THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

CELESTE POINT OF VIEW
The private jet touches down at exactly three in the afternoon. I watch through the small window as familiar buildings come into view. Home. Finally.
Two months in Switzerland felt like a lifetime. Endless days of diplomatic meetings with European packs, discussing trade agreements and territorial disputes. Important work for a Beta's daughter, but mind-numbing compared to the excitement waiting for me here.
My phone buzzes with messages as we taxi toward the hangar. Friends welcoming me back. Invitations to parties. Updates on everything I've missed.
But there's one message that makes my blood sing with anticipation.
*Welcome home, beautiful. Can't wait to see you. - R*
Ronan. My future mate. The Alpha who's been promised to me since birth.
I type back quickly: *Landing now. Meet me tonight?*
His response comes immediately: *Always.*
A smile spreads across my face. Two months apart has been torture. Video calls and text messages aren't enough when you're meant to be with someone. When your entire future is wrapped up in theirs.
The driver loads my luggage into the car without speaking. He knows better than to interrupt when I'm texting Ronan. Everyone in our pack understands how important this relationship is. How carefully our families have planned every detail.
The ride to school takes twenty minutes. I use the time to catch up on social media, scrolling through pictures of parties and events I missed. My friends have kept me updated, but seeing everything in person will be different.
Blackclaw Academy looks exactly the same as I left it. Gothic towers reaching toward gray clouds. Students moving across the courtyard in their perfect little groups. Everything in its proper place.
Except something feels different. There's tension in the air that wasn't there before. Whispered conversations that stop when people notice me watching.
I climb out of the car and adjust my designer blazer. The fabric costs more than most people make in a month, but that's not the point. The point is showing everyone that I belong here. That I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
"Celeste!"
Madison Hartwell rushes toward me with her usual dramatic flair. Behind her, Sarah Chen and Emma Brooks follow like faithful shadows.
"Finally," Madison breathes, pulling me into a hug that smells like expensive perfume and desperation. "We've been dying without you."
"I'm sure you managed just fine," I say, but I'm smiling. I've missed this. Missed being at the center of everything.
"Oh honey, you have no idea what's been happening." Sarah's eyes gleam with the kind of excitement that comes from having good gossip. "So much drama."
"Tell me everything."
But Emma shakes her head. "Not here. Too many people listening."
She's right. Students have started gathering around us, pretending to be busy with their lockers while obviously straining to hear our conversation.
"My car," I decide. "Now."
We pile into my black BMW, the same one I've driven since junior year. The leather seats still smell like the vanilla air freshener I keep in the glove compartment.
"Start talking," I command as soon as the doors close.
Madison takes a deep breath like she's preparing for a performance. "There's this new girl. Evangeline Cross. Omega from some nowhere pack."
"Okay." I wait for more. New students come and go all the time. Why should I care about some random omega?
"She tried to claim Ronan."
The words hit me like ice water. "What do you mean, claim him?"
"Mate bond," Sarah jumps in. "It activated during lunch one day. Right in front of everyone."
My vision goes red at the edges. "That's impossible."
"We all saw it," Emma adds quietly. "The way they looked at each other. Something definitely happened."
I grip the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turn white. "What did Ronan do?"
"Rejected her publicly," Madison says with satisfaction. "Totally destroyed her in front of the whole school. Called her pathetic. Made it clear she meant nothing."
Relief floods through me, but it's mixed with rage so pure it takes my breath away. How dare some nobody omega think she could take what's mine? How dare she even look at Ronan with anything other than respect?
"Good," I manage. "She needed to learn her place."
"Oh, it gets better," Sarah continues. "He's been making her life hell ever since. Got the whole school to treat her like garbage. She can barely show her face in the hallways."
Pride swells in my chest. This is why I love Ronan. He understands what's important. Understands that some lines can never be crossed.
"Where is she now?" I ask.
Madison shrugs. "Around somewhere. Probably hiding in a bathroom crying."
"I want to see her."
"Why?"
Because I need to look this omega in the eye. Need to make sure she understands exactly who she tried to mess with.
"Because I want to remind her what happens when people reach above their station."
My friends exchange glances. They know that tone. Know what it means when I get focused on something.
"Celeste," Emma says carefully, "maybe you should talk to Ronan first. Make sure you understand everything."
"I understand enough." I start the car and pull out of the parking space. "Someone thought they could take my future mate. My Alpha. My entire life."
The betrayal burns in my chest like acid. Not Ronan's betrayal, he did exactly what he should have done. But this omega girl's betrayal of every rule we live by.
Omegas don't mate with Alphas. They certainly don't mate with future pack leaders. They know their place and they stay in it.
"Tell me everything," I demand as we drive through the school grounds. "Every detail about this Evangeline Cross."
For the next twenty minutes, my friends paint a picture that makes my rage grow stronger with every word.
A nobody from a nowhere pack. No family. No money. No breeding. Living in some run-down apartment and working part-time jobs just to survive.
Everything I'm not.
Everything Ronan would never want.
"She actually thought the Moon Goddess would pair her with him," Madison says with a laugh. "Can you imagine? The future Alpha of Crescent Moon Pack mated to an omega nobody."
"Disgusting," I spit.
"Ronan handled it perfectly though," Sarah adds quickly. "Made sure everyone knows where his loyalty lies."
"And where's that?"
"With you, obviously. With his real future."
Satisfaction warms my chest. This is how it should be. Ronan and me, just like our families planned. Just like the Moon Goddess intended.
"What's she like now?" I ask.
Emma shrugs. "Pathetic. Barely speaks to anyone. Walks around like a beaten dog."
"Good," I say with venom. "That's exactly what she deserves."
"She's so weak," Madison adds with disgust. "Cries in bathrooms. Sits alone at lunch. The perfect example of what happens when omegas forget their place."
The description should satisfy me. Should make me feel like justice has been served.
But it doesn't. Because this omega still exists in the same space as Ronan. Still breathes the same air. Still goes to the same school where she tried to humiliate my family.
"What are you planning?" Sarah asks nervously.
"I'm planning to introduce myself." I continue driving through the school grounds. "I'm planning to make sure this omega understands exactly what she's dealing with."
"Maybe we should wait...."
"Wait for what? For her to try something else? For her to embarrass my family again?"
Because that's what this is really about. The moment that bond activated in public, it became a stain on my reputation. A suggestion that maybe I'm not good enough for Ronan. Maybe some random omega could take my place.
The very idea makes me sick.
"She needs to learn," I continue, my voice getting colder with every word. "She needs to understand that there are consequences for reaching above your station."
We drive in silence for a while. My friends have learned when to push and when to let me think.
I think about Ronan. About the future we've planned together. About the pack we'll lead and the children we'll raise.
About how some pathetic omega thought she could steal it all away.
"What exactly are you going to do?" Emma asks quietly.
Good question. What am I going to do?
Options run through my mind. But they all center around one place. One location where this omega dared to try and take what's mine.
"I'm going to make her school life a living hell," I say simply.
"Celeste..."
"She thinks she's suffered? She has no idea what real suffering looks like." My voice gets colder with every word. "I'm going to make sure every single day at Blackclaw Academy is torture for her."
"How?"
I smile, and it's not a nice expression. "I'm a Beta's daughter. Future Alpha's mate. Every student in that school knows who I am. Knows what I represent."
The temperature in the car drops slightly as I speak. Even my friends notice, pulling their jackets tighter around themselves. I've always had this effect when I get focused. When I get... motivated.
"That seems extreme..."
"Extreme?" I whip around to glare at Sarah. "You think trying to steal an Alpha from his intended mate isn't extreme?"
She shrinks back in her seat. "I just meant...."
"You meant nothing. Because you don't understand what's at stake here."
I turn back to face the road. In the distance, I can see the apartment complex where Evangeline Cross lives. Run-down buildings with broken windows and graffiti on the walls.
Perfect place for an omega to end up.
"Every wolf in that school needs to see what happens when someone challenges the natural order," I continue. "When someone thinks they can rise above their breeding."
"And if she tries to fight back?"
The question makes me laugh. Actually laugh.
"What's she going to do? Tell a teacher? Complain to administration?" I shake my head. "I'm a Beta's daughter. Future mate to an Alpha. She's nothing."
I catch my reflection in the rearview mirror and for just a second, my eyes look different. Colder. More predatory. The look fades quickly, but the feeling lingers.
"Everyone says she walks like a ghost now," I continue. "But I'll believe it when she tries me."
We pull into the parking lot of her building. The whole place reeks of poverty and desperation.
"Are we going to her classes tomorrow?" Madison asks.
"Oh yes. Tomorrow I start making sure every moment she spends at Blackclaw Academy is misery." I stare up at the windows, wondering which one belongs to the omega who thought she could have my life. "I want her to dread walking through those doors."
"What kind of things are you planning?"
"I don't want to ruin her life," I say quietly, my voice carrying a chill that makes my friends shift uncomfortably. "I want to erase it. Make it so she can't even remember what it felt like to believe she belonged anywhere."
"The kind that remind everyone why the hierarchy exists," I add, putting the car in reverse. "The kind that make sure she never forgets her place again."
As we drive away, I feel something settle in my chest. A sense of rightness. Of balance being restored.
Ronan is mine. Has always been mine. Will always be mine.
And anyone who thinks otherwise is about to learn exactly what that means.
Starting with one pathetic omega who made the mistake of believing in fairy tales.
By the time I'm done with her, she'll be begging to transfer schools.
She'll be too terrified to even look in Ronan's direction.
She'll remember exactly where she belongs.