Page 1 of Bond To The Alpha (Fated Bond #1)

LIANA

End of class. Just what I’ve been waiting for. My fingers grope my worn textbooks quickly as I shove them into my bag. I pull up the zipper, run my eyes around the room while other students are also getting ready to leave, and rise from my seat.

‘Just a few more steps until I reach the door,’ I tell myself as I pull my scarf higher around my neck.

I walk faster…I’m so close, the hallway is right outside…just a little further...and then I freeze the instant someone yanks on my scarf from behind. My stomach seems to drop again at the arrival of that sickening feeling I hate having. Not again. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. My scarf is roughly pulled from around my neck, almost like I’ve been exposed, and I shut my eyes tight for a second before turning to meet the sneering faces of the three girls who've made it their mission to make my life a living hell.

Almost everyone in this school has an issue with me, but these three are in a league of their own. The girl in the middle particularly is their ring leader, Juliet. She dangles my scarf from her fingers with a disdainful smile, more like she is enjoying whatever expression must be on my face right now.

"Well, well, well," Juliet drawls. "If it isn't the little mutt thief trying to scurry off."

I dart my eyes around the room again as I see there is now a growing crowd of onlookers. So many eyes, all fixed on me, widening with interest at the obvious promise of some drama. It's a familiar scene that's happened countless times before. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but it makes my skin crawl every single time.

"Give that back," I mumble tiredly, reaching out to reclaim my scarf.

Predictably, Juliet holds it out of my reach.

"I don't think so. We all know it's not really yours anyway,” she taunts. Then she holds the scarf up to the light to make a show of examining it closely.

"This is a vicuna brand, which is quite expensive and limited. I heard there’s only one of this kind around here and I happen to know the one person who has it. I’m sure we’ve all seen Kane wear this exact scarf before, right?” She looks around as if to clamor for supporters, and unsurprisingly, I hear others murmuring in agreement.

Then she pauses for dramatic effect before looking at me to accusingly add, "Thief."

Thief.

I've heard it so many times before, but it never loses its sting.

Thief.

The label that's been branded on me since before I could even understand its meaning.

Thief.

The legacy my parents left me, and a burden I've been carrying all eighteen years of my life.

I’ll tell of the ramshackle house on the outskirts of the Blood Moon Pack territory which I call home. I grew up in the midst of a lot of violence and constant arguing, and there was nothing more that got my parents so active than talking about their next big loot. My parents were infamous in the pack for their cons and swindles. They always stole from anyone and everyone they could. I've spent many nights trying to understand how my parents could live such pathetic lives without shame. They never tried to be better people, not even for my sake.

As much as I want to, I can never forget that cold night 8 years ago, when I was awoken in the middle of the night by a series of angry knocks on our door. I was confronted by a mob of furious pack members when I opened the door, and they kept asking me where my parents were. I was angrily shoved aside, helplessly and confusedly watching several strangers turn our house upside down. Later I got to know that my parents had fled after stealing a massive amount of money from everyone in the pack. They took everything they could and disappeared, of course, leaving their daughter behind without a second thought.

Safe to say my childhood ended right then, because I was no longer just a girl; I was the daughter of thieves. Every day became a battle against the pointing fingers, accusations, and the names that follow me like shadows. "Thief," they call me. "Liar." As if I had any part in my parents' crimes. I was marked and ostracized; not even other kids my age wanted to be friends with the daughter of swindlers.

Years and years passed by in my futile attempts at trying to prove myself different and show that I'm not to be defined by my family's misdeeds. And so, I’ve just stuck to keeping to myself. I avoid people at all costs; it’s easier that way…and less painful. Sometimes, I have to disguise myself just to get work to earn enough money to survive, and on rare, lucky days, people don't notice me at all.

And to freaking top it all, I can’t shift, which is even an additional topic for the taunts. A werewolf who can’t shift—it's almost unheard of. Some say it's proof that I don't belong while others pity me, which is quite worse than the scorn. I like to believe it might be due to the several years of repressing myself and burying my emotions so deep that my wolf couldn't emerge. And if it’s not, then maybe I truly am…cursed?

Fall last year, I got admitted into this university, which is the only one in our pack. If there’s anything excellent about me, it’s my grades. I know being unable to shift sets me apart from my werewolf classmates in the most fundamental way possible, but I try to focus on my studies. I'm here to learn and live as well as I can so that I can make a better future for myself and maybe live in a place very far from here, where no one knows my name or my history or always gets me into unnecessary troubles like Juliet does.

"I'm not a thief," my voice is hoarse at first, but I clear my throat and try again. “I didn't steal anything."

"Hand it back,” I say, holding out my palm.

“Oh my, look how she's glaring at me!"

Juliet exclaims, putting a hand on her chest dramatically. "I'm so scared!"

Then she stumbles backward, pretending to swoon as her cronies catch her and all of them start cackling like hyenas.

"I know this belongs to Kane. Ugh, your audacity to even put it on in public like you wouldn't get caught or something."

She takes a step closer to me. “Come on, little thief. Enlighten us. How did this get into your hands?"

One of the other girls whose name I can’t remember, pipes up. "Or maybe we could learn a few tricks? After all, it runs in the family, right?"

The laughter that rises around me makes my stomach turn again and I feel dizzy. That very scarf is one of the very few acts of kindness I've experienced from a pack member while doing some menial jobs, so being accused of stealing it is just…disheartening.”

“I did not—”

A tall frame suddenly comes between me and Juliet, blocking her sneering face from my view. I step back a bit, being caught off guard by the intervention. A tingling warmth spreads from my core to radiate outward to my fingertips and toes. Even from behind, the tension in his stance is obvious and I can’t stop myself from inhaling his distinctly masculine scent.

"Quit it, Juliet,” he says.

"But Kane, she stole your—"

"I said that's enough," he cuts her off as he pulls the scarf from her hand.

"And she didn't steal anything," he adds.

The crowd around us has gone quiet and Kane's voice rings out clearly in the silence.

"This scarf was a gift from me to Liana. She's not a thief, and I won't stand here and let you or anyone else claim otherwise. Can you all just stop taunting her and mind your own damn business for once?"

My cheeks continue to burn with embarrassment where I’m standing, and I’m more than equally surprised that he would actually tell that lie for my sake.

Then Kane turns to face me. Actually, I sense rather than see him lean down slightly.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Without making eye contact, I snatch the scarf from his hand and hurry out of the door. The air in the hallway hits my face and I gulp it down greedily as I try to forget that encounter with the last person I expected to defend me.

Kane.

He's the golden boy of the pack, the alpha's son and heir apparent. Kane's got this obvious charm about him. He’s smart and I've heard he's already sitting in on pack meetings to learn the ropes of leadership. Of course, all of this makes him the most eligible bachelor on campus. Girls throw themselves at him constantly, hoping to catch his eye. What none of them know is that he’s my fated mate. I felt the pull the first time I first saw him. It felt like a hook behind my navel was drawing me to him. It terrified me. Still does, if I'm being honest. Because nothing good can come from the campus’ golden boy being mated to the daughter of thieves.

So I've been avoiding him. I duck my head whenever he passes in the hallway, sitting as far from him as possible in the classes we share and praying he never notices me. Because I know the moment he does, my carefully constructed peace will shatter. I'll be thrust into the spotlight and torn apart by jealous she-wolves. Better to stay in the shadows, unnoticed and safe even if it means ignoring the ache in my chest every time I see him.

I quicken my pace as I walk in the hallway, hitching my handbag higher on my shoulder.

"Liana, wait!" I hear Kane’s voice, but I keep walking like I don’t hear him.

Shit. I feel his hand on my arm, and I stop.

The moment Kane's fingers wrap around my arm, it's like an electric current shoots through my entire body. Every nerve ending comes alive and it’s singing with a sensation I can't even begin to describe. It's both exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

A part of me wants to lean into this feeling completely; it’s howling and begging me to be closer to my mate. Because that's what he is, isn't it?

But I shut it off with everything I can even though it’s hard.

I turn reluctantly to him, and I can see, people are staring again. Gosh, don't they have anything better to do? I look at Kane, then quickly avert my eyes to some nonexistent spot over his shoulder. Is it just me, or has the temperature around us suddenly spiked up?

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Kane asks as he pierces me with those deep and serious blue eyes of his, and my skin suddenly feels too tight, as if my wolf is pushing against the confines of my body.

"I'm not..."

The lie dies on my lips as he smiles at me.

Kane stands a good head taller than most of the guys around him, with his broad shoulders and athletic build on full display especially in a fitted t-shirt that probably costs more than my entire wardrobe. His dark brown hair is also artfully tousled, as if he just rolled out of bed looking like that.

He comes closer to me, his eyes dropping to the scarf I’m hanging on my arm, and I swear I can feel the heat radiating off his body. He takes out the scarf and starts to wind it around my neck very gently while I stand there, looking at anything but his face as goosebumps erupt down my arms.

“If you’re not avoiding me as you say, then go on a date with me."

His voice rings out very clearly and confidently in the hallway.

I take a deep breath and step back from him.

"I will be rejecting that offer," I say coolly.

"If you'll excuse me," I add, pulling off the scarf he’d just draped around my neck and walking off.

As I march down the hall, I can feel Kane's eyes on my back. Kane and me — the girl from the wrong side of the tracks? Any relationship between us is doomed from the start, because there would be way too many people waiting for it to crash like a child’s carefully built sandcastle at the beach, before any good thing can come out of it. I've worked too hard to build a life for myself and distance myself from my family's legacy. Getting involved with Kane would undo all of that in an instant and thrust me back into the spotlight. And when it eventually ends I'd be left picking up the pieces and tatters of my hard-won reputation.

I duck into an empty classroom, close the door and lean against the wall to take some deep breaths. It doesn't matter that for a split second, I imagined saying yes to that date.

But fantasy and reality are two very different things.

In my reality, Kane is a complication I can't afford.

He's not for me. And I'm certainly not for him.