Fated To My Stepbrother After My Mate Betrayed Me

"Let go of me," I rasped, yanking backward with all my weight.

Kael didn't budge. His fingers locked around my wrist like an iron band, anchoring me in place on the gravel path.

"Look at me, Maya," he ordered.

"No. Let go!"

"I asked you a question," he said, his tone dropping an octave, heavy enough to rattle the air between us. "Why are you sprinting blind around the fieldhouse?"

"It doesn't concern you!" I clawed at his sleeve with my free hand, desperate to pry him off. "Get off me, Kael! Just leave me alone like you always do!"

He yanked my arm upward, hauling me clean off balance until my ribs crashed flush against his chest.

"Stop thrashing," he snapped.

Then it happened.

The moment our chests collided, a deafening crack seemed to detonate inside my skull.

It wasn't a gentle heat. It was a violent, blinding surge of raw electricity that tore straight through my veins. The air turned thin. My ribcage burned as if struck by lightning, the shockwave rippling down through my spine and locking my knees.

My wolf howled inside my head—a frantic, confused sound that ripped through my thoughts.

*Mate.*

The word shattered through my mind like dropped glass.

I froze, staring up into the harsh angles of Kael's face. The distance between our mouths was barely three inches. Up close, his gray eyes weren't just stormy; they were swirling with silver flecks of pure alpha power, pupils blown wide until the irises shrank to thin rings.

"What..." My voice caught in my dry throat. "What is that?"

Kael didn't answer right away. His grip on my wrist didn't loosen, but his jaw clenched so hard I heard the grind of his teeth.

"Maya," he muttered.

"No," I choked out, shaking my head violently. "No, this is impossible. Jax is—"

A white-hot streak of agony sliced across my chest. The faint, fraying connection I had shared with Jax since the bonfire began violently shuddering, grinding against this colossal, immovable bond slamming into me from Kael. Two separate mate bonds. Two threads tied to one soul, pulling in opposite directions with enough force to tear me in half.

My knees gave out.

"Hey," Kael barked, catching my waist with his other arm before I hit the ground. "Stand up."

"I can't," I gasped, burying my face against his collar. The scent of pine and crushed cedar filled my senses, overpowering every shred of air left in my lungs. "Make it stop. Kael, please, make it stop."

"What did you do?" he demanded, his voice rough against my ear.

"Nothing!" I sobbed, the tears finally bursting free, hot and humiliating against his shirt. "I didn't do anything!"

"Then what is this?" His hand pressed flat against the small of my back, holding me upright as his head dipped lower, his nostrils flaring against my hairline. "Why is my wolf clawing at my ribs to rip your clothes off?"

"Don't say that!" I shoved my palms against his shoulders, fighting the intoxicating magnetism that urged me to bury my hands in his dark hair. "You hate me! You've spent three years acting like I don't exist!"

"Answer me, Maya!" he growled, shaking me slightly. "Did you take something? Did someone slip you an elixir?"

"Are you insane?" A wet laugh tore from my throat, raw and broken. "You think I wanted this? Look at me! Does it look like I planned this?"

Kael went dead quiet. His gaze swept over my red, tear-streaked cheeks, dropping down to my split lip where I had bitten down on the field.

"Who touched you?" he asked, his tone flat, deadly.

"Nobody," I lied, my voice shaking so hard the word barely formed.

"Don't lie to me." He pulled me tighter, his fingers digging into my hip bone. "Your pulse is going a hundred miles an hour. You smell like salt, distress, and—" He paused, sniffing the air, his eyes darkening to slate. "Jax."

A fresh sob ripped through my chest.

"Shut up," I whispered. "Just shut up."

"He's over by the bleachers," Kael said, tilting his head toward the shouts still drifting across the track. "Why were you running from the bleachers?"

"Leave it alone, Kael!"

"Did he hurt you?"

"I said leave it alone!" I screamed, hammering a fist against his bicep. "Why do you care? You never cared before! You wouldn't even pass me the damn butter at breakfast!"

Kael didn't flinch at the hit. His gray eyes pinned mine, merciless and burning.

"Because ten seconds ago, you were just my father's wife's daughter," he said, each word hitting like a hammer. "Now you're something else."

The admission hung between us, heavy and terrifying.

"Jax cheated on me," I blurted, unable to keep the venomous humiliation inside any longer. The words spilled out like poison. "He was with Chloe. In front of thirty people. He told me our bond was a fluke. He called me a stray and told me to throw my anniversary present in the trash."

Kael's chest stopped moving entirely.

"He said what?"

"He dumped me, Kael! In front of everyone!" I cried, gripping his jacket simply to keep myself from collapsing under the double weight crushing my spirit. "He laughed at me. They all laughed at me."

A low rumble vibrated deep within Kael's throat, an alpha warning so fierce it made the gravel under my sneakers buzz.

"Where is he?" Kael asked softly. Too softly.

"Don't," I pleaded, terror spiking through the haze of grief. "Don't go over there. Please."

"He put his hands on another girl while claiming you?" Kael's hand shifted from my hip to the nape of my neck, his fingers curling possessively into my hair, tilting my head back until I had no choice but to meet his furious gaze. "He dared to reject you?"

"He said I clung," I whispered, the words burning my throat. "He said having him was the only reason people tolerated me."

"He's a dead man," Kael stated simply.

"No!" I gripped his lapels, holding him with everything I had left. "You can't go over there! If you start a fight, everyone will know! They'll see this! They'll figure out what's happening between us!"

"Let them," he snarled.

"I can't take it, Kael!" The agony in my head spiked again, the phantom link to Jax snapping like an overdrawn wire, sending a jolt of nauseating pain straight to my gut. I gasped, doubling over against his chest. "Ah—!"

Kael caught me immediately, lifting my feet completely off the gravel so my weight rested against him.

"Maya?" His harsh edge cracked, replaced by sharp urgency. "What's wrong? What hurts?"

"The bond," I whimpered into his neck, tears soaking his collar. "It's ripping. Jax's thread... it's tearing apart. But you're right here. You're too loud. You're burning me up."

He froze, his arms tightening around me until I couldn't move an inch.

"Two," he murmured, the realization finally breaking through his stony facade. "You were bonded to him, and now the Goddess gave you to me."

"It's wrong," I sobbed. "It doesn't happen like this. It's impossible."

"Nothing about you is impossible," he muttered darkly.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel around the far corner of the brick wall.

"Hey, Jax, check it out!" a voice called from the path. "I think your little crybaby ran over this way!"

Chloe's shrill laugh followed immediately. "Let her cry! Maybe she'll finally transfer out of our grade!"

I stiffened in Kael's arms, terror freezing the blood in my veins.

Kael didn't drop me. Instead, he shifted his stance, turning his wide back to shield me completely from view as the laughter drew closer.

His eyes locked onto mine, burning with a dark, terrifying resolve.

"Stay quiet," he commanded under his breath.