I remembered the feeling of touching Maximus. The deep fire I felt whenever he touched me. I took a shaky breath as I realized.
Maximus may be my fated mate.
Valentin seemed to sense my internal spiral. He frowned at me. I couldn’t tell if he was upset or not. “Have you had this feeling with someone?” he asked.
I opened and closed my mouth, unsure of what to say. “No,” I decided on. I spit it out quickly and cringed at how fast I said it. Valentin looked at, trying to size up if I was lying or not. He must’ve ignored it, regardless, as he continued on with the training. He motioned towards the mat and took a defensive stance.
“Right, so this is the stance you want to be in for sparring,” his knees were slightly bent and hands held up at about his chest. “It’s a good athletic stance that will allow you to make quick moves towards or away from your opponent.”
I nodded in agreement and took the stance to mirror him. Slowly, Valentin started to circle me. I followed in the same step pattern, never crossing my legs and making sure to take quick, precise steps. Valentin nodded in approval.
“Good,” he said. “Now try a jab.”
I stepped forward with my leg left and threw my right arm at Valentin. He blocked it effortlessly with his forearm, pushing my fist towards the ground. I grunted at the strain in my shoulder.
“Too slow,” he said. “Any of the High Alphas would’ve caught your wrist and pinned you to the ground. You have to be faster.”
I growled in frustration before I went again, this time with my left fist. Valentin blocked it again, effortlessly. I grunted again before I tried a third time to throw a punch. I sent me right fist at him then immediately followed it with my left. Valentin blocked both, but my second punch threw off his footing.
“Good,” he said. “Surprise and speed is the thing you have going for you. You’ll never outmatch a High Alpha in strength.”
I threw another double jab then tried a double jab cross. Valentin nodded in approval. We went back and forth for a few moments before I tripped on one of Valentin’s particularly tough crosses and landed on my ass. I “oofed” as I went down. Valentin offered a hand to help me stand up.
I batted it away and got to my feet on my own. I resumed the athletic stance and began circling Valentin again. He smirked slightly at me. I tried to ignore the way it warmed my bones.
“So how do I deal with the hunt?” I said, more so to distract myself. “I see you called them off this morning. But that clearly can’t last forever.”
Valentin blocked my first jab. “It’s a temporary solution,” he countered with a high kick to my bicep. I dodged it with a quick step then countered with a rib punch. He blocked that. “The only way you’ll beat the Hunt is to defeat the one who initiated it.”
“Kairos,” I said and threw another jab. Another block. “How do I beat him?”
“With the way your throwing these punches,” Valentin swatted away my next punch and caught me in the elbow with his cross. “You can’t. But I told your mother I’d mentor you. Being your mentor means helping you thrive at this school. Not just survive.”
I paused and lowered my arms. “You think I can’t beat him?”
“Guard up,” Valentin said. He took the opportunity to swipe at my legs. I jumped back and resumed my stance. I threw three quick punches towards him, determined to prove I was strong enough.
“I think you can,” Valentin sounded like he hadn’t even shed a beat of sweat yet. “But not at this stance.”
I threw another punch. “I think you underestimate me,” I said. I bought my leg high to try and kick him in the chest. Valentin wrapped his hand around my ankle. He smirked at me, dimpling his right cheek. “I think you underestimate a High Alpha,” he said. He twisted my foot, causing me to lose my balance and stumble. I yelped as my back hit the ground. However, I seized the opportunity to jam my elbow into his foot. He grunted in pain and his knee went down next to me. I grabbed the top of his shoulders to try and pull him down more. He wound up on top of me in a very precarious position.
His arms bracketed my head. Our faces were so close, I could hear his shallow breathing into my mouth. His white-gold eyes were magnificent this close up. A strand of his brown hair fell from behind his ear and lingered between us. Without any second thought, I reached up and swiped it behind his ear. I flinched slightly as I felt the shock of electricity hit the tips of my fingers. Then, a slow building thrum reached my ears. It sounded like two hearts, going in time. Valentin’s pupils dilated, as if he was hearing the same thing. We locked eyes, my gaze boring into the freckles of gold in his irises. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.
The beating continued at a slow thrum. I let my lips part slightly, a warmth spreading over me in an increasing intensity. Suddenly, every bit of me burned to grab Valentin and bring his lips to mine. I felt thirsty for something I couldn’t quench. Just as I was about to smother him, the door to the gym banged open.
I squeaked in shock and rolled out from under Valentin. He was up on his feet by the time I looked back at the door. Standing there, looked pissed as all hell, was the dark-haired woman who’d taunted me before Basics. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail that wrapped around her waist.
“Bella,” Valentin said. “You’re early.” “Glad I am,” she snarled. “Or else I’d miss this little show.” She walked across the gym towards Valentin and I. Any sparks between us were gone as I stood and brushed off my shirt. Bella continued towards the two of us. “Miss Smith,” Valentin said quickly. “I’ll contact you later in the week for another session. For now, you’re free to leave.”
I tried to catch his eye before leaving but he kept his head down. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing it off his face. I remembered how I did that, just moments ago. My cheeks flared with embarrassment.
I walked quickly towards the door to leave. As soon as I was half way there, Bella started hissing at Valentin. I only caught parts of it as I hustled away.
“I can’t stand this, Valentin – “
“Bella, please – “
“Don’t do that. You need to make a choice. I won’t sit around and wait any longer.”
I got to the door of the gym and hid behind it, still listening. I heard Valentin heave a sigh.
“I told you I’d handle it,” he said, gently. “Why don’t you believe me?”
“If you’d seen what I just saw,” Bella snapped. “You wouldn’t believe yourself.”
There was a thud then a breathy sigh. Valentin’s voice dropped low enough that I couldn’t discern the words. I took off and ran the entire way back to my room. My heart was thudding deep within my chest the entire time.
The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. Whatever Valentin did held off the wolves for the rest of my day. I went to sleep thinking maybe my first week wouldn’t be so terrible. That thought left my mind on the fourth day of school, a Thursday, when Loren and I were walking to Introduction to High Magicks. It was the only class we had together and Loren was buzzing with excitement. “High Magicks are so fun!” she squealed. “Unless you’re not a High Wolf. Then it’s kind of a tease.” I frowned and Loren followed. But then her smile reappeared. “Maybe you’re some magick High super-secret Alpha!”
“Maybe,” I mumbled.
Entirely, my inner voice protested. I ignored her. I looked across the campus. People were seemingly ignoring Loren and I. It felt nice to be a shadow instead of a target. That was, of course, until a blonde wolf jutted into my vision. Her gold eyes were pierced on me. It was the same wolf who’d cornered me on the first day of the hunt. It looked like she was on the prowl again. Her little posse was close behind her. I nudged Loren and we both picked up pace a little. The wolves followed and soon, all of us were running across campus towards the Magicks building. Loren and I burst through the doors and slammed them behind us.
We heard several snarls from outside. I sighed heavily. Guess the Valentin Lunerly protections were gone. “Um, Zora,” Loren said. I lifted my head slowly and gasped at what I saw.
My picture was littered around the hall. I don’t know how someone found my high school yearbook photo but they did. It was me with pigtails and braces. Wide eyed and smiling. However, the photos on the wall had giant, red “X”s through them. It was if someone had placed a bounty on me and was advertising it across campus.
“Kairos,” I spat. I marched down the hall and into the classroom. Loren scurried behind me, protesting.
“Zora, let’s be rational!” she said.
“There is no rationality to this man,” I snapped back at her. “Why should I afford him the same behavior?”
I scanned the classroom and sure enough, there he was. In the highest level of the atrium sat Kairos. He was surrounded by Maxius, Thorne, Peytr and another wolf who I hadn’t met yet. He was burly with dark red hair and piercing brown-gold eyes.
Ignoring Loren, I marched up to the steps of the atrium and affixed myself right in front of him. I placed my hands on my hips and glared down at him. Kairos seemed to not notice until Peytr nudged him gently. He rolled his neck to look at me, seemingly bored yet annoyed at my prescense. He snapped the gun in between his teeth and I thought that it made the same noise as if I snaped his stupid, pretty neck.
“Yes?” he drawled. He snapped his gum again. “Don’t ‘yes’ me, you asshole,” I hissed. Maximus looked up at me as if I shot Kairos. Thorne seemed utterly indifferent. So much for my knight-in-no-armor. I didn’t care, I kept going. “I don’t know where the fuck you got that picture of me but I demand you take it down!”
“Demand?” Maximus snapped. “Who crowned you princess?”
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