Chapter 42

Maximus

Maximus had not felt a rage like that since before he’d started school at Alpha Academy. He knew the girls were ganging up on Zora. Whenever Kairos had started shit with her, he couldn’t bring himself to stop it but Mallory wasn’t Kairos. Neither was Bella.

“Maxie?” Mallory cooed. “What are you doing, darling?”

“I’m not fucking Zora,” Maximus snapped.

“But you were in her room last night,” Kate spat. “Do you think we’re dumb?”

Maximus felt Zora shift slightly behind him to look at the girls. He turned his attention back to them. Bella and Kate both still had scowls on their faces. Mallory was bating her eyelashes at him like she was trying to win him over. He felt the anger swelling in his chest.

“Only you, Kate,” He retorted. He jerked his gaze towards Bella. “I think you know exactly what you’re doing.”

Bella’s lips pursed into an even deeper scowl. Kate looked livid.

“Maxie!” Mallory squeaked.

Maximus whipped his head back to glare at Mallory. He was feeling spiteful and bitter. His sister would’ve killed him if she heard him speak to Mallory in the way he was about to. But Meg wasn’t there and he had all the fire fueled inside of him.

“And you,” he spat. “Just because you beg me to fuck you one time doesn’t mean I’m your fucking boyfriend.”

A bunch of “ooh”s and snickers erupted from the rest of the cafeteria that was watching the spectacle. Mallory’s face twisted to look like she’d been slapped across the face, not Zora. She let out a cry of frustration before storming out of the cafeteria, heels clicking on the tile floor.

Maximus turned back to Kate. She still had a pissy expression on her face. Maximus took a step towards her.

“I’ve warned you once that if you touch her,” he pointed towards Zora. “I’ll do whatever you did to her in tenfold to you. So, I suggest you fuck off before I make good on my word.”

Kate glared at Zora from around Maximus. She balled her hands into fists and stormed off after Mallory. Then, it was just Bella. Maximus took a step towards her. Bella seemed unphased but he knew deep down, she was shaking in her boots.

“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” He dropped his voice low and menacing. “Spreading rumors to get everyone to gang up on her. What was your goal?”

The two stared at each other, nostrils flared and chests heaving. Maximus heard Loren step up next to him. He smirked. He admired the Mini Moonbeam’s loyalty to her friend. Bella glared at Loren then back at Maximus before she huffed.

“I wanted her to stay away from my mate,” Bella grit out from her teeth. She threw a hand at Zora. “Just because her fated mate rejected her doesn’t mean she gets to whore it out to my mate!”

“You know just as well as I do that is not the case,” Maximus snapped.

The two locked eyes. Maximus knew Meg had told Bella about his weird feelings for Zora. He’d wrestled Meg to the ground in anger after she’d told him but now he was using it as a way to get Bella to back off.

She looked at Maximus with one more scathing glare before turning towards Zora.

“Stay away from Valentin,” she hissed at the redhead. With that she turned on her heel and followed her friends out of the cafeteria.

There was a thick silence in the air as everyone watched the door slam after her. Then, slowly, all the students in the cafeteria started to talk again. The noise filled the air and squashed the silence. Maximus refused to look at where his friends were sitting. He knew Kairos was going to be up his ass about why he defended Zora.

Maximus didn’t have a good enough excuse yet.

Slowly, he turned around to face Zora. Her eyes had become more golden since Mateball. They felt like pools of honey he was constantly getting stuck in. Her red hair was plaited off her face. Å few pieces hung down her cheeks like a halo. Maximus wanted to curl one around his finger again.

He watched Zora’s lips move but heard nothing. He blinked twice to see she’d started waving at him, erratically.

“Hello?!” she called, jutting her chin out towards him. “Thank you!?”

Maximus grunted in reply and looked at Loren. She smiled softly at him.

“We could’ve handled them,” the pixie-like wolf said.

“Doubt it,” he said. “Those three are ruthless. Mallory and Kate you could’ve taken with wit. Bella’s too smart.”

Zora sighed. She gestured to the table where Max had come from. He couldn’t bring himself to look.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “He’s assigned as my Knight and he just lets the three werewolf Barbies attack me?”

Maximus blanched. He jerked his head back towards his friends. They were all chatting like nothing had happened. Kairos and Petyr were chatting and Thorne’s head was shoved in yet another tome.

For the second time that day, a very particular type of rage exploded in Maximus’s chest. Thorne had been assigned to guard Zora? Why hadn’t he been assigned to guard Zora? He was in nearly every one of her classes. He lived next-door to her. Hells, he gave more of fuck about her than Thorne did. That asshole had his head shoved in a book more often than not, completely oblivious to the world around hm.

Maximus knew that he was jealous. But could anyone blame him? He had some inkling that Zora was his mate. Thorne then got the chance to mate Zora and rejected the bond. Maximus would’ve killed for that opportunity. Even with the wolfless girl who barely could keep on her feet.

He turned and started to march back towards the table. He heard Zora and Loren calling out after him, but he ignored it, B-lining for Thorne. When he reached the head of the table, he grabbed Thorne by the back of his shirt collar and wrenched him from his seat.

“What the fuck, Max!?” Thorne protested, hands trying to pull Maximus off his shirt.

“Why didn’t you step in?!” Max growled.

“What are you talking about?!” Thorne scrambled to try and get the upper hand but it was no use. Maximus was stronger and bulkier than Thorne and held him stiffly in place.

“Just now!” Maximus shook Thorne and a slight tear formed in the back of his shirt. Maximus jammed a finger towards Zora. “You’re her knight! For someone who preaches about honor and doing the right thing, you sure as shit doing do anything there.”

Kairos got to his feet. “Max, drop him. Thorne, what is he talking about?”

“I—I don’t know!” Thorne stuttered. He still scrambled to get out of Maximus’s grasp, causing his shirt to rip more.

“You know!” Maximus roared. “She is yours to protect and you did nothing.”

“I’m not getting in the middle of a fucking petty girl fight,” Thorne snapped, tone going from nervous to angry. “Who’s fucking who is none of my business.”

“It is when you were sworn as her Knight!” Maximus yelled.

“Wolfham!” Kairos barked. “Drop him now! Or I’ll make you do it.”

Maximus glared at Kairos. He was begging Kairos to attack him. Maybe then Kairos would get a taste of his own medicine. Maximus would beat him to nothing but bone dust and fur. He’d show Kairos who was in change. He’d show Kairos who the real alpha was—

A gentle hand pressed itself to Maximus’s bicep. He looked down and saw Zora peering up at him with those honey pool eyes. Her thumb stroked his arm. A wave of calm washed over him.

“Put him down, Max,” she said softly. “It’s not worth it to fight over.”

Maximus blinked at her twice. She’d called him Max. The name made his heart flutter slightly. Slowly, he released his grip on Thorne. His hands unclenched and Thorne darted out from under him. The whole time, his eyes were locked with Zora’s.