Chapter 3
EVAN
Ididn’t sleep. All I could think about was the man with green eyes and tattoos covering his arms and neck.
What other parts of his body are inked? I shake my head and roll onto my back with a groan.
Sunlight seeps through my blinds, and my eyes ache from desperately wanting to rest but not being able to. My wolf howled inside me all night, and I didn’t get a second of peace.
When I head down to breakfast the next morning, Ava, Jaxon, and Aurora are already there. Aurora sits in her high chair as Ava feeds her, and Jaxon makes breakfast.
“Morning, Evan,” Ava says as her head lifts. “We didn’t see you at dinner last night.”
“Wasn’t hungry,” I murmur.
Jaxon glances at me, but I look away.
“Everything okay?” she asks, her voice dipping with concern.
I merely nod. “Yeah, just tired.”
For a second, I peek at Jaxon, who is now paying attention to the stove as he cooks.
Who was that man he was with last night?
Why was he here?
Ava mentioned someone taking over Cole’s pack. Surely it’s not him. A thousand different questions rush through my head, and yet my wolf weeps. I can’t even think about it without shuddering.
“Well, we’ve got a big day,” Ava says, snapping me out of my trance.
“Huh?”
“Jaxon’s got news to share with the pack.”
I frown. “News?”
“Yeah,” he says without even looking at me. “Everyone needs to be in the main hall at midday.”
“Oh…is it something bad?”
Jaxon starts to plate up their breakfast, his eyes locking with mine. I swallow thickly at the way he looks at me. “You’ll find out at the meeting.”
My stomach churns when I attempt to eat, but nothing goes down right. Everything tastes like cement.
After gathering in the hall with the rest of the pack, I clutch my hands together and pick at the skin around my fingernails in anticipation. There is quiet chatter amongst us, but I stay back with Nina and Leon, two people I’ve become close with after private training sessions with Kayden.
My body has barely recovered from yesterday’s session; I feel wobbly and unstable. I need to rest and eat, but my anxiety is betraying me.
A wave of gasoline hits me right in the chest, and I stumble backwards a little as I flick my gaze over the crowd of people. It’s so consuming that I can hardly breathe. That’s when I see Jaxon step to the front, and right beside him is the man I saw yesterday.
He looks even more intimidating than I remember. My wolf whines inside me, and my eyes begin to water.
No. No. No.
This cannot be happening.
My entire body begins to shake uncontrollably, and I pray no one notices my out-of-character reaction. I lower my head and try to breathe through the sharp sensation that covers my lungs, but it’s nearly impossible.
We’re not meant to fight the bond; we’re supposed to welcome it. But I’d rather take the agony of denying it than the forced sensations of accepting it.
“You okay?” Leon whispers.
I force an awkward smile. “Yeah.”
The pack immediately grows silent as Jaxon steps forward.
“Everyone!” he shouts. “I’ve got important news to share with you all.”
I suck in a breath as my eyes rest on the tattooed man beside him, but he doesn’t look in my direction. Not for a second. Why would he?
I’m a nobody.
“Cole will be standing down as Alpha of the Rainewood Pack due to unforeseen circumstances,” he bellows, and I freeze. “Stepping up into his place as their new Alpha is Caleb Vella, whom I have known since we were kids.”
Jaxon gestures to the guy beside him.
Caleb.
He nods once, but his expression doesn’t change. There’s no flicker of emotion. His face is blank. Completely cold, and ruthless.
“Since Caleb will be their new Alpha, and with how close we have been to Rainewood Pack, I thought it would be beneficial for you all to meet him officially. Especially with the district integration, we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.”
My skin crawls as Caleb glances over the crowd but misses me as if I don’t exist. I must be imagining this. There’s no way this man is my mate. But my wolf is telling me everything I don’t want to believe.
Jaxon keeps on talking, but I can’t hear a single thing. I feel like I’ve been knocked over by the earthquake going on inside me.
After twenty minutes, Jaxon calls the meeting, and I can’t get out of the hall fast enough. I need fresh air. I need to be away from his intoxicating scent that claws up my throat and rests in my soul.
I shed my clothes, suddenly feeling like they’re suffocating me. Then I shift. My paws hit the ground, and I run faster than I ever have in my entire life.
Even with my wolf's desire to hang around, I have the mental capacity to know I need to get the hell out of there.
There is rustling of the bushes behind me, and I turn sharply, but see nothing.
I weave through the trees, the breeze flowing through my fur, my blood humming.
My paws barely make a sound because of my wolf's size, which has its benefits. But I’m a little too good at hiding when I should be fighting.
Invisible.
And that’s the way I wish to stay.
When my lungs feel like they’re about to explode, I halt in the dirt and rest behind a large tree. All I can hear is the pounding of my own heart until the sound of rustling alerts me once more.
My ears turn rigid as I listen, raising my snout to the air.
Something makes the hairs on my back stand up, and without hesitation, I dart off into the trees again. There’s someone behind me, and I twist my head over my shoulder to look, but my legs tangle in panic, sending me to the ground as I trip.
A large body collides with mine a second later, and a low yelp escapes my muzzle. My skin scrapes against the rocks and branches covering the ground.
My ribs throb as I finally come to a stop. It’s nothing compared to the injuries I’ve sustained from training, but it’s still not pleasant.
Then I’m surrounded by the scent of gasoline again. I groan internally and twist my head to find a wolf as dark as midnight staring down at me with glowing yellow eyes. I’m shuddering at the way I can feel its breath over my face, and when it bares its teeth at me, I’m sure it’s game over.
The black wolf shifts, and Caleb stands in front of me, stark naked. I immediately glance away as he looms over me, making my wolf look pathetic in comparison. But when he stands directly in my eyeline, I have no choice but to see every inch of his inked body.
Okay, not every inch—but near enough.
There’s so much intricate detail that I can hardly take it all in, including his pierced nipples that both have bars through. I’m not surprised by this man’s cold exterior and how much pain he’s inflicted on himself. He probably enjoys pain just as much as he enjoys giving it.
“Shift,” he snaps, and I jump out of my skin.
His green eyes start to darken, and I’m frozen still. I’m not going to shift in front of him. No way. After finding the courage to move, I whine and shuffle away.
“I said shift.” The sound of his voice is heavy and demanding.
My hands tremble, and I fear that if I don’t, he’ll end up hurting me—or worse.
Caleb’s nostrils flare. “I’m not going to ask you again.”
Heat crawls up my neck as I stand on my legs hesitantly before shifting back to my human form. I wrap my arms around my exposed body and twist away from him in embarrassment.
Caleb stands over half a foot taller than me, and I gulp when he backs me into a tree. The sharp bark stabs into the graze that covers my back. I almost hiss at the contact, but I hold it in. I don’t want him to see.
His dark stare is so intense that it makes my stomach convulse, and not in a good way. His scent is a thousand times stronger up close, and it’s clogging every one of my arteries until it leaves an imprint I’ll never be able to shake.
“What’s your name?” he asks gruffly.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I’m about to go into cardiac arrest.
His eyes grow heavier. “I asked for your name.”
I flinch at his tone, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. “E-Evan,” I murmur eventually.
He scowls at me, moving closer so I can almost feel his breath on my face. I squirm because we’re both naked as the day we were born, and it’s killing me—my absolute worst nightmare. I despise anyone seeing my skin, and I definitely don’t want him to see my scars.
“Evan, what?”
I shudder as he says my name, uninvited tears of pleasure swell in my eyes, and it sends waves of disgust through me. How dare my body betray me like that.
“Evan Wolfe.”
His expression twists as if what I said is amusing, then he releases a cold laugh.
I frown. Why is he laughing?
“Wolfe?” he repeats, his chuckle continuing. “Puppy more like.”
My eyes narrow. He’s taunting me.
“Don’t call me that,” I snap, but it sounds as pathetic as I expected.
There is a devilish glint in his eye, and I don’t find it welcoming.
“You don’t like that, pups?”
My eyes flash at his patronising tone. “I am not a puppy,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Barely a wolf, though, are you?”
“Is that how you’re meant to speak to your mate?” The words are out of my mouth faster than I can think.
Standing up for myself is something I rarely do because I’ve seen the consequences of doing so, but I’m not going to let it slide this time. I refuse to allow my mate of all people to shove me into a box like I have been my entire life—I don’t want to be a pushover anymore.
Caleb’s eyes blaze, and I tense. He pushes me back into the tree, his hand loosely wrapping around my throat as he holds me in place. A small shriek falls from my lips in sudden fear as I watch his eyes turn near black.
“Say that again, and I’ll—” he cuts himself off.
My body aches as I stare at him under hooded lids. “You’ll what?” I rasp.
The fire inside me from our bond crackles and boils my blood, forcing me to challenge him boldly. It’s a strange sensation to talk back, but Goddess, it feels like a relief, regardless of the situation.
“You’ll fucking regret it.”
The pain that races through my body is almost unbearable. I’ve never really thought through the process of meeting the person the Moon Goddess mated me with for life, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.
I gather the last remaining courage I have and square up to him, pushing against his hand until it falls to his side. I glare at him and shake my head. “Don’t hold your breath,” I murmur harshly, my eyes flicking between his. “The feeling is mutual.”
Without a second thought, I shove past him, shift back into my wolf, and run through the trees as far away from him as possible. Every inch of me is vibrating, even though my wolf wants to go back.
Why?
It’s clear we’re not a match.
And if the rejection from the matebond doesn’t kill me, I’m sure he will.