Fated To Mate
Kael was raised on one unshakable belief: fated mates were a weakness. Stories of alphas losing their minds, their control, and eventually their lives over mates had been passed down like cautionary tales. His great-grandfather had been one of them, brought to ruin by the unbearable loss of his mate. Kael’s grandfather had made sure that never happened again, enforcing strict laws which prioritized strength over sentiment. The pack thrived under that discipline. No one bonded. No one lost themselves. Kael believed in those laws. He wanted to believe. But wanting and doing weren’t exactly the same thing. Now, standing face to face with his fated mate, he was at a crossroads. Accepting them could fracture everything he was taught to protect. Rejecting them might break something in him that he would never be able to fix. Either way, the consequences were inevitable and permanent.
Max never asked for much out of life. Just to finish her endless list of chores quickly so she could go to school, where the world felt wide and full of things to learn. Existing quietly had always been her way, keeping her head down, staying out of trouble, and doing her best to be invisible. But nothing about her life was simple.The most popular boy in school suddenly seemed interested in her for reasons she couldn’t understand. He was good looking, admired by all and magnetic, while she was awkward, quiet and unimportant. Soon, Max would find out that she wasn’t so small after all, and her life, every strange, shadowed part of it, was just one piece in a much bigger puzzle. And Kael? He wasn’t just the school’s golden boy. He was the beginning of everything.