Chapter 5 You're Unbelievable And Impossible

• Kael’s POV
• When Seren slapped me, it wasn’t the sting that got to me. It was the fire in her eyes. The rawness. The honesty. Every time we’ve crossed paths, it’s been chaotic. Messy. Wrong. And yet… unforgettable. From the moment I saw her to the second I grabbed her throat in my art room, to the slap she landed on my cheek in school, it’s like the universe keeps throwing her at me, daring me to feel something real.
• She unravels me…which is crazy because we haven’t even had a proper conversation yet.
• Everyone around me has always treated me like some god, because I’m the future alpha. They walk on eggshells around me, always wanting to please me. Not Seren though, and that intrigues me. She intrigues me and I’d be civil with her but I just don’t know how to make friends. I know my dad wants me to get along with her, but from our few interactions, it’s clear that it’s never going to happen.
• Ayla keeps asking why I didn’t put Seren in her place. Why I didn’t make a scene. But I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. Because for the first time in years, I felt something other than numbness. Other than duty.
• I felt alive.
• It’s hard to describe the relationship I have with Ayla.
• I’ve always been a loner, especially since my mom passed away when I was only ten years old. Her death took away something from me and left a void in my chest that not even my mate has been able to fill. I changed since then. I kept to myself.
• I wasn’t interested in making friends, and I sure as hell wasn’t interested in dating. I was numb. All I wanted to do was learn as much as possible from my father about the position of Alpha. I’m eighteen and in two years my father will step down and I’ll be the new leader of the crimson moon pack. So that responsibility is all I have been focusing on since my mother died.
• My relationship with my father is strictly business now. We sort of drifted apart since mom died and I didn’t really blame him for it. He lost his mate and the love of his life, and as I got older, I understood the significance of that loss.
• I was happy for him when he told me he found someone. Someone else to love. Someone else to fill the hole in his heart.
• But all that happiness turned sour when I saw the way he smiled at them when they arrived. A smile that I haven’t received from him in years. I just got bitter all of a sudden. I guess maybe I’m a bit jealous that this mysterious woman is able to bring out that kind of smile from my dad. The kind of smile I needed from him when my mother died. When I was just a child and needed the comfort of a parent. Instead, my father in his grief shut me out and became stern.
• He channeled all his pain into molding me into the perfect alpha, severing any emotional connection we once had.
• A few months after I turned seventeen and Ayla turned sixteen, I felt the mate bond with her. It was a foreign feeling to me—nothing like I’d ever experienced before. I felt a rush of devotion, of infinite loyalty toward her, like a magnetic pull deep in my bones. It was instinctive, primal. My wolf stirred the second I felt the bond, and it rooted itself in me like a brand.
• But here’s the thing no one ever says out loud: the mate bond isn’t always enough.
• I care for Ayla—I can’t help it. The bond ties me to her in ways I can’t explain. I feel protective over her, responsible even. She’ll be Beta after her father one day, and once I mark her, she’ll become my Luna. Everyone expects it. My father. Her father. The entire pack. It’s the logical path. The safe path. But that doesn’t make it the right one.
• Because even though I feel drawn to Ayla, I don’t love her. I’ve tried—fuck, I’ve tried. But there’s a difference between desire and connection. Between loyalty and love. And Ayla… she’s never looked past the surface. She’s shallow, obsessed with appearances and power. We’ve never shared a real conversation. Never built anything that felt real between us. She wants the mark, keeps pushing for it, and I keep pulling away. Not because I don’t know how, not because I’m clueless, but because it’s never felt like the right time.
• Marking someone is not just sex. Not just a bite. It’s sacred. And permanent.
• To complete the mark, the mating pair must come together under a full moon. It's tradition, yes, but also magic. The moon strengthens the bond, blesses it. And in that moment of physical union, when everything in you is raw and open and vulnerable, the alpha male must bite his mate’s shoulder. A claiming that roots deep into the soul.
• As the bite heals, a mark begins to form. Not a scar. A symbol. A crimson moon-shaped tattoo that appears like a burn over the healing skin. It glows faintly for the first few days before settling into her skin forever. That mark would declare Ayla as mine. As the Luna of the Crimson Moon pack.
• So no, I haven’t marked her. Not yet. Maybe not ever. And I think that scares her, but I still have two years till I’m alpha. It can wait.
• I hear and smell her before I see her. As I pace back and forth, in the middle of the night, Seren walks confidently towards the pool, oblivious to my presence in the dim light. She smiles down at her phone as she replies to a text.
• I glance at her from head to toe. Seren has the type of presence that demands attention. I can’t help but look at her. In a small white bikini, that red hair of hers falling in waves down her back she looks angelic. It’s really not hard to notice how beautiful she is.
• “How can you want to swim at this time of the night?” I state flatly, stepping out of the shadows.
• “Oh my… Fuck! What the fuck is your problem?” She jumps back as she startles in fear and accidentally tosses her phone in the pool. The device sinks into the water and I shake my head at her clumsiness as I take long strides towards her. I look into the pool.
• “I’m afraid you’ll have to get a new phone.” I state.
• She crosses her arms, the action accentuating her breasts that are barely covered by her bikini top. Then she scowls at me.
• “You know I’ve just about had it with you! You made me drop my phone so get in that pool and fetch it!” She says, and I don’t even think she’s joking. I raise my brows at her but before I can reply I feel her hands on my abdomen.
• She pushes me with full force into the pool but she doesn’t go free. I grab hold of her hand and pull her into the water with me. She screams as we both hit the water, going under. We sink into the deep, her hands clutching my shirt instinctively. She’s close, too close and because of my werewolf senses I can feel the heat coming off her body even in the coolness of the water.
• For a moment, we stay under the water staring at each other before she pushes me back. The moment goes as fast as it comes and before I know it, we’re both at the surface again glaring at each other.
• You’re the actual worst!” she splutters, pushing soaked red hair from her eyes as she hits the water furiously.
• “You pushed me first,” I growl.
• “Because you scared the shit out of me and made me drop my phone, creep!” She bites back.
• “I don’t have the right to take a walk in my own house?” I ask with a raise of my brow.
• “In the dark like a lunatic!?”
• “You’re a werewolf! You were supposed to sense I was here. Haven’t you been taught to always have your guard up? What’s the point of being a wolf if you won’t use the gifts that come with it?”
• “You’re unbelievable,” she breathes. “And impossible!” she adds.
• Then she mutters to herself. “I don’t know how our parents expect us to get along! You decided you hate me from the moment you set your eyes on me!”
• “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t hate you. I just…”
• “Just what?” She asks, and I only just realize how close we’ve gotten to each other in the heated moment. I’ve never been this close to another girl except Ayla and Seren’s presence is suffocating. I study her face. I notice the green in her eyes, her long lashes, her heart shaped lips glowing with lip-gloss, her hair in the water. For a moment I think I might open up to her but then I just shake my head and put some distance between us.
• I don’t let people in. I can’t let Seren in. I can’t be her friend.
• “Just forget it.” I state, bringing the emotionless tone back to my voice as I get out of the pool.
• “You just need to know that I don’t hate you.” And with that, I walk away, water dripping from my clothes. I leave her alone in the pool.