CHAPTER 25: _ AN ABOMINATION!

"It’s enough that you’re all low-class Omegas. Tomorrow, you’d better come dressed in your best outfits to avoid further embarrassing your mates." Ms. Vesper added.

Their best outfits?

And what or where do the Academy expect them to find those from—when they literally didn’t allow them take a single thing from their belongings except for the clothes they were brought in with?

A side of Heidi’s lips curls upwards. This school is crazy. The entire system is fucked, demanding the impossible from them. She doubts Sierra would be so generous as to lend her one of her expensive dresses or that Mrs. Castell would get her one.

Junie makes a choking noise beside Heidi. Heidi feels it too; a deep tug in her stomach, like something inside of her already knows what’s coming. It’s not excitement. It’s dread.

Someone behind them whispers, "We see our wolves tomorrow?"

Another student replies in a hush, "And our mates?"

The whispers multiply, rising like nervous steam in the cold air. Ms. Vesper lets it fester just long enough for the tension to swell. Then... crack.

She claps once. It was a single guillotine of a sound. The room snaps back into silence, not daring to provoke Madam Please Have Mercy.

"Since some of you are more interested in gossiping than listening," She purrs, "let me remind you that distractions will not serve you tomorrow. You will feel the power in your bones. The shift... the change. You will no longer be just... an omega. The Awakening will show you who you really are, what level of the werewolf hierarchy you really belong to, and what special ability you are gifted with."

She strolls across the front of the class again like a panther in stilettos. Her hands remain calmly clasped, but her eyes flick across the rows with quiet fire.

"Now," she announces, "I will allow five minutes of questions before we begin group pairing exercises."

The words group pairing exercises raise a few alarmed blinks, but it’s the "questions" part that lights a fire beneath Heidi’s seat. She has a ton of those. Her hand shoots up before she can overthink it.

Ms. Vesper looks directly at her, unsurprised. "Yes, Miss Castell."

Heidi clears her throat. "Um... can we reject our mates?"

The room goes deathly still. It’s not just the question—it’s the audacity

of it. Even Junie turns slowly toward Heidi like she just asked if she could slap the Alpha King and get away with it.

Ms. Vesper stares at her for a long, unreadable moment. Then... she laughs. It was a sharp bark of a laugh like it surprised even her.

"Reject your mates?" she repeats, her lips curling. "Oh, that’s rich."

Her laughter fades into a dry scoff. "Tell me, why would an Omega – a subclass most often rejected, want to reject their mate?"

Heidi stiffens under the sudden attention. Her mouth opens and shuts once. Ms. Vesper doesn’t give her room to answer.

Her eyes flash. "You do realize Omegas don’t get that privilege often, don’t you? It’s usually the Alphas or Betas doing the rejecting. Unless, of course, an Omega is paired with another Omega... which frankly is unfortunate—and finds them incompetent. Understandably, some would want to reject in such cases."

She folds her arms now, shaking her head in disbelief. "But rejecting someone above you? A senior? A member of the pack who has been here before you? That would be like spitting on a winning lottery ticket. Why would you want that?"

What the hell does this mean? That she is not even qualified to reject anyone?

Heidi’s heart pounds. She bites the inside of her cheek before pressing again, softer this time. "But... can we? I mean... technically?"

Ms. Vesper’s brow arches, sharp as a blade. "Why are you so stubborn, Miss Castell?"

Heidi blinks innocently. "I just... love to study. I like knowing all the rules."

Ms. Vesper does not look convinced. She walks over to the desk nearest the front row and places both hands flat on it, leaning forward. Her tone cools but doesn’t lose its sternness.

"Yes, you can reject your mate. But it almost never ends well."

There’s a silence that buzzes with tension. Heidi doesn’t breathe.

"You see," Ms. Vesper says, pushing herself upright again, "the bond between mates isn’t just a suggestion from the Moon Goddess. It’s a divine tether. You can ignore it, you can pretend

it doesn’t exist, and you can run from it. And sure, you may even find a new partner—someone convenient and... safe."

She paces slowly now.

"But the bond does not fade. It waits. It gnaws. And eventually, the ones who try to live without their true mates end up doing one of two things: they either break the hearts of everyone else in their lives just to return to the bond... or they rot in regret, miserable and alone."

A few students exchange terrified glances. One girl is already sweating. When Heidi looks at Junie, her new friend looks like she’s about to hurl. Heidi feels something deep and cold spread across her chest like a frostbite bloom.

She can’t reject them? Can’t reject him? Can’t reject them?

Her chest tightens painfully. Like the leash connecting her to Darien is yanking tighter and tighter, until her breath starts coming in shallow spurts. Her heart throbs.

This can’t be happening. She’s not ready to accept four monstrous, cocky, insufferable Alphas as her destiny. She doesn’t want to belong to anyone. She refuses to.

But her voice, damn her voice asks the final, fatal question anyway.

"Can someone... ever be fated to more than one mate?"

The silence this time is thick and oily. Ms. Vesper’s head turns slowly. Her face says one thing: What the hell did you just ask me?

The class is still. So still. Heidi instantaneously regrets opening her mouth.

Ms. Vesper narrows her eyes. Her whole face folds into a dramatic expression of disgust. She presses her palm to her heart as if Heidi’s question is a physical hit.

"Absolutely not. That is... an abomination."

Heidi gulps.

"The Moon Goddess is many things," Ms. Vesper is shouting now, "but she is not careless! She does not fumble divine assignments. She does not play group roulette with mate bonds. A werewolf has one destined match at a time. One. Not two. And certainly not more!"

She’s pacing now, dangling a finger downward as if this were the first time she’s ever heard such.

"The only time something remotely like that has happened was in the ancient wars, when magic and bloodlines were unstable, and even then—even then!... it was considered a curse. A deformity. The subjects went insane from the confusion and rivalry. It tore them apart from the inside out."

This... this is not; Heidi thinks. No wonder the Alphas hate her. She’s an abomination to them. She’s like a symbol of rivalry, confusion, and separation between them. It’s not just because she’s a lowly Omega. She can tear them apart, thereby, tearing the Alpha family apart.

The whole pack too.

Heidi’s palms and feet begin to sweat. She didn’t realize her fate could be so dark and so... forbidden. Oh, no. What to do now?

No one must ever know she’s likely the Alphas’ mate. What if she’s killed for it? Her heart pounds so hard, she can feel it in her ears.

Well, the Alphas are still guessing. They are not sure of anything yet. Not until she’s united with her wolf. Tomorrow, she will know. Ugh—she can’t wait for tomorrow now.

Ms. Vesper whirls suddenly and pins Heidi with a look. "Why do you ask?"

Heidi straightens. "Just... curious. For a friend."

Junie groans beside her.

Ms. Vesper narrows her eyes again. "Tell your friend to avoid reading garbage fiction and focus on surviving the Awakening Ceremony. That’s the only bond they should be worried about right now."

Heidi sinks a little lower in her seat. Her pulse is a hurricane. Her face feels hot. Her stomach sinks all the way into her boots.

So there it was.

She’s not allowed to reject her mates.

And the fact that she might be fated to four? Apparently, that’s either a medical emergency or a divine clerical error. Heidi clasps her hands tightly beneath her desk to keep from shaking. She stares at the board, but the words blur.

Her chest aches in a way she doesn’t have language for. She’s doomed. Properly, cosmically, divinely doomed. Others ask their questions, Ms. Vesper gives her scary answers, but Heidi’s mind has travel far.

Finally, the bell rings to end the class—but for Heidi, it sounds more like a death toll because not only does she have to run from the traffickers who are definitely out for her, she has to face Darien, and possibly, his other three obnoxious brothers.

Just kill me, she wishes. Just die, Heidi.