Chapter 5: Two Mates?

~Lucian~

I couldn’t think straight.

I couldn’t fucking think.

Not with the way her scent was sitting in my skull like smoke, thick and sweet and soaking into everything I was. It was in my mouth, in my chest, stuck to the back of my tongue like honey I couldn’t swallow.

I shouldn’t have left.

Fuck.

I knew I shouldn’t have left.

But I had to.

I was going to lose control.

I was going to bite her.

I was going to grab her by the throat and knot her right there in the middle of that damn room.

And the worst part?

I still fucking wanted to.

Even now. Even here. Even surrounded by music and lights and people grinding up against each other like they were heat-drunk.

“Yo,” Levi said behind me, slapping a drink into my hand like I asked for it. “You alright? You look like someone pissed in your dinner.”

I didn’t answer.

Because I wasn’t alright.

I was hard.

I was angry.

I was seconds away from shifting and breaking something.

I took a slow sip of whatever was in the cup, hoping the burn would shock me back to reality.

It didn’t.

It just made me thirstier.

Hungrier.

Hornier.

Fuck.

I was losing it.

My skin was hot. My fingers wouldn’t stop twitching. My cock was still pressed so tight against my zipper I could feel the pulse throbbing through it.

And all I could think about was her — the way she looked at me like she hated me, like she wanted to slap me and then drop to her knees in the same breath.

She was so fucking pretty when she was pissed.

I smelled her heat.

It was just starting. Faint. Barely there. But my wolf caught it like a fucking hook in the throat and I haven’t been able to shake it since.

I growled low under my breath.

“Jesus,” Levi said, staring at me. “Do I need to get you laid or are you going to murder someone?”

I turned toward him slowly.

My heart was pounding. My breathing was rough. My jaw was so tight it felt like I’d shatter it just trying to hold back what I wanted to say.

“I found her.”

Levi blinked. “Found who?”

I stared him dead in the face.

“My mate.”

He laughed.

Actually fucking laughed.

“Wait—what? What are you talking about? Your mate? Lucian, what the hell are you saying? What about Veronica?”

I didn’t flinch.

“I never knotted her.”

Levi’s face twisted. “What?”

“I marked her because the bond sparked. Because that’s what we were supposed to do. Because that’s what everyone expected. But I never mated her. Not really. My wolf tolerated her. He never chose her. Not the way he’s choosing now.”

Levi just stared at me. I kept going.

“She’s new. Fresh. Transfer student. My roommate. She walked into the room and I swear to the fucking moon, I couldn’t breathe. My cock got hard before she even said a word. My wolf stood up inside me and said mine.

And I’m not talking about lust.

I’m talking about bond.

That girl is mine.”

Levi’s voice dropped. “Lucian. You’re telling me some Omega walked into your dorm, smelled like peaches and heat, and now you’re ready to throw away your bond with Veronica?”

I stepped closer.

My face was stone.

“I’m not throwing anything away. I’m choosing what was always meant to be mine.

Veronica was a lie. A placeholder.

This girl? This scent? This feeling in my fucking bones? That’s real.

That’s the kind of mate that makes an Alpha lose control.

I walked out before I could tear the damn room apart just to get a taste of her.”

Levi exhaled. “Fuck.”

I growled again.

Lower this time.

My hands shook.

“I need her,” I whispered, my voice like gravel. “I can’t get her out of my head. Her scent is in me. Her voice is in me. Her fucking heat is calling me back and I don’t even know her name.”

“But you know her body wants you,” Levi said quietly.

I didn’t respond.

Because I didn’t need to.

He saw it in my eyes. He smelled it on me.

And the truth was this:

If I didn’t go back to that room tonight, I was going to lose my fucking mind.

Because she was burning. She was begging. Maybe not with words, but her body was already calling me back.

And my wolf wasn’t going to let me ignore it much longer.

“You can’t have two mates,” Levi said. “That’s not how it works.”