Jaxon's pov
Fuck.
I was too wrapped up in the bliss of discovering a mate that I had completely forgotten the situation. My father was married to her mother, this.....this was complicated.
Felix sighed and leaned back against the bleachers,
"The moon Goddess is indeed very twisted."
"There is no need to state the obvious Felix. I need to think...I need to think."
"Maybe we could talk to the elders about this, maybe they-"
"Would definitely tell my father, and I can't risk him knowing without me coming up with some sort of plan or something."
"The girl.....she is completely human, right?" Felix asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah, even dad hasn't told told her mother what we are so....yeah, she has no knowledge of this."
"Are you going to tell her?"
"I'll have to," I saw the way her eyes lit up when I addressed her as 'mate', we had Google, it wasn't difficult to look up the meaning. And when she did, she would be confused and i would have to explain.
"I need to get close to her."
Felix kicked at the grass beneath the bleachers, his voice low. "So what's the plan, Alpha Genius? You gonna kidnap her into the woods and shift in front of her?"
I rolled my eyes. "I am not a savage. I am going to talk to her. Casually. No pressure. Just.....a vague truth. Enough for her to feel like she has a choice."
"A vague truth?" Felix raised a brow. "You mean like, 'Hey, I'm your stepbrother and also a furry with teeth. Wanna hang out?'"
"I hate you sometimes."
He grinned. "It's mutual. But you love me nonetheless"
The longer I waited, the worse it would get. I could already feel the bond tugging at me. The scent of her lingered in my head. She didn't even know what she was to me, yet my instincts were already bracing for any guy that got too close.
"I'll tell her the basics. That I am not like most people. That I come from a bloodline tied to.....something ancient. That she might feel a pull, and it's not just hormones or bad timing. It's real. I won't say the word werewolf yet. Just enough to open her mind."
"And if she thinks you're insane?"
"Well….."
Felix snorted.
"She has the GPT-3 kit from her mom and my dad," I added, "which means she is not entirely out of the loop when it comes to tech or weird info dumps. She'll be curious."
Felix gave me a look. "You're banking on her being curious over terrified."
I nodded once. "Yeah."
"And then what?"
"Then," I exhaled slowly, "I make her an offer."
"An offer?"
I nodded again. "To date her."
Felix nearly choked on air. "To what? Like.... human dating?"
"I'll tell her we don't need to define anything heavy right now. Just... spend time together. Get to know each other. Like humans do. It'll buy me time for her to soften up."
Felix blinked. "Will that even work?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I have to try."
Because if she ran before I had the chance to tell her everything. If she rejected me, if she feared me more than she felt me....
This bond would destroy me from the inside out. And I couldn't let that happen.
____
After school let out, I asked around casually.
Most people just shrugged. "Aria? The new girl? Doesn't really talk."
"She's probably hiding in the library or something."
"She wears headphones a lot."
Useless.
But then the janitor, Old Harris, who always smelled faintly of floor polish and coffee, looked up from his mop with a squint.
"She went into the science wing, I think. Room B12. No one's scheduled in there today. Said she wanted to study."
B12. Far side of the building. It was Quiet. Empty.
I nodded, muttered a quick thanks, and headed off.
I didn't run, but my strides were sharp. That tug in my chest was back. Tighter. It wasn't just the bond. Something felt....off.
When I reached the hallway, I paused at the corner. The door to B12 was half open. I stepped closer.
And that's when I heard her.
A soft, panicked whimper.
"Back off," she snapped, voice trembling. "I said I don't know what you're talking about!"
My blood went cold.
I moved soundlessly, pressing myself to the wall beside the door. Voices, low and growling, carried through the crack.
"Don't play dumb, human," one of them hissed. "We saw the way he looked at you."
"We could smell the bond," another added. "The Alpha-brat found his mate, huh?"
I peeked through the gap.
Aria stood backed against a lab bench, her ankle twisted, one hand gripping the table to stay upright. Her face was pale, eyes wide, but she hadn't screamed. Brave, even when cornered.
Three wolves stood in front of her,
One of them, Bren, from the rogue outer packs. I recognized his face. He used to loiter near our school last year before he got banned.
My fingers curled into fists.
Bren leaned in close to Aria. "So tell us, girl.....what's so special about you that Jaxon Cross would be mated to you?"
Aria swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about. You've got the wrong person."
Another shoved a stool aside. "I say we find out."
That was it.
I kicked the door open so hard it bounced off the wall.
Three heads turned. Aria's eyes locked on mine, and for a second, pure relief flashed through them.
Then everything went red.
"Step. Away. From her," I growled.
Bren sneered. "Look who's here. Alpha Jaxon. Come to save your little human toy?"
"She is not a toy," I snarled, "She is mine."
They moved fast, thinking I was bluffing.
Big mistake.
I was already shifting before the first one reached. I slammed Bren into the nearest cabinet, his ribs cracking on impact. The second guy lunged, I swept his legs and tossed him across the desk like a rag doll.
The third one tried to grab Aria.
Wrong move.
I caught his wrist mid-air and twisted it until he howled. Aria stumbled back, her wide-eyed, clutching her ankle.
Within seconds, it was over.
They lay groaning on the floor, half-shifted and bleeding. I stepped over them, chest heaving, my eyes locked on Aria.
"You okay?" I asked, voice hoarse.
She didn't speak at first. Her breathing was shallow. She looked at me, at the claw marks, the golden shimmer still in my irises.
"No," she whispered. "What the hell are you?"