Chapter 50
“Nathaniel
I felt it the moment the bond shifted. Like someone had set fire to the very thread connecting our souls. It knocked the breath clean out of me, dropping me to my knees, hands clutching the edges of my bed as I tried not to scream. Pain burned beneath my ribs, blinding and brutal. My wolf went silent–shocked, stunned–then roared in my chest.
Jiselle.
Her pain slammed into o me next. Not physical, though I was sure she’d felt that too. No, this was
as deeper. This was soul- deep. Agony laced with betrayal. Like something sacred had been stolen from her. And I knew–gods, I knew–exactly what had happened.
He marked her.
Maximus Laker forcefully marked my mate.
The rage that rose in me wasn’t a flame. It was a fucking inferno. I stumbled to my feet, shaking, breath coming in wild. broken gasps as the realization settled in. I had kissed her. I’d touched her. I’d pulled her into something that was already a wreck, but I never–never–would’ve done that to her. Never would’ve claimed her without her choosing it.
But he had.
That bastard had taken what wasn’t his.
And now?
He had to die.
I didn’t bother dressing for the storm. I didn’t need armor for this. The fury was enough. I stormed out of the dorm, past stunned students, past instructors whose scents I barely registered. I followed the trail of his scent like a predator tracking prey, I didn’t care who saw me. I didn’t care who tried to stop me.
Maximus was going to bleed.
1 found him in the courtyard pacing. Probably waiting for the consequences of what he’d done.
He turned just as I launched at him.
Our bodies collided with the force of thunder. My fists slammed into his jaw, then his ribs, then his face again. He grunted, stumbled back, recovered, and swung hard.
He caught me across the cheek, but I barely felt it.
The world narrowed to him. To this.
To blood and fury and bone–deep hatred.
“You touched her!” I snarled, grabbing his shirt and yanking him forward. “You fucking touched her!”
“I had to!” Maximus roared, slamming his elbow into my ribs.
I didn’t budge.
“You didn’t have to mark her!” I screamed, punching him so hard his head snapped to the side.
“She kissed you,” he spat. “You think I didn’t feel that? Smell it? I gave her a choice and she ran to you,”
“She’s not yours to control!”
We crashed into the snow–covered stone path, grappling, striking, snarling like the wolves beneath our skin had torn loose. Someone shouted. An instructor. Bastain maybe. I didn’t look
Maximus kneed me in the stomach, and I grunted, dragging him down with me.
I rolled on top of him, my fists raining down. “You violated her! You condemned her!”
“She chose me!” he yelled through bloody teeth. “She said she loved me!”
“She’s my mate!” I roared so loudly it echoed off the buildings.
We rolled again, blood spraying across the snow, breath heaving, muscles trembling
Bastain tried to get between us. I threw him off!
More voices. Students. Instructors. But they c. Successfully unlocked!
No che could stop us.
The courtyard filled, a sea of onlookers too stunned to speak. Even the fourth–years stood back, faces pale, eyes wide. They’d never seen anything like this.
Chapter 50
Even when Bastain had made us fight in second year, pushing us for hours, desperate to see who would come out on top.. we’d never been able to best each other. Even on the day when I challenged Jiselle and he’d been pissed. Some said that was the most intense they had seen us fight. But today was going to pass that by a mile.
Until now
Maximus slammed his head into mine and I reeled, staggering, then rushed him again. We collided mid–air. His wolf was emerging but he didn’t shift fully. We hit the ground hard, snow flying, claws tearing, fangs snapping. It was then that I realized our wolves were front and center, but we were still in human form.
The crowd gasped as we fought like gods fallen from grace.
I tackled him, pinned him, but he twisted free.
He lunged. I dodged. He struck again. I met him head–on.
Flesh tore. Blood spilled. But I didn’t stop
Not until I had him under me, my hand wrapped around his throat, pressing down.
“Say it.” I growled. “Say you regret it.”
His eyes flared with panic. He clawed at my arms, struggling.
“Say it!”
He gasped. His hands weakened.
I though I had tuned out every external sound and shout, yet one familiar voice cut through me.
“Please!” Eva’s voice cracked through the air like lightning.
I froze
She was crying.
Eva Laker, the ice queen, was crying. I didn’t know her well. In fact, I didn’t know her at all. But I was always watching Jiselle, so she had happened to be in my view a few times too.
She didn’t seem like the one to show emotion, let alone cry.
“Please don’t kill him, she sobbed “Please, Nathaniel. He’s my brother”
My grip loosened.
My rage didn’t vanish–it burned brighter–but it refocused. Shifted.
I thought of Jiselle. Of her smile. Her tears. Her pain.
e very close. If I hurt her, I hurt
She wouldn’t want me to kill him, no matter what he’d done. And she and this Eva girl were very Jiselle
With a growl of disgust, I slammed my fist into Maximus’s temple, and his body went limp. Unconscious.
But alive
I stood, heaving, covered in blood and snow and fury. The crowd was silent.
Bastain stepped forward, his face pale.
He looked between me and Maximus’s crumpled form, then at Eva, who had collapsed to her knees, sobbing “What’s the meaning of this?” Hadelyn barked, storming toward us.
“Explain yourself? Bastain snapped, directing it at me now.
I said nothing.
I didn’t have to
Everyone had seen.
Everyone knew.
The silence was broken only by the soft sound of Jiselle’s ragged breathing–somewhere behind me, I heard it. Ethan was cradling her, looking like he’d lost everything.
I rushed towards them I was so caught up in my rage that I didn’t even stop to check if Jiselle was okay. She was right here all along and all I saw was red. All I saw was Maximus
“How is she?” I asked Ethan, who didn’t even seem phased by the blood
“Not good” he mumbled “We need to get her to the infirmary”
“Like that will help My jaw ticked, and Ethan’s eyes snapped from Jiselle then, briefly glancing at me in confusion. But
Chapter 50
sweeping over me again, before dancing back at the
before he could question it, Bastain stepped forward again, eyes s unconscious bastard whose brothers were now hauling him away.
“All these years,” Bastain said slowly, like he couldn’t quite believe it. “All these years, and neither of you could best the other. Not once.”
He looked at me then, truly looked, then at Jiselle, and back at me.
And the understanding in his gaze made my stomach clench
“You’re mates”
It wasn’t a question.
A gasp rippled through the crowd. Even those who had suspected it now had confirmation. Hadelyn was as red as a tomato. I knew he suspected it too, but now he knew he couldn’t touch her. If I was able to take down Maximus Laker–my equal in strength and power, he didn’t stand a chance. And he knew it. But then it didn’t really matter if Hadelyn tried to kill Jiselle or not. Because this could very well kill her.
She had to fight. She had to live.
So everyone now knew. We were mates.
Fated
I didn’t know what to say.
Didn’t know how to breathe.
But I turned just in time to see Ethan’s face contort in confusion.
His eyes widened.
And then he shouted, loud enough to crack through the tension like a whip
“What!?”
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