Chapter two

AVELORA

No, I definitely wasn't hallucinating. Was he mistaken? there was no way I was his mate.

Maybe he was drunk.

I looked around searching for some sort of sanity but everybody wore the same expression I did. Faces that sent a clear message that I wasn't worthy enough to be a mate to someone like him.

I became horrifyingly aware of everything that was going on. The sticky feeling of the drink clinging to my skin, the extremely prejudiced look people were giving me.

Alpha Khyrix was close, too close to me for comfort.

I could see the faint line in between his brows, the way his jaw tightened as he inhaled again. His gaze were fixed on me like he was trying to solve a problem he never asked for.

"No."

Natalia was the first to break the silence with a mocking laugh "That's not funny."

She shoved me out of the way and got in front of me, she placed her hand on Khyrix's chest stopping him in his track. His gaze finally broke away from me.

Fury flashed behind his eyes

"move." One word that felt like it had moved the whole room to more silence than it was previously engulfed in.

Natalia turned back to look at me with disbelief storming off, her minions scrambled after her. Khyrix faced me again with lethal focus.

I looked everywhere but him—at the floor, the walls, the chandeliers—anything but the crushing weight of the eyes boring holes into me.

"He must be mistaken." "What? That?" "ew…"

Their whispers became louder than my existence and each quiet but loud criticism hit me with precision,

I took a step back. He noticed, his expression shifted.

"Don’t." he said, his voice low but commanding.

It grounded me in the spot, it felt like my body had betrayed me, chose to listen to him instead. I chuckled nervously.

"I didn’t do….." before I could finish the sentence, he held me, a jolt shot through me like an electrical pulse.

Heat spread where he touched me, and for a heartbeat, we were locked in place, staring at each other like the world had narrowed to this moment alone.

He released me abruptly "There will be no announcement tonight."

The hall erupted

"what?" "They have to know the alpha found a ……" "I don’t think she is worthy…." "yuck that?...."

"I said no announcements." He repeated, this time, the growl beneath his voice rolled through the room.

The room fell silence.

My stomach dropped when he turned to me. "come with me." The humiliation clung to me as the guard ushered me

As soon as we stepped behind those doubled doors, voices erupted, the door muffled it, but I knew what was going on.

My legs threatened to give in, my heart racing like I had been chased. Khyrix pulled me into a smaller room and shut the door.

This was the first time we've ever been this close and alone in a room. His presence was overwhelming.

We were wrapped in an awkward silence that stretched until it became bearable. "Ah.. This is complicated." he said at last.

I let out a short, hollow laugh.

"Wow, that's it?"

I’d been humiliated in front of every pack in existence, and that was all he had? "you think?" his eyes narrowed slightly

"I didn’t choose you" The word stung before I could process them "I know." My shaky voice betrayed me.

"I didn’t mean it like that." he said after a pause.

"Okay." I inhaled slowly, forcing my breathing steady. He hadn’t chosen this. I shouldn’t blame him for what the moon goddess decided.

He ran a hand through his hair. "I need you to stay calm."

I nodded, bracing myself.

“You’re not my mate.”

My head snapped up.

“What?”

“You’re not,” he said evenly. “You were just the most convenient person there.”

Something inside me dropped—hard.

Straight to the bottom of my feet.