Fated To Two Alphas Under One Roof

"Wren! Over here!"

My best friend, Talia Brooks, waved at me from the bleachers. She pointed toward the far end of the field and grinned.

"He's by the bleachers. Go give it to him before the bell rings."

I hugged the little box to my chest. Silver paper, blue ribbon, wrinkled at one corner from how tight I'd been holding it all morning. Inside was a leather cord bracelet with a wolf charm. I'd saved for three weeks to buy it.

"Do you think he'll like it?" I asked.

"Wren, he's your fated mate. You could give him a rock and he'd wear it."

I laughed. My cheeks were already warm.

Three months ago, I would never have believed I'd be this girl. The one who walked across the field with a gift and a stupid smile. Back then, I was just the new girl. The stepsister of Kael Draven.

At home, Kael barely said ten words to me.

"Are you going to eat dinner with us tonight?" I asked him once, the week Mom and I moved in.

He didn't even turn around from the fridge. "No."

"Kael, I made lasagna. Your dad said it's your favorite."

"Then save him some."

He grabbed a water bottle and left. His door shut upstairs. Hard.

That was how it always went. If I walked into the living room, he walked out. If I sat at the kitchen island, he took his food to his room. He was the strongest Alpha at Ridgemont High. Seniors stepped aside for him in the hallway. Teachers didn't call on him twice. And me? He looked at me like I was a stain on his life.

"He hates me," I told Mom one night.

She brushed my hair back from my face. "He's not used to sharing his home, honey. Give him time."

I gave him time. He gave me nothing.

Then, on my first day at Ridgemont, something changed.

I was walking past the gym when it hit me. A pull, deep inside my chest. Warm and sharp at the same time, like a string tied to my soul had been yanked. My wolf woke up and pressed against my ribs.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

I turned, and there he was. Jax Holloway. Captain of the lacrosse team. Dark hair falling into green eyes. An Alpha, too, though not like Kael.

He stared right back at me.

"You feel it too," he said. It wasn't a question.

"I think so," I whispered.

He smiled slowly. "Then I guess you're mine, new girl."

Two days later, he asked me to be his girlfriend in front of the cafeteria. People clapped. I cried a little. For the first time since we moved, I felt like I belonged somewhere.

Like I finally had a home.

Now I hurried past the goal posts, the box bouncing against my chest. The bell would ring in eight minutes. Enough time to see his face when he opened it.

But there was a crowd by the bleachers.

A big one.

"Oh my God, look at them!"

"Get a room!"

Someone whistled, long and loud. Laughter rippled through the group.

I slowed down. My wolf went quiet. Too quiet.

"Excuse me," I said, squeezing between two juniors. "Sorry, I just need to—"

Then I saw.

Jax was leaning against the metal rail of the bleachers. His hands were buried in a girl's blonde hair. Her arms were wrapped around his neck. And he was kissing her. Hungry, open-mouthed, like no one else existed.

I knew her. Sienna Pierce. Cheer captain. She had smiled at me in chemistry class yesterday.

My fingers stopped working. The box slipped an inch before I caught it.

"Jax?"

It came out so small that no one heard it. Except a boy next to me. He turned, looked at my face, then at the box in my hands. His eyes went wide.

"Wait. Isn't that his girlfriend?"

Heads turned. One by one.

"No way. That's her. The stepsister."

"The fated-mate girl?"

Someone snorted. "Guess fate changed its mind."

The laughter got louder. Phones came up. I saw the little red dots of recording lights.

Jax finally pulled back from Sienna. He wiped his mouth with his thumb and looked over. When his eyes found mine, he didn't flinch. He didn't look sorry.

He looked bored.

"Oh," he said. "Wren."

That was it. Just my name. Like I was a teacher who'd caught him without homework.

Sienna giggled and tucked herself under his arm. "Awkward."

"Jax." My voice cracked. "What is this?"

"What does it look like?"

The crowd exploded. "Ohhhh!"

"Damn, he's cold!"

"Somebody get her a tissue!"

My eyes burned so badly I could barely see. My hands were freezing. My feet felt like they belonged to someone else. The pull in my chest was still there. That was the worst part. It still tugged toward him, even now, while he stood there with his arm around another girl.

"You said I was yours," I whispered.

Jax shrugged. "I say a lot of things."

Sienna laughed into his shoulder.

And I did something I didn't expect.

I laughed too.

It burst out of me, high and broken. A few people went silent. Somebody muttered, "Is she okay?"

No. I was not okay.

I spun around. The gift box crushed against my chest, the ribbon tearing under my nails.

"Move," I said. "Please move."

Nobody moved fast enough. I shoved. An elbow hit my shoulder. Someone stepped on my sneaker.

"Watch it, crybaby!"

"Aw, don't run away! We were just getting started!"

I ducked my head and pushed harder. Hot tears slid down my face, and I didn't wipe them. If I lifted my hand, everyone would see it shaking.

Just get out. Just get out. Just get out.

The edge of the crowd was right there. Three more people. Two. One.

I broke through into open air and stumbled forward, gasping.

That was when the field went strangely quiet behind me.

The laughing stopped. The whistling cut off mid-note. Even the wind seemed to hold still.

And a cold, heavy pressure rolled across the grass. An Alpha's power, so strong it made my knees want to bend.

I knew that power.

I'd felt it every single day, through a closed bedroom door.