2

“I should’ve run.”

That was the first thought that hit me as I slid into Kael Draven’s car. The leather seat burned against my legs, even though the AC was on full blast.

Everything about this car screamed danger, the silence, the heat, the man beside me.

Kael didn’t say a word. He just drove, one hand on the wheel, the other tapping the screen of his dash like he was looking for something more important than me.

I hated that I was still thinking about his scent.

Not just the cedarwood and mint. No, the way it reached into my chest and clawed at my ribs, like it knew me.

I folded my arms tight across my body. “Where are we going?”

“You didn’t run,” he said. “That’s what matters.”

My jaw tightened. “That wasn’t an answer.”

He didn’t look at me. “I don’t owe you one.”

Typical Alpha.

But that wasn’t what made my stomach twist. It was the way he said it in a flat, cold tone, but underneath that… I felt the pull again. That terrifying heat in my spine.

Mate.

No. Not possible. Not him.

“I didn’t ask for your protection back there,” I muttered.

“You didn’t have a choice.”

“Still.”

His eyes flicked toward me for a split second. They weren’t the icy gray I remembered from the assembly. They were darker now. Focused. Reading me like a book he didn’t believe had a cover.

“You stood out,” he said. “That’s a problem.”

“Not mine.”

“It is now.”

We pulled through the gates of Draven Tower. Ten stories of glass and steel, all black, sharp edges reflecting the sky. It didn’t look like a school’s extension campus. It looked like it could eat a city and call it breakfast.

Kael parked underground, cut the engine, and opened the door before I could process anything.

“Get out.”

“You could say please.”

“I could,” he said, “but I won’t.”

My fingers clenched around the seatbelt. I got out anyway.

We walked through the underground elevator in silence. His security didn’t even blink. They just bowed their heads slightly.

To him.

Not me. Never me.

Upstairs, we stepped into a conference room that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie. Chrome table. Black floors. One wall completely made of glass, overlooking the city.

And one man already waiting inside.

Ronan Blackwell.

He was lounging like he owned the place, a smirk on his face, a silver ring glinting on his thumb as he twirled it.

“Well, well,” Ronan said. “Kael finally brought home a girl who looks like she bites.”

My spine stiffened. I hated the way his eyes roamed over me. Like he could see through my skin and into my secrets.

Kael moved between us like a wall. “Don’t.”

Ronan raised a brow. “Don’t what? Speak? Breathe?”

Kael said nothing. But I felt the tension like an electric storm building in the air.

“Relax,” Ronan chuckled. “I’m not the enemy here. Yet.”

He stood up, slid his hands into his pockets, and tilted his head toward me. “You should be careful, little girl. Being around him is like standing too close to the fire. You either burn… or you melt.”

Kael’s voice was a quiet threat. “Get out.”

Ronan didn’t move. “Make me.”

The room was ice and steel and growling silence.

Then Kael turned to me. “Wait outside.”

I looked between them. “Why?”

“Because you don’t want to see what happens next.”

I didn’t move.

Kael stepped forward, lowering his voice. “Please, Lena.”

It was the first time he’d said my name.

It shouldn’t have mattered. But it did.

I left the room without another word.

⸻

The hallway outside felt colder. Or maybe it was just me, finally breathing.

Why did he bring me here? Why not just yell at me in the car and send me back to my dorm like a normal controlling Alpha?

And why was Ronan looking at me like he knew something?

I leaned against the wall and tried to calm my heart.

That’s when I noticed the girl down the hall.

Selene.

Perfect posture. Red lipstick. Long platinum hair braided tight like a crown.

She wasn’t alone. Two girls flanked her like security detail.

Selene’s eyes were fixed on the door Kael had disappeared behind. She hadn’t seen me yet.

I turned to walk away.

Too late.

“You lost?” her voice rang out.

I froze.

She walked toward me slowly, heels echoing against the marble. “Or are you stalking my fiancé now?”

“He brought me here,” I said. “I didn’t ask to come.”

She laughed like I just told a joke. “Oh honey. Omegas don’t get brought. They get used.”

That stung.

I knew what she saw when she looked at me — no bloodline, no title, no power. Just a charity case in thrift shoes.

“I don’t want him,” I said.

Her smile twisted. “But he wants you. That’s the problem.”

Before I could answer, the door behind me opened.

Kael stepped out, his jaw tight, his eyes darker than before.

He saw Selene. Saw me.

Then did something I didn’t expect.

He stepped in close. Not to her. To me.

His hand wrapped around my wrist, not gently. Not softly.

But possessively.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Kael…” Selene started.

He didn’t look at her. Didn’t even blink.

And me?

I followed.

Because in that moment, I realized something terrifying.

Kael wasn’t trying to protect me from others.

He was trying to protect them… from me.