Chapter 58

I finished my training with Maximus with no more issues, save for some longing looks from across the track. I wound up actually learning a lot and feeling myself gain some strength. It was so much so that I wound up asking Max if we could make our training regular.

We agreed that my body would need a day to recover. We decided to meet again on Monday morning. With that, I dragged myself back to my room and collapsed in my bed. Loren laughed from across the room in her bed. Then she came over and pressed her head on top of mine. She was only there for a half a second until she made a disgusted noise and shrunk back.

“You are sweaty,” she commented.

“So hard,” I mumbled into my pillow.

“His man bits?”

I aimlessly threw a pillow over my shoulder in the direction of Loren’s voice. By her laughter, I could tell it missed her by a mile.

“So he wore you out?” Loren said. I could tell in her voice, she meant it sexually.

I threw myself on my side to glare at her. She laughed again then went and grabbed the pillow. She threw it back at me and I “oofed” as it hit me in the stomach.

“He wore me out,” I started. “In that he kicked my ass.”

“That’s a new kink.”

“Loren—”

“I’m kidding!” Loren threw her hands up in defense. “But it was hard?”

“Very,” I mumbled. “So much so that were taking a break tomorrow. Training resumes Monday.”

“So you’re going back?” Loren asked.

I shrugged. “I learned a lot. Plus, it was definitely working. And Valentin won’t train me anymore. So what’s the harm?”

“Makes sense,” Loren agreed. “Did you feel anything weird?”

I fidgeted. “Kinda,”

Loren’s jaw unhinged. Her slack jaw morphed into a shit-eating grin.

“Tell. Me. Everything.”

So, I did. I recounted each look. Each touch and by the end of my entire story, Loren’s jaw was hitting the floor. She stared at me in shock for a moment when I finished. Then, she shrieked before rolling back in her bed.

“Gods!” She gasped. “Do you think he’s your fated mate!?”

I bit my lip. I hadn’t told Loren that I’d almost had the exact same feelings towards Valentina few weeks ago. The electricity, the weird lub-dub of it all. Everything that made her excited about Maximus made me nervous. How could I have these feelings for two wolves?

Then there was the Thorne of it all. He was supposed to be my fated mate. How was I supposed to get another one after that?

“Maybe,” I said. I tried to sound as confident as possible, but it came out unsure.

“Maybe?” Loren mimicked. “Zora, I don’t think you realize how rare fated mates are.”

I knitted my eyebrows together. “What do you mean? I had Thorne be my fated mate. There’s a whole ball around mates. How does that scream rare?”

“The Mateball is about all mates,” Loren corrected. “It’s a time for chosen mates as well. But fated mates—” she shook her head, incredulous. “They’re a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Just the fact that you’re having these feelings around Max is crazy when you already had been fated to Thorne.”

“Is it wrong?” I said quietly.

“No,” Loren shook her head. “I wouldn’t say wrong. Maybe just extra special. Extra lucky really.”

I gnawed on my lip. Loren stared at me as if she was waiting for me to speak. I couldn’t make out any words, in fear I’d lie to my best friend.

“Maybe Max is your second chance,” Loren said softly. “I wouldn’t shrug that off.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else. What was so special about me that I deserved a second chance?

We are a Princess, my wolf chimed in. Princesses deserve multiple options.

I thoughts about that for the rest of the day. When I’d first come to this world, my mother had put four men in front of me and asked me to marry one. Did she know that I would be potentially fated to all of them? Something about it was fishy but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Plus, there was no fucking way I was mated to Kairos.

The man hated me, and I loathed him.

Maximus sat with us at every breakfast that week. I was beginning to enjoy his silent, looming company. So much so that when he was late to breakfast one morning, I started to worry.

However, he eventually showed up looking like he’d just rolled out of bed and complaining that his alarm didn’t go off. He even gave a half laugh when Loren made a joke about his appearance. It was very clear something about Maximus was changing, softening him from the hard douche he’d been my first month at Alpha Academy.

I’d also trained with him most afternoons on the outdoor track. The weather had taken a wintery turn so I had no more skin to skin incidents. But there was still that dark, possessive look in his eyes when we’d get too close or I’d bend in a way that was seemingly provocative.

That Friday, he had me doing more resistance work on the outdoor track. The exercises had become easier with repetition, and I could feel my muscles building within me. As I finished, Max held his hand out to me. I knew that look and slid the band off.

“I still have the knee jumps,” I protested as I handed him the resistance band.

“We’re moving on to combat,” Max stated. “I want to see if my theory about your core and legs is true.”

“So you’re gonna punch me and see if I fall over?” I joked.

Max tilted his head. The teeniest, tiniest smirk worked its way onto his lips. “I’d like you to block them but I understand if you can’t. I’m an excellent fighter.”

“I’ll see about that,” I teased as I dropped into a defensive stance.

Then Maximus truly laughed. It was like the honey of his eyes had melted into his voice and coated it. It was the most beautiful sound I’d heard in months. I immediately dropped my stance and stared at him. He raised an eyebrow in question.

“What?”

“Your – your laugh,” I stuttered.

“What about it?” Max said.

“It’s nice,” My voice was small.

Max stared back at me as he registered my tone. His eyes grew dark as his pupils dilated again. He shook his head, and it was like the façade had breached. Both of us returned to normal.

“Let’s do this off the track,” he said. “In case you fall.”

We both moved over to the patch of dry grass on the side of the track. I dropped back into my defensive stance and Maximus followed. He gave me a curt nod, which I returned, and then started throwing punches.

The first few he threw, I blocked easily. It was after the fourth block that he seemed to realize he wasn’t going hard enough at me and picked up his force. He threw two smaller jabs then sailed his fist towards my shoulder. I wasn’t quick enough to block it so I absorbed all of it with a grunt.

But I didn’t fall down.

I blinked and looked up at Maximus. His lips were set in a hard, unreadable line. Then, he nodded.

“Good,” he said. “Seems like my theory was accurate. Now do it again.”

He continued to sail punches towards me. Unbelievably, I absorbed each one. Though I felt the brusies beginning to blossom on my skin, I stayed standing the entire time.