Chapter 2: She was his.

Kaelen had Belinda or whatever her name was pressed against the wall of the entertainment room, her fingers already working the buttons of his shirt, her mouth trailing hot and insistent along his jaw. She'd walked up to him earlier and stated, without an ounce of hesitation, that she wanted to be his for the night.

"Kaelen," she breathed against his throat, and he was already reaching for the hem of her dress when it happened.

Pain!

It hit him like a fist through the chest, so sudden and so violent that he staggered back, knocking Belinda's hands away. His vision blurred, the room tilting, and for one disorienting second he wasn't in the room at all… he was in the woods, cold air biting his skin, the metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth though he hadn't been bitten.

Please, a voice sobbed, faint and desperate, threading itself through his mind. Please, I'll do anything..

"Kaelen?" Belinda's voice sounded very far away. "What's wrong with you?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't answer. Every nerve in his body had gone taut, straining toward something—someone—he couldn't see, couldn't name, but felt with a certainty that terrified him.

Mine, something in him roared before he'd even decided to think about it. MINE.

The word tore out of him before he could stop it, and the room seemed to shudder with the force of it. Belinda stumbled back, eyes wide with confusion and fear.

Kaelen barely noticed her leave.

He was already gone, not physically, but somewhere else entirely, chained to a girl he'd never met, drowning in her pain.

That was hours ago now, or maybe minutes, he couldn't tell anymore. Time had gone strange since the bond ripped through him, refusing to move at a pace he could track.

But that was not it, he thought, forcing his mind back into order. He had enemies on each side fighting for a share of power behind the Drake name. There had to be a set-up somehow.

No. That wasn't it either. He remembered how angry and volatile he'd been the second her pain hit him, how sheer fury had burst forth the moment he'd felt her fear. Anaya Morgan's fear.

The name seared in his mind. He'd known it the moment it surfaced through the bond, known it with a certainty that defied logic. Anaya Morgan. The unturned Omega from the slums.

And she was his.

He marched the length of the dimly lit hallway in quick strides, his shirt still hanging open, not caring who saw. He turned right when he reached the end of the hallway into a small passage that led to his chambers. Unlike other students in the Academy, he had his own private chambers; sitting room, dining hall, bedrooms, kitchen, and what not.

He opened the first door and scanned his iris for recognition at the second door and pushed it open once it verified. The scent that was unique to him flooded his senses as he stepped in, giving him small reprieve from the confusion that raged inside him.

He walked to the window, his back to the door, hands clasped behind him. From the outside, he was the picture of control but his reflection in the glass told a different story.

His jaw was tight, the muscle jumping beneath his skin. His chest rose and fell in measured breaths. And his eyes... they were wild and darting, unable to settle on one thing.

What did the Moon Goddess mean by this? Surely that was not how a mate bond worked. Right?

He had watched others. They all were in the same space and were suddenly assailed by the other's scent and knew they were mates.

But this… this was different.

The door opened softly behind him. He did not turn to look back. Only Liora, his Beta had access to his chambers also her Beta scent was evident.

Kaelen kept his back to her. He wasn't ready for her observation and drawn facts tonight or whatever he knew she wanted to say.

"The Council felt it," Liora said finally, her tone measured. "They've called an emergency session. Our insider tells me Darius Blackwood is making noise about rogue energies and unstable elements."

Kaelen could see wolves running at a distance and envied their normalcy. "Rogue energies?”

"He suspects. Whatever that surge was, it was powerful. It was felt across three territories, Kaelen. The elders are rattled.”

Kaelen's hand tightened behind his back. He could visualize the sight of her running through the woods, her face a mask of fear and hurt and… "What did you tell him?" He asked absentmindedly.

"Nothing. I told him I had no information." She paused. "What happened, Kaelen?”

Finally, Kaelen turned. His face was a mask of cold indifference, but Liora knew him well enough to see the tension in his shoulders. “I bonded with an Omega. An unturned Omega. Anaya Morgan.”

"How?” Liora composed demeanour cracked for a moment revealing her shock. “Was she here?”

Kaelen rubbed his forehead and sighed. “No, Liora. It happened so suddenly. She was being hunted. She was on the verge of death Liora. I don't know.” He had never felt this confused, this unaware..

"You claimed her. In that moment of crisis, you reached across the distance and claimed her.” Liora stared at Kaelen with understanding. “The bond solidified because you willed it, Kaelen. Whether you understand it or not."

He wanted to argue. Wanted to deny that he'd had any control over what happened. But the truth sat heavy in his chest, undeniable.

He had answered the call of a dying Omega. He had reached out and wrapped his soul around hers, not because the Moon Goddess willed it, but because something in him had gone haywire when he felt her slipping away.

"The Council wants answers," Liora continued, pulling him back to the present. "They'll convene within the hour and when they do, they'll demand to know who triggered the surge.”

Kaelen stared at her. "And what should I tell them?"

"That you were investigating a disturbance in the territory. That you felt a surge of power and went to assess the situation." Her eyes locked with his. "You don't mention anything, buy us time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to bring her here. To the Academy." Liora's voice was cold and calculated, every inch the Beta advisor protecting her Alpha's reign. "Once she's here, we control the narrative.”

Kaelen's eyes narrowed into slits. "You want to cage her."

"I want to protect your reputation." Liora stepped closer, her voice dropping. "Listen to me, Kaelen. That Omega is a liability right now. She's untrained, unstable, and she's bonded to the most powerful Alpha of our generation without warning or preparation. Do you have any idea what the Council will do when they find out?”

"And you think bringing her here will stop that?"

"I think bringing her here gives us control." Liora's gaze was unyielding. "She's yours, Kaelen. You claimed her. Now it's your responsibility to keep her alive. And the only way to do that is to keep her close."

The words hit him like a physical blow. He'd spent years building walls around himself, insulating himself from the weight of responsibility, the crushing expectations of the Drake legacy. But this… this was different.

This was a living, breathing woman who'd been thrown into his life without warning. A woman who'd been broken and discarded by everyone who was supposed to protect her.

"What about the Council?" he asked, his voice low. "If I bring her here, they'll demand to interrogate her…"

"They'll try." Liora's smile was predatory. "And you'll stop them. Because you're Kaelen Drake, heir to the Drake legacy. And you don't answer to anyone."

***

Three hours later, Anaya Morgan was dragged from the hospital bed by two masked wolves. Literally dragged. If she weighed less, one would have slung her over his shoulders.

She didn't fight. She couldn't fight. Her body was still screaming from the attack, her bones grinding together with every movement, her back a canvas of fiery pain. The wounds had been cleaned and stitched, but they were still raw and still pulsing with the phantom memory of claws and teeth.

"Where are you taking me?" she rasped, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Silence," one of the wolves growled. “The Council wants you."

Anaya’s breath caught in her throat. Although she was from a small town, she knew who the council were.

They were the wolves who governed their kind, who decided who lived and who died, who enforced the brutal hierarchy that had crushed her since birth.

"I don't…" she started, but the wolf's grip tightened on her arm, and she hissed in pain.

They hauled her out of the hospital and into the back seat of a sleek black vehicle that smelled clinical. She couldn't see the driver's face. Couldn't see anything through the tinted windows that separated her from the outside world.

The vibration of the road against her broken ribs made her a little more clear-headed. She sighed and sat rigidly, praying for the car to come to a stop soon.

She hadn’t had time to think, not since she blacked out. She did not even know how she got to the hospital.

Her life moved in an unlikely trajectory this night. From being cornered by hunters, to that bond…

Anaya’s brows furrowed at the thought. She had felt that clearly, it wasn't a matter of being lightheaded or at the point of death.

She looked at her hands wrapped in gauze. These hands were claws a few hours back. She saw it, she attacked Elijah with it.

This wasn't the usual way other wolves turned. She knew that. She had watched from the sidelines the first turning of her peers. The breaking and arrangement of bones, the extension of hands into sharp claws. The jut of teeth too large for a human mouth and all of that…

But this was different. It was like something settled deep in her chest and his voice thundering in her ears. MINE! MINE! MINE!

He said other things but in the haze of that moment, she barely registered the words.

Anaya lurched forward as the car came to a screeching halt. She gasped as the door opened and hands latched onto her body.