: He’s Your Mate

~Elena~

“No. Nope. Absolutely not. There’s no way that man is my mate. You should’ve seen his face, Ava. The way he talks, the way he moves. He looks like he’s already fucked every girl on this campus and probably half the faculty too. His dick is probably exhausted.”

“Elena…”

“No, listen to me. His dick probably has an accent and a passport at this point. That thing has mileage. I don’t know how many girls he’s been inside, but I’m pretty sure if I had a microscope, I’d find at least seven different kinds of regret on the tip alone.”

Ava choked out a laugh. “You’re unwell.”

“I’m serious. I don’t care how good he smells. I don’t care how deep his voice gets when he calls me Omega. I don’t care if my wolf is panting in the corner of my brain like a bitch in heat. I am not letting that man claim me just because the universe decided to play some sick, knotting, breeding kink joke on me.”

“Your wolf already chose him, Elena.”

I blinked. My heart dropped.

Because the truth was… I haven’t heard her voice yet. But I have a feeling. She wasn’t quiet. She wasn’t confused. She was thrumming. Purring. Pushing.

And worse?

She wanted him to come back.

Now.

Let him claim us, she whispered again. Let him show you what it feels like to belong to an Alpha who doesn’t ask… only takes.

I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw. “I’m not ready for this.”

Ava’s voice softened. “You’re not supposed to be ready. Your heat doesn’t care about timelines, babe. When it hits, it hits. And if he’s your mate…”

“Then I’m already fucked.”

“Oh shit,” I murmured. My eyes squeezed shut. My thighs pressed again. “I need to control it.”

I sat up on the bunk, heart racing, towel barely holding, sweat already beading at the back of my neck despite the cold air in the room. My skin felt too hot. My mouth too dry. I couldn’t get enough air in, no matter how fast I inhaled.

“He must not notice,” I whispered.

He can’t.

He must not smell it.

Fuck… he must not.

But he would.

Lucian Blackthorne would walk back in, take one breath, and know.

The call ended without a goodbye.

I dropped my phone beside me, chest heaving, nipples hard against the wet fabric of my towel.

I could still hear Ava’s voice ringing in my head, could still feel her warning sinking under my skin like poison.

He’s your mate, Elena.

Your scent is changing.

He’ll know.

And the worst part? I heard a strange voice inside of me.

What was happening to me?!

You can’t lie to me, she murmured, voice low and thick and female. You want him. You want what he promised. You want that knot inside you.

“No,” I gasped. “No, I don’t… Who the fuck are you!”

Then why are your fingers twitching, Elena?

I looked down.

My thighs were soaked. Not damp. Not warm. Soaked. The towel between them had darkened, and I couldn’t pretend it was leftover water from the shower anymore.

This was heat.

This was need.

This was my body calling out for him like it had already chosen.

“I can’t,” I whispered again. “I can’t want him.”

Then touch yourself or I’ll make us go down there and let him do it for us.

“What! I don’t understand! Who are you! Why can I hear your voice so loud in my head?”

I whimpered, pressing my palm hard between my legs, trying to hold the pressure still, trying to keep it from rising.

But it was already rising.

I didn’t even mean to slip my hand lower. I didn’t mean to spread my knees wider. It just happened.

The towel bunched up around my hips, and I tilted back against the pillows, eyes fluttering shut, mouth falling open.

One finger.

One press.

And I moaned.

“Ah… f-fuck…” I gasped into the crook of my arm, hips shifting against the mattress as my body demanded more pressure, more friction, more of something I couldn’t name without choking on it.

I bit down on my fist, trying to stay silent.

It didn’t work.

“Please…” I whispered, not even sure who I was begging. My thighs trembled, and my back arched as the tension climbed higher, hotter, harder.

“Please what?” The same fucking voice again!

Please let him walk in? Please let him knot you right here like an animal? Say it. Say it out loud, little Omega.

I whimpered.

“Ahh…”

I bit my lip. Hard.

But it didn’t stop the next one.

“Mmhh—fuck…”

My head fell back against the pillow, hair still wet, towel already slipping below my hips. My hips rolled once against the bed and I gasped.

“Lucian…”

And then again, louder.

“Lucian…”

“Oh my… Fuck…”

“Please…”

The pressure hit again. I arched hard against the bed.

“Lucian… Lucian… ahh… fuck, yes… Lucian…”

“Why do I feel like I’m going to explode? Fuck… fuck—I feel insane. What’s happening to me?”

“Oh fuck. Fuck. I can’t. I can’t stop. I feel everything—everything—too much. Too hot. Too wet. Too good—oh my God—why does it feel this good?”

My hips bucked and I sobbed again, nearly screaming into the pillow.

“It hurts. It hurts to need this much.”

“No, no, no… fuck, I need it… I need it…”

I was babbling now, rubbing harder, faster, chasing that next climax like a madwoman.

My toes curled and I nearly screamed again.

“I want him—I want his knot—I want his fucking cock—fuck, I want him to split me open—ahhh—Lucian, please—Lucian, I’m going to cum…”

And I did.

I arched my back, lifting off the mattress as I cried his name through the orgasm.

“I’m so fucking hot—why am I so hot—why do I feel like this—fuck, it won’t stop—why won’t it stop…”

My whole body shook, and I curled on the bed like something possessed, whimpering his name through clenched teeth as tears wet my cheeks.

“Lucian… Lucian… Lucian, please…”

And then.

A knock at the door.

Fuck.

: Two Mates?

~Lucian~

I couldn’t think straight.

I couldn’t fucking think.

Not with the way her scent was sitting in my skull like smoke, thick and sweet and soaking into everything I was. It was in my mouth, in my chest, stuck to the back of my tongue like honey I couldn’t swallow.

I shouldn’t have left.

Fuck.

I knew I shouldn’t have left.

But I had to.

I was going to lose control.

I was going to bite her.

I was going to grab her by the throat and knot her right there in the middle of that damn room.

And the worst part?

I still fucking wanted to.

Even now. Even here. Even surrounded by music and lights and people grinding up against each other like they were heat-drunk.

“Yo,” Levi said behind me, slapping a drink into my hand like I asked for it. “You alright? You look like someone pissed in your dinner.”

I didn’t answer.

Because I wasn’t alright.

I was hard.

I was angry.

I was seconds away from shifting and breaking something.

I took a slow sip of whatever was in the cup, hoping the burn would shock me back to reality.

It didn’t.

It just made me thirstier.

Hungrier.

Hornier.

Fuck.

I was losing it.

My skin was hot. My fingers wouldn’t stop twitching. My cock was still pressed so tight against my zipper I could feel the pulse throbbing through it.

And all I could think about was her — the way she looked at me like she hated me, like she wanted to slap me and then drop to her knees in the same breath.

She was so fucking pretty when she was pissed.

I smelled her heat.

It was just starting. Faint. Barely there. But my wolf caught it like a fucking hook in the throat and I haven’t been able to shake it since.

I growled low under my breath.

“Jesus,” Levi said, staring at me. “Do I need to get you laid or are you going to murder someone?”

I turned toward him slowly.

My heart was pounding. My breathing was rough. My jaw was so tight it felt like I’d shatter it just trying to hold back what I wanted to say.

“I found her.”

Levi blinked. “Found who?”

I stared him dead in the face.

“My mate.”

He laughed.

Actually fucking laughed.

“Wait—what? What are you talking about? Your mate? Lucian, what the hell are you saying? What about Veronica?”

I didn’t flinch.

“I never knotted her.”

Levi’s face twisted. “What?”

“I marked her because the bond sparked. Because that’s what we were supposed to do. Because that’s what everyone expected. But I never mated her. Not really. My wolf tolerated her. He never chose her. Not the way he’s choosing now.”

Levi just stared at me. I kept going.

“She’s new. Fresh. Transfer student. My roommate. She walked into the room and I swear to the fucking moon, I couldn’t breathe. My cock got hard before she even said a word. My wolf stood up inside me and said mine.

And I’m not talking about lust.

I’m talking about bond.

That girl is mine.”

Levi’s voice dropped. “Lucian. You’re telling me some Omega walked into your dorm, smelled like peaches and heat, and now you’re ready to throw away your bond with Veronica?”

I stepped closer.

My face was stone.

“I’m not throwing anything away. I’m choosing what was always meant to be mine.

Veronica was a lie. A placeholder.

This girl? This scent? This feeling in my fucking bones? That’s real.

That’s the kind of mate that makes an Alpha lose control.

I walked out before I could tear the damn room apart just to get a taste of her.”

Levi exhaled. “Fuck.”

I growled again.

Lower this time.

My hands shook.

“I need her,” I whispered, my voice like gravel. “I can’t get her out of my head. Her scent is in me. Her voice is in me. Her fucking heat is calling me back and I don’t even know her name.”

“But you know her body wants you,” Levi said quietly.

I didn’t respond.

Because I didn’t need to.

He saw it in my eyes. He smelled it on me.

And the truth was this:

If I didn’t go back to that room tonight, I was going to lose my fucking mind.

Because she was burning. She was begging. Maybe not with words, but her body was already calling me back.

And my wolf wasn’t going to let me ignore it much longer.

“You can’t have two mates,” Levi said. “That’s not how it works.”

: Get Over It

~Lucian~

I turned away, already walking toward the door, already past the point of pretending to care about rules.

“Then the Moon Goddess better rewrite the damn system.”

Levi stared at me like I’d grown a second head.

“You can’t mean this,” he said, shaking his head. “You have Veronica. The bond flared, Lucian. You marked her. The pack witnessed it. We all saw it happen. You can’t just throw that out because some fresh Omega walked in with pretty thighs and a bad attitude.”

I didn’t flinch.

He kept talking.

“You’re just horny. You’ve been holding back for weeks. You haven’t fucked in forever. You’ve been training. Studying. Barely sleeping. That scent hit you and now you’re losing your goddamn mind over it.”

I kept staring at him.

But he didn’t stop.

“I’ll call Veronica.”

That made something inside me snap.

“She’ll fuck you,” he said casually. “She’ll make you cum. You’ll stop thinking about this girl. You’ll realize you’re not bonded to her. You’re just pent up. You need to get off. Veronica can do that for you. She wants to do that. You don’t have to ruin your whole life over some..”

“Don’t finish that sentence.”

Levi’s mouth clamped shut.

I took one slow step toward him.

“She is not some girl,” I said, each word shaking with the effort it took not to punch a wall.

“She’s not a distraction. She’s not a phase.

She is my mate.

My real one.

The one I’ve been waiting for without even realizing it.”

Levi opened his mouth again. I didn’t let him speak.

“I never came with Veronica. Not once. Not fully. Not like this. Not with the way my wolf is pacing right now, howling inside me, begging to go back and bury myself in the girl upstairs.

I have never felt this before, Levi.

Never.

And if you so much as touch your phone to call anyone, I will fucking rip it out of your hand and crush it.”

His eyes widened.

“I mean it,” I snarled. “This isn’t lust. This isn’t boredom.

This is bond.

That Omega is in heat, and her body is calling for me.

Not just an Alpha. Me.

And you want to throw Veronica into the middle of that and tell me it’s a solution?”

I shook my head.

My fists were trembling.

“Don’t insult the bond.

Don’t insult her.

She’s mine.

And if I go back up there and she’s moaning my name while naked…Fuck..

I exhaled hard.

“She won’t make it through the night without knowing what she belongs to.”

Levi didn’t say a word.

I turned from him, jaw tight, pulse raging in my ears, and whispered to myself.

“I’m going back.”

I was already turning away, already halfway to the door, already imagining the look on her face when I walked in and made her say my name again but this time with her thighs spread her bare tits. I would so fuvking suck her big juicy tits.

I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t need to. My body had made the decision for me.

My wolf had already chosen.

But Levi grabbed my arm.

He didn’t yank, didn’t shove, just held. His fingers wrapped tight around my bicep like he thought he could stop me. Like he had a right to.

“Lucian, no,” he said, eyes wide, voice sharp. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

I didn’t turn.

He pulled harder.

“You can’t just claim some random Omega. Do you even know where her family lineage is from? Do you even know who she is? For all we know, she might be from one of the feral bloodlines. She might not even have a family. She could be from a rejected rogue line. You don’t know anything.”

I said nothing.

My jaw tightened.

He kept going, faster now, desperate, like he could talk me down.

“Veronica’s pack is powerful. Influential. You think they’re going to stand by and watch you throw that away for a girl with no name and a fucking scent that got you hard? You think your father is going to let this happen?”

He stepped in front of me now, blocking the hallway like he was guarding a door to hell.

“Your dad is going to kill you once he finds out. Do you understand that? You’re the next Alpha. You’re not some rogue mutt running after his dick.

You’re bloodline. Legacy. Chosen.”

I didn’t care.

I didn’t fucking care.

But I saw red the second he said throw it away.

And I snapped.

I shoved him hard in the chest, eyes burning.

“Fuck you, Levi.”

He stumbled back, shocked, his hand still raised like he might grab me again.

“Let go of me,” I growled. “You touch me again and you won’t have a hand left.”

He looked stunned.

Hurt, maybe.

Confused.

But I didn’t care.

“You don’t fucking tell me what to do,” I hissed. “You think this is about lust? You think this is about politics? You think I care about Veronica’s damn connections?”

I stepped closer.

“I am your Alpha.

I am the one you kneel to.

And you stand here, talking about bloodlines and legacies, when the only thing that matters right now is that she is mine.”

Levi said nothing.

“She’s in heat. Right now. I can feel it. She’s alone.

She’s moaning my name and you want me to stand here and debate family trees with you?”

I shook my head.

“I want her,” I said.

“Do you understand me?

I don’t just want to touch her or taste her.

I need her.

She’s in heat.

She’s mine.

I feel it in my fucking bones.

I feel it every time I breathe.”

Levi flinched slightly but held his ground.

I stepped closer.

My voice dropped even lower.

“I am going to claim her.

And nothing—nothing—you say is going to stop me.”

He opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him speak.

“Let go of me,” I warned, my voice vibrating with threat. “Before I do something we’ll both regret.”

I turned.

I was done talking.

Done pretending.

Done holding myself back.

My wolf was snarling inside me, pressing against my ribs, screaming for me to go back and remind that girl who she belonged to.

But then…

I heard it.

“Babe?” she called. “Where are you going?”

I froze.

Veronica.

Fuck.

She was here.