Chapter 1 Mate

CHAPTER ONE

Sara’s POV

The car slowed the moment the second checkpoint came into view. Wolves stood guard on both sides of the iron gate, tall and silent, their eyes following the vehicle as if looking for something to tear apart. Or someone.

Maybe me.

I pressed my palms against my thighs and forced myself to breathe normally. I came here by choice. I asked for this transfer. I repeated that to myself again and again like a shield. I wanted distance from everything I left behind. I wanted a place where no one knew my name, my story, or the weakness tied to it.

But I never expected to walk into the strongest pack on this side of the region. BloodRidge. A place known for discipline, dangerous alliances, and an Alpha whose reputation traveled far before him.

Xenon.

Cold. Unshaken. The type of leader no one dared to question out loud.

I reminded myself it did not matter. I wasn’t here to impress him or get close to him. I was here to work in the healer wing and mind my business. That was the plan.

The car rolled forward as the gates opened. The guards nodded to the driver and then glanced through the window at me. Something flickered in their eyes, a brief tightness, like they sensed something they didn’t understand. I straightened my spine.

My wolf, Luna, stirred just a little. Not with excitement. With warning.

I whispered inside my head. Not now. I don’t want any trouble.

She didn’t respond, but the unease settled deeper.

When the car finally stopped in the central courtyard, the driver looked back at me. “We are here, Miss Sara.”

Miss. Not Luna. Not healer. Not anything else.

Good. The less labels, the better.

I stepped out of the car, pulling my bag along with me. The courtyard was wide, paved with dark stone that looked polished by years of use. Wolves moved around in quiet formation, all focused, all armed with purpose. The pack house rose behind them, tall and sturdy, built like it could take a war without flinching.

A woman in a deep maroon uniform walked toward me. Her blonde hair was tied back tight enough to pull her expression sharp. “You must be the new healer,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Follow me. The Alpha wants to see you first.”

My stomach dropped.

Why? New pack members usually reported to the Beta or the head of their assigned department. Not directly to the Alpha. Especially not a man like Xenon, who was known for disliking unnecessary interaction.

I forced my face to stay neutral. “Is it about my assignment?”

“I don’t ask the Alpha questions,” she replied simply.

Right. Of course she didn’t.

I followed her through the large hallway. Everything smelled clean, cold, organized. No personal touches. No warm fire burning. No sign that a home lived behind all this authority.

The silence here didn’t feel peaceful. It felt controlled.

We turned left, then right, then climbed a short staircase toward a darker corridor. The woman knocked once on a tall door at the end. The sound echoed like a warning.

“Enter,” a voice answered.

Deep. Unbothered. Almost detached.

My breath hitched.

The woman pushed the door open and stepped aside. “Alpha.”

He didn’t respond to her greeting, just lifted his gaze from the document in his hand.

That was the first moment I saw him.

Alpha Xenon. The man everyone whispered about.

He was sitting behind a large carved desk, posture straight, broad shoulders filling out a black shirt that matched the coldness of his eyes. They were a dark stormy color, sharp enough to pin someone in place without a command. His jaw was strong, set like stone, but there was something else beneath the harshness. A shadow. A heaviness.

He looked like a man who had seen too much and refused to show any of it.

His eyes shifted from the papers to me.

And everything stopped.

The air thickened so fast I forgot how to breathe. My heartbeat tripped and Luna surged to the front of my mind with a force that stole my balance.

Mate.

The word wasn’t spoken. It didn’t need to be. It pulsed through every part of me, fierce and undeniable.

No. No. No.

This couldn’t be happening.

Not here. Not after everything I escaped. Not after I decided I didn’t want this bond, not with anyone.

I swallowed, my fingers curling around the edge of my bag. The room felt smaller, hotter, wrong. My wolf pushed harder, whining inside my chest.

Alpha Xenon didn’t move, didn’t blink. His eyes widened just slightly, the only crack in his emotionless mask. He felt it too. There was no way he didn’t. No Alpha in the world could miss something this strong.

For a long second, neither of us spoke.

Then he closed the file in front of him and stood up.

The movement was slow. Deliberate. Thoughtful.

But the emotion behind it wasn’t something I could read. Not acceptance. Not joy. Not relief.

It was something colder.

“Sara.” His voice was quiet but sharp. “Step forward.”

My legs felt numb, but I obeyed. Each step made the bond tighten around my ribs. Luna howled inside, desperate to go to him, to touch him, to breathe him in.

I clenched my jaw and kept her back.

I would not fall apart in front of a stranger, even if fate decided to play this cruel joke on me.

When I stopped a few feet away, Xenon exhaled once. The sound was thick, strained.

“I don’t want this,” he said.

The words hit me like a blade.

Not now. Not again. Not like this.

He stared at me as if trying to convince himself of something. Or escape something. His eyes were darker now, almost pained, but he didn’t soften.

“I am not taking a mate,” he continued. “Not now. Not ever.”

My throat burned, but I kept my face blank. If there was one thing I promised myself after the last time my heart shattered, it was that I would never let anyone see me break.

He didn’t look away. “So I reject this bond.”

There it was.

Clean. Cold. Final.

Luna whimpered inside me, collapsing with the impact. The pain tore through my chest like fire. My knees weakened, and for a moment I had to grip the strap of my bag so tightly my fingers went numb.

He saw it. His jaw clenched as if the sight bothered him.

But he said nothing.

I forced myself to breathe. To stand straight. To be stronger than the past that chased me.

When I finally found my voice, it didn’t tremble.

“I accept your rejection, Alpha Xenon.”

His eyes snapped to mine, surprise flickering across his face. Maybe he expected tears, begging, anger. But I had none left to give.

The moment the words left my mouth, the bond cracked inside me. Not fully. But enough that the pain shifted from sharp to dull, like a wound that refused to stop bleeding.

The woman near the door inhaled sharply. She had no idea what she just witnessed, but she felt the shift in the air.

Xenon stepped back, a muscle jumping in his jaw. The darkness around him felt heavier now, more suffocating.

He cleared his throat. “You will still work in the healer wing. Beta Adrian will brief you on your duties.”

“Understood.”

“That is all.”

Dismissed. Just like that.

I turned to leave, but before I stepped out, something pulled me to glance back once more. He was staring at me, rigid, unreadable, but his eyes betrayed something else.

Regret.

But not enough to change his decision.

The door closed between us with a soft thud that echoed through me like a warning I already understood.

I didn’t want a mate.

And he didn’t want me.

We should have been relieved.

So why did the rejection feel like a storm building inside my chest?

The corridor blurred as I walked. My breath shook. Luna’s voice was a faint whisper, wounded and quiet.

Why him? Why now?

I didn’t have answers. And I didn’t want to think about it anymore.

When the woman led me down another hallway, everything inside me felt wrong. The world looked the same, but nothing felt the same.

I was in a new pack, far from my past, far from the bruises of my old life. I came here to start over.

But fate had a sick sense of humor.

My new beginning started with a mate I never asked for.

And a rejection I didn’t deserve.

I kept walking anyway.

Because if life had taught me one thing, it was how to survive pain without letting it define me.

Still, deep inside, something told me this wasn’t over.

Not even close.

Not with an Alpha like Xenon.

Not with a bond this strong.

Not with the way his eyes looked at me even as he let me go.

And as I stepped into the healer wing to start my new life, I could feel it.