THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

RONAN POINT OF VIEW
Pain.
It starts in my chest like a knife twisting between my ribs. Sharp. Sudden. So intense I double over in my chair and gasp for air that won't come.
She was just supposed to disappear. Fade away like the weak little omega she is. I never wanted this.
My calculus textbook slides off my desk and hits the floor with a thud that echoes through my empty bedroom. The sound makes my head throb like someone is hammering nails into my skull.
What the hell is happening to me?
I press my palm against my chest where the pain burns hottest. My heart pounds so hard I can feel it against my hand. But it's not my heartbeat. It's wrong. Off rhythm. Like someone else's heart is trying to beat inside my body.
The binding stone around my neck grows warm against my skin. Then hot. I grab it and yank, but the chain won't break. The metal burns my fingers like I'm touching fire.
*Let go,* a voice whispers in my mind. Soft. Desperate. Familiar.
I know that voice.
"No," I say out loud to my empty room. "You're not real."
But the voice comes again, clearer this time. *Please. It hurts.*
Evangeline.
Her face flashes behind my eyes. Green eyes wide with pain. Tears streaming down pale cheeks. Blood on her lips.
I shake my head hard enough to make my vision blur. These aren't real memories. She's fine. Weak, but fine. The binding stone is working exactly like it should.
So why does my chest feel like it's being torn apart?
Another wave of agony crashes over me. This time it spreads down my arms and legs like liquid fire. Every nerve ending screams. I fall out of my chair and hit the floor hard enough to rattle my teeth.
The carpet beneath my cheek smells like her. Vanilla and wildflowers. But that's impossible. She's never been in my room. Never even been in this house.
*Ronan,* her voice whispers again. Closer now. Like she's standing right beside me.
I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. My vision goes in and out of focus. Colors bleed at the edges of everything.
"You're not here," I gasp. "This isn't real."
But when I turn my head, she is there.
Evangeline sits in the corner of my room like she belongs there. But something is wrong with her. Her clothes hang in tatters. Dirt streaks her face and arms. Her green eyes glow with light that shouldn't exist.
And her mouth. God, her mouth is stained with blood.
"What did you do to me?" she asks. Her voice sounds different. Deeper. More dangerous.
"Nothing," I lie. "I didn't do anything."
She stands up slowly. Every movement is fluid. Graceful. Like a predator stalking prey.
"The stone around your neck says otherwise."
My hand moves to the binding stone without thinking. It burns hotter now. Hot enough to blister skin.
"You can't be here," I whisper. "This isn't possible."
She takes a step closer. Then another. Each footstep echoes like thunder in my ears.
"Many things are possible when you stop trying to cage what was meant to be free."
The pain in my chest spikes again. This time it feels like claws ripping through muscle and bone. I arch my back and scream.
When the agony fades enough for me to see straight, she's gone.
But her scent lingers. Stronger now. Mixed with something wild and dangerous that makes my wolf whimper like a beaten dog.
I drag myself to my feet and stumble to the bathroom. The mirror shows a face I barely recognize. Pale. Sweating. Eyes bloodshot and wild.
The binding stone glows faintly blue against my throat.
I splash cold water on my face, but it doesn't help. Nothing helps. The pain keeps coming in waves that steal my breath and blur my vision.
*This is what you wanted,* Evangeline's voice whispers from everywhere and nowhere. *To break what couldn't be broken.*
"Shut up," I snarl at my reflection. "Just shut up."
But the voice doesn't stop. It gets louder. More insistent.
*You thought the bond would die quietly. Thought I would fade away like morning mist.*
"You are fading," I say desperately. "The stone is working. You're getting weaker."
Laughter echoes through the bathroom. Cold. Empty. Nothing like the girl I remember.
*Look at me, Ronan. Really look.*
I spin around, but the bathroom is empty. Just white tiles and my own ragged breathing.
When I turn back to the mirror, she's standing behind me.
But this isn't the broken omega girl from school. This is something else. Something with power that radiates from her skin like heat from a flame.
Her eyes burn silver instead of green. Her fingernails have grown into claws. When she smiles, I see teeth that are too sharp. Too white.
"What are you?" I breathe.
"I'm still nothing," she says, but her voice carries power that makes my bones vibrate. "Still the weak omega you rejected."
But even as she says the words, I know they're lies. This thing in front of me radiates danger.
She reaches out like she's going to touch my shoulder. I flinch away, but her hand passes right through me.
Not real. She's not real.
But the pain that shoots through my body when her phantom fingers brush my skin feels real enough.
I stumble out of the bathroom and back into my bedroom. My legs shake so badly I have to grab the doorframe to stay upright.
The binding stone pulses against my chest. Each pulse sends new waves of agony through my nervous system.
Something is wrong. This isn't how it's supposed to work. The stone should make her weaker, not stronger. Should break the bond, not twist it into something that hurts us both.
*You don't understand what you're playing with,* her voice whispers again. *The magic is older than your family. Older than your arrogance.*
"Stop," I gasp. "Please, just stop."
*I tried to stop. For days I tried to give up. To let you win.* Her voice turns sad. Broken. *But some things can't be killed. Some bonds are too strong to sever.*
The pain in my chest changes. Becomes sharper. More focused. Like something is trying to claw its way out from the inside.
I press both hands against my ribs and feel something moving beneath my skin. Something that shouldn't be there.
*The bond isn't breaking, Ronan. It's evolving.*
"That's impossible."
*Nothing is impossible when you awaken something that was meant to sleep.*
The room spins around me. Colors bleed together until I can't tell what's real and what's hallucination. Her scent fills my nostrils so completely I can taste it on my tongue.
I see flashes of forest. Moonlight. Blood on pale lips. A rabbit torn apart by bare hands.
"What did you do?" I whisper.
*I became what I was always meant to be.*
The binding stone around my neck cracks. Just a hairline fracture, but I feel it like a physical blow. The magic that's been flowing through it stutters and surges.
Power floods through the bond between us. Not the gentle warmth it used to be, but something wild and savage that makes my wolf cower in the back of my mind.
She's not getting weaker. She's getting stronger.
How is that possible?
*You tried to break a pathetic omega,* her voice whispers, but there's something mocking in it now. *Did you really think someone so weak could fight back?*
The words should comfort me. Should remind me that she's nothing. Less than nothing.
But the power flowing through the bond says otherwise.
*Look at me, Ronan.*
I don't want to. Every instinct screams at me to keep my eyes closed. To pretend this isn't happening.
But I look.
She stands at the foot of my bed now. Real as flesh and bone. But something about her is wrong. Different.
"You're still just a weak omega," I say desperately. "This is just... side effects. The stone is working."
She tilts her head like she's studying me. "Yes. I'm weak. Pathetic. Nothing you need to worry about."
But her eyes burn with silver fire that makes me want to run.
"The bond," I whisper. "It's not just connecting us anymore."
"No," she agrees. "It's changing us both."
The pain in my chest reaches a crescendo that makes me scream. Something inside me breaks. Shatters like glass.
When the agony fades, the world looks different. Smells different. Sounds different.
Everything is sharper. More intense. Like someone turned up all my senses to their maximum setting.
And through it all, I can feel her. Not just her presence, but her emotions. Her thoughts. Her hunger.
*This is what happens when you break something that was already broken,* she says softly. *When you push someone who has nothing left to lose.*
Her words make no sense. She had everything to lose. Her place at school. Her pathetic little life.
But the bond between us pulses with something that feels anything but broken. What used to feel like a silver thread now burns like a chain made of thorns, binding us both in blood.
I can feel her power flowing through it like electricity through a wire. But that's impossible. She doesn't have power. She's an omega. The weakest rank.
And I can feel something else stirring in the bond. Something that makes my wolf pace nervously.
Somewhere, miles away, I swear I feel her smile. Not the broken, desperate smile she used to give me. Something sharper. More dangerous.
"You're nothing," I whisper to the empty room. "Just a broken girl having delusions."
But my voice shakes when I say it.
*Keep telling yourself that,* her voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere. *It might help you sleep at night.*
Then she's gone. But her presence lingers in the air like smoke.
I collapse on my bed and stare at the ceiling with eyes that see too much. Feel too much.
The binding stone lies cracked against my chest. Still warm, but something has changed.
And with every breath I take, I can feel something different in the bond between us. Something that doesn't match what she should be.
But that's impossible.
She's weak. Pathetic. An omega who couldn't even defend herself.
So why does my wolf keep whimpering like he's afraid?
I drag myself to the bathroom mirror one more time. Need to splash cold water on my face. Need to think clearly.
But when I look up, my reflection stares back with eyes that aren't quite right. For just a second, they flash silver instead of gray.
And in the mirror, behind those eyes, I see her, smiling.
Not afraid. Not weak. Not gone.
Inside me.