DEAR EX, YOU ARE MY MATE

Ty’s POV

I didn’t plan on coming back to this place.

Not after the betrayal. Not after I clawed my heart out of my chest and handed it to a boy who spit on it.

But here I am—duffel bag slung over one shoulder, boots dragging on scorched earth, and five years of rage simmering beneath my skin like wildfire waiting for a spark.

“Yo, Ty! You heading out?”

The voice jolted me out of my thoughts. One of the trainees from Dragon’s Academy jogged up, his smile too soft for the war I was carrying inside.

“Yeah,” I said flatly. “Finally going back.”

He clapped me on the back. “Damn. After five years? Bet your family’s gonna lose their minds.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, though my voice betrayed none of the emotion. “Can’t wait to see my sister.”

Tyra. My anchor. My one real reason to come back.

“Take care, man! Hope you find your mate—and not another heartbreak,” he added with a knowing grin and jogged off.

My chest twisted, but I smothered the ache.

That part of me—the soft, open-hearted idiot who used to believe in love—is long dead.

I threw my bag into the bus, shoved some cash at the driver, and dropped into the back seat like I hadn’t just made the worst decision of my life.

The hum of the road blurred into the pounding in my head.

I was going back to the pack that raised me.

Back to the boy who destroyed me.

Back to the ghost of who I used to be.

And I was bringing a dragon with me this time.

* * * * *

Five Years Ago

“Jax! Wait up!”

I sprinted across the corridor like my feet were on fire, my lungs burning with something far worse than exhaustion.

Jax—my best friend, brother-from-another-mother, and unfortunately one of the goddamn Stone sextuplets—paused mid-step.

“Ty? You look like someone stabbed your puppy. What’s going on?”

I didn’t bother sugar-coating it. “Where’s Kai?”

His face shifted. “Haven’t seen him. He didn’t show up this morning.”

“He’s your brother!” I hissed. “How do you not know where he is?!”

“We had secret missions last night. Separate assignments. Kai was with Dad Zarek. Mom said they all made it back safely.”

My pulse spiked.

That meant Kai was avoiding me. Hiding.

And that only meant one thing.

We turned a corner—

—and there he was.

Tall. Built like sin. Wearing that grey sleeveless tee that clung to his body like a second skin, paired with black jeans that made even straight wolves drool.

My boyfriend.

My first everything.

Kai Stone.

He moved like he owned the school, and honestly? He kinda did. Being bi just made him extra available to the population. I knew I was fighting against every single hormone-crazed supernatural in this goddamn building.

But I thought I’d won.

I thought he was mine.

“Can you take Tyra home today?” I asked Jax without taking my eyes off the retreating god I used to kiss. “I need to talk to Kai.”

“Sure. Meet you later.”

I followed Kai through the halls like a fucking lovesick idiot, footsteps light, breath shaky.

Right into the boys’ restroom.

And right into a living nightmare.

Kai was locked against Brianna, their mouths fused like they were trying to devour each other’s souls. Her hands were in his hair. His hands were on her waist.

My heart didn’t just break.

It combusted.

I stood there, numb, breathless, as the sound of their wet kisses filled the tiled hell I’d just walked into.

Behind me, Jax gasped. “What the fuck...”

He shoved my notebook into my chest and stormed in after them.

I didn’t stay to see what he did.

I turned. I ran. My feet moved on autopilot, my hands wiping away the tears that refused to stop.

That night, I left the continent. No goodbyes.

Except to Tyra.

Except to my Dads.

I gave up everything—my pack, my home, my so-called boyfriend—and hurled myself into the heart of fire.

I trained. I bled. I burned. I became something monsters feared.

And I swore on every ounce of dragon fire in my veins:

No one would ever break me again.

Not even him.

* * * * *

Presently, I was jolted awake from the nightmare that happened five years ago.

“Sir? Your stop.”

The bus jolted to a halt and I blinked awake, the past still hot on my skin.

“Yeah... thanks,” I muttered.

Twelve hours until I saw them all again.

My family.

My past.

Him.

And I’d face them all with fire in my bones.

Because I wasn’t coming back as the boy who left.

I was coming back as the dragon they made.