Chapter 68

It was at that point in my schooling at Alpha Academy that I realized I need to stop passing out.

Though, I figured, having two beings trapped in one body would make anyone pass out. Mona huffed in my darkness, annoyed. It was enough to bring my back to my body. I was shivering in the cold and could feel the goosebumps rising on my skin. I blinked slowly, vision returning to me as I shivered.

I realized that I was moving. As in someone was carrying me. I tried to force my eyes open again and got about halfway before the exhaustion took over and they slammed back shut.

“Just relax,” A voice soothed.

For a moment, I thought it was Mona’s, the way it rang in my head. But then I realized, Mona didn’t have that deep of a voice. I tried to peel my eyes open again and was only met with the blurry outline of a man with tawny brown hair.

“We need to stop meeting like this,” I mumbled.

“Stop putting yourself in compromising situations and we will,” Valentin said back. He had no bite in his voice, just stating the facts.

I curled my face into his chest, seeking warm from the whipping wind that hit my skin. Involuntarily, I shivered. Valentin’s hand squeezed tighter under my rib cage. “We’re almost to the infirmary,” he said, softly. “Go back to sleep and you’ll wake up in the warmth.”

It was hard to argue with that. I let the exhaustion burn through my body and fell back into the deep slumber with only an “M’kay” escaping from my lips. Mona was still there though, racing around in the back of my mind, carelessly. She charged towards the front of my mind and I woke up again.

The familiar beeping of the infirmary was the first thing I heard, followed by the groan that escaped from my lips. My head felt like it was run over by a truck and my hand went to it instantly. There was a shuffling besides me.

I peeled one open and glanced to my right. Once again, Valentin Lunerly was sitting in the chair next to me. His expression was as neutral as possible, another normal for him. I pushed myself up in the infirmary bed and raised an eyebrow at him, trying to not feel the burning in my head as I did it.

“Do you even have emotions?”

“I do,” Valentin said, emotionless. “You know I do.”

I slammed my lips together as I remembered the training sessions. The way we’d been tangled together and how hot and heavy he felt against me. I blushed at the thought the completely changed the subject.

“Did I win?”

“Did you win,” Valentin repeated. “I wasn’t aware it was a contest.”

“No,” I cocked my head slightly. “But I’d like to know.”

Valentin shifted to sit up in his seat. “Did you shatter Mr. Moonraiser’s leg and then hold him by the neck before you were demanded to drop him?” He said. “Yes.”

“Oh,” I felt the heat bloom further in my cheeks as well as the pride.

We are triumphant, Mona mused in the back of my mind. Her chest was proud and lifted in the back of my mind.

For a non-contest, I reminded her.

Semantics, her tail swished and then she vanished once again.

I took a mental note of the rest of my body. Besides my head, everything seemed pretty okay. I rolled my neck, though, and froze. The skin on the right side of my neck was very tight. It was almost if it were fresh and new. I gasped as the memories came flooding back to me.

Gushing liquid rolling into my fur. The shredding feeling in my neck. The yelp that escaped my throat. Kairos’s wolfish grin.

My hand went to my neck. My fingers hit three raised lines on the side of my neck. I glanced at Valentin. His jaw was clenched.

“A scratch made by a High Alpha will never fully heal,” he said, solemnly.

“Even if I’m a High Alpha?” I whispered. Valentin nodded gently. He pushed his hair back off his face and sat back in the chair.

“The positive from this experience is it looks like you can control your shift now,” he said.

“Control is not the word I would use,” I mumbled as I pressed the heel of my palm back to my pounding head. “I feel like I got hit by a brick.”

“That’s normal for beginning shifts,” Valentin replied. “You’re trying to swap back and forth between two bodies. It take a lot of brain power.”

I nodded once then shifted uncomfortably. “Now what?”

“Now,” Valentin huffed. “We train.”

“We train?” My eyebrow shot into the air again. “I thought we were done with that.”

“We we’re,” Valentin said. I watched his jaw tick slightly. The only bit of emotion in his expression. “But the Queen has been notified of your shifting progression. She wants me to continue training. With Mr. Blythwitch as well.”

I groaned. “The fuck does Thorne have to do with this?”

“He is your Knight,” Valentin said. “He is to be your sparring partner while I instruct.”

I licked the front of my teeth then tipped my head down to my hands. I side eyed Valentin.

“I don’t see your finance enjoying that much,” I deadpanned.

Valentin shifted in his seat. I turned to look at him and saw his jaw was clenched again. A bit of emotion was in his eyes, slipping through the cracks in his façade. But I couldn’t name the emotion, myself.

“Bella understands I have a duty,” he choked out. “I will make sure she does.”

I hummed in response. Something about that made me angry. Bella was the least understanding. Especially since she saw me as a threat.

Which I was.

Because Valentin was my fated mate.

“How’s wedding planning going?”

I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible but it came out bitter. I locked eyes with Valentin. I watched as a million different things crossed his face. Hate. Anger. He stood abruptly and walked towards the door to my room, stiff as a board. He pulled the door open then gave me one last look.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Same time and place,” He whispered.

The door slammed shut and I was left alone.