Chapter 12 Twelve
I left math class with a heavy sigh as the final bell rang, the shrill sound vibrating in the marrow of my bones. The hallways were a buzzing hive of gossip, and I was the queen bee of their latest scandal. I caught snippets as I walked by—whispers like jagged glass, half-finished sentences, and fingers that pointed then quickly retreated.
“…did you see her face?” “…like she thinks she actually belongs here…” “…she threw that ball at Koda and Kai. She’s got a death wish.”
I rolled my eyes, clutching my notebook to my chest. I let their words wash over me like static. I had more important things on my mind than the opinions of high schoolers who peaked at sixteen. But then, the atmosphere shifted. The air didn’t just cool; it thickened, turning heavy and electric, like the seconds before a lightning strike.
My pulse jumped. I knew that scent.
A hand clamped down on my arm—not a gentle touch, but a bruising, proprietary grip.
"Don't even think about walking away while I'm looking at you," a low, commanding voice growled.
I spun around, my blood spiking with a mix of irritation and an alarm bell I couldn’t silence. It was Koda. He stood there, looking down at me with an expression of pure, unadulterated arrogance. His lip curled slightly, his dark eyes scanning me with a look of profound annoyance, as if my very existence was a chore he was being forced to attend to.
"Let go, Koda," I snapped, trying to jerk my arm away.
He didn't. Instead, he shoved me backward, forcing me into an empty classroom. The door slammed shut behind us, the click of the lock echoing like a gunshot. He loomed over me, crowding my space until my back hit the cold surface of a teacher's desk.
"You think you’re special, don't you?" he sneered, stepping so close I could feel the heat radiating off his chest. "Throwing balls at my head, acting like you’re some kind of alpha female. It’s pathetic, Harper. You’re a glitch in my day. A nuisance I have to swat away."
"If I'm such a nuisance, why are you pinning me against a desk in the dark?" I countered, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to sound bored.
Koda’s eyes flashed—a flicker of gold that shouldn't have been there. He leaned down, his face inches from mine, his gaze dropping to my mouth with a look of utter disdain. "Because you're under my skin. Like a parasite. I don't want anything to do with you. I don't like your face, I don't like your attitude, and I certainly don't like the way you look at me like you aren't terrified."
He reached out, his thumb tracing my jawline with a touch that was far too rough to be tender. It was a test, a provocation.
"I’ve spent every minute since that day trying to figure out how to erase you," he hissed, his voice dropping to a dangerous, gravelly register. "You're nothing. You're a human-shaped headache. I have a legacy, a pack, a future—and none of it includes a girl who doesn't know her place."
"Then leave!" I shoved at his chest, but it was like trying to move a brick wall. "Go back to your perfect life and leave the 'parasite' alone."
"I can't!" he roared, the sound vibrating in the small room. He looked frustrated, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the desk on either side of my hips, trapping me. "I’ve tried to ignore it. I’ve tried to act like you don't exist. But every time I smell you in the hall, every time I hear your voice, it feels like a physical insult."
“Ever since that kiss… I’ve felt… different.”
I blinked, caught off guard.
“Different how?” I asked cautiously. I kept my tone neutral, even though a strange heat started creeping along my spine.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he admitted, running a hand down his face, fingers brushing through his hair. “I’ve felt… stronger. More… aware. Like something inside me shifted, and I can’t stop thinking about it. About you.”
My stomach flipped, but I kept my expression carefully unreadable. I wasn’t about to let him see the tremor in my chest, the pulse in my ears, the way my claws itched faintly under my skin.
“I—don’t know what to say,” I murmured, more to myself than to him.
He took a step closer, and the space between us tightened, charged like a storm about to break. “You don’t have to say anything,” he said. “I just… needed you to know. I’ve tried to ignore it, I’ve tried to act normal, but I can’t. And—” He swallowed hard, his eyes flicking down at my lips for a brief, torturous moment. “When we kissed… it wasn’t just that I liked it. It… it made me feel more… powerful. More in control. And—”
He hesitated, biting the inside of his cheek. The tension was unbearable, my chest tightening. “And I think you felt it too.”
I froze, because I had. There had been that flicker of electricity, that surge of heat and something deeper, more primal, when our lips had met. I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself. I certainly wasn’t going to admit it to him.
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said finally, forcing my voice to sound dismissive, casual. My hands clenched into fists at my sides, nails digging into my palms.
Koda’s lips quirked into a brief, almost feral smile. “Don’t lie to me, Harper. You felt it. You know you did.”
I looked away, scanning the dark classroom, pretending the shadows held my attention. But I couldn’t shake the memory—the flicker of power, the heat pooling low in my stomach, the way my mind had felt sharper, my senses heightened. I hadn’t understood it then, and I still didn’t, but I knew I had felt something.
He leaned in, his breath hot against my ear, sending a traitorous shiver down my spine. "I hate this. I hate that you’re the one. I should just walk out that door and let the others tear you apart. You’re weak. You’re small."
He pulled back, his eyes searching mine, searching for the breakage. But as the seconds ticked by, his arrogance began to warp into something else—a desperate, starving hunger. He grabbed the back of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair with a sudden, violent urgency.
"I hate how much I want to do this," he muttered, his voice breaking.
Before I could breathe, he crashed his lips against mine. It wasn't a romantic kiss; it was a collision. It was messy, fueled by an angry desperation that made my head spin. He kissed me like he was trying to reclaim something I’d stolen, his tongue demanding entry, his hands pulling me flush against him until I could feel every hard line of his body.
And then, the world exploded.
A surge of raw, primal power flooded my veins. It was like a dam breaking inside my chest. The "static" I’d felt all day turned into a roar. My senses sharpened until I could hear the clock ticking three rooms away; I could smell the rain on the pavement outside; I could feel the very atoms of the air vibrating between us.
I didn't pull away. I couldn't. My fingers dug into his shoulders, clutching his shirt as the golden heat centered in my gut spread through my limbs. I felt... complete. For the first time in my life, the restless, itching feeling under my skin vanished, replaced by a terrifying, beautiful clarity.
When he finally pulled away, he was breathless, his chest heaving. The mask of the arrogant prince was gone, replaced by a look of sheer, haunted realization. He stared at me as if I were a ghost.
"What..." I gasped, my hand going to my swollen, tingling lips. My voice sounded different—deeper, surer. "Koda, what was that? What does this mean? You said you hated me."
Koda didn't answer immediately. He backed away a single step, his eyes wide and dark, his hands shaking slightly. He looked at his own palms, then back at me, the golden hue in his irises finally settling into a steady, glowing amber. The air in the room didn't just feel heavy anymore; it felt like it belonged to us.
"It doesn't matter what I want," he whispered, the words sounding like a confession and a curse. "It doesn't matter that I tried to fight it."
"Koda, tell me," I demanded, stepping toward him this time. I felt stronger, taller. The fear was gone, replaced by a magnetic pull that made me want to reach out and touch him again, despite everything he’d just said.
He looked at me, a low growl vibrating in his chest—a sound that was no longer an insult, but a call. A call that my own soul was screaming to answer. He looked at me with a mixture of reverence and terror.
"It means the bond is set," he rasped, his voice thick with a truth he could no longer deny. "It means you’re the one I’m bound to. It means you’re my mate”