Chapter 20

Maximus

Maximus heard his name being called as soon as he left the cafeteria. He thought it was one of the younger guys, trying to get his attention to do something stupid. He was surprised to see his sister standing in front of me.

With Zora.

His mood immediately turned sour. She’d left him in the forrest a few hours ago, after sending her first into his chest and sending a bolt of electricity across his body. She, though seemed unphased. It left him with more questions than he had answers.

Seeing her standing there, in her little shorts and her baggy tee shirt, red curls wild around her face, he couldn’t help but feel angrier. Why was he attracted to such a mess of a wolf?

More so, a wolfless wolf.

He walked towards Zora and Meg. Just as he was about to approach them, Zora whispered something then stomped away. Max stopped with a sigh in front of Meg.

“What now?” he said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“She thought I was fucking with her,” Meg stated, matter of factly. “I tried to test the waters and see if she’d go to the Mateball with you.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Maximus growled. “I told you to stay out of it.”

Meg turned and crossed her arms across her chest stubbornly. “I’m trying to help, you know,” she snapped. “Maybe if been kinder to her in the beginning, instead of acting your vendetta against the wolfless, you wouldn’t be in the situation.”

“How was I supposed to know,” Max gritted from his teeth. “That she was going to be my fated mate.”

Meg shrugged. She patted her brother on the shoulder gently before walking off. “Figure it out, baby brother,” she drawled. “Lest you ruin your chance at happiness, again.”

Maximus growled at her as she walked away. He felt the wolf within him pushing at his bones, wanting him to shift and hunt. He ignored it and turned back towards where Zora had walked off. She was still stomping away back toward her dorm – their dorm. He considered following her but gave up.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed again. He looked up at the sky and pleaded to the Gods to help him make things right with Zora.

The first time he’d been shocked by her, he was appalled. Disgusted even. He had spent his entire adult life bringing the wolfless down. He had a goal. It was one he promised to his eldest brother, Morrigan, as he went through countless surgeries and physical therapy to recover his missing arm.

Destroy all wolfless.

He’d spent the rest of the day trying to convince himself that there had to be a mistake. There was no way a wolfless could have been his fated mate. He was the strongest third year at the Academy. And she, well, she was nothing.

But then, she touched him again and he touched her. And their heartbeats were thrumming in his head like a warning bell. He had to recognize that she was his fated mate. That’s why he followed her out in the woods that morning, to tell her so and try and convince her he wasn’t all that bad.

Instead, he wound up looking like an idiot with his dick in his hand after she gave him a surprise punch. He sighed again and broke out of his angry daydreams. He had to prove to Zora that he was worthy of being his fated mate.

Fuck whomever the Princess he was supposed to be married to was. He had a chance at being with the one who could make happiest, and strongest. The Queen would have to be understanding.

He needed to get Zora to go to Mateball with him.

But he’d never invited a girl to anything, let alone Mateball. The girls he’d dated had all thrown themselves at him, concerned only with his title of Son of the High Alpha. He wracked his brain as to which of his friends he could go to advice for.

Peytr was his first option but Peytr was a dick. He treated women like objects. Maximus had no desire to treat anyone like that, let alone his fated mate.

Thorne was the next option but Thorne cared about little about women. He’d had less girls around that Maximus. Thorne was more concerned with Magicks and History books than girls.

His final option was Kairos. It was, arguably, the worst option. Kairos loathed Zora. They were supposed to be battling it out on the sparring mat in a few weeks. But Kairos was always asking girls on dates or to events. If Maximus could make sure that Kairos never found out his date was Zora, asking for Kairos’s advice may have been worth it.

With yet another sigh, Max cursed the Gods one last time before taking off towards Kairos’s room.

Kairos lived by himself in a house that Peytr, Thorne and Maximus rented behind the gym. It was an old house that Kairos’s grandfather had purchased when his first grandchild attended Alpha Academy. Kairos was the last to go through the school. It was a no brainer than he and his friends would take the house for their tenure.

Maximus walked up the stairs of his house and stopped in front of Kairos’s door. He contemplating knocking but the music inside was so loud, there was no way Kairos could hear him. He barged into the room.

Kairos was bench pressing on his bench in the back corner. Three, hundred pound weights were on each side of the bar. He was slowly pushing them back up the rack, his arms twitching with exertion.

“Fucking hell,” Maximus swore before rushing over to help Kairos rerack. Kairos smiled up at him. Sweat rolled down his back as he sat up on the bench. He palmed at his stereo, turning it down.

“Maxy!” he said as if he didn’t just get crushed by six-hundred pounds. “Thanks for the lift.”

“You fucking idiot,” Maximus snapped back. “You’re over the safety limit for benching by two-fifty. Were you trying to kill yourself?”

Kairos wiped his face with a towel. He chuckled. “Only a little,” he joked.

“Gods, almighty,” Maximus breathed as he ran his hand over his face.

Kairos stood up and continued to towel off his face and shoulders. His brown hair was slick with sweat. He shoved it back off his face and walked over to his bed to grab his water.

“So what’s up?” Kairos asked before squirting water into his mouth. He swallowed thickly. “You know this is my training hour. You never interrupt me.”

Maximus groaned and sat down on the bench. He threw his head in his hands. “It’s about Mateball,” he grumbled. “I need to ask someone. I think she may be my fated mate.”

“Oh-ho-ho!” Kairos slapped Max on the back. Maximus flinched. “So tell me, what’s her name? Is it the leggy blonde from World History. She was checking you out the other day.”

“She – er,” Maximus fumbled. “It’s complicated.”

Kairos laughed he squatted down in front of Maximus. He met Maximus’s eye. There was a haunting prescense in his dark gold eyes. “Well,” he said softly, yet threateningly. “As long as it’s not that fucking bitch, Zora. We won’t have a problem, will we?”

Maximus froze. He had to play this right.

He shoved Kairos in the shoulder with a groan. “Don’t even fucking imply that,” he spat. “Fucking disgrace of a wolf.”

Kairos laughed before standing back up. He took another glug of water then held his palms out. “Fine, you wanna be secretive? Be secretive,” he said. “But may I remind you that you are Maximus fucking Wolfham? Son of the High Alpha of Wolfham?” Kairos scoffed. “Who in their right mind would reject your offer to Mateball?”

Zora would, Maximus thought begrudgingly. He shoved that thought in the back of his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess,”

“We talking about Mateball?”

Kairos and Maximus snapped their heads up to look at the door to Kairos’s room. Lounging against the door frame was Thorne. His bleach blonde hair had been freshly washed and toned. It stood out against his deep olive skin. He wore thick black rimmed glasses over his honey-gold eyes.

“Yeah,” Kairos said. “You going? You taking History of Wolves or The Last Great Queen this year?”

“Har, har,” Thorne rolled his eyes. “I’m taking no one. Unlike you two, I’m trying to not piss off the Queen.”

Kairos pouted. “Baby Throne’s not trying to piss off mommy?” He reached over to try and tossle Thorne’s hair but Thorne jerked out of his reach.

“She’s not my mother,” he snapped back. “She’s my adopted mother. Entirely different.”

“Still your mommy,” Maximus mused, causing Kairos to chuckle again. Thorne looked downright murderous.

“Sorry I take my job fucking seriously,” he bit out. “Unlike you two idiots fucking around with girls you know you won’t end up with.”

Kairos gestured to Maximus. “Maxy said he thinks he found his fated mated.”

Thorne’s scowl immediately fell. “You do?” Max nodded. Thorne sighed and adjusted his glasses. “Still doesn’t change the fact that we’re all in line for Queen consort.”

“Oh, come on,” Kairos snorted. “We all know any princess is gonna pick Lunerly over the three of us. He’s three times our age and twice as strong. She’d be an idiot not to.”

“Only you would pick a princess you’ve never met over your fated mated, Blythwitch,” Maximus chimed in.

“Victoria did a lot for me,” Thorne replied softly. “Whether I’ve seen her or not, I owe it to Victoria to at least try and make it work. Plus, does the power not tempt you?”

Kairos shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. Maximus raised an eyebrow at him.

“Kairos the Great isn’t tempted by power?” he said. “I’m shocked.”

“Power isn’t everything,” Kairos said. “Sometimes, I think it would be nice to just be happy.”

The three boys sat in silence as they mused over it. In that moment, Maximus decided to say fuck it. Who cared if Zora was a wolfless, Kairos was was right.

It would be nice to just be happy for once.