Chapter 3 Put The Alpha In His Place

• Seren’s POV
• For the next three days, I avoid Kael like he’s the plague. Not even a glance in his direction. I don’t tell my mom what happened in the art room—mostly because I’m still trying to process it myself. And let’s be honest: part of it was my fault. I had no business snooping around where I wasn’t supposed to be. Still, that doesn’t give him a free pass to act like some unhinged psycho guarding a secret vault. He basically tried to kill me.
• He probably thought I was some rogue intruder—or worse, a threat which is laughable. I’m a five-foot-five ginger with a lip gloss addiction, not a serial killer. Regardless, Kael is still the biggest, most arrogant jerk I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a lot of jerks.
• I want nothing to do with him. Zero. Like he said: just because our parents are playing house doesn’t mean we have to hold hands and sing Kumbaya.
• Today is my first day at this fancy new school, and I’m standing in my enormous walk-in closet, marveling at how grande it is. I don’t even have enough clothes to fill it up. I’ll definitely have to do some shopping soon.
• I settle on a green denim mini skirt that hugs my hips and stops just shy of scandalous. A bubblegum-pink tank top, because why not? And a black oversized jacket that I drown in because of my small frame.
• My hair is a fiery reddish-orange and falls in soft waves down to my waist, with a few loose strands artfully framing my face. I swipe on my favorite strawberry-pink lip gloss, tug on my black boots, and give myself a once-over in the mirror.
• I look good. Dangerously good.
• The freckles across my nose make me look deceptively sweet, but the boots say otherwise. Balance.
• “Seren, honey?” Mom’s voice floats in as she walks into my room. “The driver’s outside. Don’t want to be late on your first day.”
• I strut out of the closet and Mom just... stops. Her eyes mist up like she’s about to cry. “Oh, sweetheart. You look gorgeous. No one will dare be mean to you looking like that.”
• I smirk. “Thanks, Mom.” I grab my bag and we head downstairs together.
• For the record, I’ve never had a driver before. Mom used to drive me everywhere. She’s begged me to take driving lessons, but I’ve always found something more urgent to do—like nap.
• But now? This whole private driver situation feels excessive. I am not a royal. I’m just some girl and I don’t want to be driven to school every morning by a chauffeur.
• Just as I’m about to step outside, Mom drops a bomb.
• “Oh, by the way, you’ll be riding with Kael today.”
• I whip around. “What?!”
• She shrugs—shrugs—like she hasn’t just hijacked my morning and thrown it into a nightmare. “His car is in the repair shop. It’s just for a few days, darling. Don’t be so dramatic.”
• “Dramatic?” I blink at her, stunned. “I don’t like this, Mom. He makes me uncomfortable.”
• She gives me that look—brows pinched, lips tight—as if I’m the problem. As if I’m the one being unreasonable. If only she knew the truth. If only I told her that Alpha Thorne’s precious son literally tried to kill me, then she’d understand. But I didn’t. I made a choice to keep my mouth shut, because the last thing I want is to shatter the illusion of happiness she’s finally found with the Alpha. I don’t want to create tension between the two of them because I can’t get along with Kael.
• “It’s a chance for you two to connect,” she says, far too casually, as we head toward the blacked-out jeep parked in front of the mansion. “Who knows? You might actually have something in common.”
• “Yeah. Something in common like mutual hatred,” I mutter under my breath.
• “Seren,” she scolds sharply, her voice laced with warning. “He’s going to be your brother now. You have to try and get along with him. Please, do it for me.”
• I groan, heart thudding. I want to scream—but instead, I force my feet forward like I’m walking into an execution chamber. A guard opens the door for me, and I give Mom a final wave, my smile fake and tight. Then I slide into the car and come face-to-face with him.
• Kael.
• We’re alone. The privacy screen is up, and the driver can’t see us back here. It’s just the two of us. The air feels too thick to breathe.
• His eyes darken the second he sees me. They widen—just a little—but the way they roam my body is deliberate and unashamed. He takes his time, dragging his gaze from my hair to my lips, then lower… past my thighs, down to my boots. When he finally meets my eyes again, he scowls like I’m the one who offended him.
• “Wow,” I say flatly, trying to sound unfazed even though I can feel my pulse everywhere. “Good morning to you too.”
• I return the favor, letting my eyes sweep over him the same way. His dark hair is effortlessly styled, his black shirt unbuttoned just enough to tease at tan skin and lean muscle. His pants hang low on his hips, loose and lazy like he doesn’t give a damn and he smells… unfairly good.
• I hate him. I hate that he’s gorgeous.
• “What are you staring at, Red?” he asks, voice like gravel and heat.
• My brow shoots up. “Red? My name is Seren.”
• He smirks, eyes gleaming with something dangerous. He glances at my hair and scoffs. “Whatever you say… Red.”
• “So,” he says casually, “how old are you again? Seventeen, right?”
• “What?” I blink, wondering if he’s trying to make conversation or if he’s just trying to be a jerk as usual.
• “Just wondering. You look old enough to drive yourself to school.”
• I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
• He glances at me, mouth curled into something halfway between amusement and judgment. “It means it’s pretty pathetic that you don’t have a license, obviously.”
• I tense, feeling embarrassed now for whatever reason. “How do you even know that?”
• He shrugs, his gaze drilling holes into my skin. “I know everything that matters about the people living under my roof. Or leeching off it.”
• “I didn’t choose to be there,” I snap.
• “Right, right. Poor little stray got picked up and dumped at the Alpha’s feet.”
• “If you have something to say to me, then just say it.” I scowl.
• “Oh, I will,” he says, his voice calm and cruel. “Your mom randomly encounters my dad, seduces him with whatever witchery she practices, and now they’re getting engaged. Moves right into the Alpha’s house like she’s some queen. Brings along her weird little daughter. I mean, it’s pretty obvious you and your mother are just opportunists.”
• His words hit me like a slap, but what really breaks something in me is how casually he says it. Like it’s just a fact. Like my mother is some gold-digger seeking power, when he doesn’t even know the first thing about her.
• He doesn’t know what it took for her to survive.
• He doesn’t know how she stayed when my father turned into something darker than the moon ever sees. He doesn’t know about the bruises, the screams I used to muffle into my pillow. The way she’d smile for me after crying herself to sleep. He doesn’t know how she picked herself up when he left—how she clawed her way through grief and trauma and built an empire and wealth with nothing but stubbornness and a broken heart.
• My mother doesn’t need anyone. Especially not a man. She is her own salvation, her own story. And now this arrogant, spoiled wolf boy with his father’s name etched into his ego thinks he can talk about her like that?
• Rage coils in my chest, slow and simmering, until it boils over.
• We pull up to the school and the driver parks. He gets out of the car and I follow quickly behind him, wanting to do something awful to him. Anything to defend my mother’s honor. This jerk can say what he wants about me but my mother is where I draw the line.
• “Well, have fun pretending you belong here,” he says, with a smirk that splits me in half. “Maybe try not to embarrass yourself too much. Or your mother.”
• I see red. Not just in my hair—but behind my eyes, in my veins, in the silence that stretches for a second too long. Then my hand moves before I can stop it.
• Smack.
• The sound echoes like a gunshot in the morning air.
• Every head in the school parking lot turns to look. A group of girls near the front doors gasp. Someone mutters, “Oh, shit.”
• He just stares at me, stunned and fuming with rage, cheek flaming where my hand landed. I feel the powerful aura of his alpha bloodline hit me like a wave but I don’t care. I stand my ground.
• “If you ever talk about my mother like that again I swear to the moon goddess I will fucking kill you. You might not know what it’s like to have a mother figure seeing as you didn’t grow up with one, but do not mess with mine.” I say, voice sharp and trembling with fury.
• For a split second, I see his eyes flash with hurt at my last statement but I don’t really care. He started this.
• I can feel the entire student body staring at me and this isn’t exactly the first impression I wanted to leave as the new girl in school. I wanted to keep a low profile, but I don’t regret it.
• I would do anything for my mom, so let them all stare. Let them all see how an unknown girl put an alpha in his place.