know how to explain it anymore at this point.

He paused for a moment, then scoffed out a laugh. “No. No way in hell.”

“Why not?”

He stepped closer, and I could almost see the anger pouring out of his eyes in torrents. “Because it’s you, Adrian. The guy I’ve hated since I could walk. The one my father told me to crush every chance I got. You expect me to believe the Moon Goddess paired me with you?”

The words hurt me a little bit more than I was willing to admit.

“I'm not excited about it either, trust me.” I folded my hands and leaned on the wall.

He took a deep breath. “That's good then. Let's just pretend that this isn't happening and never happened. Is that okay with you?” He brought his hands in for a shake.

My wolf roared in anger and frustration, and the roar was so loud, I actually had to stop myself from putting my hands over my ear. 

Lucas' scent was everywhere, and while everything in me screamed for me to reject his proposal and claim him, his glare said differently. 

He glared at me like he was going to snap my neck if I disagreed with him.

Wait. There was no way….

“You can't be serious right now.” I laughed as I looked at him.

“I am serious.” 

He did look extremely serious.

“You can’t just… ignore this,” I said.

“Watch me.” He pushed me out of the way and started storming out into the drizzle. 

I ran after him, unable to stop myself.

“Lucas…”

“Stay away from me, Adrian.” He snapped and he kept moving, not even bothering to turn around and look at me.

Lucas this is fate. We can't stop what the moon goddess has already assigned.

“I don't want this, Adrian. I don't want you.” He was breathing hard and I could swear those were tears rolling down his face and not the rain.

I looked down to realize that his fists too were clenched tight.

The words hurt like a punch to the chest, and it caused my wolf to go mad. He roared in anger at the rejection, but I made sure to not let it show.

“This was not my choice too, Lucas.” I yelled at him. “And if I could choose, I definitely wouldn't choose you or anything that's remotely close to your family. But this is what it is, and pretending it's not happening will not make it go away.”

“I didn’t choose this either,” I said, my voice sharp. “But pretending it’s not real isn’t going to make it go away.”

“Fine. I'll reject you then.” Lucas said in the most serious tone I've ever heard.

The world tilted. Rejection. The word burned.

“You’d really do that?” I growled.

I didn't want to let him see the turmoil my wolf was causing in me, but it also led me to wonder. If we were mates, wouldn't his wolf be protesting against this too? Or was this his wolf's decision?

“If it keeps me from being….stuck with you, then yes I will.” He snarled.

“Lucas, be careful.” I took a step towards him. “You have no idea what you're saying.”

“Back off.”

He pushed me away so hard, but I didn't move. Instead, I came closer.

I came so close that I could see it swirling in his eyes. I was so close that his smell made my wolf start whining, desperate to touch him.

“You feel it too. Your wolf is wreaking havoc in you.”

He gasped as if shocked that I figured that out, but then he shook his head. “Fuck you. I hate you.”

It was a lie and we both knew it, and if not for how close I was to him right now, I would have believed it.

What was happening between us right now was proof of the truth. I could literally feel the bond getting stronger with every second.

He could say he hated me, but his scent said otherwise. He wanted me too, even if he would rather swallow his own tongue than admit it.

“Yeah. You can keep telling yourself that. Maybe even try to convince yourself that you mean it, but it's not going to change what is already happening between us.” I said calmly and stepped back, giving him his space.

He stared at me in disbelief, shook his head and went storming back to his own dorm.

I stood there in the rain watching him go, and while I would have loved to go back to my warm bed and pretend that this was just a petty argument, I couldn't. I was frozen to that spot.

This bond was real, and it was getting stronger with every moment we spent thinking about each other, whether in a good way or in a bad way, and even though we hated to admit it, it was often.

And I had no idea how I was going to survive it if Lucas meant what he had said.