Chapter 64 Public Displays
Malia's POV
The change comes bit by bit, then all at once.
It all begins tuesday morning, when Aiden meets me outside my dorm building (not July’s dorm anymore, but close enough that I’d gotten used to walking to class alone) so I can grab some of my text books.
He’s standing by the door leaning against the wall with his bag over one shoulder and when he sees me, his whole face lights up.
"Morning," he says, pushing off the wall to make his way towards me.
"Morning. What are you doing here?"
Rather than respond, he simply grasps my hand, intertwining our fingers as if it were the most ordinary thing in the universe. "Walking you to class. Is that okay?"
My heart does a little flip. "Yeah. That's okay."
We stroll across campus hand in hand, and I'm acutely aware of every stare, every whispered comment, every double-take from people we walk by. Aiden Moonfall, the alpha heir and campus royalty, holding hands with the scholarship hybrid like it’s completely ordinary.
"People are staring," I say, barely above a whisper.
"Let them." His thumb strokes circles into the skin on the back of my hand. "I'm not ashamed of you, Malia. Why on earth would i hide this?"
By the time the afternoon rolls around, hand-holding has grown into something else. Aiden carries my books from class to class, his other hand on my lower back as we weave through the halls.
He walks me to every lecture, even the ones that take him miles out of his way, and when class is dismissed, he waits for me outside and escorts me to where I’m headed next.
“I should be worried about you being late to your own classes,” I say in protest as he demands to accompany me all the way to the science building across campus.
“You're worth it,” he says with a smile, and kisses my forehead before jogging off towards his own lecture hall.
The kisses start happening more frequently Not just behind closed doors, but out in the open where anyone can see. During a brief lip lock, we break off for separate classes. When I'm nervous about an exam I'm taking his mouth to my temple.
Gentle, possessive kisses that say to everyone watching exactly who I am to him.
I probably should be a little more self-conscious about that. Should probably feel more about the whispers and stares and how Lydia’s face goes white with rage every single time she sees us.
But I don’t.
Because when we hold hands in public, when we kiss in public, it feels like Aiden is choosing me. Claiming me. Announcing to the whole campus that I’m not just an obligation he owes, but someone he actually wants to be with.
Now my last class and we’re jammed in Advanced Pack Dynamics, a course we take with some thirty other students, including a bunch of Lydia's friends who spend the entire lecture shooting daggers at me with their eyes.
Professor Martinez is talking about hierarchical structures when he motions over to Aiden and me. "Take our campus couple here as an example. The dynamics of a mate bond within an existing pack can lead to some interesting complications..."
My face flushes. Campus couple. He just called us the campus couple in front of everyone.
I wait for Aiden to correct him, to say that it's more complicated than that, that there's actually three of them bonded to me.
But Aiden just nods calmly, his hand finding mine beneath the desk. He doesn't correct the professor. Doesn't make it clear, or explain. He just keeps silent, and the tag remains.
Campus couple.
Some warm and satisfied sensation blossomed in my chest, as my cheeks burned with humiliation.
When class’s out and we’re putting away our things, I hear those whispers start right up.
"Did you hear what Professor Martinez called them?"
"They're so obvious. I don’t know. It’s actually kind of cute."
"I can't believe Aiden Moonfall is that gone for her."
"Lydia must be going out of her mind."
Apparently Aiden hears them too, because his hand tightens in mine as we exit the classroom. Not concealing, not feeling shame, just... utilizing.
“You didn’t correct him,” I say when we get to the hall.
"Why would I?" The question seems to confuse him as genuine.
"Because it's not quite right? Because there are three of you?"
"Right now, in this moment, it’s just you and me." His voice is crisp, confident. "And I’m not going to lie or pretend to minimize it because the situation is complex. You’re mine, Malia. I want everyone to know it."
The possessiveness of his voice should be making me-- irritated, offended, and none of these things are happening. It should feel too hot, too possessive.
Instead, it makes my heart flutter in a really good way.
By 4:56 pm, I’m mentally fried from a particularly savage practical and dying for a cup of coffee when Aiden stops me outside the science building.
“Hey,” he says, falling into step beside me. “How was lab?”
“Torturous. I think I mistakenly made a small explosion.”
He laughs, the sound warm and genuine. "Sounds like chemistry. Come, let’s get you that coffee you’re craving I can smell it through the bond.”
We start east toward the campus café, and I’m so captivated by thoughts of caffeine that I nearly miss Aiden directing me off my expected course — away from the main hallways, into a quieter section of the building.
“This isn’t the way to the café,” I say.
"I know. " There’s something in his voice that makes my heart race.
He escorts me to a vacant corridor—those are the neglected spaces of campus where no one goes in between classes. The afternoon sun shines through a couple high windows creating patterns of light and shadow on the tiled floor.
Before I can ask what we’re doing here, Aiden has his hands on my hips, pressing me slowly up against the wall. His intense blue eyes darken as he stares down, striping me with a heat that literally takes my breath away.
"Aiden—"
"I've been wanting to do this all day," he murmurs and then his lips are on mine.
This isn't like a quick class change or the sweet pecks he's been planting on me all week. This is heated. His body presses over me, while one hand slides up to cup my face as the other is anchored around my waist.
I melt into him, fists grabbing at his shirt, as I kiss him back just as hard. The bond sings between us, making everything I feel so intense that I feel like I’m going to pass out from it. When he finally pulls back, we're both breathing hard.
His forehead is against mine, his eyes still dark and heated.
“What was that for?” I ask, a smile playing at my lips.
“Because I wanted to.” His thumb traces my lower lip that is swollen from his kisses. “Because you are beautiful, and you are mine, and I do not want to wait until we’re alone to tell you that.”
“Everyone could see—”
“Let them.” He has possessive undertones. “Let them talk. Let them stare. Let them whisper about how the Moonfall heir is totally gone for his mate. I don’t care, Malia. I’m not hiding how I feel about you. Not anymore.”
My heart flutters in my chest. ‘Not anymore?’”
“I was trying to be respectful. I was giving you room, not breathing down your neck with the energy of the bond. But fuck that." He kisses me again, softer this time but no less intense. “You’re mine, and I’m not hiding it anymore. I don’t care who sees or what they say. I want everyone on this campus to know that you belong with me."
“With you," I whisper back. "Not belong to you?"
His face softens a bit, and he places a soft kiss on my forehead. "With me," he agrees. "Partners. Equals. Mates.
"Despite being a scholarship student? Even though I'm a hybrid? Even though people like Lydia don’t think I’m good enough for you?”
"Especially because of all that." His hands are on my face, making me look at his eyes. "You’re stronger than any full-blood wolf I know. You are brilliant and brave and you don’t back down even when you’re scared. You’re exactly who I want beside me, Malia. And any old biddy that wants to have a word with that can come to me."
Tears threaten to fall in my eyes, but they're good tears. Happy tears. “You really mean that. "
"Every word." He kisses me once more, this time it is sweet and tender and full of promise. "Let them stare. Let them whisper. Let them judge. None of that matters. If there’s one thing that matters, it’s this— you, me, and what we are building together”
"What about Rowan and Cian?" I have to ask, even though part of me doesn't want to break this perfect moment.
"They have their own connections to you," Aiden says carefully. "They have their own moments, their own claims. But right now? Right now you’re with me, and I’m not going to lie and pretend that’s not true just to make other people more comfortable with our situation.”
It’s grabby and complicated and probably a little unhealthy by normal standards of relationships.
But nothing about this is normal. Nothing about having three mates and negotiating a bond that breaks every rule of pack dynamics is standard or traditional or simple.
So maybe we write our own rules then.” Maybe public displays of affection and claiming kisses in deserted hallways and not pretending we’re not feeling however we’re feeling is what we’re supposed to do.
"Okay," I whisper. "No more hiding."
The grin that spreads across his face is so bright, it makes him look like not the serious alpha heir but the boy who steals kisses between study sessions.
“No more hiding,” he agrees, and seals the promise with another kiss.
We do end up going to the café, holding hands and well kiss-rumpled. They’re definitely staring, definitely whispering, but Aiden just orders our coffees with his arm around my waist like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
And maybe it is.
Maybe this — the public claiming, the open affection, the not hiding what we mean to each other, maybe this is what we both really needed.
Later, as we’re making our way back to the suite, I see Lydia over the quad. She’s glancing at us with an look of pure animosity, and I stiffen imperceptibly, recalling all her meanness, all her cruelty.
Aiden must be able to feel my stress through the bond, because he halts mid-step, pivots toward me, and kisses me right there in the middle of the quad for everyone to see.
It's so claiming and possessive and perfect.
When he pulls off, he don’t even look in Lydia’s way. He only looks at me.
“You belong to me,” he says softly, but with no uncertainty. “And I am yours. Let them all see it.”
I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him again, this time giving it all—gratitude and desire and the growing feeling that maybe, just maybe, this insane situation could actually work.
Let them talk let them stare.
We’re done hiding. I am done hiding.