THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

RONAN POINT OF VIEW
The news hits me like a punch to the gut.
I'm sitting in AP Chemistry, trying to focus on molecular structures, when Marcus slides into the seat next to me. His face is lit up with excitement that makes my stomach drop.
"Dude," he whispers, leaning close. "You're not going to believe what happened in Peterson's class."
I keep my eyes on my textbook. "I'm trying to study."
"Forget studying. Your girl just went crazy."
My pencil snaps in half. "What girl?"
"Evangeline. The omega. She totally lost it on Celeste."
The words hit like ice water in my veins. I turn to face him, keeping my expression blank. "What are you talking about?"
Marcus grins like Christmas morning. "There was a huge fight. Like, actual punches thrown. Evangeline slapped Celeste right across the face."
My wolf perks up inside my mind. Not just interested. Proud.
*She fought back,* he whispers with satisfaction. *She defended herself.*
I shove him down hard. Force him back into the corner where he belongs.
"You're lying," I say.
"I swear on my mother's grave. Jake was there. So was Emma. They all saw it."
"Celeste wouldn't let some omega lay a hand on her."
"That's the crazy part." Marcus's voice drops lower. "Evangeline didn't just hit her. She overpowered her. Threw her around like she weighed nothing."
The binding stone around my neck grows warm. My wolf is fighting against it, trying to surface. Trying to feel proud of our—
Not our anything. Not our mate. Not our concern.
"Where are they now?" I ask.
"Principal's office. Both of them got dragged down there after Peterson broke it up."
I close my textbook with more force than necessary. The sound echoes through the classroom.
"Where are you going?" Marcus asks.
"Bathroom."
But I don't go to the bathroom. I walk straight to the principal's office and wait in the hallway outside. Students pass by in small groups, all talking about the same thing.
The fight. The impossible sight of an omega making Celeste look weak.
My wolf paces inside my mind like a caged animal. He's happy about this news in ways that make me sick. Proud that Evangeline stood up for herself. Pleased that she showed strength.
He doesn't understand what this means. What kind of attention this will bring her.
What kind of danger she's put herself in.
The office door opens twenty minutes later. Celeste walks out first, her chin high and her expression perfectly controlled. But I can see the tension in her shoulders. The way her hands shake slightly at her sides.
She sees me waiting and her face lights up with relief.
"Ronan," she breathes, walking straight into my arms.
I hold her because it's expected. Because people are watching. But my attention is on the figure following her out of the office.
Evangeline looks smaller than I remember. Her hair is still damp from something. Her uniform is wrinkled. But there's something different in the way she carries herself.
Something that makes my wolf whine with longing.
*Look how strong she's become,* he whispers. *Look how she stands now.*
"What happened?" I ask Celeste, but my eyes stay on Evangeline.
"It was horrible," Celeste says, pressing closer to me. "She just attacked me out of nowhere. Like some kind of wild animal."
The fluorescent lights above us hum like insects. Evangeline's scent cuts through the sterile hallway air, grounding me in the worst possible way.
Evangeline's head snaps up at Celeste's words. Our eyes meet across the hallway.
For a moment, the world stops. The bond between us flares to life, wounded but still there. Still connecting us in ways I don't want to acknowledge.
Her green eyes hold mine without flinching. Without looking away like she used to.
There's no fear in her gaze anymore. No desperate hope. Just something cold and calculating that makes my chest tighten.
*She's not afraid of us anymore,* my wolf observes. *Good.*
"I need to talk to you," I tell Evangeline.
Celeste's grip on my arm tightens. "Ronan, you don't need to..."
"Go to class," I tell her without looking away from Evangeline. "I'll handle this."
"But...."
"Go."
Celeste hesitates, then releases my arm. "You always choose her," she whispers before walking away, loud enough for Evangeline to hear. "Even when she ruins everything."
She shoots Evangeline a look full of poison before disappearing down the hallway with her friends.
The hallway empties as students hurry to their next classes. Soon it's just me and Evangeline, standing ten feet apart like gunfighters.
"You wanted to talk?" she says. Her voice is steady. Unafraid.
I close the distance between us in three long strides. Stop close enough that I can smell her scent. Vanilla and wildflowers and something else. Something wild that wasn't there before.
"What did you think you were doing?" I demand.
"Defending myself."
"From what? Celeste was trying to help you."
Evangeline laughs. Actually laughs. The sound is bitter and sharp.
"Help me? Is that what she told you?"
"She said you attacked her for no reason."
"She poured water on my head in front of the entire class. Then she said horrible things about my dead parents." Evangeline steps closer, and I'm surprised by the anger radiating from her small frame. "But I suppose that counts as helping in your world."
The binding stone grows hotter against my chest. My wolf is clawing at my consciousness, begging me to listen. To believe her. To comfort her.
But I can't. Won't.
"I told you to stay away from her," I say coldly.
"I was sitting in class. She came to me."
"You should have walked away."
"Why?" Evangeline tilts her head, studying me with those too-bright eyes. "So she could humiliate me somewhere else? So everyone could see me run away again?"
"Yes." The word comes out harsher than I intended. "Because that's what smart omegas do. They know their place."
Something flickers across her face. Pain, maybe. Or disappointment.
"My place," she repeats slowly.
"That's right. At the bottom. Where you belong."
"And where does Celeste belong?"
"At the top. With me. Where she's always belonged."
Evangeline nods like she's filing away information. "I see. So when she pours water on me, that's her right as someone at the top?"
"If that's what happened..."
"When she talks about my dead parents like they were trash, that's just her exercising her authority?"
My wolf whimpers at the pain in her voice. At the way her hands shake slightly as she speaks.
"You don't understand pack dynamics," I say, hating how empty the words sound.
"I understand that you watched her humiliate me yesterday and did nothing. I understand that you're here now, defending her actions because she has the right bloodline." Evangeline's voice gets quieter, but somehow more dangerous. "I understand that you think being born into power gives you the right to step on anyone beneath you."
"That's how the world works."
"That's how your world works." She takes another step closer. "But maybe I don't want to live in your world anymore."
The statement hangs between us like a challenge.
My wolf goes completely still. Listening. Hoping.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.
"It means I'm done being your victim. Done being Celeste's entertainment. Done pretending that I deserve to be treated like garbage because of what I was born as."
Heat flares in my chest. Not the binding stone this time. Something else. Something that feels like panic.
"You can't just decide you don't like the natural order," I say. "You can't change what you are."
"Can't I?"
There's something in her voice that makes my skin prickle. Something that reminds me of the strange dreams I've been having. The ones where she stands in moonlight with silver eyes and power radiating from her skin.
For a heartbeat, I don't see an omega. I see something ancient, wild, and watching me like I'm the prey.
The image vanishes as quickly as it came, leaving me shaken.
"You're an omega," I say desperately. "You're weak. You're nothing."
"If I'm nothing, then why are you so threatened by me?"
The question hits like a slap. Because she's right. I am threatened. Have been since the moment our bond activated.
Not because she's strong. Because she makes me want to be weak.
Makes me want to choose her over everything I've been taught to value.
"I'm not threatened by you," I lie.
"No? Then why the binding stone?" She gestures at my neck. "Why the magic to keep your wolf quiet? Why the desperate need to convince yourself that I mean nothing?"
My hand moves to my throat automatically. The stone burns hot enough to blister.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I know that your wolf wanted me to fight back. I know that some part of you was proud when I stood up to Celeste." Evangeline's eyes bore into mine. "I know that you're afraid of what it means if an omega can be strong."
"You're delusional."
"Am I? Or are you just scared that everything you believe about power and hierarchy and worthiness might be wrong?"
Rage builds in my chest like a wildfire. She's getting too close to truths I don't want to face. Asking questions I can't answer.
"You need to stop," I growl.
"Stop what? Telling the truth?"
"Stop challenging things that are bigger than you. Stop acting like you matter when you don't. Stop making my life complicated."
Evangeline stares at me for a long moment. When she speaks, her voice is soft but somehow more cutting than shouting.
"Your life is complicated because you're lying to yourself. Because you know, deep down, that I do matter. That the bond between us is real whether you want it or not."
"There is no bond."
"Then why can you feel my emotions right now? Why do you know that I'm not afraid of you anymore?"
Because I can feel it. Can sense the shift in her. The way fear has been replaced by something fiercer.
"Stay away from Celeste," I say instead of answering. "Stay away from me. Stay away from anything that matters."
"Or what?"
The challenge in her voice sends my temper over the edge.
"Or I'll make you regret it," I snarl. "I'll make your pathetic life so miserable that you'll beg to transfer schools. I'll use every connection my family has to destroy any future you think you might have."
Evangeline doesn't flinch. Doesn't step back. Just looks at me with those too-knowing eyes.
"You're already doing that," she says quietly. "The only difference is now I'm going to fight back."
She turns and walks away without another word.
I stand there watching her go, my heart hammering against my ribs. My breath catches. Just for a second. Just long enough for her to notice.
She pauses at the corner and looks back at me. Something like understanding flickers in her eyes before she disappears.
My wolf is howling inside my mind. Not with pain this time. With something that sounds like pride.
*She's not running anymore,* he whispers. *She's not afraid.*
*She's becoming who she was meant to be.*
And that terrifies me more than anything else in the world.
Because if Evangeline Cross is becoming something powerful, something that can't be controlled or dismissed or ignored...
Then everything I've built my life on is about to crumble.
The binding stone pulses against my chest. Hot. Insistent. Trying to keep me from thinking thoughts that feel too much like truth.
But as I watch her disappear around the corner, one thought echoes through my mind despite the magic trying to suppress it:
I'm in trouble.
Real trouble.
And for the first time in my life, I don't know how to fix it.