Chapter 12

The world was dark for a little. It was nice though, peaceful. I had no fear of being attacked by a savage. The silence comforted me.

I was all ruined as I felt my eyes peel open to a bright white light.

I cringed away from it immediately. My eyes burned. I felt stiff and sore all over. Moving away from the light made the pain radiate across my body. Instead of screaming though all I could do was grunt.

“Ouch,”

It came out all gravely and low. Like someone had poured sand down my throat while I was asleep. I heard a low chuckle from my left. My right eye flew open.

Professor Lunerly was sitting in a chair next to the bed I was propped up in. His red robes were gone and replaced with a simple, collarless button-down and a pair of dark trousers. A sliver of skin was visible between the edge of the trouser and the top of his black penny loafer where it rested on his opposite knee. Something about it made me shiver.

“Good morning,” Lunerly mocked.

“Good morning,” I choked out. “Is it really morning?”

“No,” Lunerly sat up straight. His shirt was unbuttoned precariously low and I wondered what I pulled him from. “It’s about ten-thirty. You’ve been asleep for around eight hours.”

“Holy shit,” I breathed before trying to push myself to be fully sat up. I immediately cringed in pain and sunk back.

Professor Lunerly was on his feet in a second. His white-gold eyes were scanning all over me. “Careful,” he said gently. His hand went to my shoulder and I was immediately soothed. I heaved a high.

“God, I feel like I got hit by a bus,” I said.

“You looked like it,” Lunerly said. “I did investigate but I could’ve figure out before that this was Mr. Moonraiser’s doing.”

I bit my bottom lip. I knew what was going to happen if I ratted out Kairos’s behavior. The target on my forehead was going to get even bigger. Before I could even speak, Lunerly’s phone went off.

“Excuse me,” he said as he fished it out of his pocket. He stared at it, blankly, for a moment then handed it to me. “I believe this is for you.”

I knitted my eyebrows together and gently took the phone. I looked down and saw the letters “VL” on the caller ID. It was Victoria. I braced myself with a sigh before I hit the answer button and brought the phone to my ear.

“Mother,”

“Zora!” Victoria said back. “Valetin told me you were in the infirmary. This is utterly inappropriate behavior for the crown. And from a potential crown consort!”

“I’m fine,” I said sharply. Of course she only cared about the crown. I ran my hand down my face. “Thanks for asking.”

“Gods,” Victoria swore. “I – I should’ve asked that first. But, are you? Okay, that is?”

“Again, I’m fine,” I said. “Sore muscles and a few scratches and scrapes. Nothing a band aid won’t fix.”

“But it shouldn’t need a band aid,” Victoria protested. “You’re the heir to the throne, Zora. I can’t see you – nay allow you to be hurt again and again!”

“I’m sorry I’m not the warrior you were!” I threw back.

“What are you talking about?” Victoria said. I could hear her worry in her voice. “What did Valentin tell you?”

“He told me nothing!” I snapped. “It’s in the back of the goddamn handbook how you led the wolves to victory from the vampires. I’m sorry I’m not some valiant warrior but you know just as well as I do that if I don’t earn this myself, the rest of the school will never respect me.”

“They would if they knew who you were!” Victoria screeched. She sighed and dropped her voice a bit lower. “If you’d just accept one of the men as your mate—”

“No, mom,” I snapped. “I’m not marrying one of those dickbags!”

“But what if they are your fated mate?” Victoria tried.

The fuck was a fated mate?

“Fated what?” I said into the phone. Professor Lunerly fidgeted besides me. I put that away in my mental files to figure out later.

“Fated mate,” Victoria sighed. “I guess you haven’t been to that class yet…”

“I was too busy being attacked,” I snapped. “My bad.”

Victoria sighed again. She’d finally given up on trying to fight me. I could hear her rubbing her eyes through the phone.

“A fated mate,” she said gently. “Is different than a chosen mate. It is someone who the universe has destined you to be with. People who are with their chosen mates are said to be able to awaken their deeper, more wonderous powers.”

“So how I do I find one of these magical ‘fated’ mates?” I rolled my eyes. This was a crock of horse shit.

“There’s several signs,” Victoria went on. “Sometimes it’s an intense draw to someone. Sometimes a fated mate has the ability to soothe one another that other do not. Then, I’ve heard tales of fated mates being so intensely attracted to one another that a certain electricity erupts between them.”

I paused. I remembered my first day when Maximus ran me over outside of the admissions building. Then I remembered when he stormed over to my room and grabbed me. Both times, there was this burning, warm sensation that shocked me to my core.

Electricty.

I felt the color drain from my face. He couldn’t be, could he?

I refused to entertain that thought.

“Zora?’ my mother said into the phone. “Did you feel anything like that?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Sorry. I was just trying to remember if anything like that happened with anyone. It didn’t.”

“Okay,” Victoria sounded like she knew I was lying. “Well just remember the four candidates I presented to you. There’s a high likelihood one of them could be your fated mate.”

I swallowed thickly. This wasn’t helping.

“Right,” I said. “Well I think romance is the last thing on my list right now. I need someone to catch me up to speed.”

“What do you mean?” Victoria said through the phone.

I sighed. “These people have been wolves for years,” I said. “I’ve known I was a wolf for six months. I need to be caught up on combat, lore, all of it.”

“I see,” Victoria said. “And Mr. Wolfham isn’t a good option for this?”

I fidgeting and saw Lunerly eyeing me down from next to me. I refused to meet his gaze. “No,” I said softly into the phone.

Victoria hummed. “Hand the phone back the Valentin please,”

I handed it back without a word. Lunerly put the phone back to his ear. “Yes?” he said. I could hear Victoria talking through the line. But it was far too muffled for me to understand it. Lunerly hummed a few times before saying goodbye and pocketing his phone.

He stood up and began to check on the dressings around my arms. He slowly peeled them off and sighed.

“These should be healed already,” he said softly, poking at the angry red lines on my arm. I hissed when he did. His eyes snapped up to mine with a worry in them. He jerked back down and continued redressing my wounds.

“You’re far too fragile to be this reckless,” he whispered. I tried to ignore the tender way he was wrapping the bandages around my arm. When he finally moved to the cut on my cheek, I found my voice again.

“So teach me,” I said under my breath. I knew he heard it when his hands stilled. Then he gently removed the bandage and replaced it with a new one. The whole time I watched him.

His hands were long and delicate, his nails perfectly manicured. His nose was long and prominent, a gently rolling slope built into his perfectly shaped face. His hair was swept off his shoulders and wrapped in a bun at the nape of his neck. It looked so soft that I ached to run my fingers through it.

In my entire life, I’d never seen someone so stunning. It froze me as Lunerly fixed all my wounds. He stood up straight when he was done.

“Can you meet me? Tomorrow? Before classes.” he said.

I blinked at him. “I suppose,” I said, tentatively. “Why?”

“Your mother has requested I train you,” he replied. “And I’ve decided to go through with it.”

I stared at him, stunned. “Y-you’ll train me?” I sputtered. “Aren’t you busy like teaching classes and like – being the Headmaster and shit?”

Lunerly laughed at me. “I am,” he said. “But something about you—” he cocked his head to the side. “—I feel like I need to do this.”

“Well, I appreciate it,” I said gently.

“Of course,” Lunerly said. “I’ll meet you inside the gym tomorrow around six in the morning? Is that okay?”

“Of course, Professor,” I replied.

“Valentin,” he corrected with a soft smile. “Please call me, Valentin.”

“Valentin,” I repeated with a soft smile.

The professor nodded at me before starting towards the door. “Oh!” I said, suddenly remembering something my mother said. “Who is the fourth person? The last candidate for my fiancé?”

Valentin stilled immediately. He slowly turned around from his place in the door frame. “What?” he whispered.