CHAPTER 5: MATE?!

After lunch, I had convinced myself that with any luck, I could avoid Ethan for the rest of the day. The way I saw it, if I didn’t cross his path, I wouldn’t have to deal with the thousand questions Lexie had stirred up in my head about living under the same roof as the school’s resident heartthrob-slash-playboy. I figured if I just stayed out of his way, he would do the same.

But nope. That’s not how my luck worked, apparently.

Every time I looked around, I felt like Ethan was there, just... watching. Not in a creepy way, exactly, but in a way that made me hyper-aware of him. His gaze was like this constant weight on the back of my neck, like I could feel him noticing me, studying me even. And it wasn’t like I hadn’t noticed him before—everyone at school noticed Ethan. But today, something about it was different. Like, every time our eyes met, he would look away quickly, like he had just been caught red-handed.

And it was just plain weird.

Maybe I was just being paranoid. Maybe this was all in my head because of the whole stepsibling thing. But each time I sneak a glance at him, he’d already be glancing my way, too, only to look off, pretending he was suddenly really interested in whatever the teacher was saying. He would lock his jaw, his fingers tapping on his desk like he was holding something back, something he was barely keeping a lid on.

My brain was screaming at me, Oh God, no. Just...no. The last thing I wanted was Ethan noticing me in any way. If anyone at school caught on that Ethan was giving me any attention, I would be in for a world of trouble with the other girls. It was like they had some unspoken ownership of him—never mind the fact that he probably didn’t take any of them seriously.

So, I kept my head down and focused on keeping a safe distance, determined to get through the rest of my classes without any more weird eye contact or whatever was happening between us. But then, of course, the universe had other plans.

By the end of the day, I was more than ready to bolt. I had barely grabbed my stuff when I felt this... presence behind me. I knew, before even turning around, who it was.

Ethan.

“Camila,” he said, his voice low. It wasn’t quite a question, but it wasn’t exactly friendly, either. Just my name, like he was testing how it felt in his mouth.

I hesitated, giving him a small nod. “Uh... hey?”

His gaze was intense, way too intense for someone who had barely acknowledged me before this whole “new family” thing happened. It was like he was sizing me up, but for what, I had no clue. I could feel my heart start pounding, and I silently begged myself not to blush, not to do anything stupid. I didn’t need this to turn into some scene.

“So,” he said, a smirk twitching at the corner of his lips. “Guess we’re... family now.”

The way he said “family” made it sound like the last thing he actually wanted, and honestly, I didn’t disagree. I forced a laugh, hoping it didn’t sound as nervous as I felt. “Yeah. Small world, huh?”

He didn’t respond, just kept staring at me like he was trying to figure something out, like he was looking through me. And it made me feel... small, I guess. Like he was peeling back layers, searching for something I didn’t even know I had.

“Look,” I muttered, taking a small step back, “we don’t have to do this whole... bonding thing. We can just go back to pretending we don’t exist in each other’s world, okay?”

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything, just nodded slightly, still looking at me with that same, unreadable expression. For a second, I thought he was just going to walk away, maybe give me some sarcastic little smirk and turn this into a joke. But instead, he took a step closer, closing the gap I had just created.

“Do you feel that?” he asked, his voice low and a little rough. His gaze bore into mine, and I swear, for a split second, there was something... different in his eyes. Something fierce and primal.

“Feel what?” I asked, hating how breathless I sounded. It was like the air had gotten thicker, harder to breathe, and I couldn’t make sense of why.

“Like... a connection.”

I blinked, taken aback. A connection? What was he talking about? I shook my head, trying to clear whatever haze had fallen over me. “Ethan, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but—”

“It’s not a game.” He cut me off, his voice going even softer, almost like he was talking to himself. “It’s... something else.”

This was beyond weird now. I backed up again, but before I could take another step, he reached out, his hand curling around my arm with this unbreakable grip—not painful, but firm, like he wasn’t planning on letting go anytime soon. I looked up at him, my heart pounding faster than ever, and I could see something in his eyes that made my stomach twist.

He leaned in, close enough that I could feel the warmth of his breath against my skin, close enough that I could hear him growl as he inhaled me. Like, he literally growled.

Then, just as I thought I had lost my mind, he whispered a word.

“Mate.”