3.The Alpha in the Dark

POV: Mira

The wind stopped.

My body went cold.

I hit the sand hard, my jaw slack, breath gone.

“This can’t be real,” I whispered, my pulse slamming against my ribs. Wake up, Mira. I slapped myself hard enough to see sparks. This has to be a nightmare. Wake up. Please. Wake up.

He kept walking toward me.

Not hurrying.

Not hesitating.

Like the world adjusted itself to make room for him.

Even in the dark he looked carved, not born — like something sculpted from shadow and given breath.

How can Klaus be my second-chance mate? Of all wolves in the world… fate chose him?What did I do in a past life to deserve this?

This was going from the frying pan straight into wildfire.

Since arriving at this school, I’d done everything possible to avoid him. He wasn’t mysterious. He was obvious — an arrogant, ruthless playboy with a temper sharp enough to draw blood. The same guy who once stabbed someone for stepping on his shoe.

That boy is my mate now.

Absolutely not.

Then, suddenly, calm settled over me.

Not peace.

Instinct.

Every nerve pulled tight.

Careful.

Don’t move.

Don’t provoke.

My fingers dug into the sand as I pushed myself upright, legs shaking but locked in stubborn defiance. I wiped my face fast, furious that tears still clung to my lashes.

He would not see them.

Not him.

Not tonight.

“What,” I said, my voice roughened by salt and humiliation, “are you doing here?”

He didn’t answer.

He just looked at me.

Not the way boys looked at girls.

Not the way people usually looked at me.

He looked like I was something unfamiliar.

His head tilted slightly.

Silence stretched thin.

My chest tightened. “If you came to laugh,” I snapped, “you’re late. The show’s already over.”

Nothing.

He stepped closer.

Sand shifted beneath his shoe.

My breath hitched.

He smelled like winter air and danger — clean, sharp, cold enough to burn. The scent slid into my lungs before I could stop it.

My fists clenched.

Say something. Do something. Stop staring.

“Well?” I said sharply. “Cat got your tongue, Alpha?”

His gaze drifted slowly across my face.

My eyes.

My cheeks.

My mouth.

Not lustful.

Not mocking.

Studying.

Like I was a riddle he intended to solve.

My skin prickled.

Then finally—

He spoke.

Calm. Certain.

“You smell like a broken bond.”

My stomach dropped.

The words hit harder than Kevin’s rejection. Harder than the laughter. Harder than the comments flooding my phone.

Because he said it like a fact.

Heat crawled up my neck. “Congratulations,” I said bitterly. “You have a nose. Want a medal?”

One corner of his mouth lifted.

Not a smile.

Interest.

He stepped closer.

Instinct forced me back.

His eyes flicked to my shifting feet.

Noted.

Then he moved again.

Around me.

Slow.

Predatory.

My pulse hammered.

“What do you want?” I demanded, turning so he stayed in front of me. “Didn’t you get enough entertainment watching me humiliate myself inside?”

His boots crunched softly behind me.

“Entertainment?” he repeated.

I spun.

Too close.

He was too close.

“I saw the videos,” he said.

My stomach twisted.

Of course he did.

Everyone had.

“Then congrats,” I said tightly. “You got your show. You can leave now.”

A faint smirk.

“You keep congratulating me.”

“What do you want, Alpha? I’m not in the mood.”

“You said you wanted him dead.”

My breath stopped.

“Well,” he said softly, “I’m here to grant your wish.”

I froze.

A strand of my hair lifted in the wind and slid across my face. Before I could move it, his hand rose slightly—

A shiver slipped down my spine.

He didn’t touch me.

He just watched the strand move.

His voice dropped.

“He hurt you.”

My throat tightened. “Wow. You’re observant.”

“We can hurt him back,” he murmured. “Mate.”

My head snapped toward him. “Mate? I’m not your mate. If you think I’m accepting that bond, you don’t know me at all.”

“Relax,” he said. “I’m not the idiot who broke you. I’m the one offering to fix it.”

The words punched the air from my lungs.

I swallowed. “Did you come out here just to narrate my trauma, or is there an actual reason you’re stalking me in the dark like a creep?”

His eyes sharpened.

Then—

He smiled.

Not amused.

Intrigued.

“You’re interesting.”

My jaw fell open. “I’m soaked in punch, publicly humiliated, and one emotional push away from drowning myself, and your conclusion is that I’m interesting?”

“Yes.”

I stared. “You’re insane.”

“Probably.”

He stepped closer again.

I didn’t move this time.

I forced myself not to.

We were close enough now that I could see the faint scar slicing through his eyebrow. Close enough to hear his breathing.

Steady.

Measured.

Nothing like mine.

His gaze flicked to my collarbone.

To the mark.

My skin burned where his eyes touched.

Then he said—

“Date me.”

My brain went blank.

“…What?”

“Date me,” he repeated calmly.

“By tomorrow morning,” he said, voice even, “the entire campus will believe him.”

My spine stiffened.

He continued.

“By next week, no one will speak to you unless they have to.”

The wind gusted harder. Sand whispered across the shore.

“By next month,” he finished, “you’ll be alone.”

No mockery.

No cruelty.

Just facts.

My jaw tightened. “You don’t know that.”

He tilted his head slightly.

“Check.”

She frowned. “What?”

“Your phone.”

My stomach dipped.

I didn’t want to. I already knew he was talking about the dragging I’d been getting across every social platform. I’d gone viral.

But pride wouldn’t let me back down.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and unlocked it.

Notifications exploded across the screen.

Tags. Mentions. Messages.

My thumb trembled as I opened the first.

Just as I expected.

They were still tearing me apart.

My breath hitched.

I locked the screen quickly.

The silence around us roared louder than the ocean.

When I looked up, he was watching me. Not mockingly.

Just… proven right.

“I can make it stop,” he said.

My pulse thudded in my ears.

“Rumors don’t survive long around me.”

The offer tempted me.

But it was still Klaus.

A shiver slid down my spine.

“No.”

Something flickered in his eyes.

Interest.

He stepped closer.

The distance between us shrank until I could feel his heat through the cold night air.

“You’d rather stay pathetic?” he asked softly.

The word hit like a slap.

Heat flared in my chest.

Before I could stop myself, I stepped forward and jabbed a finger against his chest.

“I’d rather drown in that ocean,” I snapped, voice sharp as glass, “than accept help from some arrogant playboy who sleeps with anything in a skirt and hurts people for stepping on his foot. You’re the problem, in case you didn’t know.”

Silence.

My finger still pressed against him.

I realized two things at once.

One — his chest was solid as stone.

Two —

He was smiling.

My breath caught.

Not amused.

Impressed.

“Well, well,” he murmured. “I see someone’s a fangirl.”

Her brows knit. “Excuse me?”

He leaned closer, voice lower.

“Admit it. You’re one of those girls who drool over me. You know everything about me. I bet you even know the color of my boxers. So tell me… do you have a crush on me, mate?”

My entire body reacted.

My skin tingled like lightning threaded beneath it.

Inside me, my wolf surged forward — alert, electric, alive.

I froze.

What—

No.

No.

I sucked in a breath and stepped back. “I don’t have a crush on you. And I told you — don’t call me that.”

He straightened.

“Good. Don’t fall for me. But still… date me, Mira. Be my fake girlfriend.”

“Huh? Why are you so set on this?” I asked.

He smiled slightly. “Because I told you — I don’t like Kevin. And I thought you said you wanted to hurt him too.”

“I did. But how is dating you supposed to hurt him?”

His smirk deepened.

“Now you’re asking the right question. Date me, and I’ll make you the most popular girl in school. Kevin will come crawling back.”

“Ew. I don’t want that idiot back.”

“I’m not finished. You’d only take him back to humiliate him. The same way he humiliated you. I’m offering you a chance to give him a dose of his own medicine. Make him fall in love with you again… then destroy him.”

“You really hate Kevin.”

“Yes,” he said calmly. “I do. With all my heart. So date me. Three months.”

“Three months? That’s long.”

“We need people to believe it’s real. So yes. Three months. What do you say?”

“…Fine,” I muttered. “But it’s fake.”

His gaze darkened.

Not anger.

Something deeper.

Something that made my pulse stumble.

“We’ll see.”