CHAPTER 4

I stand frozen as the heavy doors slam shut behind Alpha Beck no, Christopher. I refuse to call him by his title. I feel anger bubbling with in me as my cheeks redden realizing what he had just done how dare he embarrass me like that.

The murmurs in the room buzz in my ears, but I don’t care. My pulse pounds, my body practically vibrating with anger. Who the hell does he think he is?

Without a second thought, I turn and storm after him, my heels clicking against the floor.

“Jessica!” Camilla hisses behind me, but I ignore her. I don’t have time for this I’m tired of all the bullshit.

The moment I step outside, the cool air stings my skin, but my focus is locked on Christopher’s broad back as he strides toward the tree line. His movements are rigid, controlled—he’s pissed, just like me.

“Hey!” I call, but he doesn’t stop.

Fury burns hotter in my chest. “I said, hey! You don’t get to storm in, embarrass me in front of everyone, and then walk away like I’m nothing!”

That does it.

He stops. Slowly, he turns to face me, and when our eyes meet, something electric crackles in the air. His brown eyes darken, his jaw clenches.

“You don’t understand, Jessica,” he says, voice rough like gravel.

“Then make me understand!” I snap, taking a step closer. I don’t care what the hell is going on in this freak show of a town I’m not about to be made to feel crazy.

“You rejected me—humiliated me—without even giving me a chance! What the hell is your problem?”

His nostrils flare, his fists clench at his sides. “My problem?” he repeats, low and dangerous. Apart of me wants to just leave this alone but I’ve never been the fearful type and I’m not about to start today because of some washed up crazy boy.

I hold my ground. “Yeah. Your problem.”

His expression hardens, but there’s something else there too. Something he’s trying to bury.

“You want to know why I rejected you?” he asks, voice sharp as a blade.

I cross my arms. “That would be nice.”

He exhales harshly, running a hand through his thick waves. “Because you’re the daughter of a traitor.”

I blink. “Excuse me?”

“Your father was the beta, of this pack” he continued, voice laced with bitterness. “He was supposed to stand by my side, be loyal to this pack—but instead, he abandoned us. He ran off with a human.”

My throat tightens. I knew my father left the pack, but hearing it from Christopher—seeing the disgust on his face—makes it feel like a fresh wound.

“So what?” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. Thinking about how my parents still find a way to screw me over from the grave. “That was his choice, not mine.”

Christopher shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Blood is everything in this world, Jessica. Your father turned his back on us, and now you expect me to just… accept you? To take a human as my mate?”

His words hit like a slap. They shouldn’t I don’t even know this guy but why does his rejection hurt so much.

I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “I don’t even know if I’m human.”

He scoffs. “You’re not a wolf.”

“And yet, I can hear the pack link,” I fire back. “So tell me, Alpha Beck, what does that make me?”

His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t answer.

The silence stretches between us, thick with tension. My heart hammers against my ribs. I should feel small under his gaze, but I don’t. I feel something else entirely.

His eyes flicker with something I can’t place—hesitation? Doubt?

Before I can push him further, he exhales sharply and takes a step back.

“This conversation is over,” he mutters.

Like hell it is.

I grab his wrist without thinking, my fingers barely wrapping around the thickness of it. The moment our skin touches, a jolt rushes through me—like a surge of energy crackling just beneath the surface.

His body stiffens. His breathing falters.

He feels it too.

But instead of acknowledging it, he rips his arm away like I just burned him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Why?” I challenge. “Afraid of what it means?” I don’t even know why I’m saying all this but there’s something about Christopher that I can’t seem to shake.

His lips curl into a sneer, but there’s something panicked beneath it. “It means nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

His hands clenched into fists. “Jessica—”

“Say it,” I demand. “Say you don’t feel anything when you look at me. Say you don’t feel the bond.”

He grits his teeth so hard I can hear it. “It doesn’t matter what I feel.”

“Then what does?”

“The fact that I will never take a human as my mate.” His words are final. Cold.

I flinch despite myself.

“Even if you’re not fully human, you’re not a wolf, either. And I can’t—I won’t—risk my pack by tying myself to someone who isn’t one of us.”

My chest tightens.

“I didn’t ask for this either, you know,” I say quietly. “I didn’t ask to be your mate.”

Something flickers in his eyes—guilt? Maybe. But it’s gone in an instant.

“This conversation is over,” he repeats.

Before I can stop him, he moves.

And then, suddenly—impossibly—he’s not a man anymore.

He shifts, his body rippling and contorting, muscles stretching as dark fur bursts from his skin. His transformation is seamless, effortless, and within seconds, a massive wolf stands before me.

He’s huge, easily twice the size of a normal wolf, with thick brown fur and piercing golden-brown eyes. The same eyes that, just moments ago, had burned with anger.

Now, they hold something else.

For the first time since meeting him, I see it.

Softness.

It’s faint, buried beneath layers of pride and fury, but it’s there. A flicker of something almost… regretful.

My breath catches.

For a moment, neither of us move.

His wolf watches me intently, ears flicking back like he’s fighting an internal battle.

I should be scared. I should feel threatened by the sheer power radiating off of him. But I don’t.

Because underneath all the anger, all the rejection… there’s something familiar. Something that calls to me in a way I can’t explain.

I take a small step forward.

His ears twitch, but he doesn’t move.

I don’t know what I’m doing—don’t know why I feel this strange pull toward him even after everything he’s said.

All I know is that when our eyes meet again, something inside me stirs.

Something that feels ancient.

Something that feels like fate.

Then, as quickly as he came, he turns and sprints into the trees, disappearing into the night.

And I’m left standing there, feeling like my world has just shifted all over again.