Chapter 62

Maximus

Maximus woke up the next morning unnaturally chipper. He couldn’t figure out why. His mate had basically told him she had another one but yet he was still hopeful. Something in his bones and deep in the base of his mind was screaming that Zora was his mate.

He’d never felt that way before. When Zora came underneath him, he felt like his wolf had combusted in the back of his mind. Then his own release set a fire inside of I’m that he couldn’t tame even if he tried. The thrumming of his heart told him that Zora was it for him, the one he’d been searching for.

But, she’d previously been fated to Thorne. It was an uncomfortable thought he tried to ignore as he got ready for the day. He arrived to breakfast to find Zora with her gaze fixed in her food. Loren greeted him as per usual so he assumed Zora had kept their rendezvous to herself for the time being.

The entire breakfast, Maximus felt like he was pulling teeth trying to get Zora to look at him. She would give one word grunts to Loren as answers. She refused to answer any of Maximus’s questions. It got to a point where Loren finally slammed her hand on the table, sending Zora’s gaze to her.

“Okay, what the heck is up?” She snappped.

Zora gave her a long stare before going back to fidget with her eggs. “Just sick is all.”

“So I assume we’re not training tonight?” Maximus said plainly with a raised eyebrow.

Zora immediately looked at him. Her gold-green eyes sparkled in the fluorescent light of the cafeteria. Her long red curls were tucked behind her ears. Maximus longed to pull on one again, then grab her jaw and slant her mouth to his.

But he knew that would scare Zora off. So he attacked with a different measure. He needed to have a palpable indifference to everything. That way, she’d get herself worked up thinking he didn’t care and would eventually snap and come to him.

“No,” she said softly. “I’ll be there.”

Maximus nodded. “Same as usual,” he said before going back to his own breakfast. He felt Zora’s eyes peel away from him and twitched at the loss. Her gaze was like fire that fueled his cold heart.

“Right,” Zora placed her hands on the table and pushed herself to stand. “I have to get a coffee before History of Magiks. I’ll see you in High Magiks right, Loren?”

“Why don’t you have it with us?” Loren tried. “You still have twenty minutes before class.”

Zora gave her a sad smile and shook her head. “I need it to keep me caffeinated during class. But Magiks, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Loren mumbled. Zora grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She gave Loren one final smile before setting off to dispose of her garbage.

As soon as she was out of ear shot, Loren jabbed Maximus in the shoulder. He missed his mouth with his spoon as a result, flopping eggs into his lap. He turned to stare at Loren. Her scowl was bitter.

“What happened with you two?” She hissed.

“Nothing,” He said as if he didn’t want to chase after Zora and bury himself in her on the main lawn of campus.

Loren tried to jab him again. Maximus barely moved at the impact. Then she stuck her finger in his face.

“You hurt her and I’ll beat the crap out of you!”

Maximus tried to not roll his eyes. Loren was one of the weaker wolves. There was no way in the Hells she was beating anything out of him. He nodded once.

“I know,”

“Good,” Loren said with finality. She turned back and shoved the rest of her waffle in her mouth. A bit of whipped cream ended up on her nose and Maximus had to stifle his laugh in his fist.

Later that night, true to her word, Zora was at their usual spot. She’d beat Maximus to the location and was stretching when he showed up. The sun was nearly set as autumn continued to erupt across campus. Her attire the evening was looser than any other training kit she’d worn before. In fact, Maximus thought he’d seen her shuffling around their dorm in the same trousers and jumper a week prior.

They both engulfed her figure and made her look like a pin shoved into a box the size of a refrigerator. She stood up straight when she saw him crossing the outdoor field. Her hands bracketed her hips.

“What?” She barked.

Max raised an eyebrow at her. “How are you going to train in that?”

Zora looked down at her jumper. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s too loose,” Maximus gestured to where the sleeves reached beyond her fingertips. “You’re gonna catch yourself on it.”

Zora scowled at him but before she could answer, a gust of wind whipped her hair across her face. She looked ethereal in that moment. Her red curls were mainly plaited off of her face but a few tendrils were moving across her face. Her gold-green eyes were narrowed at him. She shivered slightly then resumed glaring at him.

“It was the only thing clean,” she snapped. “And it’s fucking cold so deal with it.”

Max knew that was a lie. She had more than enough little training sets in various colors and cuts. She chose to come that way and he couldn’t help but think he knew why.

“Can we make this quick?” Zora added. “I’m shaking.”

Max started to rummage through his bag for his equipment. He shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “But it won’t do you much good if it isn’t long enough.”

“I already trained earlier,” Zora said quickly.

Max raised an eyebrow again. “With whom?”

Zora turned beet red and Maximus’s stomach dropped. Lunerly. She was training with Lunerly. He cleared his throat and fully ignored her comment. He dropped the bag at his feet but still held on to two resistance bands.

“We’ll do core then,” he said plainly. “Start with a warm up then launch into the plank progression I showed you last week.”

Zora gave him a curt nod before swallowing and running off to do as she’d been instructed. As she came back, Maximus watched her break into her core work. He smiled to himself as he realized that his plan had been working. Her core had been strengthening over the past few sets. So much so that her X-plank was near flawless.

I did that, he thought to himself. Not fucking Lunerly.

“What now?” Zora asked. She stood and brushed her hands on the backs of her pants.

Maximus wordlessly took out a resistance band. “Wrap this around your waist,” he directed. “I’ll hold onto the tails of it as you take off into a sprint. The goal is to not fall over and run ten meters as straight as possible.”

“Sounds easy,” Zora said before wrapping the resistance band around her. She turned around and let the tails of the band hang behind her.

Maximus went to grab one and touched her outer finger. She immediately jumped and shrunk away from him as he did. He smirked to himself and did it again. He loved the effect he had on her. She flinched again. As she went to step away, he pulled back on the resistance band, hard.

Zora stumbled backward and her back collided with Maximus’s chest. Feeling her so close made his cock stir in his pants. He immediately sucked in a breath, trying to memorize the scent of her hair. His hands instinctually went to her waist and a pained whimper escaped from between her lips.

Maximus smirked to himself as he ran his nose down the shell of her ear. When he reached her earlobe, he gently tugged it between his teeth, earning another sound from Zora. It was the same exact sound she made as she was writhing in his sheets the night before. He let go of her ear and pressed his face to the side of hers.

“Run,” he cooed into her ear. Zora took off immediately, causing Max to grunt as the force of her sprint yanked him out of his stupor.

She sprinted back and forth on the field for so long that on her last run, she finally gave up and fell into the ground in a cacophony of pants. Maximus was also feeling the exercise, huffing as he dropped the bands. He tried to help Zora up but she completely ignored it as she stumbled to her feet.

“What now?” She breathed through pants.

Maximus swallowed to catch his own breath. “Do some of the crunch series and we’ll call it a day.”

He was desperate to get out of there. He was straining so hard in his pant he’d had to adjust himself so his arousal wouldn’t be obvious. He was dying to get home and fist his cock with just the smell of her hair.

Zora finished the crunches as Max gathered his things. The two sprint walked across the campus back to their dorm. Max barely could grunt out a bye as he pushed into his room. In a matter of seconds, his shirt was tumbling to the floor. His trousers were slung low on his hips as a knock came at his door. He groaned and pulled his trouser back up before walking over to wrench the door open.

“What?” He barked.

He barely got the word out before arms were slung around his neck and lips were pressed to his. The warmth started a fire with him and he knew who it was before he could even see her. He wasted no time lifted Zora up so she could lock her ankles around his waist. The door slammed shut and he pressed her back into it, sucking and pressing into her like a starved man.

“I— need—“ Zora gasped between kisses.

Maximus was inside her before his trousers even hit the floor.