Three

Cameron

My mate's confession sent my pulse racing, and I stood there tormented by confusing emotions. One emotion was deep fear, and the other was my wounded pride. 

No one had ever spoken to me like that in my life; everyone had always wanted to associate with me, even people I didn't want. 

Ever since I knew what was at stake and that the success of my pack and the continuity of my alpha bloodline depended on finding my fated mate, I had desperately longed for one and prayed that I would find her. 

Every joy I felt had dissolved into this growing fear. As she left, she turned around and stared at me. Her eyes were the color of ice gray, and although her face looked calm and aloof, she seemed like the kind of person who was comfortable with both good and evil. Beneath her innocent persona, she was a bundle of contradictions. 

She rocked an ash-blonde bob with bangs so thick that her eyes would have been invisible if not for their striking color. I had never felt so infuriated and yet so compelled to go to my knees and beg for my life. 

She left, letting the door bang shut behind her.

Well, fuck me.

My hands trembled, and it took a while to shake off the hazy fog. I ran my hand over my curls, feeling the urge to go home and cry at my dad's feet.

 Surely he would do something and command my mate to accept me, but something inside me held me back. I was determined to handle this on my own. 

Seething with raw anger and frustration, I ditched class. Even when I tried to join soccer practice, it was a disaster - I kept missing passes. My teammates stared at me, wondering what was wrong. When Coach blew his whistle and told me to get my head in the game, I snapped at him and tossed the ball away. 

My best friends, Michael and Fabian, rushed after me.

"Dude, why are you acting like a sourpuss?" Fabian, who was annoying as fuck but also one of the most loyal friends I had, said, hanging his hand on my neck. I shoved his hand away harder than I intended. 

Fabian was as thin as a matchstick despite the unhealthy calories he consumed, and I worried that I had dislocated his arm.

"Seriously, Cameron, what's eating you up? Are you having issues with Jennifer?" Michael, my brainiac friend, asked, even though his question made no sense since 

Jennifer was just a minor annoyance and couldn't compare to the deep rejection I felt. My brain made a mental comparison between Jennifer and my mate. Jennifer was a beauty, standing at an impressive five-foot-nine, with long ebony hair straightened and styled with a center part, a glassy face, sharp blue eyes, and rosy cheeks, giving her an innocent look, but everyone knew she was far from innocent. 

My mate, on the other hand, was tiny, with curves more dangerous than a mountain road, and everything about her had clouded my senses. 

Michael and Fabian kept asking questions, pressuring me to speak, but I didn't. We went to my room; usually, I didn't like them coming in after soccer practice, but I was too bothered to care. 

They opened my refrigerator, took out two bowls of vanilla ice cream, and began snacking on it while waiting for me to open up. 

"What if I told you guys that I found my mate?"

 I dropped the news like a bombshell. Michael's eyes bulged open like egg whites, while Fabian began leaping in excitement like a kid on Christmas morning. 

"Shut the fuck up," Michael snapped at Fabian. "If he found his mate but is sulking, doesn't that indicate trouble?" 

Then Michael faced me. "What's going on? Did she reject you? Is she with someone else? Is she a student at the school?" 

Thinking about the rejection annoyed the hell out of me. I took off my vest. "She doesn't want me, and yeah, she's new. I met her yesterday. She belongs to one of the smaller Lycan packs." 

"Ew," Fabian said, scrunching his nose. "Shouldn't she consider herself lucky and be licking your feet now?"

 "She claims to have no connection with her wolf," I said flatly while taking a plate of ice cream from the fridge and enjoying the coldness against my skin, wondering how my dad would react to this new development.

The power behind the sacred stone was weakening, and only my fated bond could restore it. Since Dad and Mom weren't mates, the longer we delayed, the more likely the King position would be handed to another family. 

Dating Jennifer was an alliance, but now that I had my answers right at my fingertips, I couldn't let my mate go.

 "Did you make her understand that this bond must be sealed as soon as possible?" Michael asked me, looking concerned.

I shrugged. "She looks like the type who'd be irritated by begging. I might have to do this the hard way." 

The room fell silent until Fabian spoke up. "So now that you've found your mate, can I have Jennifer?”

 Michael never disappointed and helped me hit the back of Fabian's head, making him wince loudly. 

"What the hell, man? Jennifer is hot, the hottest girl in school. Now that Cameron is clouded by love, he needs to hand her over. Or haven't you heard that the bond makes people weak and madly in love?" 

While Fabian was yapping away, an idea struck me. I could head to the campus and check the school computer for my mate's record. But school was over, and I needed the keys. As usual, I got my way and headed to the admin officer's quarters. He was one of my dad's biggest ass lickers and did every damn thing I requested. 

His house had a distinctive damp smell that made me want to puke. My friends and I rushed back to the office after promising him not to be mischievous. I logged onto his computer and started checking the student records.

"I think I found her," Fabian said, and I hissed loudly when he showed me a picture of a redhead. I kept scrolling until I found her profile.

"Bingo!" I exclaimed. My friends rushed to the computer. "Her name is Athena Wolfe," I said, and Michael took down her name and relevant information from her profile.

She was 19, with a brother and two cousins enrolled. Her father was an alpha from the South, and her mother was an investigative journalist.

Notably, Athena had hybrid blood since her mother was human, which perfectly explained why she couldn't feel her wolf. I wasn't concerned, as I knew of my dad's friend who married a human and had healthy hybrid kids.

Fabian commented, zooming in on her picture. "She looks cute, though I think Jennifer is hotter."

 "You can have her," I said, excited about the idea forming in my head and absentmindedly doodling on an A4 paper. 

Let's see how you escape me, my dear mate.