KAEL’S POV - The First Pull

The moment Willow Hayes stepped into the Thorne mansion, everything in me went silent - and then roared awake.

I smelled her before I saw her.

That soft, clean scent of cheap conditioner, mixed with something warm and achingly familiar. Something the wolf recognized before my human mind had a chance to catch up.

Mate.

The instinctive word hit me like a blunt-force trauma to the chest.

I stayed on the landing longer than necessary, pretending indifference while every cell in my body vibrated with alertness. She stood beside Sarah - small, nervous, gripping her backpack like a shield. Nothing about her should have drawn me. Not physically, not socially, not logically.

But the wolf wasn’t logical.

The wolf lunged.

I had to plant my palm against the banister to steady myself. If I didn’t, I would have vaulted the railing and dropped straight to her like an animal.

Her eyes met mine.

Amber to brown.

Predator to prey.

Recognition to confusion.

The bond snapped tight - an invisible leash wrapping around my lungs. My pulse kicked, the world blurring into her shape and scent until nothing else mattered.

I forced myself to walk down the stairs slowly, each step deliberate, controlled. I couldn't afford one mistake. Not with Marcus in the next room. Not with Sarah watching like she’d finally rebuilt her life.

And definitely not with Willow staring at me like she didn’t yet understand she was already buried in my reality.

Marcus had warned me since I was a child:

Mate bonds come from instinct, not choice. They can ruin you if you let them.

I never believed him.

Not until Willow.

When I reached the bottom step, the wolf pressed forward, demanding I move closer. She stepped back, bumping into a box. The small, startled movement should have been nothing.

But it sent a jolt through the bond, a flare of protectiveness so fierce my hands curled into fists.

A rookie mistake.

I covered it with annoyance.

My oldest mask.

The only one that still works on people.

“Try not to wander into the woods at night,” I said flatly.

Translation: Please stay inside. Don’t give Marcus a reason to notice you. Don’t give the wolf a reason to chase you.

The wolf snapped at the leash, furious at the distance I created.

It took everything in me to turn away and leave the house. Air. I needed air, distance, space to shove the wolf back where it belonged.

But the moment I stepped outside, Marcus barked after me.

“Kael! Where are you going?”

Anywhere she isn’t.

Anywhere the bond can’t find her.

“Out,” I snapped, storming into the darkness.

The minute I was far enough from the house, my knees buckled. My hands hit the dirt, breath tearing free in sharp, harsh gasps.

The wolf wasn’t calm. He wasn’t patient.

He was chanting one single, primal thing:

Mate. Mate. Mate. Mine.

I grabbed the nearest tree trunk, squeezing until bark cracked under my palm.

“Enough,” I snarled, trying to force the wolf back.

“You don’t get a say in this. She’s human. She’s my….. ”

My step-sister. A word that made bile burn up my throat.

The wolf didn’t care. He only cared that her scent had settled on my skin like a brand.

For the first time in years, I wasn’t the one in control.

By the time I reached school, I had myself pulled together. Barely. Enough to pretend the world hadn’t shifted beneath my feet.

I stood with Ethan and the others, trying to listen, trying to pretend I cared about the same things I cared about yesterday - including Sierra.

But the moment Willow stepped into the hallway, everything tightened again.

The wolf surged forward, growling possessively.

I felt her eyes on me even before mine found her.

I laughed at something Ethan said, but the sound died instantly when she passed near us.

The scent hit me full force.

Warm. Familiar.

Home.

Sierra looped her arm through mine. The wolf bared its teeth, every muscle in my body locking.

This was wrong.

All wrong.

“Who is that?” Sierra demanded.

I swallowed hard, forcing the lie out. “Nobody. Just a new transfer.”

Every cell in my body hated the words.

The wolf roared in protest, slamming against the cage.

Mine.

Ours.

Not nobody.

But the lie was necessary.

The moment I turned my back on Willow - pushing her away for her own safety - I felt something twist sharply through the bond. A snap of pain. Hers? Mine? Both?

I didn’t look back.

But I wanted to.

God, I wanted to.

In the Closet

When she overheard Marcus and me later - when I smelled her terror behind that door - my vision went red.

I didn’t choose to move.

I didn’t choose to grab her.

I didn’t choose to trap her against the wall.

The wolf did.

Every instinct I had screamed to protect her, hide her, claim her, drag her out of this world before it swallowed her whole.

She looked so small in my arms.

So breakable.

So mine.

When the word tore from my throat - “Mate” - it wasn’t a declaration.

It was a surrender.