"Push his tongue down your throat, Jax!"

A chorus of shrill laughs echoed across the bleachers.

"Show her what an Alpha does!" someone else bellowed from the perimeter of the track.

The small velvet box in my palm dug into my skin. Inside was a silver signet ring, engraved with the initials I had traced over a dozen times during third-period study hall. It was our six-month anniversary.

I took three steps past the equipment shed, and the noise of the crowded field slammed into my ears. Whistles cut through the chatter.

There, pressed flush against the chain-link fence by the five-yard line, was Jax.

His fingers were tangled deep in a girl's blonde hair, tilting her face up as he crushed his lips against hers. His jacket—the varsity leather one I had washed for him on Sunday—hung open, brushing against her bare midriff.

"Look behind you, Jax!" a sophomore shouted, pointing a finger directly at me. "Your shadow just arrived!"

Jax didn't jump. He didn't flinch.

He broke the kiss with an audible smack, dragging his sleeve across his glistening lower lip before turning his head toward me. The blonde giggled, adjusting her skimpy cropped tank, her gaze raking over my sneakers.

"Oh," Jax said, his voice flat, completely untroubled. "Hey, Maya."

The air left my lungs in one hollow rush. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" the blonde chimed in, curling a strand of hair behind her ear. "He was busy. You're interrupting."

"Shut up, Chloe," I snapped, though my voice wavered on the edges. I fixed my eyes on Jax. "Jax, what is this?"

"Don't cause a scene," Jax warned. He stepped away from the fence, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Everyone's watching."

"You're the one kissing another girl in the middle of fifth period!" I took a step forward, holding up the gift wrapped in navy ribbon. "Today is our anniversary. You told me to meet you behind the track."

A boy in the front row snorted loudly. "She brought a present! Look at that, boys, she brought him a little prize!"

"Is it a collar?" another voice mocked. "Put a leash on him, Maya!"

Laughter rippled through the circle of thirty-odd students, sharp and humiliating.

"Maya, chill," Jax muttered, glancing around as if my very presence embarrassed him. "I told you we'd talk later. Go back to the library."

"Talk later?" Heat rushed to my face, scalding and prickling behind my eyes. "You said we were mates. You swore the pull was real the day we met at the freshman bonfire!"

"People say things," Chloe purred, stepping up beside him and resting her palm flat against Jax's chest. "Right, Jax?"

Jax didn't shrug her off. In fact, his fingers lightly tapped the side of her hip.

"It was a temporary spark," Jax said, his tone indifferent, like he was discussing the weather. "You jumped the gun. You assumed a slight buzz in your chest meant the Moon Goddess carved our names in stone."

"You told me you felt it too!" My knuckles turned white around the box. "You begged me to be your girlfriend! You told me I was your future!"

"Because you were convenient," Jax said, cutting me off without blinking. "And let's be real. Having an Alpha like me on your arm was the only reason people stopped staring at you like a stray."

The circle fell dead silent, drinking in the slaughter.

"Ouch," someone whispered.

"Jax..." My voice cracked. The chill in my fingers spread all the way to my shoulders. "How could you say that to me?"

"Because it's the truth," Jax said. He tilted his chin up, sneering down his nose at me. "You're too intense, Maya. You cling. You act like you own me just because our wolves didn't bite each other on sight. But look at you. You don't have pack status, and you barely have a family."

"Leave her alone, man," an unfamiliar Beta murmured from the fringe of the crowd, but Jax ignored him.

"What are you going to do?" Jax challenged, taking a half-step closer. "Run home and complain to your big, bad stepbrother? Go ahead. Tell Kael. I'm sure he'd love to hear all about your pathetic teenage drama."

A snicker broke out among the lacrosse players.

"Yeah, right," Chloe laughed. "Like Kael Ward gives a damn about her. He doesn't even acknowledge she lives in the same house."

Her words hit harder than Jax's betrayal.

Because it was true.

At home, Kael was a ghost who refused to haunt the same rooms as me. He was the apex Alpha of our academy, a senior whose sheer presence made teachers hesitate and bullies scatter. When our parents married three years ago, I thought I might gain an older brother, someone to make our cold house feel like a home.

Instead, Kael walked out of any kitchen I walked into. If I sat on the couch, he went upstairs. If our hands brushed at the dinner table passing the salt, he pulled back as if my touch carried poison. He hated me. He had made that crystal clear with his stony silences, his icy scowls, and the slammed doors that rattled my bedroom walls.

I had been so desperate to escape that suffocating rejection.

So when Jax had grabbed my wrist at the bonfire six months ago, when that electric prickle of a fated-mate recognition surged between our skin, I had wept with relief. I thought fate had finally handed me someone who would choose me. Someone who would stay.

It had all been a lie.

"Take your box," Jax said, gesturing toward my hand with a dismissive flick of his wrist. "Go throw it in the dumpster behind the gym. We're done."

"Jax, please," I whispered, the words tumbling out before my pride could stop them.

"Don't beg," he spat, his lip curling in disgust. "It looks disgusting on you. Get lost."

"You heard him!" Chloe smirked, looping her arm through his elbow. "Shoo."

Laughter erupted again, deafening and merciless. Phones were out now; red recording dots blinked like vicious little eyes in the sunlight.

"Look at her face!"

"Post that to the pack thread right now!"

"Total psycho girlfriend meltdown!"

My cheeks burned as if slapped. Tears threatened to spill over, but I bit the inside of my lip until I tasted iron, refusing to give them the satisfaction of a breakdown.

I shoved the crushed velvet box into the pocket of my sweater.

"I hate you," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh, trembling rasp. "I hate you, Jax."

"Feeling's mutual," he fired back, turning his back on me to pull Chloe against his side once more. "Now clear out."

I spun around.

"Move!" I choked out, ramming my shoulder into a tall sophomore who blocked the path.

"Watch it, loser!" the boy snarled, but he stumbled back.

I kept my chin pinned to my collarbone, ignoring the jeers, the mocking hoots, and the snap of phone cameras following my retreat. My legs moved blindly across the grass, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird beating itself to death.

I just needed to reach the side doors. I needed to hide in an empty stairwell, wash the stink of humiliation from my skin, and disappear.

I rounded the corner of the brick fieldhouse at a dead sprint, my vision swimming with unshed tears.

Suddenly, my forehead collided with a wall of rock-hard muscle.

The impact knocked the breath from my chest, sending me stumbling backward onto the gravel.

A large, calloused hand shot out, catching my wrist in a vice-like grip before I could hit the dirt.

"Where the hell do you think you're running?" a deep, gravelly voice demanded from above.

I froze, looking up through my blurred sight into a pair of stormy gray eyes that looked ready to tear the world apart.

It was Kael.

"Let go of me," I rasped, yanking backward with all my weight.

Kael didn't budge. His fingers locked around my wrist like an iron band, anchoring me in place on the gravel path.

"Look at me, Maya," he ordered.

"No. Let go!"

"I asked you a question," he said, his tone dropping an octave, heavy enough to rattle the air between us. "Why are you sprinting blind around the fieldhouse?"

"It doesn't concern you!" I clawed at his sleeve with my free hand, desperate to pry him off. "Get off me, Kael! Just leave me alone like you always do!"

He yanked my arm upward, hauling me clean off balance until my ribs crashed flush against his chest.

"Stop thrashing," he snapped.

Then it happened.

The moment our chests collided, a deafening crack seemed to detonate inside my skull.

It wasn't a gentle heat. It was a violent, blinding surge of raw electricity that tore straight through my veins. The air turned thin. My ribcage burned as if struck by lightning, the shockwave rippling down through my spine and locking my knees.

My wolf howled inside my head—a frantic, confused sound that ripped through my thoughts.

*Mate.*

The word shattered through my mind like dropped glass.

I froze, staring up into the harsh angles of Kael's face. The distance between our mouths was barely three inches. Up close, his gray eyes weren't just stormy; they were swirling with silver flecks of pure alpha power, pupils blown wide until the irises shrank to thin rings.

"What..." My voice caught in my dry throat. "What is that?"

Kael didn't answer right away. His grip on my wrist didn't loosen, but his jaw clenched so hard I heard the grind of his teeth.

"Maya," he muttered.

"No," I choked out, shaking my head violently. "No, this is impossible. Jax is—"

A white-hot streak of agony sliced across my chest. The faint, fraying connection I had shared with Jax since the bonfire began violently shuddering, grinding against this colossal, immovable bond slamming into me from Kael. Two separate mate bonds. Two threads tied to one soul, pulling in opposite directions with enough force to tear me in half.

My knees gave out.

"Hey," Kael barked, catching my waist with his other arm before I hit the ground. "Stand up."

"I can't," I gasped, burying my face against his collar. The scent of pine and crushed cedar filled my senses, overpowering every shred of air left in my lungs. "Make it stop. Kael, please, make it stop."

"What did you do?" he demanded, his voice rough against my ear.

"Nothing!" I sobbed, the tears finally bursting free, hot and humiliating against his shirt. "I didn't do anything!"

"Then what is this?" His hand pressed flat against the small of my back, holding me upright as his head dipped lower, his nostrils flaring against my hairline. "Why is my wolf clawing at my ribs to rip your clothes off?"

"Don't say that!" I shoved my palms against his shoulders, fighting the intoxicating magnetism that urged me to bury my hands in his dark hair. "You hate me! You've spent three years acting like I don't exist!"

"Answer me, Maya!" he growled, shaking me slightly. "Did you take something? Did someone slip you an elixir?"

"Are you insane?" A wet laugh tore from my throat, raw and broken. "You think I wanted this? Look at me! Does it look like I planned this?"

Kael went dead quiet. His gaze swept over my red, tear-streaked cheeks, dropping down to my split lip where I had bitten down on the field.

"Who touched you?" he asked, his tone flat, deadly.

"Nobody," I lied, my voice shaking so hard the word barely formed.

"Don't lie to me." He pulled me tighter, his fingers digging into my hip bone. "Your pulse is going a hundred miles an hour. You smell like salt, distress, and—" He paused, sniffing the air, his eyes darkening to slate. "Jax."

A fresh sob ripped through my chest.

"Shut up," I whispered. "Just shut up."

"He's over by the bleachers," Kael said, tilting his head toward the shouts still drifting across the track. "Why were you running from the bleachers?"

"Leave it alone, Kael!"

"Did he hurt you?"

"I said leave it alone!" I screamed, hammering a fist against his bicep. "Why do you care? You never cared before! You wouldn't even pass me the damn butter at breakfast!"

Kael didn't flinch at the hit. His gray eyes pinned mine, merciless and burning.

"Because ten seconds ago, you were just my father's wife's daughter," he said, each word hitting like a hammer. "Now you're something else."

The admission hung between us, heavy and terrifying.

"Jax cheated on me," I blurted, unable to keep the venomous humiliation inside any longer. The words spilled out like poison. "He was with Chloe. In front of thirty people. He told me our bond was a fluke. He called me a stray and told me to throw my anniversary present in the trash."

Kael's chest stopped moving entirely.

"He said what?"

"He dumped me, Kael! In front of everyone!" I cried, gripping his jacket simply to keep myself from collapsing under the double weight crushing my spirit. "He laughed at me. They all laughed at me."

A low rumble vibrated deep within Kael's throat, an alpha warning so fierce it made the gravel under my sneakers buzz.

"Where is he?" Kael asked softly. Too softly.

"Don't," I pleaded, terror spiking through the haze of grief. "Don't go over there. Please."

"He put his hands on another girl while claiming you?" Kael's hand shifted from my hip to the nape of my neck, his fingers curling possessively into my hair, tilting my head back until I had no choice but to meet his furious gaze. "He dared to reject you?"

"He said I clung," I whispered, the words burning my throat. "He said having him was the only reason people tolerated me."

"He's a dead man," Kael stated simply.

"No!" I gripped his lapels, holding him with everything I had left. "You can't go over there! If you start a fight, everyone will know! They'll see this! They'll figure out what's happening between us!"

"Let them," he snarled.

"I can't take it, Kael!" The agony in my head spiked again, the phantom link to Jax snapping like an overdrawn wire, sending a jolt of nauseating pain straight to my gut. I gasped, doubling over against his chest. "Ah—!"

Kael caught me immediately, lifting my feet completely off the gravel so my weight rested against him.

"Maya?" His harsh edge cracked, replaced by sharp urgency. "What's wrong? What hurts?"

"The bond," I whimpered into his neck, tears soaking his collar. "It's ripping. Jax's thread... it's tearing apart. But you're right here. You're too loud. You're burning me up."

He froze, his arms tightening around me until I couldn't move an inch.

"Two," he murmured, the realization finally breaking through his stony facade. "You were bonded to him, and now the Goddess gave you to me."

"It's wrong," I sobbed. "It doesn't happen like this. It's impossible."

"Nothing about you is impossible," he muttered darkly.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel around the far corner of the brick wall.

"Hey, Jax, check it out!" a voice called from the path. "I think your little crybaby ran over this way!"

Chloe's shrill laugh followed immediately. "Let her cry! Maybe she'll finally transfer out of our grade!"

I stiffened in Kael's arms, terror freezing the blood in my veins.

Kael didn't drop me. Instead, he shifted his stance, turning his wide back to shield me completely from view as the laughter drew closer.

His eyes locked onto mine, burning with a dark, terrifying resolve.

"Stay quiet," he commanded under his breath.

The crunch of approaching footsteps halted abruptly.

"Well, well, well," Jax’s voice rang out across the gravel. "Look what we have here."

I tried to push away from Kael's chest, but his arm tightened around my waist like a steel beam, keeping me firmly pinned to his side.

"Don't move," Kael warned under his breath.

"Look at that!" Chloe shrieked from behind Jax, her fingers pointing directly at us. "She ran off acting like a broken-hearted victim, and she was just rushing to meet her side piece!"

A ripple of eager murmurs broke out among the students trailing behind them. Within seconds, half the bleacher crowd had spilled around the brick corner, circling like vultures smelling fresh blood.

Jax took three steps forward, a vile, triumphant grin spreading across his face.

"Look at you, Maya!" Jax bellowed, pitching his voice so every single person on the path could hear. "Put on a real sweet show by the five-yard line, didn't you? Crying your eyes out! Throwing a tantrum about loyalty and broken promises!"

"Jax, shut your mouth," I choked out, heat searing my throat.

"Shut my mouth?" Jax laughed, throwing his hands in the air. "Why should I? Everyone needs to see what kind of trash you actually are! You played the heartbroken mate for the crowd, but you had an Alpha lined up behind the fieldhouse the whole damn time!"

"That's a lie!" I shouted, struggling against Kael's grip. "You cheated on me! You were kissing Chloe five minutes ago!"

"Because I knew!" Jax roared, cutting me off with a vicious sneer. "I knew what you were doing behind my back! I smelled another wolf on you weeks ago, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt. And look at you now. Caught red-handed with your arms wrapped around Kael Ward!"

Gasps rippled through the spectators.

"No way," a girl whispered. "She was cheating with Kael?"

"Under the same roof?" someone else scoffed. "That's disgusting."

"She's an Omega," a boy in the second row sneered. "They can't control themselves around Alphas anyway. Guess one wasn't enough for her."

"Is that why you gave him that little silver ring, Maya?" Chloe chimed in, stepping up beside Jax with her arms crossed over her chest. "Were you trying to buy Jax's silence before he exposed you? You're pathetic. A shameless, lying Omega playing both sides."

A cold, hollow shock punched through my ribs. The sheer audacity of his lie paralyzed my tongue. He had shattered our bond, rubbed his infidelity in my face in front of thirty witnesses, and now he was flipping the entire script to make himself the wounded party.

"You know that's not true," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "You know damn well what happened, Jax!"

"Do I?" Jax challenged, puffing out his chest as he strutted closer. "Then why are you pressed up against his chest right now? Tell everyone! Why are you clinging to him like a bitch in heat?"

Laughter broke out across the crowd, sharp and mocking.

I opened my mouth, but the words withered in my throat. I couldn't explain the truth. If I told them that a second fated bond had detonated between Kael and me thirty seconds ago, they would brand me a freak. Two mate bonds in one lifetime was unheard of; two at the same time was considered a curse.

"Cat got your tongue?" Jax taunted, his eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction. "Nothing to say for yourself? You're an embarrassment to our pack. A stray with zero pedigree who thinks she can jump from bed to bed without consequences."

"Jax, that's enough," someone from the lacrosse team muttered, looking slightly uneasy.

"No, it's not enough!" Jax barked, feeding on the audience. "She disgraced my name! She dragged my reputation through the dirt acting like I was the bad guy, when she was whoring herself out to her own stepbrother!"

A dry, bitter laugh tore from my throat. It wasn't tears this time. It was pure, suffocating absurdity.

"You're a coward," I said, staring straight into his eyes. "You're a pathetic, spineless coward who can't even own up to what he did."

"Watch your mouth!" Jax snapped, taking another aggressive stride toward me. "You don't talk to an Alpha like that, you worthless—"

He never finished the sentence.

Kael moved.

It wasn't a sudden dash; it was an overwhelming shift of pure, suffocating pressure that seemed to suck all the air out of the gravel courtyard. Kael stepped in front of me, breaking his silence for the first time.

The low rumble vibrating in Kael's chest wasn't just a growl—it was an Alpha command, laced with so much raw dominance that the leaves on the nearby hedges shuddered.

The entire crowd flinched. Chloe took two fast steps back, her smug smirk vanishing into pale terror.

Jax froze mid-step, his boot hovering inches above the dirt.

"Take one more step toward her," Kael said, his voice quiet, deadly, and scraping like jagged rock. "Go ahead. I'm waiting."

Jax swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Kael, this is between me and my ex. You don't know the whole story."

"I don't need the story," Kael said, tilting his chin down as his gray eyes locked onto Jax with lethal intensity. "I heard every word that came out of your filthy mouth."

"She's playing you, man!" Jax insisted, his voice rising an octave as he fought to maintain his footing against Kael's crushing aura. "She's an Omega using you to get back at me! Look at the way she runs to you whenever things get tough!"

"She didn't run to me," Kael said flatly.

The crowd held its collective breath.

"What?" Jax blinked, thrown off balance.

Kael took a single step forward, towering over Jax by half a head, his broad shoulders blocking the sun.

"I said she didn't run to me," Kael repeated, each syllable heavy enough to crush bones. "I grabbed her."

A suffocating silence slammed over the courtyard.

"What are you talking about?" Jax stammered, his bravado rapidly crumbling into panic.

"I held her here because she's mine," Kael stated without an ounce of hesitation, the declaration echoing off the brick walls of the fieldhouse. "And if you ever open your mouth to insult my mate again, Jax, I won't just break your jaw. I'll rip your throat out where you stand."