“Ah. That explains the attitude.”
I glanced at him. “And you must be an only child. You’ve got that ‘my mom told me I’m special every morning’ energy.”
He smirked, stretching his arms behind his head. “Actually, I’m a firstborn. Future Alpha. Trained to lead, not to sass strangers in the back seat.”
“Good thing you’re not doing either very well,” I muttered.
He laughed again. Bastard had a good laugh, I hated that. Deep, smooth, like he hadn’t had to worry about anything real a day in his life.
“You’re funny, Savage,” he said. “I’ll give you that.”
“Wasn’t asking for stars on a report card.”
He turned to me then, head tilted like he was seeing something new. “You’re not what I expected.”
“Yeah? What were you expecting? Someone who’d beg to sit with you at lunch?”
Reyes grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes this time. “Honestly? I figured all the Savage boys were clones. Big, loud, testosterone-scented nightmares.”
“And instead, you got me,” I said, voice flat.
“Exactly.” He looked me over again, brow raised. “You’re not loud. You’re just… sharp. Coiled.”
I held his gaze. “You’re not nearly as stupid as you look.”
“Thanks,” he said, smirking. “I think.”
Silence fell again, thick with static. The road curved through the forest now, long shadows danced across the windshield. I could feel the press of the pendant against my collarbone-my borrowed identity humming against my skin.
He didn’t know.
Nobody did.
But the longer he looked at me like that, like he was curious, the more my gut twisted.
“Let me guess,” I said suddenly, needing to shift the mood. “You’re the type that brought his own protein powder to the academy, aren’t you?”
He gave me a mock gasp. “How dare you. I’m offended. I only use imported.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you do.”
Reyes leaned back with a grin, tapping the edge of his sneaker against the seat in front of him. “This year’s gonna be fun.”
“Not if you talk the whole time, it won’t be.”
He laughed again. “I’m starting to like you, Kai Savage.”
I turned back toward the window and muttered, “That’s unfortunate.”
But part of me, the part that had been bracing for hatred and punches and being ignored, felt strangely… relieved.
I’d take cocky over cruel.
Annoying over suspicious.
I just had to make it through the first day.
And make sure no one never looked close enough to see the truth.
KAI POV
The next two hours were the longest of my life.
Seriously. I’ve faced down rogue wolves with murder in their eyes, sparred with three-hundred-pound Alphas who wanted to break every bone in my body just for fun (aka my brothers) even spent a week in the mountains surviving on squirrels and snowmelt-but nothing had prepared me for being trapped in a moving vehicle with Reyes Silver, Alpha Heir and certified motor mouth.
He didn’t shut up. Not for five freaking minutes.
I almost missed the moment when he thought he hated me.
That, at least, had been quiet.
“I mean, it’s not like I wanted to get kicked out of prep school,” he was saying now, voice full of casual bravado. “But the headmaster totally overreacted. It was one exploding locker. Come on. Who even uses lockers anymore?”
I stared out the window, counting pine trees like they were lifelines.
Ten. Eleven. Twelve.
Where was the off switch? The mute button? Something?
“And then there was this girl-totally obsessed with me, not my fault-who tried to sneak into the boys’ dorm at midnight. And of course I got blamed for that too.”
“Shocking,” I muttered.
He grinned at me through the rearview mirror like we were in on a private joke. “I know, right? Alpha heir problems. We’re so misunderstood.”
I blinked slowly. “Tragic.”
If sarcasm were silver, I’d be rich.
But Reyes didn’t take the hint. In fact, he leaned into it. Literally.
He shifted so he was half-turned in his seat, elbow on the headrest, watching me like I was a particularly entertaining movie he couldn’t stop watching.
“Anyway,” he continued, like I’d begged him to go on, “I think we’re gonna be good friends.”
I stared at him. Then laughed. “You think what?”
“Friends,” he said brightly. “You’ve got a vibe. Not the usual ‘I’ll-kill-you-in-your-sleep’ Alpha recruit thing. More like… ‘I-don’t-want-to-be-here-but-I’ll-stab-you-if-you-ask-why’ thing. I respect that.”
Wow. What a glowing personality profile.
“Thanks,” I said, deadpan. “I was going for ‘leave me the hell alone,’ but I guess I overshot.”
“Noted.” He winked. “But I like you anyway.”
Unbelievable.
The worst part? He wasn’t even being fake. He genuinely thought we could be friends. Just like that. Because I hadn’t bit his head off hard enough to deter him away. Apparently sarcasm was some sort of invitation in Reyes-speak.
It was… weird.
Unexpected.
And absolutely not going to happen.
I wasn’t here to make friends. I wasn’t here to get close to anyone. My secret was too big, my life too carefully built on smoke and shadows to trust anyone-not even a funny, cocky, oddly charming alpha brat who smiled like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Especially not him.
Summer scoffed in my head, her presence rippling like a sigh of fur and moonlight.
‘You could just admit he gives off a good vibe.’
That earned an internal glare. ‘We don’t trust vibes. We trust facts. And instincts. And so far, all of mine are screaming “dangerously annoying.’
‘He’s not a threat,’she said with a shrug. ‘Just loud. And… warm.’
‘Loud is a problem,’ I shot back. ‘Friendly gets you killed. Warm makes you lower your guard.’
‘Only time will tell,’ Summer murmured, half to herself.
Time.
The word lodged in my chest like a stone.
There was still a couple of weeks before I turned eighteen. Until then, my mate bond was locked behind biology I couldn’t cheat -just a few days and i would be eighteen, able to scent a mate, a man. one I would not be able to hide from, one that would see through the cracks of my act-even if I wore a pendant that masked my scent and changed my life.
And with the pendant around my neck they would never scent me.
Which meant for now, I was safe.
But what if…
‘What if he’s our mate?’ Summer asked softly.
I frowned.
I hadn’t planned to find my mate at the Academy. That wasn’t part of the mission. That wasn’t part of anything. I wasn’t ready. Hell, I’d barely accepted what I was pretending to be-how could I handle a mate bond on top of that?
Especially if it was an Alpha.
Especially if it was Reyes.
The idea made my skin crawl.
Not because he was awful. He wasn’t. Objectively speaking, he was good-looking. Funny. Energetic in a way that lit up a room.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply