All Chapters of Mated at midnight : Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

I tore down the street, lungs burning like they were laced with acid, legs jelly-soft but somehow still moving. Fast. Faster. But not fast enough.They were behind me again.I could hear them—heavy boots pounding against wet pavement, splashing through puddles, voices sharp and brutal cutting through the night air.“There! He went left!”“Don’t let him get away!”Three of them this time. I recognized the one with the buzz cut in a black leather jacket. He always seemed to be there. He looked like he belonged on the cover of some edgy fashion magazine, all chiseled jaw and too much cologne. But hot or not, he was still trying to ruin my life.Why me? Why always me?My name is Jayden Hart. I’m twenty-two years old. No parents. No family. No idea who I even really am. I’ve lived in Nocturne City since I was born—or at least, that’s what I assume. I don’t have any memories before I was five. That’s where everything starts for me. A blank slate before that. No birthdays, no bedtime stories

I don’t sleep. I haven’t in years. The insomniac Alpha. I’ve been called worse, but none of the labels really bother me anymore. They’re all meaningless. My name is Zane Ryker, and the night—my night—belongs to me. When you live as long as I have, you learn that sleep is just a weakness, a necessity of the young, the mortal. I’m neither. I’m an Alpha—three hundred years old, and I’ve conquered everything I’ve ever set my eyes on. But sleep, sleep eludes me, just as the last fragments of my humanity do.The city below me is nothing but a sea of lights, shadows, and meaningless noise. The low hum of Lunaris, my kingdom in the heart of Nocturne City, reverberates through my bones as I sit in my office, overlooking it all. The music, the laughter, the subtle thrill of desperation and pleasure—it’s all in my control. I own the night. I own this city. No one dares to challenge me, and those who try? Well, they learn the hard way why I’ve remained untouchable for centuries.I stand by the wi