Kaelen

The scent of Maya—frost and jasmine—still clung to my clothes, a memory that was both a torment and a treasure. I stormed into the locker room, my head down, my breath coming in short, furious bursts. The team was quiet. Too quiet. I could feel their eyes on me, their questions hanging in the air like a heavy fog.

Marcus, however, wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially not one he didn't understand. He was leaning against a locker, a towel draped around his neck, his face a mask of annoyance. "Care to explain what that was, Captain?"

My wolf bristled. I wanted to snarl at him, to put him in his place. But my human half, the one that knew the rules of this world, forced me to calm down. "What was what?" I asked, my voice dangerously low.

"Don't play stupid, Kaelen. The growling, the 'she's with me' bullshit? She's a human, man. We don't do that." Marcus's voice was firm, and for a moment, I saw the face of a pack member, not just a teammate. He was right. We didn't do that. Our world was a secret, hidden from the prying eyes of humans. My outburst had been a reckless, dangerous thing.

I ran a hand over my face, trying to find a lie, a half-truth, something to placate him. "I… she's a friend. She was just talking to me about the Art and Design club, and you guys came in all loud and I was having a bad day." It sounded weak, even to my own ears.

"A bad day doesn't make you growl like that," Marcus said, his eyes narrowing. "That was... a command. You were acting like you had a right to her."

He was closer to the truth than he could ever know, and the instinct to silence him, to make him back down, was overwhelming. My wolf was pushing, a physical pressure in my skull. I had to get a hold of myself. "I'm sorry, Marcus. It was out of line. It won't happen again."

He looked at me for a long moment, then just shook his head and turned to walk away. "Just... don't let it happen again, Kaelen. We've got enough on our plates with playoffs coming up. We don't need any weird drama."

The relief was short-lived. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and the number on the screen made my blood run cold. Father.

"Hello," I answered, my voice carefully neutral.

"Kaelen," his voice was a low thunder, a sound that commanded respect and obedience. "What is this I hear about you causing a scene at the rec center?"

My heart sank. My father, Alpha of the pack, seemed to know everything. "It was a misunderstanding, Father. A freshman was trying to get me to buy her cookies for some club, and I told her I wasn't interested. Marcus and the guys thought it was funny."

It was a flimsy lie, but it was the best I could come up with on the fly.

"Is that so?" he said, and I knew he didn't believe me for a second. "I have a source in the gym who tells me you nearly bit Marcus's head off. He said you acted like a wolf protecting its cub. Kaelen, you know the rules. We do not draw attention to ourselves. We do not flaunt our nature in front of humans. You are the Alpha's son, and you are expected to have a better handle on your emotions than this."

A heavy silence followed, filled only with the sound of my own frantic pulse. "I apologize, Father. It won't happen again. I'll make sure it doesn't."

"See that you do. I'll be on campus next weekend for the parent-alumni dinner. We will discuss this more then. Until then, stay away from whatever human you've found yourself tangled up with. It's too great a risk."

The line went dead, and I was left alone in the quiet locker room, the weight of the alpha's son a crushing burden on my shoulders. I felt an immense frustration. My father didn't understand. This wasn't just some girl; this was my mate. My life, my very purpose, had been shifted on its axis, and I was being told to simply ignore it.

I couldn't. I wouldn't. The emptiness I felt from her absence was a physical ache. My wolf, now in the driver's seat, demanded I find her. To hell with the rules. To hell with the pack. She was mine. I had to find a way to get close to her, to make her feel safe, to make her understand what was happening to us without telling her the impossible truth.

My eyes fell on a small bulletin board in the back of the locker room. It was covered in old flyers, but one stood out. The same flyer Maya had been posting. Art and Design Club. The logo was elegant, simple, and beneath it, a number for the club's meeting room. A surge of exhilaration shot through me. I didn't need to ask for her number. I didn't need to stalk her. I just needed to join her club.

My wolf purred. This was a plan it could get behind.

Maya

"Maya, you've been staring at that blank page for ten minutes now."

My roommate, Chloe, was sprawled on her bed, scrolling through her phone. "Who was that guy you came back with? He was a total hottie, but he looked like he was about to eat someone."

I blinked, pulling my gaze away from the pristine white page in my sketchbook. I had been trying to design a new poster for the Art and Design Club, but my mind kept replaying the scene from the hallway. The scent of him, the sheer size of him, the way his green eyes had looked at me.

"That's Kaelen," I said, my voice quiet. "He's the captain of the hockey team."

"No way!" Chloe sat up, a look of genuine surprise on her face. "Kaelen Thorne? He's practically a campus legend. Why were you with him? He never talks to anyone."

"I... I was posting flyers, and he walked me back to the dorm." I left out the growl, the territorial display, and the look in his eyes.

"And?" she pressed, her eyebrows raised. "That's it? He's a senior, a pro prospect, and he walked a random freshman back to her dorm? Something's up."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I don't know, Chloe. He was just really… intense. And his friends... they just left us alone. It was all very strange."

"Strange in a good way or a weird way?"

"Both?" I said, and a laugh escaped me. It was strange, and a little bit scary, but there was also an undeniable thrill to it all. He was so unlike anyone I'd ever met.

The rest of the day passed in a haze of classes and trying to focus. In my Introduction to Graphic Design class, we were given a new assignment: to design a logo for a sports team. I was usually full of ideas, but now, only one thing came to mind. A snarling wolf, its eyes a fierce green. I shook my head, frustrated. I couldn't get him out of my head.

After class, I went back to my dorm, determined to make sense of my thoughts. I finally decided that the best thing to do was just to get back to my normal routine. I needed to go back to the rec center, this time to the student gym, to get a workout in. Maybe some physical activity would clear my head.

I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and made my way back across campus. The rec center was less crowded than it had been earlier, a few students lifting weights, a few more on the treadmills. I found an empty elliptical machine and started my workout, trying to lose myself in the rhythmic motion.

But as I looked up, I saw him again. Kaelen.

He was in the weight room, his shirt off, his muscles flexing as he lifted weights that seemed impossible to me. His back was to me, but I would have known him anywhere. The dark hair, the broad shoulders, the way he moved with a coiled, animalistic grace. My heart jumped, a frantic little bird in my chest. He was like a magnet, and I was just an iron filing, drawn in against my will.

He looked over his shoulder, and as if he could feel my gaze, his eyes locked on mine. There was a flicker of something in his eyes—relief? He put the weights down and started walking toward me.

I froze, my hands gripping the handles of the elliptical machine. He was coming for me, and I had a feeling this time, he wouldn't let me go without an explanation.