Chapter 154: Dream
Noelle flipped through the pages of the old, slightly faded book with mild disinterest. His eyes skimmed over the contents—Alpha and Omega bonds, mating marks, heat cycles, and ruts. It was all basic information, with a roll of his eyes, he suppressed a yawn. None of it intrigued him. Not anymore.
Leaning back, he idly ran his fingers over the worn edges of the page, his gaze catching on the word mating mark. The idea made his heart beat faster, despite his earlier boredom. A mating mark. The thought thrilled and unsettled him, bringing a rush of longing he couldn’t quite stifle. He imagined what it would feel like to bear Thorne’s mark, a permanent, undeniable sign of belonging. Even if something ever happened to Thorne—a thought that sent a cold shiver through him—Noelle knew he could never be with anyone else. The idea was unthinkable. Impossible.
His love for Thorne was a brand burned deep into his soul. A wry smile curved his lips, followed by a short, humorless laugh. Even if he died, he mused darkly, he’d find a way to claw his way up from the depths of hell to reclaim Thorne. Because Thorne was his Alpha, and that bond didn’t end. Not in this life or any other.No one is taking his spot dead or not.
The intensity of the thought startled him, and Noelle found himself pressing a hand to his mouth, as if to contain the raw, vulnerable truth of it. The admission left him feeling exposed, but it was undeniable.Anyway Noelle never deluded himself into thinking he was a nice person.
He sighed and turned another page, about to close the book out of sheer boredom when something new caught his eye: True Mates. The title was bold, and for the first time, a flicker of genuine interest surfaced. He leaned forward. True mates. It was a concept he’d never taken seriously, always dismissing it as a romanticized myth. The book claimed that true mates were more fairy tale than fact, a love story told to make the harsh realities of their world seem a little more Though deep, deep down he did believe in it.
Noelle’s lips twitched in a humorless smile. True mates. And yet, he couldn’t shake the conviction he held in his heart. Thorne is my true mate, he thought, the certainty deep and unshakable. He’d always had a habit of holding on to the things his heart whispered to him, even when logic begged him to let go.
His fingers traced down the page, settling on the list of signs that indicated a true mate bond. The first one made him pause: A very particular scent. It wasn’t just the usual musky or sweet aroma of pheromones that Alphas and Omegas naturally recognized. A true mate’s scent was distinct, unmistakable, meant only for the other. Noelle closed his eyes and let himself recall Thorne’s scent: earthy and grounding, like the fresh pine of a forest mingled with the crispness of mountain air and the wild freedom of a breeze along a cliffside. It was a scent that wrapped around him, comforting and eternal. It felt like home.
The second sign was illogical, immense affection, and a tender smile softened Noelle’s features. His mind drifted to the day he found Thorne, a broken man on the edge of death in a lonely, forgotten cottage. By all logic, he should have left, saved himself from the burden of Thorne’s brokenness. But something unexplainable had kept him there, a pull that felt as ancient and inevitable as the tides. He had looked at Thorne and known, this man is mine. He stayed not because it was sensible, but because his heart demanded it. Maybe it was foolish, the product of dreams and fairy tales his mother had told him as a child. Maybe it was simply his need for connection after losing her, the desire to finally have someone to call his own.
Noelle frowned at the third symptom: uncontrollable attraction. He almost laughed. Attraction between Alphas and Omegas was common, even mundane, a product of their biology. Yet with Thorne, it was different. The fire that sparked between them felt raw, consuming, and undeniable, deeper than the superficial pull of pheromones.