Chapter 40

When I woke up, it was dark out. I cursed myself for missing a whole day of classes for a temper tantrum and tried to stand up. My legs felt wobbly under me. I followed the light from campus to get me out of the forest and wound up in front of my dorm building.

I winced as I walked up the steps and threw my body into my room. I landed on Loren’s shaggy pink carpet with a thud. My roommate gasped from her bed and immediately jumped up to help me.

“What happened?” she grabbed me by my elbows and helped me sit up. “Was it Kairos? Are you okay? Should I get the nurse? Professor Lunerly?”

“No!” I shrieked with much more gusto than I expected. Loren looked at me with wide eyes. I shook my head slowly. “Not Lunerly, please.”

“Zora,” Loren said quietly. “What’s going on?”

I broke into a cacophony of tears and fell into Loren’s chest. She wrapped her arms around me as I cried, her hand stroking my back.

I cried for my human life. I cried for my broken relationship with my mother. I cried for the rejected fated mate bond. I cried for Valentin’s rejection. I cried for everything I possibly could think of that utterly sucked. I don’t know how long I cried but Loren sat there with me the whole time.

When my sobs finally turned to sniffles, I sat up and looked at Loren. Her shirt was wet with my tears. Her own eyes were glossed over as if she’d been tearing up. She stroked a wet piece of hair off my face.

“I’m sorry,” I sniffled. “I just – I feel so alone.”

“You’re not alone,” Loren said gently. “I’m here for you. If you’ll have me.”

“I want to tell you everything, Loren, I do,” I babbled. “But I – I’m afraid of what you’ll think of me.”

Loren shook her head. “We’re friends,” she said. “Unless you killed someone I don’t think we’ll ever not be friends.”

I snorted unattractively then ran my wrist under my nose. “Not yet,” I mumbled.

“Then you’re fine,” Loren said. Her hand went back to my back, rubbing circles. “You’re the first friend I’ve had at this school, you know?”

I blinked at her and sniffled again. “How?” I breathed. “You’re so bubbly and fun. And nice. How has no one wanted to hang with you?”

Loren shrugged. “I think I’m too much,” her voice was sad and small. “And so unlike sissy. People were scared of my energy.” I dragged Loren back into a hug. She sighed into my shoulder.

“I don’t think you’re too much,” I said softly. “I think you’re perfect.”

Loren pulled back. “Thanks Zora,” she settled back on her heels then swung her legs around to sit criss-cross in front of me. “Now, what the heck is going on with you!?”

I pinched my nose. “What isn’t?” I mumbled.

“Well, what can you tell me?” Loren asked.

“Not much,” I shifted so I was sitting much like Loren. “But you know about the rejection of my fated mate bond.”

Loren shook her head. “I don’t know how Thorne could be so selfish,” she said. “Fated mates are so rare. To break the bond is…unheard of.”

“He broke it for the Princess,” I mumbled. I debated lamenting on the fact that I was the Princess.

“Still,” Loren furrowed her brows. “The Queen is understanding. She would’ve valued a fated mate. Plus, everyone knows that Maximus and Kairos are also in line to marry the Princess. It’s not like she doesn’t have options.”

“Right,” I sighed. “Them.”

“Are they still harassing you?” Loren asked.

I fidgeted again. “Harassing is the wrong word,” I mumbled. “I just feel weird around them.”

Loren’s eyebrows knitted. “Weird?”

“Like—” I struggled to find a word that didn’t scream “mate bond.”

“Jolty.”

“Jolty?!” Loren’s eyes damn near popped out of her head. “Like mate bond-y?”

I slapped my hands to my face. There went my big secret number two. I peered at Loren through my fingers.

“For all of them?” she squeaked.

I nodded. “And Professor Lunerly,”

“Oh, Heavens and Hells!” Loren exclaimed. “You know that’s super rare right?” I nodded sharply. Loren sighed then fidgeted again. “That explains a lot.”

I balked. “What do you mean?” I said quickly. Did everyone else see right through me as well?

Loren patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m highly observative. It’s a Moonbeam trait. I don’t think anyone else would’ve noticed. Except, maybe sissy.”

I groaned and fell over into the fuzzy pink carpet, hands covering my face still. Loren patted me gently on the thigh.

“But it does explain why you’re never in the room in the mornings,” she continued. “And why Kairos caused you to shift.”

“What do you mean?” I said from the floor.

“From what I heard,” Loren mumbled. “You exploded. Much like at Mateball.”

I blinked as I tried to remember the feeling. Sure enough, I did feel like I exploded. The heat raging through my was like a fireball of emotion. I looked back up at Loren.

“That doesn’t happen from anger or internal emotion,” Loren shook her head. “It happens from bonds.”

“Fuck,” I swore. “Do you think everyone else knows?”

Loren looked away from me and shifted in her seat again. She looked incredibly uncomfortable. I groaned and threw myself back onto the carpet.

“What are they saying about me now?”

“I heard Bella talking to some other first years,” Loren mumbled. My heart sank to my toes. “She was telling them how she caught you and Professor Lunerly. In the gym. Naked.”

Leave it fucking Bella. I sat up straight. “That’s bullshit!” Loren squeaked from my tone. I went on regardless.

“We weren’t naked. We were training,” I snapped.

“Every morning?” Loren asked.

“Yes!” I threw my hands up. “Because I was wolfless and Kairos was trying to kill me and I failed the first Run and so Valentin said he’d help me and—”

I stopped as I noticed Loren cringing. I recounted what I’d just told her. It certainly looked like we were in some sort of secret love affair. I threw my hands up and fell back into the pink fluffy carpet with a scream.

Then, there was a sharp banging on the door. I flopped over onto my back. “What now!?” I screamed at the ceiling. Loren scrambled to her feet to the get the door.

“Who could possibly make this day even worse!?”

“Gods, do you ever shut up?”

I whipped around on the floor to look at the person who had been banging on my door. Sure enough, there was Maximus Wolfham, glaring down at me like I was the worst person in the world.

Guess the day could get worse.