Chapter 5 Second Chance

SORAYA 

I stumbled back. There was no mistaking him. 

Oh moon goddess.

Oh Selene.

I had slept with him. The Alpha of all Alphas. The executive apex of the entire pack hierarchy.

I tried to escape, or pivot, or evaporate, but his hand caught my wrist. He pulled me inside, closing the heavy door behind us.

"I recognized you," he said. His voice tickled my skin pores like velvet, like trouble. "Rolling your suitcase through the courtyard." His gaze ran over me. "What a surprise, she-wolf."

His hand found my waist as if it had already been briefed on where to land.

Words failed me, sound failed me, even my dignity definitely failed me.

He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear. "You were gone before I woke. Did you really regret it that much?"

A shiver ran through me.

How had I slept with the most powerful man in the entire district and not known? I had thought he had been some traveler. A high ranked alpha, sure, but not this high ranked.

He drew back just enough to look at me. Then his thumb traced the outline of my lips.

"Hi," he murmured again. "Tell me your name. Since you are already registered in my academy."

My throat felt sandy, but I felt compelled to respond, nonetheless. 

"Soraya. Soraya Valeo."

"Soraya," he repeated. "I would have groaned that better last night if I knew. Soraya."

His gaze slid to the mark on my neck. The hickey he had given me. 

Memories resurfaced in my head. How his fingers had teased my body. How his mouth had explored every hidden place. How he knew exactly how to undo me.

"You are reminiscing?" he said, smiling like he could read my mind.

"No...i...i....please, can we...pretend that whatever happened that night never happened?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I am not a fan of pretending. It did happen, did it not?"

"You do not understand. I cannot have anything to do with you."

He arched his brow.

"But you are my mate."

My brain stopped.

"What are you talking about?"

He tapped his finger lightly against the hickey on my neck.

And before I could blink, the hickey shifted and formed a full mark. 

A mate mark.

A mate mark formed from a single night.

If I wasn't screwed before, I was screwed now. Fate had wrecked me disastrously. 

"I had my suspicions when I saw you throwing pebbles into the fountain," he said. "But I was not sure. After we engaged in intimacy, It felt right. When I woke up, I realized I felt bonded to you. I felt you long before you arrived in the courtyard."

"This cannot be real." I slapped my own cheek.

He caught my hand.

He released my palm and crossed his arms, giving me space. "Sit down. I can get you water."

He didn't understand. I couldn't be with him. Water wasn't what I needed.

In the midst of my dilemma I noticed a photograph on his wall. A picture of...Kaelon?

"Why is a picture of Kaelon Marcellus in your office?" 

He looked at me with a calm that felt illegal at this moment. 

"Because my name is Evander Thorn Marcellus. Kaelon is my son."

Fuck me.

My ex-mate was his son???.

How did I not know this? 

I nearly dropped the photograph. 

I clapped both hands over my face.

"Okay. This is a big dramatic mess."

"Why are you reacting this way?"

"Why?" My voice shot up an octave.

"Because I have a son? She wasn't my mate or anything it was—"

"No." I hissed, cutting him off. "Kaelon is my ex-mate. He is the reason I even went out that night. He chose my sister over me. How... how do I not know that you are Kaelon's father? How did I miss that?"

He let out a quiet sigh. 

"I am rarely around. Everyone who needs to know, knows. And it is not like I am going to walk around with a signboard on my head announcing I fathered him."

I stared at him, and he stared back.

"How did I not see it?" I whispered, more to myself than to him.

They shared a resemblance of some sorts. I was just too blind and hurt to notice it that night. 

Evander watched me lose my mind, and instead of stepping back, he moved a little closer.

"If you would want a rejection, that is completely up to you," he said. "But I would suggest that we talk about it."

I wasn't even sure if I could do that, people will hate me more if i reject him. Out of all wolves, they would expect me to be grateful. And if a rejection affects him, they will hate me for causing it. It felt like someone had dropped a whole corporate report full of terrible metrics in my lap. 

I stood up abruptly. "I am sorry. I think I should go to my dorm. I think I need to unpack and maybe prepare for classes or something."

"Classes do not start until tomorrow," he reminded me.

I knew that. 

I shook my head. "I don't care, I just want to rest."

He did not try to stop me. 

"Okay then. I'll be ready to talk whenever you are."

Probably never.

×××

I walked out quickly, almost tripping over my own feet. By the time I reached the Crestwing wing, I felt a sigh of relief. My own anxiety had been trifling with me in there. 

I opened the door.

"Hi, it is Soraya," I murmured. "Sarah?"

There was no response. Maybe she was in the bathroom or something because I could definitely smell traces of something. Her pheromones, likely. 

It was faintly murky.

Was she in heat? 

I called out to her again.

"Sarah?"

But the room equally felt empty and I adjusted the lights to do away with the dim surroundings. I stepped forward and my boot made a weird sound. A wet, sticky squelch.

I looked down and a puddle of blood spread across the floor. 

It was fresh.

"S-Sarah?”