Chapter 45

I fell asleep hidden by the pines of the forest. I woke as the sun was starting to rise in the distance. I sniffled slightly and rubbed my eyes then gasped when I saw someone in front of me. I scrambled to sit up and press my back to the tree I’d slumped under.

My eyes took a second to adjust then my heart slowed down considerably. Maximus was sitting on the floor with me, staring at me.

“I wonder if you’re from one of the packs in Western North America,” he said as he picked at some stray leaves. He crumbled the dried ones in his hands. “You seem to like being in the forest an awful lot.”

“I grew up in Pennsylvania,” my voice was gravely and raw with sleep. I cleared my throat. “There’s a fair amount of woods in the Adirondak mountains. Do you know where that is?”

Maximus blinked at me then shook his head. “I’ve never left the UK,” he shrugged. “Never had a need to. Especially because Alpha Academy is here.”

I nodded at him. That meant Victoria’s castle was also somewhere in the UK. Did that mean I was technically English? I messed with some of the foliage on the floor.

“So,” Maximus drawled. “Do you want to tell me why you’re out here? Again?”

I sighed and threw an acorn across the clearing. It ricocheted across the floor of the woods then spiraled off out of sight. I looked back at Maximus. His eyebrow was raised in thought. I huffed and slumped down, resting my chin on top of my knees.

“I had an argument with someone,”

“Very detailed,” Max said. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“It was my mentor,” I went on, voice quiet. I stared deeply into the floor to try and figure out how to explain the explosion that had happened. I licked the top of my mouth.

“Is he trying to sever ties?” Maximus tried.

I shifted slightly. “Yeah,” I said. “Basically.”

Maximus sighed then ran a hand over his head. His short hair looked blue in the morning light. He looked back up at me through his lashes.

“I meant what I said,” he said softly. “About helping you control your wolf. I also can step in and do whatever your old mentor was doing.”

The irony wasn’t lost on me. Valentin was not only teaching me how to fight, but he was someone who I’d felt a bond with. Maximus was also someone I’d felt a bond with. Could he fill the Valentin shaped hole in my life after Valentin had announced his marriage?

My heart hurt at the thought of it again. I shrunk back in on myself and Maximus noticed. His eyes went wide. He immediately held his hands up.

“Or not,” he scrambled to say. “It’s fine if you don’t want to.”

“No,” I cut him off gently. “I think I’d like that.”

Max blinked at me. “You would?”

“I don’t really have any other people to offer,” I shrugged.

Max quirked a smile. “Mini Moonbeam wasn’t your first choice?”

“Loren is a great friend,” I said. I couldn’t help but smile back. “But she will be the first to let you know that she is not super great at sparring.”

I cocked my head in thought and remembered the other day after Maximus had basically dropped me off at my door. Loren had been so excited that she’d shifted right there in our dorm room. She’d nearly knocked me over trying to turn in a circle to shift back. It wound us with both of us howling in laughter in a mass on the floor.

“Nor is she great at controlling her shifting,” I mused to Maximus.

He chuckled again and moved to stand. He pushed himself off the forest floor then brushed off the front of his pants. He extended an arm towards me. I put my hand and his and let him pull me off the floor.

I was shocked at the strength of his grasp and pull. I gasped and put my hands out to steady myself. Unfortunately for Maximus and I, my hands landed on his chest. His hand came down to steady me at my hip. The two of us were embraced in some sort of coupley way.

I looked up at Maximus’s eyes. He was peering down at me as well and our gazes locked. I couldn’t help but stare deeply into his irises. Honey gold and flecked with little bits of brown. My hand was on his pec which was, of course, impressive. His hand flexed on my hip. Then, the beating started again.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub…

The sound made me fly backwards with a second gasp. My hand went to my chest to try and steady the slamming in my chest. Maximus looked like he’d frozen. He shook his head slightly then cleared his throat.

“Classes are going to start in a few hours,” he croaked. He cleared his throat again. “We better get back to the dorms.”

I nodded slightly and started my way out of the forest. Maximus followed behind at a distance. We walked silently most of the way to the dorm building. Then, I finally remembered how I’d woken up.

“Oh,” I stopped at the door to our building. Maximus stopped as well and looked at me. “How did you know I was out there? In the forest?”

“I didn’t,” Max said. It sounded slightly forced. “Well, not explicitly. Something made me wake up this morning. I couldn’t fall back asleep so I went out on a walk. I wound up walking directly towards the forest and that’s when I found you.”

I stared at him for a second. My heart was fluttering a bit at the thought. The weird mate bond stuff we’d been feeling, had it brought him to me? Had my wolf, despite the fact she was on my shit list, sent him to me?

I keep thinking through that as I opened the door to our dorm building. Maximus said nothing else and kept following me up the stairs. When we reached my door, he kept walking to his room.

“See you in Basics?” he asked. I nodded. Max nodded back. His jaw twitched slightly before he kept talking. “They’re going to start partnering us up today,” he said. “For sparring training. I’ll ask Coach to put us together if you’d like.”

“I would,” I said back. I smiled gently at him and was returned the same. Max gave me one final friendly nod before going into his own room.

I pushed the door to mine open. Loren was still fast asleep in her bed, one arm hanging out in the space between our beds. I chuckled under my breath then slowly snuck up on her. I poked her hand, and she jolted in her bed.

“Rise and shine,” I said as she slowly woke up. “Basics is in two hours and I’m craving a banana.”

Loren groaned and stretched in her bed. “What time’d you get back?”

I froze. “Late,” I stuck with. She didn’t need to worry about me coming home that morning after sleeping in the cold.

Loren hummed. “What’d Valentin want?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Just the usual.”

“Okay, cool,” Loren grumbled. “Ugh, a banana does sound good.”

I chuckled along with her but meanwhile my head was reeling. I felt terrible keeping another secret from Loren. But really, I didn’t want to worry her with my nonsense. A wolf freak out was definitely nonsense.

Loren hopped out of bed and patted me on the back. “Come on, love,” she said. “Let’s get us some bananas.”