chapter 2

Stella pov

I woke up to a sterile white room, the faint beeping of a heart monitor was the only sound that broke the heavy silence. My eyes fluttered open, and the harsh fluorescent lights above me made me squint. My head felt like it had been run over by a truck, my limbs heavy, and my chest still tight, as if I couldn’t take a full breath.

I still sensed him, but it was faint now. I turned my head and saw him.

Alexander Calum.

He was sitting on a chair beside the hospital bed, scrolling on his phone and looking like he was bored out of his mind. His jaw was tense, as his eyes flickered to me and remained fixed on me with an unreadable expression. His presence hit me like a brick wall, powerful, suffocating, and I felt that damn pull again, deep inside me, as if my body was telling me that this was the man I had been waiting for before he rejected me.

I didn’t understand why, but I couldn’t deny it.

“What... what am I doing here?” I croaked, my voice barely a whisper. I felt the dry scratchiness in my throat, my mouth feeling like cotton.

He looked at me, and for a moment, I thought I saw something flash in his eyes. Something close to regret, maybe? But then, it was gone, replaced with that cold indifference I hated. The one he had when he told me that I'd never be his mate.

“You’re pathetic,” he said, his voice sounding low and harsh. "You couldn’t even handle rejection. How the hell are you going to handle being my mate?"

I blinked at his words, still struggling to make sense of them. Mate? The word echoed in my head, and suddenly I remembered everything. The pull, the words he said to me at the club. But this? This was… different.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t get the words out. I felt like my brain was overloaded with everything that had happened, the pain, the confusion.

“I’m leaving,” he continued, not waiting for a response. “Your best friend is on the way, she called.”

Just as he stood up, ready to walk out of the room like he hadn’t just torn my world apart, I grabbed his wrist.

"Wait," I whispered, my voice shaky. "Why did you bring me here? You have rejected me, you should have just let me die.”

He stopped, his hand still on the doorknob, and turned to face me. “Let you die? You are joking right?” he laughed, like I had just said something insane but I wasn't joking.

“No, I mean it. First the stranger I see in my dreams comes into my life and rejects me. Then he brought me to the hospital for treatment and now he wants to leave without dropping his name.”

He looked like he was about to say something else, but instead, he sighed, as if I were the last person he wanted to deal with.

"Alexander Calum. Now if you want death, you can go and find it elsewhere but your blood won't be on me." he said shortly, his eyes narrowing. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

But before he could leave, Celine rushed through the door. “Stella? Oh my God, you’re awake!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide with concern. She looked at me first, then Alexander, confusion flooding her face.

“What happened? Why is she here? Who—”

Alexander cut her off, his voice sharp and clipped. "Let her rest. If you have any questions, ask the doctor," he said, brushing past her with that same cold air, leaving the room before either of us could get another word in.

I couldn’t believe it. He had been sitting right next to me, watching me wake up from some kind of weird, life-altering dream, and then he just… left. Like nothing happened. Like I meant nothing.

“Stella?” Celine’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts. “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

I rubbed my temples, the memory of everything still fresh and overwhelming. “I… I don’t know. I’m not okay, Celine. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.”

Celine sat down beside me, her face creased with worry. “What do you mean? What happened between you and that guy?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting out a shaky breath. “He is the same guy from my dreams. I saw him today at the club and he said I was his mate. But then, he rejected me, Celine. He said I was weak, and that I couldn’t handle being his mate because I’m human.”

Celine’s eyes widened. “Wait. Mates? What does that even mean?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. But the way he said it, the way I felt... It was like I was supposed to be with him, like I belonged to him. But then he just turned around and rejected me.” I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat, “He called me weak and went back to his seat.”

Celine was quiet for a moment, absorbing what I said. “That sounds insane, Stella. Mates? Like… like soulmates? Supernatural stuff?”

I nodded slowly, still unsure of what to make of it. “I don’t know, Celine. But it felt real. The way he looked at me… it was like he knew me. Like I belonged to him. And then…” I couldn’t finish the thought.

Celine shifted in her seat, pulling her phone out. “I’m going to look this up,” she muttered, her fingers flying over the keys. “Maybe there’s something about this mate stuff online. Something to make it make sense.”

I watched her type quickly, my mind still swirling from everything. She was probably going to find some wacky fan fiction, and I could laugh it off and forget about it.

But what if she didn’t? What if she found something real?

A few minutes passed as Celine scrolled, her face becoming more serious with every second. Finally, she looked up, showing me her phone. “Okay, I found something.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess. Werewolves and ‘mates’?”

“Yep,” she said, pointing at the screen. “It’s some kind of lore about werewolves. Apparently, mates are soul-bound, like a deep connection that can’t be broken. It’s fate, Stella. That’s what it says. And if you’re a werewolf… your mate is the one person you can’t live without.”

I frowned, trying to shake off the bizarre feeling crawling up my spine. “Celine, that’s just fantasy stuff. That’s... ridiculous.”

She stared at me, her gaze searching. “I don’t know, Stella. The way you’ve been acting... and the way you reacted when you saw him? It doesn’t sound like just some coincidence.”

I turned away, feeling my heartbeat quicken. “I don’t know what’s happening. It’s all too much. I’m just human, Celine. This can’t be real.”

Celine looked at me, still unconvinced. “I don’t know. But we have to figure it out. You deserve answers.”

I nodded numbly, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Alexander. His rejection. His words. But also… the pull. The bond I felt in my bones.

As I sat there, lost in thought, I glanced into the mirror above the sink. I froze.

My eyes.

For a split second, they weren’t brown anymore. They were silver.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and looked again. They were brown again. But what I saw, what I felt…

What if there was more to this than I was ready to admit?

I stared at my reflection, heart pounding in my chest. What was happening to me? The doubts in my mind began to grow. What if I wasn’t human at all?