All Chapters of The Alpha’s Human Mate: Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

I don’t remember leaving the café.One second I’m staring at Elias like he just handed me a death sentence, and the next I’m outside, boots slamming into gravel, air burning my lungs, heart racing like I ran a marathon.*Mate.*The word echoes in my skull like a fire alarm, each repetition louder than the last. It bounces off every corner of my consciousness, refusing to be dismissed or rationalized away.I walk faster. Then faster still. My fists are clenched, arms locked at my sides like I’m holding something inside that wants to break out. The gravel beneath my feet crunches with each desperate step, the sound sharp and jarring in the unnatural quiet that seems to follow me.The fog clings to the road as I move through it, swallowing sound, dulling light. It wraps around my ankles like ghostly fingers, reaching higher with each breath until I feel like I’m drowning in it. It’s late afternoon, but it feels like dusk. Like the sun’s already hiding from whatever the hell is hunting me

My body shudders, reshapes, folds in on itself and stretches back out—fur and claw, tooth and snarl. The shift is violent this time, more brutal than it’s been in decades. Usually, the change is smooth, controlled, a willing surrender to my other nature. This is different. This is desperate. This is need incarnate. Brutal. When the red haze clears, I don’t know how long it’s been. Could be minutes. Could be hours. Time moves differently when the wolf is in control, following rhythms older than human civilization. My paws are muddy and slick with blood—not hers, thank god might be listening. Probably a rabbit. Maybe a raccoon. Something small and quick that had the misfortune to cross my path while the beast was in charge. The taste of it is copper and salt on my tongue, but it does nothing to satisfy the real hunger gnawing at my chest. Trees around me are shredded, deep claw marks scarring trunks that have stood for centuries. Branches snapped like twigs. The ground torn into f

IVY’S POV:I wake up sweating.The sheets are tangled around my legs like they’re trying to hold me down. My skin feels too tight, too flushed, like I’ve been in the sun for hours even though the room is dark. I kick off the blankets, gasping for air that tastes too thin, then sit up and grab the edge of the bed like it might keep me from floating out of my own body.The room is spinning.No. Not spinning. Pulling.There’s a tugging sensation deep in my chest, like someone’s tied a rope around my ribs and they’re yanking on it. Drawing me somewhere I don’t want to go.I stagger to my feet, my legs unsteady. My feet are bare. The floorboards are freezing under them, but I don’t care. I barely feel it through the heat radiating from my core.Something is wrong with me.I tug at my hoodie with trembling fingers. It clings to my skin, soaked through with sweat that shouldn’t exist in this cold house. My shirt underneath is damp too, sticking to the mark under my ribs—the one that hasn’t s

“Good,” I spit, though the words taste like ash in my mouth. “Let it tear. Let me bleed. I’d rather hurt than be someone’s property.”She doesn’t flinch at my venom. “You’ll wish you were dead.”“Let me.”Her next words are so soft I almost miss them.“He already is.”I freeze. “What?”She turns to face me, and her expression is heavy with something I can’t name.“You think this bond is one-sided?” she says. “You think you’re the only one in pain?”My chest tightens. The heat under my skin flickers, and for just a moment, I feel something else. Something that isn’t mine.Emptiness. Longing. A hunger so deep it feels like starving.“I saw him,” she says. “From the edge of the woods, when you were unconscious. Cassian. He didn’t know I was there, didn’t sense me watching. He wasn’t the composed predator you met. He looked…” She pauses, searching for words. “He looked like something was eating him from the inside. Like he was fighting a war with himself and losing.”I want to argue. Want

The Elder smiles, but it’s not kind. It’s the smile of a predator who’s cornered wounded prey. “You have one choice, Cassian Thorne,” she says, her voice carrying the weight of ancient law. “Deny her. Sever the bond before it fully forms. Cut the thread that binds you.” She pauses, letting the words sink in. “Or lose your right to rule.” The threat hangs in the air like a blade. I don’t answer immediately. Can’t answer. Because I don’t know if I can do what they’re asking. The thought of cutting the bond, of severing the connection that pulses between us like a second heartbeat, makes something inside me howl with rage. The wolf doesn’t want to let her go. Neither does the man. “The choice is yours,” the Elder continues. “But choose quickly. The longer you wait, the stronger it becomes. Soon, it will be beyond your power to break.” I look around the circle at the ancient faces watching me. Some curious. Some disgusted. All of them waiting for my answer. “And if I refuse?” I a