by Jayme Morse
“I’m actually a little bit nervous about Raven now,” Theo murmured.
“Why are you nervous about me?” I glanced over at him, sort of confused.
“Think about it, Raven. If Headmaster Black was going to drink blood from any werewolf in an attempt at becoming more youthful, who do you think he’s going to want to drink from? A Marked? Probably not. A Lupine? I mean, maybe, but a Descendant is obviously the most preferrable option. But what if you can have a Descendant that’s superior to all of the other Descendants?”
“I’m part Crescent, too,” I reminded him. Everyone always seemed to forget about my second House, the House that meant I wasn’t a good wolf. It was something that still confused the hell out of me, but there was no changing the fact that I had been sorted into both Houses at Werewolf Academy.
“The Crescent part is pretty insignificant here. My point is: what if you can drink the blood of the first biological-born werewolf, the first werewolf to have ever existed? Wouldn’t you choose that?”
“Actually, I’m not sure. I mean, listen to what you just said. That doesn’t even make sense. Why would he drink my blood to become more youthful when I’m obviously significantly older than he is?” I pointed out.
“You’re also significantly more powerful than he is. Drinking your blood could help him acquire powers that he could only dream of,” Theo explained. “Knowing that this is what he does just makes me nervous. I don’t want you to spend any time around him.”
“Well, I really don’t think you have anything to worry about, because I don’t spend any time around him. I avoid Headmaster Black like the plague.”
“Good.”
“Besides, I don’t think Headmaster Black is going to try anything when he knows that we’re pretty much her guards,” Colton added. “He’d have to get through us to get to her, and he knows that.”
“Yeah, he knows that any of us would die to protect Raven,” Rhys added.
“Yeah, good point.” Theo looked slightly relieved by the idea, but I could tell that it wasn’t enough. The idea of Headmaster Black drinking my blood still made him really nervous.
He wasn’t the only one. I wanted to stay the hell away from Headmaster Black like never before.
“I’m never going to be able to look at him the same way again,” Aiden said with a shudder.
“I can’t say it surprises me. I’ve long thought that Headmaster Black couldn’t be trusted,” Theo replied.
“Anyway, I need to tell you guys about my meeting with Eric tonight,” I told them. “I learned some things. Milos had Iris enroll in Werewolf Academy to keep an eye on me.”
“Well, I could have told you that,” Rhys said.
“I know that’s not exactly groundbreaking news, but there are some other things I learned, too. For starters, the reason Eric came to the Academy himself was to keep an eye on me and protect me from Iris. There really is an aunt in Savannah.” I noticed that my mates didn’t seem overly impressed with my breaking news yet. That was why I was saving the craziest thing I had learned for last. “And there was the biggest thing I learned, the thing that will shock you the most.”
“What is it?” Colton looked intrigued.
“Milos Santorini didn’t kill my parents.”
“Like hell he didn’t,” Theo argued.
“Eric says both Milos and Iris were with him the night my parents were killed,” I explained. “I highly doubt he would lie about being her alibi if he wasn’t really there.”
“Unless he’s trying to protect her,” Theo insisted.
I shook my head. “No. There’s no way. Iris and Eric have never had a good relationship. He even called her a monster tonight. She knows how she is. I’m positive that there’s no way he would try to protect her.”
“So, if Milos didn’t kill your parents, then who did?” Aiden asked.
“That’s what I want to figure out.” Of course, I had no idea where to even begin.
At that moment, our conversation was interrupted by a knock at the front door.
“Who the hell could that be?” Aiden asked, glancing down at the time on his cell phone. “It’s almost one a.m. on a school night.”
I wasn’t sure, but of course, the worst-case scenario entered my mind.
What if it was Headmaster Black, trying to prove, once and for all, that Aiden had actually been there, and invisible, with him today? And that was the absolute last thing we needed. Now that I knew just how serious all of this was, I was pretty sure that Headmaster Black wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Aiden if he had proof that he’d been spying on him.
But when Theo opened the door, it wasn’t Headmaster Black.
It was Iris.
Chapter 13
My heart pounded against my chest as Iris stood there in the doorway.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Theo asked, letting out a low growl. I knew he couldn’t control it, but I wished that he would have been a little less confrontational with her.
She was one of the three most powerful Alphas in the world, after all.
Meanwhile, there wasn’t a single Alpha wolf in this room. I wasn’t sure if any of us were strong enough to take her on right now.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s really late and I probably shouldn’t be here—”
“Damn right you shouldn’t be here,” Theo agreed.
“But I really need to speak to Raven,” Iris continued. “Would it be possible for me to talk to her?”
I knew that she could see that I was standing just feet behind Theo, but she was acting like I wasn’t even there.
“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re not welcome in this house,” Theo informed her.
“And I understand that. I even get why you wouldn’t want me here, considering everything. But I really need to talk to her. Please.” There was an urgency in her voice unlike anything I had ever heard before—at least not since they’d kidnapped me.
The Iris who stood in front of us was a completely different Iris. Somehow, she suddenly seemed so… fragile. So vulnerable. So weak. It was all extremely out of character for her.
It was so strange to see her acting this way after everything that had happened over the summer. I honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
I was angry that she was here. I was afraid that she was going to try to hurt one of us. And yet, I felt something else, too.
Sympathy?
How could I feel sympathy for someone who had held me captive for so long? For someone who had actually tried to murder me? The way I felt didn’t make any sense to me.
I had to be firm. I had to stand my ground. Iris shouldn’t have been here, no matter what the reasoning was. I couldn’t let myself feel sorry for her. If I hadn’t been rescued right in the nick of time, I wouldn’t have even been here.
“Goodnight, Iris,” Theo said, beginning to close the door, but she threw her hands up and then turned to me.
“Wait. Raven, please. I’m begging you.” There was a desperate look in her eyes, one that I’d never seen before even when we were friends.
And that was when my curiosity took over. Of course, I didn’t want to talk to her. The idea of talking to her made me feel sick to my stomach, in fact. But I also wanted to know why she needed to talk to me so bad.
“Okay. What is it?” I asked her.
“Can we talk in private?” she asked.
“Nope. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my mates, too.” I thought that was really fair, all things considered. I was willing to hear her out, but I definitely wasn’t willing to be alone with her. I wasn’t stupid.
“Fine.” Iris sighed. “There’s no easy way for me to say this, but I really need to reach Milos. He’s not answering his phone, and he’s not texting me back. I’m afraid that something might have happened to him. I know that he’s able to communicate with you mentally, even when you’re not trying to communicate with him. So, I just wondered if you could give him a
message for me.”
I tried to suppress an eye roll. Call me crazy, but there was a tiny part of me that had thought that maybe, just maybe, the reason she had come here was to apologize for the way she had betrayed me.
But nope. All she wanted to do was connect with my captor.
She’s in love with him, I reminded myself. Love is incredibly blinding.
“You know, you have some audacity to come here asking Raven to do that for you after everything you did to her,” Aiden said, shaking his head.
“You’re downright insane to think this is even remotely acceptable,” Theo agreed.
“Yeah, you helped keep her prisoner and now you want her to help you communicate with the guy who held her captive?” Colton shook his head angrily.
“Are you out of your damn mind?” Rhys added, which shocked me. Of the four, Rhys had always been least likely to swear.
“I get it, you guys. I really do. I’m sorry I asked.” Iris looked completely defeated.
I wasn’t sure what it was that came over me then. I wasn’t sure why I felt any form of sympathy for her, but I did.
Whatever reason Iris was trying to get in touch with him, it must have been really bad for her to ask me for help.
So, as she turned away, I said, “Iris, wait. What message do you want me to give him?”
Her eyes met mine with a look of surprise... and relief.
She definitely hadn’t thought that I was going to be willing to help her out after the way my mates had reacted to her request.
“Can you let him know that his kid is in danger?” Iris asked.
“Wait. What? Jessica is in danger?”
My pack members shifted in their shoes uncomfortably. I could tell that they were ready to help Jessica out. We all were ready to help her out.
“No, not Jessica,” Iris replied, shaking her head. “His son… Matthew.”
That was when Milos’s black eyes appeared in my mind. “What happened to Matthew?”
A shiver crept down my spine at the sound of his familiar voice.
I glanced over at Iris. “He wants to know what happened to Matthew.”
“He’s in a situation.” She paused for a long moment. “Tell him to call me.”
“Tell her that I’ll call her just as soon as I am done with my meeting with the Winston Coven,” Milos responded.
“He said he’ll call you as soon as he’s done with his meeting with the Winston Coven,” I repeated.
This whole situation was just a reminder that Milos was always able to tap into my mind, something that made me extremely nervous. I completely hated it.
“So, his meeting with the Winston Coven is more important than his own son?” Iris scoffed.
I waited for a few moments, but Milos didn’t say anything in response. “He’s not answering.”
“Great. Figures.” She sighed. “Thanks for trying.” Iris’s eyes flitted over to meet mine. “You know, I’m pretty jealous that you’re able to communicate with him so easily. Here I am, just trying to give him a message about our kid, and he won’t even answer the phone.”
“Wait. Your kid?”
“Yup. Matthew is our son. He’s twenty-two years old. He goes to college back in Georgia. He’s always getting himself into trouble, which is unsurprising for a werewolf who’s never attended the Academy, but he was very firm on his decision not to go, since Mom would be going at the same time. You know how that is.” She chuckled.
I just stared at her, realizing what a stranger she was to me. I had known that Iris was full of secrets, but I hadn’t realized that her secrets went this far.
It was almost hard to believe that this one could have even been true. The Iris who I saw standing in front of me seemed like she couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old, even though I knew she was much older than that. But due to the fact that werewolves barely aged a day, it made it hard to picture her as anyone’s mom, let alone a twenty-two-year old’s mom.
“Wow, I had no idea that you and Milos had a child together.”
Not even once during my time in the dungeon had I heard any mention about Matthew, let alone the fact that Iris and Milos had a child together. How hadn’t I known this before now?
Why hadn’t Eric thought to mention this during our meeting earlier tonight?
Was it possible that even he didn’t know that Iris and Milos had a child?
“Don’t act too surprised, Raven. You might not realize this, but there are a lot of things you don’t know about me. Some of things you didn’t care to know about me, but most of them I chose to keep from you. I’m a woman of mystery.” Her lips formed a smile. “But maybe this will explain some things for you. I always put my family first.” She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she didn’t. “Anyway, thanks for helping me. I really appreciate it, more than you’ll ever know.” Her eyes moved away from me, and she glanced to each of my mates. “I’m sorry to have bothered all of you. Have a good night.”
Without saying another word, she disappeared into the dark night.
Chapter 14
After Iris left, most of my mates all went their separate directions: Colton and Rhys went to bed, and Aiden was going to work on the new motorcycle he’d bought in the garage.
“Do you want to go for a swim?” Theo asked me.
“Sure, why not? Let me go upstairs and change into a bathing suit.”
“There’s no need for that.” His bright blue eyes locked on mine. “I’d much rather swim with you naked.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked.
He nodded. “Come on.”
Opening the back door, he led me out onto the patio where he proceeded to pull his clothes off.
Kicking my shoes off, I glanced over at him.
He was completely naked now, and it was hard not to notice how much more toned he was in comparison to last year. His abdominal muscles were way more defined, and his arms just looked so much stronger. Even his butt looked more toned.
“Have you been working out?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah,” he replied with a nod.
I swallowed hard, trying not to drool. I’d always been attracted to his body, but hot damn. “Since when?”
“All semester,” he replied.
“Why?” The slightest hint of jealousy came over me. I wondered if he was trying to get hotter just in case I didn’t end up picking him. Maybe he was trying to become more dateable.
The idea of Theo dating anyone made my heart hurt a little. The idea of him—or any of my mates, for that matter—with someone but me actually made me want to break down into tears.
And this was a big part of why I hadn’t chosen, of why I couldn’t choose, I realized. Once I chose, once my decision was made, I would have no choice but to deal with these feelings head-on.
“We’re getting ready to go to war,” Theo reminded me. “I need to be ready to fight once the time comes.”
“Oh.” Well, that made a lot of sense, at least.
Once I had completely stripped out of my own clothes, I glanced up at him and found that his bright blue eyes were scanning the entire length of my body.
I felt like a supermodel when he stared at me that way. There were still times when I couldn’t help but wonder why Theo—or any of my mates—wanted me.
Sure, I was a princess, but appearance-wise, I was plain. Average, at best. But they were all sexy as fuck.
His eyes only continued to drink me in, lingering on every inch of my body. It was like he was in a trance.
“Let’s swim,” I suggested.
Theo’s eyes moved up to meet mine, and he nodded. “Alright.”
I ran forward and then dove, head-first, into the deep section of the pool.
From underneath the water, I heard the surface breaking as Theo followed after me.
When I swam upwards, he was already hanging out on the side of the pool.
My long blonde hair was slick from the water; it clung to my bare ch
est as I swam over to him.
“You look like a sexy mermaid,” Theo said, his blue eyes, which sparkled under the light of the full moon, locking on mine. “You know, minus the whole seashell bra or fins thing. But otherwise, you’re my sexy mermaid.”
I laughed. “I wish I was a mermaid. I bet that would be a lot easier than being the Princess of the Werewolves.”
“Maybe, but then you wouldn’t be mated to me.” He paused and then quietly added, “Or any of us.”
“Yeah.” I could already see that this conversation was going in a direction I didn’t want it to go in, so I quickly changed the subject. “So, Aiden mentioned something tonight that I never knew about you.”
“Oh? What was Aiden running his mouth about now?” Theo asked.
“He told me about Fawn.”
“I see.” Theo’s eyes darted away from mine. It was clear that this was still a painful subject for him.
“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up,” I quickly apologized, suddenly feeling like an asshole.
“No, you have nothing to apologize for. You were bound to find out about Fawn eventually.” He paused for a moment. “What did Aiden tell you about her, exactly?”
“That she was your best friend, and that she was killed.”
“Okay.” Theo let out a deep breath. “So, all of that is true, but…” He trailed off, as if he was trying to put something into words. “Fawn was more than just a best friend, Raven.”
“What was she?” I raised my eyebrows.
“My fiancée.”
“Oh.” I glanced away from him. For some reason, this took me completely by surprise. “I thought you had never been in love before me.”
“That would be correct,” he replied with a nod.
“But you were engaged. That means you were in love with someone before me.”
“No. I loved someone before you, but you are the first and only one who I’ve ever been in love with,” Theo corrected. “Fawn was my best friend. I cared deeply for her. I loved her the way I would love any friend. But I was never actually in love with her.”