Chapter 2

Nadia

The pull didn't go away.

I felt it the next morning at the lockers, a faint tug in my chest before I even saw him. Then Kade rounded the corner with two friends, laughing at something, and the feeling sharpened into something I couldn't ignore.

I turned my back and pretended to look for a book.

"You keep doing that," a voice said beside me. I jumped. It was a girl from my history class, short, dark ponytail, friendly eyes. "Hiding from Kade Ashford, I mean. Everyone else fights to get near him."

"I'm not hiding."

"Sure." She smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Priya. You're the new girl who sat alone at lunch for two weeks straight. I decided that's enough."

I almost laughed. "Nadia."

"I know. Come sit with us today. My friends don't bite. Mostly."

I hesitated. My father's rules ran through my head keep to yourself, don't get close, don't give anyone a reason to look twice. But two weeks of eating alone had worn me down more than I wanted to admit.

"Okay," I said. "Just for lunch."

Priya's smile widened like she'd won something.

Lunch turned out fine. Priya's friends talked over each other, argued about a movie, asked me easy questions I could actually answer without lying much. For the first time since I'd started this school, I felt like a normal girl instead of a secret wearing a school uniform.

Then Kade sat two tables over, and my wolf noticed him before my eyes did.

"You're staring," Priya said.

"I'm not."

"You're doing the thing again." She lowered her voice. "Everyone stares at Kade. Don't worry, it's not a crime."

I forced myself to look at my food instead. It didn't help much. I could still feel him, the same way you can feel sunlight on your skin even with your eyes closed.

Training hour came again after lunch. I hoped the trainer would pair me with someone else. He didn't.

"Voss, Ashford. Same as last time."

Kade walked over, hands in his pockets, that same unbothered look on his face. "Guess we're stuck together."

"Guess so."

We started slow. I kept my movements loose, sloppy, careful to lose on purpose the way I had before. But halfway through, he threw a move faster than expected, and instinct took over before I could stop it. I blocked clean, stepped in, and had him off balance for a full second before I caught myself and pulled back.

He straightened up slowly, watching me now with real attention instead of the polite boredom from before.

"That wasn't beginner's luck," he said quietly.

"It was an accident."

"Your accidents are pretty precise."

I didn't answer. My heart was pounding harder than the sparring should have caused. He stepped closer, and the pull in my chest turned into something almost painful, my wolf pressing against my control like she wanted out just to be near him.

"Who taught you to fight like that?" he asked.

"Nobody taught me anything. I told you, I'm new to this."

He studied me another moment, then let it drop, though I could tell he didn't believe me. "Alright. Whatever you say, Voss."

The trainer called time before he could ask anything else. I walked off the mat with my hands shaking, and it took me the rest of the hour to convince myself it was from the sparring, not from him.

That night, I told my father everything about the pairing, the mistake I made blocking too well, the strange pull I felt whenever Kade was near. He went quiet for a long moment, the kind of quiet that scared me more than shouting would have.

"A pull like that," he said finally, "only happens with a fated mate."

My stomach turned over. "That's not possible. He's the Ashford heir. He doesn't even know what I am."

"That's exactly the problem." My father rubbed his eyes, looking older than he had that morning. "If your wolf recognizes him, his wolf will recognize you too, eventually. And when packs that size connect through a mate bond, everyone notices. Alliances shift. Enemies take interest."

"So what do I do?"

"Avoid him," my father said. "As much as you can without drawing suspicion. The longer his wolf goes without confirming the bond, the safer you both are."

I nodded, though something in me twisted at the idea of staying away from someone I'd known for exactly one class period. It made no sense. I told myself it was only the pull talking, not me.

Avoiding Kade turned out to be harder than I expected.

He started showing up in places I didn't expect by my locker between classes, at the table Priya insisted I sit at during lunch, even walking the same direction home twice that week. I told myself it was coincidence. Deep down, I didn't believe it.

"You've been quiet," he said on the third day, catching up to me outside the gates. "Ever since training. Did I do something?"

"No. I've just got a lot going on."

"You always say something like that." He studied me the way he had on the mat, like he was trying to solve a puzzle I refused to hand him. "You're a strange one, Nadia Voss."

"Thanks, I guess."

He almost smiled at that, and something in my chest lifted despite every warning my father had given me. I hated how easy it was to feel lighter around him.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and walked off before I could think of a reason to make him stay longer.

I stood there a moment, my wolf calm for the first time all week, like being near him had settled something restless inside her.

That scared me more than anything else that day.

I didn't tell my father about the walk home, or the small conversations that kept happening whether I planned them or not. Some things felt too fragile to hand over, even to someone trying to protect me.

But lying in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, I let myself admit one small thing.

I didn't want to avoid him anymore.

I just didn't know yet how much that single feeling would cost me.