The Future Alpha King Rejected Me - Then Three More Alphas Called Me Their Mate

The black envelope stayed at the bottom of my gym bag the next morning.

I should have gone to the headmaster. I should have shown Rowan. Instead, I spent dawn filling out a transfer request, then went to combat training because missing class would jeopardize the scholarship I still needed until the transfer cleared.

“Pair up!” Coach Graves shouted. “Alphas, control your aura. Omegas, stop expecting your partner to go easy because the ceremony bruised your feelings.”

I wrapped tape around my knuckles.

“Vale. Elara. Mat four.”

Of course.

Kieran stepped onto the blue square in a fitted gray training shirt. He did not bow.

“I’m not going easy on you.”

“I would be offended if you did.”

His mouth tightened.

Then he attacked.

His first punch hit my guard hard enough to numb my forearm. I pivoted away from the second and barely ducked a kick aimed at my shoulder.

“Too slow,” he said.

“Too angry.”

I drove a jab toward his ribs.

He blocked it and shoved me back.

“You think everything is about the bond now?”

“No. I think you are trying to punish me for existing.”

His next strike stopped an inch from my jaw.

Something dangerous flashed in his silver eyes.

“I am trying to prove I can stand this close to you without becoming my father.”

I lowered my fists slightly.

“Your father did not kill your mother.”

“He made her weak.”

“Vivienne said he made one reckless decision.”

Kieran went still.

“Vivienne talks too much.”

“She said your mother chose him.”

“She chose the bond over herself.”

His voice changed. Less angry. More afraid.

“My mother commanded three hundred wolves. She never asked permission from anyone. Then she met him, and suddenly every decision became what he needed. Where he wanted to live. Which patrol he wanted her on. She called it love.”

He stepped closer.

“When they died, people told me it was romantic that she stayed with her mate until the end.”

Kieran laughed bitterly.

“I thought it was pathetic.”

I held his gaze.

“I am not asking you to stay with me until the end.”

“No. Your scent is doing the asking for you.”

“You keep blaming my body for your choices.”

His face hardened again.

I circled him instead of attacking. “I filed a transfer request this morning.”

That landed harder than any punch.

Kieran's stance broke for half a second. “Where?”

“I haven't decided.”

“You cannot transfer while the marks are unstable.”

I raised my brows. “Interesting. Yesterday you wanted me as far away from you as possible.”

“I still do.”

“Then why do you care?”

His hands curled into fists. “Because leaving Blackthorn puts you outside the northern wards. If the fourth Alpha is a rogue, you would be walking toward him without knowing it.”

The warning sounded practical, but the bond told on him. The mark tied to Kieran gave one hard pulse, hot enough to make me wince. His eyes dropped immediately to my scarf.

“You felt that,” I said.

He looked away.

“Kieran.”

“I felt nothing.”

“Another lie.”

He stepped close enough that the air between us changed. “You want honesty? Fine. The thought of you leaving makes my wolf want to tear the gates off their hinges. I hate that reaction. I hate that I can know you for less than a week and still feel responsible for whether you breathe.”

For once, I had no clever answer.

Kieran saw it and backed away first.

“Good,” he muttered. “Now we both hate something.”

Coach Graves blew his whistle.

“Free scrimmage. Protect your square. No claws.”

The gym erupted.

Students spilled across the mats, changing targets and testing openings. I turned toward a smaller Beta rushing my side.

I never saw Jaxson Miller coming from behind.

“Let’s test the famous four-mate Omega.”

Both hands hit my shoulders.

I flew backward toward the steel weight racks.

Kieran moved faster than thought.

One arm locked around my waist. He spun us. My back hit his chest instead of two hundred pounds of iron plates.

He set me on my feet.

Then he became something else.

Kieran crossed the mat and tackled Jaxson so hard the floor shook.

His first punch split Jaxson’s lip.

The second broke his nose.

“Kieran!” Coach Graves shouted.

He did not hear.

“You don’t touch her!”

The third strike landed with a wet crack.

Two upperclassmen tried to drag him away. Kieran threw them off without even looking.

His aura exploded through the room.

Several Omegas dropped to their knees. One Beta staggered into the bleachers.

Jaxson covered his face, but Kieran kept swinging.

He was going to kill him.

I ran forward and caught Kieran’s wrist in both hands.

“Stop.”

He froze.

Not Coach Graves.

Not two senior Alphas.

Me.

Kieran’s fist hovered above Jaxson’s face. His eyes had gone almost black.

Slowly, they returned to silver.

He looked at my fingers around his wrist.

I released him.

The whole gym had gone silent.

“Why?” I asked.

Kieran stood.

Blood coated his knuckles.

He stared at Jaxson, then at me, horror spreading across his face as he understood what he had done.

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.”

His jaw clenched.

“You hate the bond. You hate what happened to your mother. You keep saying I’m a liability.” I stepped closer. “So why did you lose control when someone touched me?”

Kieran backed away.

“Don’t.”

“Answer me.”

He looked trapped.

For the first time since the ceremony, he did not hide behind disgust.

“Because I hate what you do to me.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

The mark tied to him burned hot beneath my scarf.

Kieran swallowed.

He took another step back as if distance were the only thing keeping him sane.

“If I stay in this room another minute,” he said, voice rough with restraint, “I am going to put my teeth in your neck and claim you in front of everyone.”

Then he turned and walked out before his wolf could make the choice for him.