25.1

"I didn't think I'd ever come back here," Kalmin muttered, his gaze fixed on the imposing campus as it loomed ahead of them. The memories of this place hit him harder than he'd expected, a tangled mix of bitterness and old wounds resurfacing. 'I didn't expect to feel so overwhelmed,' he thought, the weight of his past here settling into his chest as he slowed the car, parking near the library. ‘I didn’t think it would still hurt.’
"I'm sorry," Nuri said softly, her hand brushing against his arm in what was meant to be comforting, though her voice betrayed uncertainty. "At least after today, you won't have a reason to return."
Kalmin hesitated, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel as his thoughts swirled. His past here wasn’t something he’d planned on revisiting—not like this. ‘I hope you're right,’ he thought, glancing at Nuri before he stepped out of the car. But there was no escape from the pull of history, and the way the campus seemed to swallow them whole didn't help.
He stepped around to open her door, his hand reaching out to steady her. The moment he did, a group of students nearby caught sight of them. Kalmin’s eyes flicked to the boys on the quad. Their gazes turned dark the instant they saw Nuri, and Kalmin’s body tensed, an old instinct rising to the surface. A hybrid, and a female one at that, on their campus.
‘They don't know who she is,’ Kalmin thought, his wolf instinctively bristling, ready for a confrontation. But he held back, resisting the urge to act first.
As the group of boys stood up, ready to approach, he could feel Rian stir inside him. ‘Let me handle them.’
‘Not this time,’ Kalmin shot back, mentally shutting Rian down before he could surge forward. Kalmin wasn’t about to let Rian fight his battles for him. Not now. Not over something like this.
He pulled Nuri closer to him, walking at a deliberate pace. The boys started moving toward them, the leader stepping forward, his attitude already a thorn in Kalmin’s side.
“What business does a hybrid have on this campus?” The boy sneered, his stance oozing arrogance as he sized up Nuri. “A female hybrid, no less. What's the world coming to?” He looked to his friends for validation, earning loud jeers from the others.
Kalmin didn’t flinch, his grip on Nuri’s hand tightening, pulling her just behind him. He didn’t want to escalate this, but the disrespect was too much. ‘Don't provoke me,’ he warned the boy with a cold look, his eyes unwavering. But the boy didn't listen.
‘Don’t do it,’ Rian warned, his voice low and predatory. ‘Don’t let him get away with this.’
Kalmin could feel the urge to lash out, but he kept control. He stepped forward, letting the leader close the distance between them, his voice low and menacing. “Who do you think you’re talking to?” he asked, his tone not giving an inch.
The boy scoffed, taking a step closer with a mocking grin. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
Kalmin smiled darkly. "I'm your alpha," he said, his voice ringing with authority that left no room for doubt. He could feel the boy’s uncertainty ripple through him like a shiver in the air.
Without warning, Kalmin grabbed the boy by the collar, yanking him close. His eyes glinted with icy fury as he hissed, his hand moving instead to the boys throat. "Unless you want to challenge me."
The boy’s bravado faltered, his milky brown eyes wide with terror. “I—I didn’t know,” he stammered.
Kalmin’s grip tightened. “And now you’ll never forget.” He could feel the weight of his alpha status like a blade in his hand, the power to make them all submit without even breaking a sweat. He squeezed, and for a heartbeat, the boy’s eyes begged him to stop. Kalmin didn’t. The sickening snap echoed louder than the jeers had, followed by silence. He let the body fall to the ground with an almost casual flick of his wrist.
Nuri screamed. Her voice cracked through him like a thunderclap, sharp and full of disbelief. “Kalmin, stop!”
But Kalmin didn’t answer. His breathing was slow, measured, as he wiped his hand across his pants, his eyes already scanning the retreating boys. Their faces were pale with fear, and their screams were nothing but a distant, fading echo. They scattered, too frightened to even comprehend what had just happened.
Nuri grabbed his arm, but he yanked it away, her eyes full of shock and repulsion. She stood there, trembling, as she finally spoke, her voice filled with an anguish Kalmin couldn’t ignore. “Why did you do that?”
The words stung, cutting through his hardened exterior. Kalmin’s jaw tightened. “Because I felt like it,” he answered, his tone clipped. He turned and motioned for her to follow, his patience wearing thin.
“Are you serious?” Nuri demanded, unable to stop the fury rising inside her. “What did he even do to you? He didn’t know who you were!”
Tempest’s voice, usually so distant, flared up inside her. ‘You don’t get it, do you?’
Nuri flinched, her frustration bubbling over. ‘What do you mean?’ She pushed back, her mind clashing with Tempest’s forceful presence. ‘He didn’t deserve to die, Tempest!’
‘He did, and you know it.’ Tempest’s words were a stark reality, as if the wolf’s side of things saw things far clearer than Nuri ever could. ‘The disrespect, the challenge, everything. He had to be put in his place.’
Nuri’s stomach churned with the weight of those words. She turned to Kalmin, her voice trembling but laced with something darker, something she hadn’t felt toward him before. “Did you kill him just to prove a point?” Her voice cracked with disbelief. "Was that really necessary?”
Kalmin stopped, his eyes narrowing as he gave her a hard, unreadable look. “Do you think I needed a reason?” he asked, his words cutting through her like a knife. “I did it because I wanted to. And because no one, no one, disrespects me like that.”
Nuri’s heart pounded. For a brief moment, it wasn’t just anger she felt. It was fear. ‘Who is this man I’m tied to?’
Tempest was quieter this time, and her presence was distant, almost resigned. ‘You’re not going to like this, but he's right, Nuri. We’re bound to him now. We can't just walk away.’
Nuri swallowed hard, feeling something dark and heavy settle in her chest. As they walked toward the library, the silence between them spoke louder than words ever could.
And in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder, as the tension simmered beneath their bond, ‘How far would he go to keep me? To prove his dominance?’
"Tempest said the reason she’s not talking is because I think you killed that guy for no reason," Nuri muttered, her voice strained with confusion. "But I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean."