CHAPTER 5 A Mate I Can't Accept
Ronan's POV
The smell landed on me the second I stepped into the academy hall and I stopped abruptly at the door.
It wasn't just any scent. It hit me low in my throat and it twisted around my lungs, and squeezed. It was wrong and right at the same time, it smelled sweet and sharp, warm like the sun on stone but weaved with something raw and metallic underneath.
It was giving two things: Mate… and Hybrid.
I froze.
My Beta glanced over, eyebrows raised. "You good?"
I ignored him. I couldn't speak.
That scent was impossible.
"A new hybrid in our academy?" The words dropped from my mouth like a bomb, it was louder than I realized. The students stopped talking and their gazes fell on me instantly.
My stomach twisted, and my breath became shallow. Do we have a new student? Or is this scent just messing with my head?
And why the hell does it smell like my mate too?
"That must be a joke," I muttered under my breath.
Of all the wolves in this entire academy, the Moon Goddess couldn't find one normal, full-blooded shifter to pair me with?
She really picked a hybrid?
Half-human, half-wolf with tainted blood?
One of them killed my mother when a fight broke down in my father's pack. The thought alone made my temples pound. I clenched my jaw so tight I thought my teeth might snap.
No. No. No. Hell no.
But Kavvy, my wolf, stirred in my chest, humming with something dangerous with some touch of excitement and joy.
He wanted it. He has always wanted his mate beside him.
Of course he did. Wolves are selfish like that. They don't care about bloodlines or history. They care about instinct, connection and the fucking bond.
But me?
I cared about pain. I cared about memories. I cared about my mother bleeding out in my arms while a hybrid's scent lingered in the air.
"Ronan, you don't speak like that to your teacher," Mistress Kyenna's voice snapped me out of it which was sharp as a blade.
I blinked, disoriented for a second. I'd forgotten where I was, surrounded by rows of students, council reps, and staff. The opening ceremony.
I didn't answer her.
My eyes were already hunting. Trailing the source of the scent through the crowd. My head throbbed and my skin itched. The air was too thick to breathe, and that damn smell was laced through every inhale like it was wrapping itself around me on purpose.
The scent made me feel two things I hated: hope… and rage..And then I saw her.
A girl was standing near the edge of the room. She was standing alone. Her posture was defensive, shoulders back, chin raised like she was expecting someone to strike. She wasn't dressed like the others. Her boots were scuffed. Her uniform looked like it didn't quite fit. Her hair was a bit of a mess. But none of that mattered.
Because the second our eyes locked, everything inside me went still, which included my heart, my breath, and even my wolf—Kavvy.
For half a second, the bond pulled tight between us like it had always been there, waiting for each other for a very long time. Then it snapped like a whip, and I flinched from it.
She did the same, but her expression didn't soften, it was sharpened. Which I never expected. I expected her to be confused, shocked, and even fearful. But I saw none of that. Instead, her eyes were clear, cold, and burning with anger.
"Who the hell did she think she was, looking me straight into my eyes like that?"
"Ronan!" Mistress Kyenna's voice cracked through the room. "I'm talking to you."
I didn't look away from the girl.
"Maybe I'll listen when you stop wasting time with foolish questions," I said.
The crowd behind us murmured, their whispers filled everywhere in the hall. But no one dared challenge me. They might be doing that at my back, but not in front of me.
I stepped forward without thinking. Taking each step one after the other. Each step echoed in the hall.
I needed to smell her up close. I needed to understand what the hell this was. I needed to prove it wasn't real.
But she turned her back on me.
She turned without flinching or trembling. She pushed through the students like she didn't feel anything. Like the mate bond meant nothing to her.
That hit harder than I thought it would. She didn't even look back.
I stood there, trying to breathe, my heart hammering against my ribs like it wanted out of my body. Kavvy growled low in my chest, frustrated and agitated, he wanted to chase after her.
I wouldn't let him.
"Who the hell is she?" I asked no one in particular.
My Beta stepped beside me. "New girl. Transferred in the last minute. Human Council brought her in. Rumor says she's part wolf, part something else. Nobody knows much yet."
Human Council?
I exhaled through my nose, cold and controlled. Of course. Politics. Always politics.
I turned and made my way to the front row, students parting around me like shadows. My team followed without a word. I could still feel her behind me. Not physically. But in the air. In the scent that lingered like a mark on my skin.
When I sat, I noticed Mistress Kyenna hadn't taken her eyes off me. She looked… wary. Which was new. She'd known me since I was a pup. But this? This was something else.
"I want her file on my desk tonight," I said quietly.
She didn't ask who.
She nodded.
I looked back once.
The girl had found a corner seat near the back. She was staring down at her hands like she'd rather be anywhere else.
Good. Because I didn't want her here either..And yet… I couldn't stop thinking about how her scent made me feel two things at a time. It made me fall and fire at the same time.
"The moon Goddess really did curse me,"