chapter 3

The city lights blurred past as the black SUV carried them home.Eryx sat beside him, quiet, fidgeting, like a storm raging behind his calm mask. Lior leaned back, golden eyes scanning the street from the tinted windows. His guards drove silently, alert, their presence a reminder: everything belonged to him—power, wealth, control.

“You’re… distracted,” Lior said finally, voice low, not a question. He didn’t need one.

Eryx forced a smile. “I’m fine.”

Lior’s wolf growled softly. Fine? you been like this since the party .His omega’s body was betraying him. Every tense muscle, every twitch of his hand screamed the opposite. Lior didn’t push—yet. He was patient. Alpha patience was always the first move.

By the time they arrived at Lior’s mansion, Eryx followed wordlessly. Lior’s presence was calm, commanding, safe. He dropped a hand on Kael’s shoulder—brief, warm, possessive—but Eryx barely noticed, already haunted by the memory of another.

When Lior finally fell asleep, after having the most intense sex curled like he always did, cum reeking, Eryx lay awake. Jaw tight, fists clenched, heart pounding.

Somewhere in the crowd at the party, he had seen him. The fated mate he could no longer ignore. The pull was sharp, unrelenting. Sleep didn’t come. Food didn’t taste right. Nothing did.

Eryx woke to the sunlight spilling across his room, but his mind wasn’t on the day ahead—it was on him. Him. That mate. The one he hadn’t stopped thinking about since the moment he found him. Even the memory of last night made his chest tighten in ways he didn’t fully understand yet. Every sound, every shadow seemed to echo with that presence.

He dragged himself out of bed, ignoring the stiffness in his muscles. Today, he had plans with his friends, but even as he showered and dressed, his thoughts kept circling back, relentless. How could someone just appear in your life and make everything else meaningless?

The restaurant was bustling when he arrived, his friends already seated, chatting over the latest gossip. Eryx forced himself into the conversation, nodding, laughing at the right moments. But his attention drifted again and again, scanning the entrance, scanning the room… he felt a scent, a pull he can't resist.

And then he saw him. Not the one he thought he’d be meeting—but Aren. Rich. Polished. Eyes sharp, like he was used to getting what he wanted. Even across the room, Kael felt the air shift. He knew this wasn’t just a casual encounter. Aren’s gaze locked onto him, unblinking.

Before Eryx could even react, Aren was there, smooth, confident, almost uncomfortably close. “I know,” Aren said, voice low, “we’re fated. And you… you’ll want me. Trust me.”

Eryx stiffened, instinctively stepping back, but Aren only smiled, a predatory calmness that made Kael’s stomach twist. Not forcing, he said. But… still trying.

Eryx couldn't deny the force he felt with Aren The next thing Kael knew, he was in Aren’s car, the city blurring past, surrounded by a silent, watchful presence. Guards—dozens of them—but somehow, Eryx mind compared them all to Lior’s. Lior’s presence, his way of commanding without shouting, even the security around him—it was different. Lior was better.

By the time they reached Aren’s house, Eryx heart was pounding in ways he hadn’t expected. The house was massive, every corner lined with more guards, more security, more opulence than he could name. But he noticed the subtle differences, the way Lior’s influence had always felt more… personal, protective, not just intimidating.

And then Aren moved closer, pressing against him—not harshly, but with an insistence that made Kael’s resolve tremble. “You can’t fight it,” Aren whispered, “not when it’s fate.”