Chapter 5

WRENLEY

The campus gym at four in the afternoon is the worst possible place to be having a crisis about Aurel Castell’s arms, but here I am, doing exactly that.

The weight room is loud, smelling of iron, sweat, and cheap body spray. I should be focusing on my workout. I need to keep my muscles exhausted so the dying wolf inside me stays too tired to fight the suppression. But instead of focusing, my eyes keep drifting to the rack against the mirrors.

Aurel is pushing a loaded barbell over his chest. He’s wearing a cutoff shirt, his dark hair damp with sweat.

I aggressively look back down at my phone. I am supposed to be focusing on Jerry. Jerry is the plan. Jerry is the human shield I need to put between myself and the terrifying, magnetic pull I feel toward Aurel. But my brain won't shut off. All I can think about is the dark, territorial look in Aurel's eyes this morning when he realized Jerry was the guy I wanted.

A shadow falls over my equipment. A wave of heat radiates against my side, carrying his scent.

The wolf in my chest instantly uncoils, letting out a soft, contented purr.

"You're doing it wrong," Aurel says.

I snap my head up. He’s standing right next to me, a towel draped around his neck, looking insufferably pleased with himself.

"I'm just sitting here," I point out, gesturing to the lat pull-down machine. "There's no wrong way to sit."

"I meant before. You were yanking the bar with your arms." He drops onto the empty bench across from me. "You're going to tear a rotator cuff, and then who's going to keep me from failing out of school?"

"My shoulders are fine," I say, crossing my arms defensively.

"The way you exercise is a crime against the human body." He flashes that devastating, easy smile. "Let me show you before you injure yourself and tank my GPA in the process."

"I don't need—"

I don't get to finish the sentence. Aurel steps into my space.

It happens so fast my breath completely leaves my lungs. He steps behind me, invading my personal bubble. One of his large, calloused hands wraps around my elbow. His other hand flattens right against the center of my back.

The contact is electric. A violent, white-hot spark shoots down my spine, sinking straight into my marrow.

"Pull from here, not your arms," Aurel murmurs. His voice drops into a low, gravelly octave right next to my ear, completely drowned out to the rest of the room but deafening to me. He guides my arms, driving my elbows down. His palm presses firmly between my shoulder blades. "There. Feel the difference?"

What I feel is every single nerve ending in my body catching fire. My wolf is practically howling in my chest, desperate to lean back into the heat of his chest, desperate to claim the mate standing right behind us.

Over by the mats, a group of girls stops whispering. They are staring at us. I can hear the word roommate traveling through the gym.

"Got it," I say, my voice breathy and thin. I let go of the bar. "Time's up."

Aurel doesn't step back immediately. His hand lingers on my spine. We are both looking at the mirror, at the two of us framed in the glass, and for one terrifying, gravity-defying second, the entire gym goes completely quiet in my head.

"Are you serious right now?"

The voice slices through the room like a blade.

The spell shatters. Aurel’s hand drops from my back like he was burned.

Elise Beaumont is standing in the doorway in her swim warm-ups, her gym bag sliding off her shoulder. Her face is pale, her eyes wide with a cold, venomous fury. The loud clanking of weights stops. Forty heads turn toward the door, and then instantly swivel toward us like a synchronized audience.

"Elise—" Aurel starts, taking a step forward.

"Don't you dare," she snaps, marching across the rubber floor. She stops inches from me. I can hear her pulse jumping in her throat, frantic and erratic. "I warned you, didn't I? I told you to stay away from him."

Her voice is shaking, echoing in the quiet gym. "And here you are, with his hands all over you in front of half the athletic department. Like everyone doesn't already know you moved into his house."

Somewhere behind me, a guy lets out a soft "Ooh," settling in to watch the bloodbath.

I keep my face completely blank. "I'm tutoring him. I needed a place to live."

"Right. Tutoring." Elise lets out a sharp, ugly laugh. "The little homeless charity case sleeps her way into a millionaire’s house and calls it studying."

The crowd murmurs. The insult was designed to draw blood, and it works. My jaw locks. Under my skin, my wolf snarls, a vicious, bloodthirsty sound. Rip her throat out, she demands.

I look at Aurel.

His whole body has shifted. He puts himself between Elise and me. His chest expands, his hands balling into fists. For one beautiful, blinding second, I feel his protective instincts flare. He is going to defend me. He is going to shut her down. My wolf leans forward, waiting for our mate to protect us.

But then, he stops.

I watch it happen in real-time. I watch Aurel look at Elise’s pale, shaking face. I watch a flicker of deep, ingrained panic cross his eyes. The protective alpha instinct is violently overridden by whatever toxic history he shares with this girl.

He pulls his shoulders back, deflating. The fight completely drains out of him.

"Elise, please stop making a scene," Aurel says. His voice isn't commanding; it’s pleading. "Let's just go outside and talk."

The betrayal hits me so hard it steals the air from my lungs.

My wolf whimpers, a sound of pure, agonizing devastation. He didn't defend us. To a werewolf, the mate bond is built on absolute, unyielding protection. And my fated second-chance mate just folded like wet paper because his human girlfriend raised her voice.

The hurt threatens to crack my chest wide open. I instantly bury it under a glacier of pure ice.

I step around Aurel, ignoring him completely, and face Elise.

"I'll say this exactly once," I say. My voice is deadly quiet, but it carries to the very back of the gym. "I don't want your boyfriend. I want to not be homeless, which is a problem you’ve clearly never had to worry about on your daddy's credit card."

Elise’s mouth opens in shock. Several cell phones in the crowd tilt up, recording us. I don't care.

"You want to call me a charity case? At least I earn my lane in the pool instead of being handed it," I continue, taking one step closer so I am looking down into her eyes. "And next time you want to threaten someone, don't do it with your voice shaking in front of fifty people. It just tells everyone you already know you lost."

The crowd erupts into a chorus of shocked groans and laughter. The burn lands perfectly.

Elise’s face goes beet red. She tries to speak, but her jaw just snaps shut.

I grab my water bottle, turn my back on both of them, and walk toward the exit. I don't look at Aurel. I don't wait for his apology.

I push through the glass doors and step out into the freezing evening air. The moment the doors close behind me, my hands start to violently shake. It’s not from the cold. The rage and betrayal inside me are boiling over.

If only you would let me out, the wolf whispers in my mind, her voice dark, lethal, and begging. Just for one minute. I promise you, I will make her go away.

I dig my fingernails into my palms so hard the skin breaks, drawing blood.

"No," I grit out, forcing the golden hue back into human blue.

I have survived the destruction of my pack. I have survived the agonizing rot of a rejected bond. I am not going to lose my control, or my life, over a boy who is too much of a coward to fight for me.