Kane

After spending days in meetings, getting all of his affairs in order, and spending time with his friends and the girls he rescued, Kane was excited but partially tired when he came back to the Unitas pack. He had been texting Nia for a few days, after the protective barrier around the capital went down. She knew he was coming back soon but she didn't expect him to be here, let alone at school.

Kane couldn't help but laugh as he read Nia's answer to his text message. He had lied, wanting to surprise her after not being able to see her for two weeks and said he wouldn't be able to make it for school today.

Now he stood in the parking lot, holding his skateboard as he waited for Nia to pull up in her car. He was so happy he managed to ignore all the glares sent his way, he'd forgotten what it felt like to be despised for no reason after spending a few days in Kalopsia.

After a few minutes Nia pulled up in her car, looking more dejected than the last time he saw her. He couldn't help but worry if anything had happened to her during the time he'd been away. As she hopped out of the she kept her head down, grabbing her bag from the passenger seat. Unaware of his presence she walked towards the main entrance of the school and Kane laughed as he pulled out his phone to text her.

Look behind you.

He could hear Nia's phone buzz as she reached into her pocket to look at the notification. After reading the message she looked up, turning around on the steps of the stairs hesitantly as if she thought a joke was being played on her. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Kane, her face brightening as she grinned at him. Then she immediately took off down the stairs, running towards him as she tried not to trip over her stuff. Kane dropped his skateboard as Nia jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck as he spun her around with ease.

"I can't believe you're here!" She laughed as he put her down, steadying her gently. Nia dropped her bag, thoroughly examining him for injuries. After she was somewhat satisfied she looked him in the eye, silently asking if he was okay. When he nodded she smiled, tackling him in another hug that would've wiped them both out if he didn't have super strength.

"So did anything happen while I was gone?" Kane asked, whispering the question in her ear, unable to ignore the crowd of people at the entrance staring at them. There were more people paying attention to them than usual, and Kane didn't like it.

"Everything happened while you were gone. I'll fill you in later." She wrapped arm around as Kane picked up her bag after putting his skateboard in his bag with one hand, draping his arm over her shoulder with the other. As they passed through the entrance Kane saw Liam and his friends staring at them intently, surprised to see Kane back at school. But he refused to acknowledge them, intent on listening to Nia ramble. He missed her too much to pay close attention to people who didn't matter.

~~~~<>~~~~

"Holy shit, you can't be serious." Kane leaned against the thick trunk of a tree, noticing how the weather was starting to get colder. That's better for them though, it means there's less people outside who could hear them.

"Yeah,"Nia said with a tired laugh, "The whole damn school thinks that I'm soulmates with Liam and it's your fault." Kane laughed as she teased him, knowing it was just a jest. "First the future Alpha and now the Delta? Nia you got hoes." Nia laughed, "I don't know if that's what I'd call it."

"I still can't believe Thomas approached you." Kane said, partially lying. In Kane's mind it was very plausible actually. He could tell every time Thomas stared at Nia from afar that he wanted to approach her, he knew it was a matter of time before his true desires won over whatever the hell was stopping him from being around Nia.

This was the same guy who approached him to ask about Nia, Thomas probably thinks of her more than himself. But Nia wouldn't believe that if he told her, so Kane chooses to keep the peace.

"I can't believe Liam asked about you! In front of everyone too! That's the only reason people think we're mates. I haven't interacted with him in months and now he's constantly bothering me about you. Liam may not realize it but he's obsessed with you already."

Kane shook his head in anger, feeling bad about how Liam had hurt Nia's feelings, "Liam is a fucking loser. But I doubt he's obsessed with me. He's obsessed with the Delta position. Goddess knows his precious mommy and daddy would probably let him have it regardless if they knew he was mates with me. I'm so sorry that he bothered you, he won't do that anymore now that I'm here" Kane cracked his knuckles, itching to take Liam down a peg or two. It would be so easy and honestly kind of boring. Liam isn't even strong enough to pose a legitimate threat.

"This isn't right, it's not fair. Why do we have to suffer because we have shit soulmates?" Nia picked at the fading grass, her expression turning into a mixture of bitterness and anger.

"I guess it's destiny or whatever the fuck they call it.
I tried to get him to sever the bond and he looked at me like I tried to behead his mother." Nia snorted and Kane shivered uncomfortably when he remembered what happened afterwards, the fact that Liam kissed him would haunt his dreams.

"I wonder what it would feel like... to sever the bond with Thomas. Would it hurt? Or would it make me happier?" Nia stared wistfully at the sky, caught up in memories she couldn't afford to keep for just a split second and then it was gone.

The silence was palpable as Kane laced his hand with Nia's to comfort her, softly tracing her knuckles.

"You could always ask him, you know? I'm sure he'd do it if that's what you want." Nia looked at him with panic, partially hurt by the idea that Thomas would possibly agree to it.

"But only if that's what you really want Nia. I doubt he'd do it otherwise." Nia scoffed and stood up, dusting herself off. "I don't care, come on, let's go to class." Kane got up, following the girl obviously in denial. Once they reached their English class Nia turned around, gasping as if she'd forgotten something important.

"Shit I forgot to tell you," she turned around, her eyes darting around the hallway nervously. "We have a project for English."

Kane laughed, wondering why this was such a big deal, "Okay, that sucks but we can just do it together like we usually do."

"That's the thing though, partners have already been assigned and your partner is Liam."

Kane looked at her, his mind not registering the words properly as he repeated what had just come out of her mouth.

"What?"

~~~~<>~~~~

Kane fought back the urge to roll his eyes as Liam stared at him from across the table in the library. His current plan was to stay quiet until the rest of the fifty-five minutes was over but he knew that wasn't going to happen the moment Liam opened his big mouth.

"So... partner," Kane wrinkled his nose, irked by the grating sound that was Liam's voice, "don't you think we should actually discuss what we're gonna do for the project instead of sitting in silence?"

Kane sighed, rolling his eyes at the gleeful expression on Liam's face. "I'd rather not, thanks. In fact I could just do the project on my own and let you take half the credit. Doesn't that sound great?" Liam's face instantly dropped in annoyance and partial disappointment, faced with the fact that Kane didn't want him around.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Liam growled out, his voice lowering into a whisper. The frustration in his tone was palpable but Kane refused to acknowledge it.

"Sorry that I'm not impressed by your efforts of trying to force a meet-cute. This isn't the romance novel you think it is. Why the hell would I be happy about the fact that you forced our English teacher to give us a year-long project?" Liam felt his face get hotter once Kane called him out, "How did you find out?"

"How the hell wouldn't I know?" Kane exclaimed, running a hand through his hair, "Our teacher glanced at you the entire time he discussed the project and you were staring right into his damn soul right until he called out our fucking names. Subtlety is not your speciality." Liam blinked, overwhelmed by the waves of words Kane was throwing at him in a matter of seconds. He was just starting to realize how observant Kane was and it was kind of concerning. But he just feigned nonchalance, shrugging slowly instead of showing how Kane's words upset him.

"I had to get your attention somehow. You were ignoring my texts, and you skipped two whole weeks of school." Kane placed his hands on the table, trying to prevent himself from wringing Liam's neck. "Did it ever occur to you that I have a life? I was busy."

"You could've at least texted me back." Liam crossed his arms, muttering under his breath. Kane leaned back in his chair, not liking how Liam felt entitled to his attention. "You seem to be misunderstanding what I meant. I was busy but even if I was free I wouldn't have read them. I don't like you. We've been over this. We're not dating Liam, I don't owe you shit."

Liam bit back a wince as he felt his chest constrict at Kane's words, the mate bond seemingly punishing him for his soulmate's hatred of him.

"And like I said," the werewolf pretended to dust off his clothes, trying to appear unaffected, "I don't like you either. But I need you, how else am I supposed to become Delta? It sounds like a good deal to me."

"Of course, because being paired up with an abusive soulmate is top on my bucket list." By the look on Liam's face it was clear that Kane had greatly offended him, which was ironic considering the fact that he's a well known douchebag. "I would never-"

"Hit me? Well, it's kind of too late for that isn't it?" Liam flushed, refusing to meet Kane's penetrating gaze. It was embarrassing, if he knew that Kane was going to be his soulmate he would've treated him a bit better. It would've been so easy to convince Kane if they started off on better terms.

"So we got off on the wrong foot...  it's never too late to change." Kane let out an obnoxious laugh, unable to take Liam's proposition seriously.

"You're right. So go have your redemption arc, just leave me out of it." Liam rolled his eyes, incredulous at the mouthiness of the person standing in front of him.

"Why don't you want me? I'm rich, and very attractive. What else is there? You'll live comfortably if you choose to be mates with me."

The longer Kane stared at him the more insecure Liam felt, he could barely maintain eye contact. He couldn't believe that the person who used to cower whenever he walked the halls is the same person before him. The Kane he was coming to know was, surprisingly, a very intimidating person. Both in looks and the way he carried himself and Liam didn't know which version of him was real. The timid, anxious person he bullied or the confident, self-assured person glaring at him.

"You want me, don't you?"

Liam snapped out of his reverie to see Kane studying him with both pity and disgust. "W-what?"

"How long have you been attracted to me?" Kane tilted his head, leaning closer to Liam as the werewolf leaned away, trying not to take in his soulmate's heavenly scent.

"What?! I'm not attracted to you... and even if I was it's just the soul bond." Liam felt his heart race as he stared at Kane, trying not to take in his features.

Kane's jawline was chiseled, the black hair that cascaded down to his neck tied into a messy bun, framing his face perfectly. His brown almond shaped eyes studied him fiercely, not able to mask the hate evident in his expression.

He was beautiful.

"You're lying." Kane felt his aversion to Liam strengthen as he realized that Liam was lying and he was genuinely attracted to him. Not only was he a filthy liar but he's so incredibly bad at it.

"I'm not lying." The werewolf huffed, his eyes flicking to the color black before turning normal again. "I'm not actually interested in you. I don't even like you."

"I never said you liked me. I said that you were attracted to me." Liam gulped, avoiding his gaze to focus on the shelves behind Kane as he tried to come up with a rebuttal.

"Who even are you anyways?" Liam raised an eyebrow, infuriated by the expression on Kane's face.

"Why do you want to know? Are you interested?" Kane maintained eye contact, wondering where Liam was going with his question.

"You're so... weird. I've known you for months and you were the quietest, most boring person I've ever met. And now all of sudden you're loud and..."

"And what?" Kane tilted his head, trying to hold back his laughter.

Interesting, and intimidating, Liam could feel those words on the tip of tongue. But he refused to admit those words out loud.

"Annoying."

"I'm glad I annoy you. But you never knew me in the first place. Of course you'd think that I was boring. You didn't fucking know me, you still don't." Liam clenched his fist, gritting his jaw as Kane continued to mouth off.

"Of course I didn't get to know you, you're a nobody. You didn't exist in my mind most of the time. The only reason I occasionally paid attention to you was because you were in my way. You walked around the halls as if you owned it, someone had to put you in your place."

Kane smiled as Liam went on a mini rant, happy that Liam dropped the amicable facade he'd been keeping for their past interactions.

"Obviously you didn't succeed, now did you?" Liam clenched his fists, ignoring the stinging pain of his claws digging into his palms. Part of him felt the urge to wipe that smirk off of Kane's face but he knew that wouldn't amount to anything productive.

"I'm glad you stopped pretending that you liked me. Now if you'll excuse me I have a project to do."
Kane gave Liam a withering look, and quietly made his way out of the library.

"Fuck! He's so... aggravating." Liam got up and went after Kane, stopping him just before he reached the exit.

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Liam said, grabbing Kane's shoulder to turn him around. The library was surprisingly empty and which only emboldened Liam even more.

Kane looked at the hand on his shoulder, and gestured for Liam to step away from him. Unconsciously, Liam did as he was told, cursing himself when he realized.

"Stay away from Nia." Liam furrowed his brow, not understanding how Nia was brought into the conversation. "I don't understand."

"You were bothering her while I was gone. And you're not gonna do that anymore." Kane met Liam's blue eyes, daring him to challenge his statement.

"I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about us." Liam gestured between them, trying to foster some sort of familiarity in the conversation.

"There is no us. Stop bothering Nia. She has nothing to do with your delusions. You upset her, and you're not going to do that anymore. I won't allow it." All Kane could do was talk about Nia, Liam thought to himself bitterly. How was he supposed to get through to him?

"I apologized to her."

Kane laughed without any mirth, his expression darkening slightly. "Your words are meaningless."

"That's not true." Liam frowned, wondering when the situation deteriorated out of his favor. Why was he here begging for scraps of Kane's attention when it should be the other way around?

"It is, you're manipulative, cruel and overall unpleasant to be around. We don't have to continue on like this. I'm sure that if you tell your parents that I'm your soulmate they'll still let you be Delta anyways. Stop trying."

Liam stood there, his expression turning more confused. Kane didn't want to get to know him, he didn't find him interesting or anything like that, instead he just wanted to stop talking to him.

Kane rolled his eyes at Liam's silence, pushing open the double doors, leaving without a second glance, like Liam was of no importance. Liam had never been treated in such a way before. It irked him in a way that he couldn't understand. He had always been treated with utmost respect and admiration because of his status.

Why did that not matter to Kane? Why was he so unimpressed by him?

He has to find out.

Another triple update! I was gonna add a fourth chapter but I wasn't satisfied with it! I'm gonna try to only update if I have at least 3 chapters written, I go back to college soon but I'm gonna try to be organized and schedule my time well! To anyone who is still reading this shitty ass story I appreciate you a lot! You keep me going! Even if it doesn't seem like it. Life gets hard sometimes but I always go back to writing and reading! I hope you enjoyed these three chapters!

See you on the flip side,

TJ