Chapter 35

Valentin’s eyes were still dark when I arrived at his office. His jaw was clenched as he pushed the rotary phone on his desk towards me. He said nothing as I picked it up and held the receiver to my ear. I ducked my eyes down, away from his white-hot gaze.

“Hello?” I mumbled.

“Well?!” Victoria said. “I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to call you post Mateball. Part of me was hoping you’d be enjoying mated bliss.”

“Oh,” I rubbed my eyes. “No, sorry.”

Victoria sighed. “What happened?”

“Well,” I huffed. No doubt she was going to be disappointed. “I felt the pull of a fated mate,” I said. “But then, when I found him, he – uh – rejected me.”

“Rejected?!” Victoria squeaked. “Oh, Gods above, I am so sorry, my love.”

“Yeah,” I dropped my hand in my lap to fiddle with the hem of my shirt. “It kind of sucked. Really hurt, actually.”

“Could you break it back?” Victoria went on. I opened my mouth to answer but she cut me off. “Well, you’re here so I’d assume so.”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

“The bond of a fated mate is very strong magik, Zora,” she explained. “When one mate reject it, the other mate must reject it back or else the magik that makes us wolves will be sucked away by the bond. It could’ve drained you dry. Killed you.”

Well, add Thorne to my list of future husbands who tried to kill me. It was looking like Valentin was the only one without murder on his mind.

Further reasons to court him, my wolf chimed in. I ignored her but then remembered that she existed now.

“Oh!” I said to Victoria. “That reminds me. My wolf. She presented.”

“That makes sense,” my mother mused. “She probably had to present to allow you to have the strength to break the bond. This is great news!”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I was beginning to think she wasn’t going to show up.”

“My wolf swished her tail. I’ve always been here, I ignored her again.

“Me as well,” Victoria chuckled. “But back to this fated mate bond, who was it that you had been fated to?”

I groaned. “Does it really matter? My wolf showed up and I’m still alive so I don’t really need a mate anymore, do I?”

I wondered what Victoria would do if she knew it was Thorne, her own Knight, who’d wound up fated to me. Fated and then rejected, that was. Would she punish him? Kick him out of the royal court? I shivered in morbid curiosity. The last thing I needed was have another target on my back.

“That’s true,” Victoria said through the phone. “But remember what I said about your second gift, Zora. It was prophesized to only be unlocked by the accepting of a fated mate bond.”

“How does that even work now?” I asked. “Now that I rejected my fated mate bond? Do I get another chance?”

I knew the answer was in some way, yes. Given that I’d almost made out with Maximus in the locker room showers had Valentin not showed up. I glanced up at the aforementioned professor and saw his eyes were still dark with some form of bitter jealousy. I averted my eyes back to my lap. There was also whatever that was going on over there.

Victoria sighed. “In many cases, no,” she said. I blinked in confusion. “Some wolves do get a second chance in the form of a chosen mate. I wonder if that is what the prophecy brought forth your five suitors for.”

“Five?” I frowned. “But you only mentioned four. Valentin. Maximus. Thorne and Kairos.”

I almost could hear Victoria fidgeting through the phone. “Yes, but the prophecy mentioned five suitors,” she said. “I didn’t tell you until now because we haven’t been able to identify the fifth. There is no other High Alpha pack.”

Shock and confusion washed over. There was a fifth option? A man I had yet to meet who was somehow a High Alpha yet didn’t exist in the world as of then. Was I supposed to become a cougar and leave my gift unlocked until one of the other four popped out a kid for me to weirdly become attached to?

Then what did the interactions with Valentin and Maximus mean? If wolves weren’t usually given a second chance at a fated mate, what the fuck were all these signs and symptoms I was suffering through?

I pinched the bridge of my nose. My head was beginning to pound trying to process all of this. “Let me get this straight,” I said to Victoria. “I will not get a chance at a second fated mate, the only thing that’s supposed to unlock my super, secret special wolf power. Unless, of course, my chosen mate can do that. Which is one of four people who either hate me or don’t want me—”

I noticed Valentin shifting uncomfortable in his chair across from me.

“—Or,” I continued. “Some other wolf who is not currently available, meaning dead or not even born yet. Then I’d have to bond to one of the five and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get this random super wolfly ability that is apparently critical for some secret reason you won’t tell me about.”

There was a silence on the other line as I finished. I heard Victoria finally sigh, along with the creak of wood that told me she, too, was fidgeting.

“Basically, yes,” she mumbled.

“Great,” I deadpanned. “Happy Saturday to me.”

Any insight would be great, I threw at my wolf. She continued to lick her paws and ignore me. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

“Keep training,” Victoria said through the phone. “It’ll all work itself out and reveal itself in time.”

I huffed. “Can you tell me what this stupid prophecy about me is?”

“You’re not ready,” Victoria said, solemnly. “When you are, I will tell you.”

“Okay, and when will that be?” I pressed. “I’m keeping up with Valentin now. I’m excelling in my classes. Don’t you think I have a right to know the prophecy about my own life?”

“Not now, Zora,” Victoria sighed. I could tell she wanted to help me. In not doing so, it made me even more frustrated. I huffed and shoved the phone back at Valentin before getting out of my seat.

“Yes. Yes. No,” Valentin said softly. “I’ll let her know. I have to go.”

The phone hit the receiver just as I pushed out of the door to Valentin’s office. He called my name but I kept pushing ahead towards the door of the Admissions building. I heard the telltale sounds of him running in his loafers to reach me. He grabbed my forearm and spun me around.

The force and accompanying jolt of electricity whipped me towards Valentin. I gasped and yanked my arm out of his grasp, glaring at him in the process.

“What now?” I snapped. “More rules and demands and secrets?”

“Zora, please,” Valentin said under his breath. “You must know that every secret we keep, every demand we make or rule we create is to keep you safe. Your mother and I care about you more than anything.”

His eyes told me he was telling the truth. I could also tell he was holding back. His hands shook slightly and my skin prickled from the after effects of the electricity he’d surged into me. I shook my head at him and took a step away.

“The more you keep from me,” I said, sharply. “The more you hurt me and the less of a fuck I think you actually give.”

I turned on my heel and marched out of the building, leaving Valentin alone in the empty admissions building.