Chapter 64

The next morning, a formal, Alpha Academy headed letter arrival at my door. I opened it up and my stomach sunk as I recognized the elegant script. Valentin had requested my prescience in his office that morning. Unlike his notes he used to send me about training, he signed this one. “Headmaster Lunerly” swirled in black ink on the bottom.

I closed my door and held the letter in my hand as Loren yawned and stretched. She smacked her lips a few times before sitting up and looking at me.

“Whut is it?” She grumbled.

I raised the paper towards her. “Valentin is asking to see me,” I put the paper down on my bed. “Well, the headmaster is.”

“Sounds important,” Loren mumbled as she curled herself back in bed. “Time is it?”

“Like seven,” I laughed. “I’ll meet you at Basics. Go back to bed, sleepy.”

Loren grumbled something unintelligible before diving back under the covers. I laughed as I shrugged on my hoodie and a jacket. I left my sleeping pants on and shoved my feet into some slip-on boots before I took off towards the admissions building.

As the cold autumnal air hit me, I wrapped my jacket tighter around myself. The hazy early morning air clung to the ground of the campus. It looked like a ghost was resting itself across campus. I tugged my jacket closer together and hurried my steps.

The admissions building was once again, eerily quiet. A few other workers were starting to walk in. They gave me curt nods that changed into scowls once they say my attire. I scuttled along until I reached the door to Valentin’s office.

The last time I’d been in his office, it’d been full of tension and exhaustion and unspoken promises. I hoped that this encounter would be more positive than the last time. I brought my hand up and gently rapped on the door. A beat passed before the door swung open.

There, in all his glory, was Valentin Lunerly.

His dirty brown hair was back to its shiny state. It was pulled back into a loose ponytail with a few pieces hanging in front of his ears. They curled slightly under his chin. His face was completely clean of hair as if he’d shaven that morning. His gold eyes were boring into mine with a violent intensity.

“Miss Smith,” he addressed. His voice held no emotion in it. It felt cold to my ears. “Come in.”

I stepped by him and into the office. It was less of a disheveled mess than it was before. There was no warmth in it. Just a desk and two chairs. It was as if Valentin Lunerly had ceased to exist as a person.

The door slammed shut behind us. I turned over my shoulder and watched Valentin motion towards the seat across from his desk. I slunk into it and he did the same in his own seat. Without saying anything else to me, he pushed his rotary phone across the desk and motioned to it.

I tentatively picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello, darling,”

“Hello, mother,” I replied. Nothing about it felt natural, a forced greeting I knew I should use.

“I have been… told about the Jackell boy,” she said. I froze. In the chaos of sleeping with Max, I’d almost forgotten the fact that I’d damn near been assaulted only a few weeks ago.

“You have,” I said, slowly.

“He’s in custody,” Victoria went on. I shot a look at Valentin. He seemed to be unfazed. Victoria sighed deeply in the receiver, and I adjusted my focus back to her.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d told people your true identity,” she whispered.

Instantly, a rage ignited in me. How dare she? She was making it out to seem as though this whole thing was my fault. That if I had actually accepted my role as Princess, I wouldn’t have been almost assaulted?

“How do you know?” I snapped. “It could’ve fed his anger. It could’ve made it worse.”

“I wouldn’t have,” Victoria said, sternly. “You don’t know. The wolves respect royalty. They wouldn’t have. They couldn’t have—“

“There’s a lot I don’t fucking know!” I roared into the phone. I was livid. I was sick of the unknown and was acting out because of it.

“I don’t know anything!” I continued to bark. “Because you’ve kept me in the dark. You left me away from this world then you get upset when I don’t understand it. I didn’t want ask to be taken out of this world and I certainly didn’t get asked to be dropped back into it!!”

With that, I slammed the phone back on the receiver and hung up on my mother, the Queen of the werewolves.

I huffed and sank back into my seat. It was then that I realized where I was. Valentin Lunerly was staring at me across his desk. There was a certain softness in his eyes that was missing from when I’d walked into his office earlier.

The gentle “lub dub” of our hearts beating in time with one another was filling the silence. Something hung in the air between us. It was volatile, waiting for some sort of spark to set the entire room into flames.

My hand twitched and Valentin abruptly stood up. He cleared his throat and brushed his hair off his face.

“You shouldn’t talk to your mother like that,” he mumbled.

“She acts like all of this is my fault,” I whispered back. I was utterly exhausted.

Valentin lifted his head and looked me in the eyes. He shook his head gently. “None of this is your fault, Zora,” he said, soft as a feather. “And I don’t believe your mother thinks that as well.”

“Don’t protect her,” I said was as much bite as a chihuahua.

Valentin braced his hands on his desk and leaned across it. I was frozen as his face came closer to me. His gold eyes sparkled in the light of his office.

“I only protect one person,” He said, almost threatening me. “And that is you. It will only be you. It will always be you.”

“So give up the fight against me,” I begged, feeling utterly pathetic. “Stop pushing me away and just allow yourself to be what you’re supposed to be. My fated mate.”

Valentin sucked in a breath. It came out shaky, hitting the tip of my nose. I could almost taste him, spearmint and juniper berries. I wanted more of him. I wanted every bit of him to crash into me.

Instead, he stood up and looked down his nose at me. Any warmth in him was gone and his tone was harsh and factual as he spoke.

“I am not your mate,” he gritted out, as if fighting himself. “It has come to my attention that you have chosen Maximus Wolfham for that distinction. If you do care for him, I’d consummate the bond and tell your mother. She will be ecstatic.”

There was no happiness for me in his tone. In fact, he seemed bitter. I watched his hand move to grip the back of his chair. Though the chair seemed fine, his knuckles were white with frustration.

All hopes I had for him to finally give in and allow himself to want me, were lost. He was set. I wasn’t his nor was he mine. We were two tethers, running far away from one another on different paths. Never to cross.

I licked the front of my lips and stood. I looked Valentin right in the eye as I spoke, my words dripping malice. I needed to hurt him, just as he hurt me.

“I already have consummated the bond,” I said, level and proud. “Twice.”

There was a distinct snap that resonated through the air. I looked down at Valentin’s hand to see he’d snapped the back bar in half. His hands were balled into white fists, covered in shards of wood. I let me gaze drift to his eyes. The gold was so dark it was nearly black. Still, his face showed nothing.

With a blank stare and an eventual shake of my head, I stormed out of the room.