Jason doesn’t look at Nyra the way a friend looked at another friend. Adrian knows that look because it was the same look he used to wear whenever Anna walked into a room.

His stomach drops.

Jason is in love with his mate.

--

What the fuck!?

Now it all makes sense--even months ago, before the moonbound, Jason hardly joined along when they mocked her.

Always said stuff like "she’s not that bad’ or, accusing them of being childish-"

They had just thought he was being annoyingly matured as the oldest in the group. But now it made more sense-- he’s always had a thing for her.

The moment it clicks, his wolf growls, eyes blazing with anger and possessiveness. Even the thought of another man wanting his mate makes his claws resurface.

Jason needs to get his hands off her!

Adrian forces his wolf form to stand on all fours. There’s blood seeping from the wounds again because of the strain from running too long.

But he can’t feel the pain.

Now when he’s watching Jason pull his mate into a hug, whispering protective words into her ear, before leading her into his car.

He’s going to fucking kill him!

"Jason!" Adrian snarls in his wolf voice, "We need to talk!"

Nyra’s brown eyes widening at the sound of his voice, she runs back out of the car, staring at his battered, bleeding body.

How fur has so many cuts, and his paw looks injured.

"Go back inside!" Jason orders, immediately stepping protectively in front of her. "I’ll take care of him."

Adrian scoffs at the sight, and if not for the pain, he would’ve laughed. "You can’t do shit to me, Jason. Even like this, I can take you down, and you know that." He walks closer, baring his fangs. "Move away from her."

"Not against the both of us.." Julian growls, coming from behind them. "You might be future Alpha, but even you can’t take down the two of us like this."

Adrian hesitates, because he knows it’s true. He is one fight away from completely collapsing on the floor.

He ignores them, red eyes turning to Nyra. The moment their eyes meet, Adrian almost weeps. Her eyes are wet with unshed tears, and if looked could kill, he would’ve been dead by now.

"Nyra... Please don’t break the bond! Please, I’m sorry.."

"Don’t talk to her!" Julian says angrily. Then he turns to Nyra. "Go inside!’

"Don’t tell her what to do!" Adrian bites, "if she doesn’t want to talk to me, let her say it-"

"I don’t want to talk to you-" Nyra cuts him off. "Please just leave. Get away from me!"

And Adrian, maybe would’ve left. Maybe.

But the moment Jason smirks like he’s won something. His wolf just snaps.

He leaps up, pouncing on Jason with anger, his claws digging into his shoulder as they fall against the ground. "I fucking warned you to stay away from her!"

Julian pulls out his claws, about to circle in and end the fight, but Nyra pushes past him, stepping between the three of them before the fight can escalate.

"Adrian, stop! You’re being selfish. Jason is just helping because I asked him to!"

Adrian refuses to stop, his wolf pushing him hard to claim what is his. Nyra is too oblivious to see how much he wants her-- it’s driving him crazy.

"He has no right to be here, Nyra. The bond--"

"I said don’t touch him! Nyra’s voice cuts through his chest like a blade.

"Stop calling me yours," Nyra shouts angrily,"You don’t get to say that after what you did!"

Adrian finally stops, and thankfully the cuts on Jason’s arms are not too deep. Adrian opens his mouth to argue, but the words die on his tongue, as Jason uses the distraction to dig his claws into the back of the massive black wolf, breathing hard as he finally manages to free himself.

Adrian howls in pain, his vision blurry from how much blood he’s lost, and still losing.

Everything crashes over him all at once. His wolf knees buckle, and he collapses hard onto the floor.

The last thing he sees is them rushing towards him, before the darkness finally swallows him whole.

---

Adrian wakes to the familiar smell of antiseptic. He scrunches his nose, as his eyes slowly open to the familiar, bright white room.

He’s in the infirmary.

He immediately tries to sit up, but the pain forces him back down on his back. There are bandages wrapped tightly around his torso shoulder, and forearms.

"Take it easy," John says, leaning on a desk with a tired grin.

Adrian’s eyes jerk up to the small group who’ve been watching him struggle for the last five minutes.

There’s John, along with the other guys. All of them are present except Jason.

"You looked like absolute shit when they brought you in. Jason called us here."

Adrian tries to seat up again, slowly, wincing as fresh pain shoots through his wounds.

"And Nyra? Where’s she? I need to talk to her."

One of the guys shakes his head. "She was with them. She warned Jason not to let you come near her again. Told him to keep his distance from you and the whole situation if he wanted them to stay friend"

Adrian’s jaw tightens painfully. And of course, Jason would choose her.

Fuck him then.

He sighs, the weight of everything since the scandal finally crashing down on him. Not just for Nyra, but for his parents.

"I really need to get her back."

John raises a brow, "Why? I thought this was what you wanted?"

Adrian shakes his head. "Not like this. She hates me now and I can’t even blame her."

He stares at the IV connected to his hand, "Plus my parents are threatening to replace me as heir. They’re already considering Dorian if I don’t clean up this mess fast."

The room fills with disgusted murmurs. John scoffs loudly. "Dorian? That backstabbing asshole? No way the pack would accept him. We all know what he sneaked around behind your back-"

"Yeah," Peter, one of his friends, adds, leaning against the wall. "Not to mention what he did with Anna. He’s the worst possible candidate-- he’ll run Moon-Crest to the ground!"

Somehow, the thought of Dorian taking over sounded worse to the guys than Nyra and Adrian becoming a real couple.

They continue to ramble, but Adrian has tuned them out, thinking of ways to get Nyra alone so they can talk.

John notices, sighs. "Adrian... What are you going to do about Anna? She’s the reason for all this mess in the first place."

"And knowing her, she won’t go down without a fight," James adds, while the other guys mutter something about her being clingy.

Adrian meets their eyes calmly. He had already made a decision since the moment he felt Nyra trying to break their bond.

"I’m going to break up with her."