Fated Mate

Nyx pov

Is there a limit to the weird things that can happen to me? Moon goddess, just give me a break already. Something about this man sends chills down my skin, and I'm not about to stand here and find out what that is. I dust off my soiled dress and turn to leave.

"Who touched you?" His deep baritone voice hits me like a shockwave, freezing me in place.

I can feel those gold eyes on me like a physical weight, patient and unblinking, as if he has all the time in the world and fully expects me to fill the silence. I would, on any other day. I would have tripped over my own words trying to explain myself to someone who looked like that.

But it's getting dark fast, and I need to find my way home. Not that my stepmother is particularly eager to welcome me back, but it's either that or sleep on the street. Bad things happened to girls who weren't home before dark in Nightclaw territory. Especially human girls.

"I have to go," I say, brushing the dirt off my skirt again and ignoring the way my legs still feel unsteady. I don't look at him. Looking at him feels dangerous in a way I can't name, like standing too close to a fire that has no business burning that bright.

I walk past him yet he didn't move. Good. At least I can find my way back without someone following me.

I cut through the trees in the direction I pray leads back to my backpack, my skin prickling the entire time, half expecting a hand to close around my arm the way Cullen's always does. It never comes.

The tree line thins. The school fence appears through the gaps. I finally let myself breathe. My generous stepbrother didn't touch my backpack. By the time I reach my bike, the entire school grounds are empty. At least I can ride home in peace.

***

Kyrell

Third person

Kyrell doesn't move from his position. He stands exactly where she left him, in the middle of the forest, like there's a land mine beneath his feet. Not because he can't move, but because he knows that if he takes one step in her direction, he can't trust what comes after it.

He clenches his jaw until it aches. His claws digs into his palms, drawing blood. Lycans don't shift the way werewolves do on a full moon. They shift at will. And right now, his beast is pulling at him. Furious with him.

*Go after her.* His beast said in his head.

*I can't.*

*Why? She's ours. I want her now.*

*She isn't ours. Yet.*

*Then why did we track her here if you didn't want to mark her?*

Honestly, he doesn't know how to answer that. He came to the Nightclaw pack to secure the Alpha's daughter for the Crimson Hunt, but his wolf has been restless ever since. The Hunt is less than a week away, and he has already found his mate, only for her to turn out to be his worst nightmare.

He had gone into the forest for a run to quiet his wolf. Then a scent stopped him cold. He traced it to behind the school, his eyes landing on a petite figure crumpled on the ground. He was in his lycan form but fully aware, and his beast had gone ravenous watching her get bullied. If he hadn't turned and forced himself back into the trees, he would have slit every throat in sight. He may be heartless, but killing children isn't how he shows it.

She smelled like earth after rain, and something older underneath, something dark and sweet with no name he could reach for.

And then she had walked straight into his chest.

He exhales slowly through his nose. A mistake. Her scent still clings to the air around him like she never left.

His wolf pushes at him, restless and insistent.

*Follow.* His wolf groans.

He doesn't. His wolf doesn't understand how much is at stake. His pack's future depends on him choosing the right Luna. His father would never allow him to claim any female without Alpha or Beta blood.

There was no wolf scent on her, which means she's either wolfless or human. But every person connected to a pack carried that trace, even humans raised among wolves. Faint, but always present.

On her, nothing. Which angers him more than it should. She can't even feel the mate bond.

He shifts to his lycan form and cuts deeper into the forest

until the Alpha's pack house comes into view.

"Prince Kyrell, I.."

"Get my beta." Kyrell cuts Alpha Gerald off without breaking stride. He walks into the pack house like he owns it. Gerald nods and signals one of the men at the door.

The guest room prepared for him feels suffocating despite the air conditioning and open ventilation. He stands at the window, staring at nothing.

"Come in, Samiel," he said, before his beta can knock.

"You've been out a long time," Samiel said, shutting the door behind him. He crosses the room and comes to stand beside Kyrell at the window. Kyrell doesn't turn to face him. After a stretch of silence, he moves to sit on the sofa near the bed. "We leave tomorrow."

Samiel's brow furrows. "But your father said.."

"I know."

Samiel steps in front of him. "We can't leave without the Alpha female. You know how difficult your father can be. Going back without Alpha Gerald's daughter won't sit well with him."

Kyrell isn't sure if he should tell Samiel his reason for wanting to leave. He had thought finding his mate would be the one thing that saves him, proof he wouldn't have to claim Vesper or any other Alpha female who wasn't his true match. But finding her today feels less like salvation and more like a curse made flesh.

Samiel continues, unaware of the silent war Kyrell is losing. "We need a strong Luna fit to carry the Lycan bloodline. Even if by some miracle you find your fated mate, what if she isn't strong enough? What if your father rejects her? What if the pack does?"

"We leave tomorrow," Kyrell says. "And as for Vesper, send someone to pick her up before the Crimson Hunt." He needs to leave this place before that scent drives him feral.

*You can't leave without her.*

Before his wolf can pull at him again, Kyrell shuts him into the darkest corner of his mind and leaves him there.