He Has A Mate?
1392 Words
Combat class was not PE.
It was not normal.
It was not okay.
This was the kind of s**t you see in shows where people get murdered in the first ten minutes. Like, full-on murdered. No warmups. No stretches. No “remember to hydrate” banners or whistles or foam mats. Just pain. Blood.
Testosterone in the air. People growling like they were about to shift and eat each other. I’m not even exaggerating. One guy cracked his neck so hard I think he popped a blood vessel. Someone else spat on the ground like we were in a Western. Someone else had claws out.
Claws. Out.
And then there was me.
In an oversized hoodie that made me look like I was hiding a whole family under it, standing there like a lost little wet rat, clutching my sleeves like they were safety ropes, sweating under my arms like I’d just run a marathon through a volcano. If anybody looked too closely, they’d see the panic steaming off me like visible heat.
“This was a mistake,” I whispered to myself like a prayer. “This was a very large, stupid, life-threatening mistake. I don’t fight. I don’t spar. I don’t run unless something is chasing me, and even then I’m probably gonna trip and die.”
“Stand tall,” my wolf said in that annoyingly calm, sultry growl she does. Like she isn’t living inside my panic.
I didn’t even jump. I just rolled my eyes.
“Why do you always say that like I’m some superhero in a cape?”
“Because you’re acting like prey.”
“Because I am prey. Have you seen my knees? They’re shaking. My heart’s doing the salsa. I think I might pee.”
“You’re an Omega. You are not weak.”
“Oh my God,” I hissed under my breath. “Tell that to the puddle of anxiety I’m about to become.”
Right then, this terrifying woman stomped into the center like a battle tank. She was tall. Broad. Had the face of someone who’d definitely bitten a man once and won.
She had blood on her boots. Literal blood. And scars. And rage. And she looked like she ate metal and drank lava. Her voice cracked through the air like a gunshot.
“NEW WOLVES TO THE LEFT! VETERANS TO THE RIGHT! IF YOU’RE STILL STANDING THERE WHEN I GET TO FIVE, I’LL MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF YOUR BONES!”
I moved so fast I teleported.
Actually tripped over my own feet, caught myself, did a little spin to recover, and ended up in the new-wolves section with my heart in my throat and my hoodie sticking to my back like saran wrap. I looked like a walking breakdown. I could feel people staring. Judging. Smelling me.
Oh God.
What if I still smelled like that dream?
“You’re fine,” my wolf said.
“I’m not fine. I am five seconds from a public meltdown. Do you know how many people are here?! I think someone just sniffed me.”
“Fix your posture. You look like you’re waiting to get eaten.”
“Because I am waiting to get eaten!”
“Hey,” a voice said beside me, and I nearly jumped out of my hoodie.
I turned, and this tall, lean, effortlessly cool girl was standing next to me like she owned the whole field. Warm brown skin, high braid, and that face — you know the face. The one girls have when they drink water, exfoliate, do yoga, and know they’re better than everyone.
“You look like you’re about to cry and throw up at the same time,” she said, smiling like we were besties.
“That’s because I am,” I whispered.
She laughed. “I’m Zia. Beta. First year. You?”
“Elena. Omega. First year. Extremely not okay.”
Zia beamed like I’d just made her day. “Perfect. We’re gonna be friends. Stick with me and you’ll only almost die.”
Before I could reply, another girl popped up on my other side like she’d been summoned by drama.
She was shorter, curvier, with big gold hoops and shiny lip gloss, snapping her gum like it insulted her mother. She looked like she fought people on weekends just for the cardio.
“Did I hear someone say Lucian?” she asked.
I blinked. “I didn’t say Lucian.”
“I did,” Zia said, way too chill. “This one…” she pointed at me “…is rooming with him.”
Miss Gold Hoops froze. “You’re the Omega staying with Lucian Blackthorne?”
That was the first sentence.
The first actual sentence this girl..this short, snatched, glossy-lipped Beta with gold hoops so big you could hula hoop with them — said to me. No hello. No name. No how was your morning? Just—
Boom.
Lucian Blackthorne.
And me.
In the same sentence.
I blinked. I froze. I mentally flatlined. I forgot how to speak. My brain turned into a WiFi signal that just kept buffering.
“Oh my f*****g God,” Raina said, eyes wide, voice loud enough to attract a few stares. “You are the Omega staying with Lucian Blackthorne?”
“I—uh—I…”
Nope. Nothing. I had nothing.
She snapped her gum like she was in a high school movie. “Girl. That’s not just news. That’s breaking news. That’s front page. That’s viral on PackTok with 3 million views and an Alpha thirst edit.”
“I didn’t ask for this,” I finally squeaked.
“Oh, we know,” said Zia, grinning beside me like this was the best reality show she’d ever watched. “Nobody asks to live with Lucian. That’s like… fate. Or punishment. Or both.”
“I swear to God,” I whispered, “I just wanted a bed. A nice bed. Maybe a desk. Maybe a roommate who doesn’t stare at me like he’s imagining me dead or naked. Or both.”
Raina gasped. “He stares at you?”
“He doesn’t blink,” I croaked. “He growls in his sleep. He called me weak before I even finished unpacking.”
Zia looked like she was trying not to cackle. “That’s kind of his version of flirting.”
“What?! That’s not flirting. That’s a threat.”
My wolf purred. “You were aroused.”
I slammed my inner brakes. “Excuse me?!”
“When he growled. You liked it.”
“Oh my God, shut up. Shut up right now.”
Zia leaned in. “Do you know what people say about him?”
“No. And I don’t want to know.”
“They say he made a Gamma cry just by looking at him.”
“They say he once fought a rogue barehanded and didn’t shift.”
“They say he’s the reason the last combat instructor retired early.”
“They say…”
“I’m going to pass out,” I blurted. “I’m actually going to pass out and die and haunt this place forever.”
“And then he’ll growl at your ghost,” Raina added, clearly having too much fun.
Zia tilted her head, like she was studying me. “You don’t smell like him though.”
“What?!”
“If he really claimed you, you’d smell like him.”
“I don’t want to smell like anyone!”
“Yet,” my wolf said darkly.
“Shut UP,” I snapped in my head.
Zia nodded slowly. “Interesting. So, he hasn’t marked you.”
“Marked me?!”
“Or claimed you.”
“CLAIMED—?!”
“Oh my God,” I gasped out loud. “I am going to combust.”
“Wait…” Zia suddenly said, like she just remembered a very important plot twist.
“Oh shoot,” Raina added, her eyes going wide. “We forgot.”
I blinked, panicked. “Forgot what?”
Zia made a face. “He has a mate.”
And just like that, my soul left my body.
I stood there, frozen, blinking at them like I’d just been slapped with a frying pan. “I’m sorry…he what?!”
Fucking hell.
- Writer
