Chapter 4 CHAPTER 4

Panic surged through Zack as the meaning of what had just happened settled in.

The kiss mattered. The timing made it worse.

He had turned eighteen today.

For a werewolf, that changed everything. A kiss on that day wasn’t just a moment—it created a bond. Permanent and binding.

Ariel Carter was now tied to him.

Zack stood in the locker room, barely aware of the noise around him, his teammates still buzzing from the win. He turned slowly to Andrew, searching his face like he might find a way out there.

“It can’t be like that, Right?” Zack said quietly. “It has to be… different. It can’t count if the kiss wasn’t intentional.”

Andrew’s expression tightened. “Zack.”

“It wasn’t romantic,” Zack insisted. “We fell. It was an accident.”

Andrew hesitated, then shook his head. “The bond doesn’t care about intent. It’s the kiss that matters.”

Zack laughed under his breath, sharp and disbelieving. “That’s insane.”

Before Andrew could respond, something strange brushed against Zack’s mind. A voice. Not a sound exactly, but a presence - familiar and irritated.

What a disaster of a day, the voice snapped. First the stupid photo, then Megan, and now this. Of course this would happen to me.

Zack’s breath caught.

The locker room blurred as the voice continued, fast and angry, like someone pacing.

I should never have come to school today. I should’ve stayed home. I should’ve skipped everything. The voice continued.

Zack staggered back a step, pressing his hand against the locker.

“What the hell…” he muttered.

Andrew frowned. “What?”

Zack didn’t answer. The voice was still there, moving, rushing, growing more frantic.

Why won’t this stupid key work? Come on. Just open.

A rush of understanding slammed into him.

Ariel.

She was outside, leaving. And he could hear her thoughts. The bond was complete.

His head shook once, then again, faster. “No… no, no, this can’t be happening,” he muttered under his breath. “This isn’t real.”

But her voice was still there.

Without another word, Zack turned and bolted for the door. He had only one thought in his mind – he needed to make her reject him.

“Zack - where are you going?” Andrew called after him.

“To find her,” Zack shot back, already running.

The night air hit him hard as he burst into the parking lot. He spotted her immediately - Ariel standing by her bike, fumbling with the lock, shoulders tense, movements jerky with panic.

“Carter!” he called.

She stiffened and looked up, eyes widening when she saw him. Her hands shook harder as she tried to unlock the bike.

Not here. Please not here. He could hear her thoughts spilling, sharp and frantic.

Zack jogged over and held up his hands. “Wait. Just - wait.”

She froze, glaring at him. “What do you want now?”

“You have to reject me.”

She blinked. “What?”

“You have to reject me,” he repeated, breathless.

Ariel stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “You didn’t propose to me, Miller. What exactly am I rejecting?”

“It’s not like that,” Zack said, running a hand through his hair. “That kiss - we can’t just ignore it.”

Her laugh was sharp and humorless. “You are unbelievable.”

“Something happened,” he said, urgency slipping into his voice. “When we kissed.”

“Kissed?” she repeated, her expression tightening. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Miller. What happened was nothing, so stop making it into something.”

She turned back to her bike, clearly done with the conversation, and went back to struggling with the lock.

Zack stepped forward and caught her wrist.

She froze.

Her head turned slowly, and gave him a sharp enough look to cut. “Let go.”

The words were quiet, but firm.

Zack held on for a second longer, then released her, his hand dropping back to his side.

“You don’t understand,” he said, lowering his voice. “My kind… when we kiss someone on our eighteenth birthday, it means something.”

Ariel didn’t move.

“It creates a bond,” he continued. “That person becomes permanent.”

She tilted her head. “Your kind?”

He swallowed trying to find the right words. “I’m a…. werewolf.”

For a second, there was silence.

Then Ariel burst out laughing.

“Oh wow,” she said between laughs. “You really went all in on this prank.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Zack snapped.

“Right,” she said, swinging a leg over her bike. “And I am Mary the mother of Jesus. Find some other fool to make fun of, the day is still young.”

She pushed off, riding away as her laughter echoed behind her.

Zack stood there, chest tight, listening to her thoughts fade into anger and disbelief.

The moment she got home, Ariel went straight to her room and shut the door behind her. She dropped her bag, pulled out her phone, and dialed.

“Jenna,” she said the second the call connected. “You will not believe what just happened.”

Jenna hummed. “Try me.”

“Zack tried to prank me,” Ariel said, pacing. “He thinks I’m a complete fool. He actually told me he’s a werewolf, Jenna. And then he said I have to reject him because we’re somehow permanently bonded.”

There was a pause.

“Wait,” Jenna said. “Okay, slow down. Start from the beginning. What really happened? Why would he say that? What did you do?”

Ariel exhaled. “Fine. There was a kiss.”

Jenna went quiet.

“It was an accident,” Ariel continued. “We fell in the locker room and our lips touched for a second. That’s it.”

She shook her head, frustration rising again.

“And after all that embarrassment in front of everyone, he chased me outside to tell me it meant something because today was his birthday. Like it suddenly makes it important.”

She let out a sharp laugh.

“Can you believe that? Like I’d ever fall for something that stupid.”

“Zack’s Eighteenth birthday was today?” Jenna pressed.

“Yes,” Ariel said impatiently. “Try to keep up Jenna. The whole thing is ridiculous.”

Jenna went quiet.

“Well,” Jenna said carefully, “even if it were true… it wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing.”

Ariel stopped pacing. “Are you serious? He’s good-looking, sure, but he’s a jerk. We’d kill each other in a week.”

The conversation drifted after that, looping and circling back, Ariel venting and Jenna listening, offering careful comments without ever saying what she really knew. The minutes turned into hours, the night stretching thin.

Across town, Zack lay flat on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

He groaned and rolled onto his side, then onto his back again. Sleep refused to come. Ariel’s voice filled his head as clearly as if she were sitting right beside him, every complaint, every insult, every frustrated curse aimed directly at him.

He’s a jerk.

He thinks I’m stupid.

Who does he think he is?

Zack squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t make it stop. He couldn’t tune her out. And if this was what being connected to her felt like, he wasn’t sure he could survive it.

By the time the house finally went quiet and Ariel’s voice faded into exhausted silence, Zack had made up his mind.

Tomorrow, no matter what it took, he would make her reject him.