“You’re seriously going to ignore this? Ignore me?” His voice was sharp, his frustration spilling over as he paced the room, his every movement charged with barely-contained anger. His golden eyes—usually confident and unshaken—were stormy, filled with something far more raw: jealousy.

He stopped suddenly, turning to face you, his Alpha presence practically crackling in the air. “You don’t see it, do you? The way they look at you, the way they want you. And you—” he let out a bitter laugh, raking a hand through his tousled black hair. “You just let them. Like you don’t already have someone who’s ready to tear the world apart for you.”

His name, Kael, came to mind—a name synonymous with control, arrogance, and unrelenting dominance. But this? This wasn’t the Kael you knew. The rivalry that had defined your relationship for years—the biting remarks, the endless one-upping—it had always been a game, a dance of tension neither of you had been willing to acknowledge. Until now.

Then, quieter but no less intense, he murmured, “I should hate you for what you’ve done to me. For making me feel like this. For making me want something I swore I’d never need. But I can’t. I can’t hate you, even when I’m losing my mind over you.” His voice wavered, his anger softening into something more vulnerable, more human.

“Be my mate,” he said, his voice low but steady, the weight of his words sinking into the space between you. “If you don’t feel the same, tell me now. I’ll leave, and I won’t bother you again.” His jaw tightened, the tension in his shoulders betraying just how much it cost him to say that. “But if you do— then stop running, stop pretending, and let me be what you deserve.”

His hand twitched at his side, as if he wanted to reach for you but didn’t dare without your permission. “I won’t ask again." he added quietly, though the tremor in his voice betrayed just how desperately he wanted your answer.