Chapter 9 - Jealous Observations

••• Ezekiel’s POV •••

Earlier from across the pool, I watched the interaction between Aiden and Skylar with a growing agitation I couldn’t explain.

Their training group had just been dismissed by the instructor to rest up on the benches, which meant it was finally my turn to dive into the deep end for my drills. 

But instead of executing my standard pre-dive stretches, I stood entirely paralyzed on the tiled edge of the concrete deck. My hands gripped the cool, wet coping of the pool so violently that my knuckles turned completely white, the muscles in my forearms locking up as an unfamiliar, burning jealousy flared to life in the very center of my chest.

What the fuck? Where did a reaction like that even come from? And why on earth did I feel this way? I was still deeply hurt, irritated, and exhausted by the volatile way Aiden had snapped at me in our dorm room two nights ago. 

Since then I had spent avoiding his gaze and steering clear of his space just to protect my own pride, so why did the mere sight of him standing near the water make my throat tighten? 

And more importantly, I had never once in my life considered the possibility that I was gay. I had never looked at another male student in the academy with a single shred of attraction.

So why couldn't I look away from Aiden?

When the instructor's sharp whistle finally sounded across the indoor facility, I dove into the water. The shock of the cold chlorine should have reset my brain, but the moment I broke the surface to begin my timed strokes, my discipline completely dissolved. 

Instead of focusing on my own critical swimming drills, my eyes kept helplessly drifting back toward the shallow end, tracking the space where Skylar and Aiden were treading water side by side.

I absolutely hated how easily Skylar could make Aiden laugh. I hated seeing the two of them looking so profoundly comfortable with each other, their shoulders occasionally brushing as they laughed at some private joke. 

And I hated even more that some dark, untamed part of my soul desperately wanted to swim over, wedge myself between them, and pull Aiden completely away from him. 

The mere thought made my jaw clench so hard my teeth ached. Why did I want Aiden’s absolute attention entirely for myself? Why did I care who made him smile, or who got to see the rare warmth in his eyes?

He was treating Skylar so completely differently from the defensive, cold manner he treated me, and the stark contrast annoyed me to no end. It felt like a slap in the face.

Then, right as I rolled my head to take a breath, the sight of Skylar’s bare hand underwater making direct contact with Aiden's skin caused my inner wolf, Grey, to let out a ferocious, earth-shattering snarl within my consciousness. It was a roar of raw, territorial possessiveness that confused and terrified me.

Grey had never once felt territorial about another living soul. We were independent predators, entirely content with our own isolation. So again, why? Why did this scrawny, quiet kid named Aiden make me and my wolf feel volatile things we had never experienced before?

We had never felt this fiercely protective over anyone since arriving at Ravenwood Academy, especially not over another male student. I had been training in this academy long enough to know the standard dynamics of our peers, and I had never given a damn about another guy's safety. 

So what the hell was it about Aiden that made him so dangerously special to Grey?

When I saw Skylar’s fingers actively trail down and wrap tightly around Aiden’s wrist underwater, Grey went completely feral inside my head.

“Go to them right now! Separate them! Tear his hands off him!” Grey scowled, his golden eyes flashing behind my own as he clawed at the walls of my mind.

“Why?” I demanded mentally, my strokes faltering as I fought to keep my wolf from taking over my limbs. “Give me a single logical reason, Grey!”

“Because I don’t like the way Skylar is touching him,” Grey snapped back, his tone vibrating with a dangerous, possessive edge. “He doesn't belong to the twin. He belongs in our space.”

“Since when do we care who touches another male in this academy?” I argued back, my frustration flaring. “We have never cared before!”

Grey went dead silent for a long, agonizing beat, his heavy wolf breathing echoing in my subconscious before he muttered a low, gravelly response. “I don’t know. I just know I don’t like it. Go fix it.”

Neither did I. That was the most terrifying problem of all—my human thoughts were completely aligning with my wolf’s rabid possessiveness.

I violently forced myself to look away, focusing my eyes strictly on the blue tile line at the bottom of the pool. I tried hard to listen to the instructor’s continuous shouting from the deck, forcing my brain to count my strokes in a frantic rhythm just to block out the image of the shallow end.

One…

Two…

Three…

It should have been an incredibly easy task. Swimming was an exercise I had executed countless times since childhood, and I was consistently recognized as one of the absolute best, most disciplined students during physical endurance training. 

But today, even the simple mechanics of counting became an impossible chore. Every few strokes, my head would automatically turn, my eyes betraying my commands as they frantically searched the water for Aiden again.

Why was he laughing so easily with Skylar? Why did I care if he smiled at someone else? And more importantly, why was Grey reacting as if our very lifeline was being threatened?

“Because he matters,” Grey muttered from the shadows of my mind, his tone suddenly dropping into a heavy solemnity.

I frowned, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as I pushed through the water. “He doesn’t matter, Grey. He’s a stranger from a dying pack. He’s nothing to us.”

“Then explain why you are still actively looking for him,” my wolf challenged, his voice dripping with an annoying amount of certainty.

I had absolutely no answer for that.

I nearly did exactly what Grey suggested; I really did. The urge to break my lane, swim directly into the shallow end, and violently rip Skylar’s hand away from Aiden’s wrist was so intense it felt like physical acid in my veins. 

But I was still in the middle of a timed evaluation, surrounded by the rest of my heat, so I had to forcefully hold myself back from intervening and causing a scene that would get me court-martialed by the instructors.

What was supposed to be a standard, routine endurance drill had transformed into an agonizing torture.

My breathing became highly irregular, the steady rhythm of my lungs completely shattering. For the first time in my entire history at Ravenwood, two standard students actually managed to pass me by in the lane. I had been holding my breath, entirely paralyzed while watching the two of them interact across the pool.

Inevitably, my blatant distraction caught the eyes of the peers around me, and the instructor herself noticed my sudden, clumsy drop in performance. They saw the reigning top-rank Alpha student completely losing his edge over a simple lap. From the side of the pool, the instructor’s sharp, disappointed voice boomed across the water.

“Ezekiel, you are completely losing your focus! Get your head in the game!”

Embarrassed and furious with myself, I quickly dove deep underwater to hide my conflicted expression. I began swimming harder than humanly necessary, my muscles screaming as I fought to reclaim my lead position and work off the strange, chaotic energy coursing through my entire body.

As the physical strain escalated, the invisible curse mark etched into the center of my chest began to throb with an unusual, searing intensity, radiating a sharp heat that synchronized with my emotional turmoil.

Oh, yeah. I was cursed. My entire family lineage had carried the exact same genetic affliction since birth. 

We belonged to a bloodline that was explicitly cursed to never be able to find our fated mates, or to ever feel the cosmic pull of a mate bond. 

For as long as I could remember, the elders had drilled it into my head that the curse was simply a static reality we had to live with. 

There would be no sudden, electric pull toward another soul. There would be no unmistakable, primal feeling that another wolf was meant to complete us. The universe had permanently locked that door for us.

So, whatever this volatile, possessive fire was that I was currently feeling toward Aiden… it couldn't be a mate bond. It was scientifically and magically impossible. At least, that was the desperate lie I kept repeating to myself as I slammed my hand against the concrete wall to finish the drill.

Even if the universe had somehow played a trick on us and Aiden was my destined match—which was an absolute absurdity—my family curse should have completely prevented me from feeling a single shred of it. 

Yet here I was, gasping for air at the edge of the pool, feeling an intense, territorial protectiveness over another male freshman for absolutely no logical reason I could comprehend.

When I finally wiped the chlorinated water from my eyes and looked toward the shallow exit, I saw Aiden clambering out of the pool, swimming away from Skylar with heavily flushed, pink cheeks.

And right there, the possessiveness slammed back into my chest with a force that nearly stole the remaining air from my lungs. My jaw clenched violently as I stared at him. What the hell had just happened between the two of them underwater to make Aiden blush so intensely?

Wait… Why the fuck was I even thinking that?

I violently shook my head, splashing water over my face to clear the thoughts. Why did I even care about the color of his skin? Aiden was just another student. A male student. My assigned roommate. 

A frustrating guy who had aggressively kicked me out of his space only two nights ago. So why was I suddenly noticing how incredibly captivating his cheeks looked when they turned pink? And why did a quiet voice in the back of my mind think he looked… pretty?

I groaned inwardly, letting my forehead rest against the cool concrete edge of the pool. What the hell is happening to me? Am I losing my goddamn mind?

This whole situation was completely ridiculous. Aiden hadn't done a single thing wrong, and Skylar was just being his usual, charismatic self.

They were simply passing the time during their break like normal classmates. There was absolutely no rational reason for me to feel this twisting knot of rage in my gut.

Yet, the moment Aiden climbed onto the dry deck and moved farther away from Skylar’s vicinity, something deep inside my chest finally, completely relaxed.

The realization of my own relief made me feel even worse, a wave of profound guilt washing over my pride. Was I really sitting here being jealous? Of Skylar? Over a scrawny boy named Aiden? I almost let out a self-deprecating laugh at how utterly absurd it sounded. 

If anyone had told me a few days ago that the top Alpha heir of my pack would become possessive over another male student, I would have thought they had completely lost their mind. And yet, here I was, trapped in the reality of it.