Chapter 33 Bring Her Back
Across campus, the air felt heavier.
Christopher’s office sat in the administration wing, tucked away from the noise of the grounds. It was supposed to be a safe place. A controlled place. A place where he didn’t have to perform.
But when the door opened and Kai slipped inside, the tension followed her like perfume.
She didn’t knock.
She never did.
Christopher didn’t look up right away, pen still moving over paperwork he wasn’t even reading properly.
Kai closed the door behind her and walked straight toward him, confident and familiar. She leaned down as if it was natural—like she belonged there—and aimed for his mouth.
Christopher moved back so fast the chair scraped.
Kai froze mid-motion.
“What—” she started, shocked, offended.
Christopher stood abruptly, anger sharp in the movement, like he’d been holding it in all day and she’d just pressed the wrong spot.
“What is your problem?” Kai demanded, eyes narrowing. “You’ve never done that before.”
Christopher’s jaw clenched. “Don’t.”
Kai blinked, then let out a small laugh that sounded more like disbelief. “Don’t what? Kiss you? Since when?”
Christopher dragged a hand through his hair, pacing once, then stopping as if the walls were too close.
“Kai, not now,” he said.
Kai’s expression shifted slowly. “Not now,” she repeated, voice colder. “So when? When you’re done thinking about her?”
Christopher stopped pacing.
Kai stepped closer, eyes sharp. “It’s always her lately. Selene this, Selene that. Every time we’re together, you’re either mad because of her or distracted because of her.”
Christopher’s eyes flashed. “Because she’s my mate.”
“And I’m what?” Kai snapped. “Your mistake?”
Christopher’s jaw flexed. He looked away, and that tiny motion made Kai’s chest tighten.
She hated that look.
Like he was guilty.
Like she was inconvenient.
Kai’s voice dropped, dangerous now. “You’re acting like I did something wrong.”
Christopher’s gaze snapped back. “You did.”
Kai’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
Christopher took a step forward, his expression hardening. “This rumor, this chaos today, do you think I’m stupid?”
Kai’s lips parted. “What are you talking about?”
Christopher scoffed. “Don’t act innocent with me. The entire campus was whispering her name. Accusing her. Laughing behind her back.” His voice sharpened. “And it all started from Kate.”
Kai went still.
Christopher saw it.
That split second where her face changed before she could fix it.
His eyes narrowed. “You and Kate are friends.”
Kai’s voice rose instantly. “So?”
“And the tres marias,” Christopher continued, jaw tight. “They’re always around you.”
Kai stared at him, disbelief turning into anger. “So now you’re blaming me because people talk?”
Christopher laughed once—short and humorless. “People don’t ‘just talk’ like that. Not with that kind of detail. Not with that kind of timing.”
Kai’s nails dug into her palms. “You think I planned that?”
Christopher’s voice dropped. “Did you?”
Kai’s chest heaved. “You’re unbelievable.”
Christopher’s eyes burned. “Answer me.”
Kai’s lips trembled. Whether from rage or frustration, even she didn’t know then she snapped.
“Yes,” she said sharply. “Fine. You want honesty? Yes.”
Christopher froze.
Kai stepped forward like she wanted him to feel it.
“Yes,” she repeated louder. “I did it.”
Christopher’s face tightened, fury and disbelief colliding. “Why?”
Kai’s eyes flashed, tears threatening, not from sadness, but from the rawness of being cornered. “Because you wouldn’t stop watching her,” she shouted. “Because every time you look at her like that, it feels like I’m invisible!”
Christopher stared at her like she’d slapped him.
Kai’s voice cracked, but she didn’t stop. “You keep coming to me, and even then, it’s still Selene in your mouth. Selene in your head. Selene, Selene, Selene—”
She swallowed hard, breath shaking. “So yes. I wanted people to look at her differently. I wanted her to feel it.”
Christopher’s expression went dark.
“Kai,” he said low.
Kai’s eyes glistened, but her mouth curved anyway, like she’d finally stopped pretending.
“I did what you wouldn’t,” she said. “I pushed.”
Christopher’s fists clenched and in the silence that followed, the truth sat between them like a blade.
The silence stretched, thick and suffocating.
Christopher moved first.
It happened fast—too fast for Kai to react. One moment he was standing across the room, the next his hand was at her throat, fingers wrapping just tight enough to make his point without cutting off her breath. The desk rattled behind her as he forced her back against it, his eyes burning with something sharp and dangerous.
“Kai,” he said quietly.
Not shouting. Not roaring.
That was what frightened her.
Her breath hitched, tears spilling instantly as panic and devotion tangled in her chest. She didn’t try to push him away. She never did.
“I just—” her voice broke. “I just wanted her gone.”
Christopher’s grip tightened a fraction.
“She’s in the way,” Kai sobbed, hands clutching at his wrist, not to pull it off but to hold it there. “She always has been. Ever since we were young, it was always Selene. Selene this, Selene that. Even when she did nothing. Even when she wasn’t trying.”
Her tears fell freely now, streaking down her cheeks.
“I just want her downfall,” she whispered desperately. “Just once. I want to be the one you choose without her standing there, breathing, existing.”
Christopher’s jaw clenched.
“You wanted her humiliated,” he said flatly.
Kai nodded frantically. “Yes. So you’d see her differently. So you’d finally let go.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his grip unwavering. Kai’s chest rose and fell rapidly, her vision blurring, but she didn’t look away. She never looked away from him.
Then slowly Christopher’s expression changed.
The anger didn’t fade. It sharpened.
His hand loosened, sliding from her throat to her jaw, forcing her to look at him.
“If you really love me,” he said softly, “you’ll fix this.”
Kai froze.
“Fix… what?” she whispered.
Christopher leaned closer, his voice low, calculated. “You started the rumor. You can end it.”
Her brows knit together. “How?”
“You help me get her back,” he said.
The words hit harder than his grip ever could.
Kai’s breath stuttered. “Get… her back?”
Christopher’s eyes didn’t waver. “You’ll convince her. You’ll smooth things over. You’ll make her believe the rumors were a mistake, overblown, misunderstood, harmless.”
Kai shook her head weakly. “Why would I—”
“Because,” Christopher interrupted, his voice turning cold, “if Selene walks away, the Council will tear me apart. The pack will fracture. And everything we’ve been hiding?”
He leaned in until his forehead nearly touched hers.
“It dies with her leaving.”
Kai’s heart pounded violently. “And us?” she whispered.
Christopher studied her face, the tears, the desperation, the devotion he had always relied on.
“If you do this,” he said slowly, “I’ll continue what we had.”
Hope flared instantly, bright and reckless.
“Our secret,” he added. “But only if you prove you’re loyal to me. Not your jealousy.”
Kai nodded without thinking. “I’ll do it.”
Christopher released her.
She sagged slightly against the desk, breath shaking, throat burning where his hand had been. He stepped back, straightening his jacket as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just reshaped her entire world with a single sentence.
“Kai,” he said, turning toward the door, “don’t fail me.”
She wiped her tears quickly, nodding again. “I won’t.”
He paused at the doorway, not looking back. “Make her come back to me willingly.”
Then he left.
The door closed softly behind him.
Kai stood there alone, chest heaving, fingers trembling as she touched her neck where his hand had been. The pain didn’t matter. The fear didn’t matter.
She smiled through her tears.
“If that’s what it takes,” she whispered to the empty room, “I’ll bring her back myself.”