by Jayme Morse
I swallowed hard. Even though I did find him incredibly attractive, I just didn’t feel the same magnetic pull—the same energy—I felt with my mates. It was the type of attraction I’d imagine you’d feel for a celebrity crush, but not the type of connection I felt with my mates. There was no soulmate connection.
“Well?” Professor Rodriguez pressed.
“I already have four mates,” I finally answered him.
“So, what’s one more?” His golden eyes stared into mine. “I can tell you feel it, Raven. There’s something here.” Rising from his desk, he moved so that he was standing close to me—too close for comfort. “Why don’t you kiss me? Then we’ll know for sure.”
His eyes were on my lips.
“I gotta get to class,” I mumbled.
As I hurried out of the classroom, so many thoughts were circulating around inside my mind.
Why was Professor Rodriguez so pushy with me about this? It was bordering on creepy. In fact, I was pretty sure that I probably would find it creepy if it weren’t for the fact that he was so goddamn good-looking.
Was Professor Rodriguez really so attracted to me that he was willing to put his career on the line?
Student/professor relationships were off-limits. I mean, Headmaster Black was allowing it to happen with the Darken pack, but he clearly wasn’t happy about it. But that was different. Professor Rodriguez and I didn’t even know each other.
Not that I had known Theo when I’d kissed him, mating and bonding myself to him for the first time. But there obviously had been something between us, considering we were actually mates.
I knew that, even if I gave in and kissed Professor Rodriguez, we wouldn’t actually be mates. If we kissed, nothing would even happen. He wasn’t an ancient—not a full-blooded one, anyway—and he wasn’t a Darken, either.
Besides, it wasn’t like I could kiss him, even if I wanted to. I had four mates already. Four mates who I loved—four mates who would have been upset if I kissed another wolf. And on the extremely unlikely chance that Professor Rodriguez did happen to be my mate, too… Well, I didn’t even want that. Having four mates was already complicated enough. The last thing I wanted to do was bring one more into the situation.
It was decided, then. I wouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t kiss him. There was nothing for me to worry about.
So then why did I find myself thinking about our weird interaction for the rest of the day?
Chapter Ten
The following afternoon, Maddie came over to my dorm room to get ready for Branden Mitchell’s party. He was holding it in the Diamond Woods, which was right at the edge of campus.
“This really feels like old times,” Maddie commented, meeting my eyes as we did our makeup in front of the mirror in my bathroom.
“It really does,” I agreed as I applied black eyeliner to my waterline.
“I’m sort of glad that it’s just the two of us,” she went on. “Don’t get me wrong. Your friends seem great, but—” She trailed off.
“But what?” I glanced over at her.
“Well, it’s just that it’s nice to have BFF time sometimes, you know?” Maddie said with a shrug. “And Iris seems a little…” She paused, as if racking her mind for the right word. “Uptight.”
“Uptight?” My eyebrows shot up questioningly.
“I’m not sure what it is, but I just get the sense that she thinks I’m trying to steal you away or something,” she replied with a shrug.
“I hadn’t noticed that,” I replied. “But I guess I’ll have to talk to her about it.”
“Well, don’t tell her I said anything. I don’t want her to hate me any more than she already does.”
“I’m sure Iris doesn’t hate you.” I shook my head.
“It’s just the way she looks at me sometimes,” Maddie replied with a shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining it. You know her better than I do.”
As she finished applying a deep red lipstick, she took a step back and stared at us in the mirror. “We look hot.”
Maddie was wearing a red strapless dress that showed off her slender shoulders. It fell just below her thighs, showing off her endless legs.
I was wearing a similar dress but in black with sequins. We were wearing nearly matching heels; hers were red and mine were black, to coordinate with our dresses.
We had both curled our hair and put on a lot of makeup.
“I know this might sound kind of crazy, but I just have this… this feeling,” Maddie told me. “I think there’s a chance that I’m going to meet my mate tonight.” She paused. “I don’t know why, but I just have this gut instinct that he’s going to be at the party.”
“I guess we’ll see. But remember that there are tons of werewolves in the world. We don’t know if your mate even goes to Werewolf Academy at all. He might not,” I pointed out.
“I know. But it’s just a feeling.” She glanced over at me. “I don’t get them often, but sometimes when I do, they actually mean something.”
I knew that feeling all too well. My feelings were freakishly right lately.
I was pretty sure this must have been our werewolf intuition kicking in… even though I had been a werewolf for much longer than Maddie had.
“Ready to go?” Maddie asked.
“Yeah,” I replied as I grabbed my purse. “Let me text Vince that we’re leaving now so he and Iris can meet us there.”
Even though I was excited for the party, there was just one thing that made me feel sort of disappointed. And that was that I didn’t get to bring any of my mates with me.
If I brought one of the Darken and Headmaster Black somehow found out about the party, he would have been pissed after the discussion we’d had about it. And he wasn’t even the only reason I couldn’t bring one of my mates.
The other students probably thought my relationship with them was… weird. Taboo. Off-limits. It would definitely get people talking and draw attention, and that wasn’t what I wanted.
But I couldn’t help but feel sort of jealous of Maddie, in a way. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my mates, and I wouldn’t have changed anything about the bond or connection I had with each of them. But Maddie got to go to the party tonight, wondering who—if anyone—there was her mate. But I had ended up being mated to Theo before I even knew I was a werewolf—before I even knew I could have a mate. It made events, like this one, a little less fun for me.
Plus, instead of having fun, all I could do was think about the four of them.
But it was just for three more years. Then I got to spend eternity with them.
***
The party felt just like one of Branden Mitchell’s back to school parties in the human world. You never would have known that any of us were werewolves as everyone danced to “Look At Her Now” by Selena Gomez out there in the green grassy clearing, which was hidden beneath the trees—far enough away from the Headmaster’s office for us to not get caught out there.
The field was swarming with students, some whose faces I recognized, and others who I didn’t. We headed over to the table that was set up as a drinks station, with kegs and bottles of all types of liquor.
We grabbed some cups and filled them up before getting lost in the crowd.
At that moment, I noticed Branden Mitchell. He talked to every person who he passed. Leave it to him to already have made a million friends since he’d arrived. He had been one of the most social people I’d ever met in the human world, so it was no surprise that he was extremely social here, too.
As he made his way across the clearing, his eyes fell on me.
Waving, he headed over to me. “Raven, I can’t believe you’re here,” he said, coming in for a hug. “Isn’t it crazy how many of us who knew each other back in the human world are here, too?”
“It’s really strange,” I replied with a nod.
“I’m glad to see you here. It’s good to see a familiar face.” He smiled at me. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay?�
�
I nodded.
Once Branden was out of earshot, Vince said, “Okay, first of all, talk about a major hottie. Second off, he totally likes you.”
“Branden Mitchell?” I let out a laugh. “No way.”
“Um, yes way. You really need to tell him you already have a mate. Or many mates.” Vince shrugged as he took a sip of his beer.
I took a sip of my own rum and Coke. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It seems like everyone here likes you,” Maddie said, slurring a little. She was way drunker than the rest of us. “Like that professor.”
“You mean all four professors,” Vince corrected, obviously thinking she was referring to the Darken. Except, she wasn’t. I had told her when we were getting ready about what had happened with Professor Rodriguez.
“No, five professors,” Maddie said, waving a hand at him. “Professor Rodriguez likes her, too.”
“Professor Hottie?!” Vince turned to me in awe. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“Yeah, you didn’t mention this,” Iris added with a nod.
“I’ve still been processing it,” I admitted. “He told me to kiss him, to see if we were mates.”
“Did you?” Vince asked. “Please tell me you did. I mean, if that hottie told me to kiss him, I totally would.”
“Please tell me you didn’t,” Iris said, meeting my gaze. “That wouldn’t be fair to your mates.”
“I didn’t,” I replied. “And I’m not going to. He might be really hot, but there’s no way in hell he’s my mate. I already have four, and to be honest? I wouldn’t even want another. Four is more than enough.”
“Yeah, save some for the rest of us,” Vince agreed.
At that moment, “Sorry Not Sorry” by Demi Lovato began to play, and Maddie and I started to lose our shit. That had been our jam back in the human world.
“Can I just say that werewolf guys are hot as fuck?” Maddie yelled over the sound of the music.
“I know, right?!” Vince agreed.
I laughed. “They are.”
At least, mine were.
And Professor Rodriguez…
What could I say? Even though he wasn’t my mate, he was still really hot.
“That guy over there is totally staring at you,” Vince told Maddie, pointing his chin across the crowd.
Vince was right. The guy, who stood about five foot eleven with light brown hair, porcelain skin, and green eyes that reminded me of moss was staring at Maddie like she was a mythical unicorn or something. Could he have looked any more lustful?
“Holy hell, he’s gorgeous,” Maddie said loudly. “I should probably go talk to him. Right?”
“If talking’s your style. Personally, I think you should go kiss him,” Vince replied with a shrug. “That’s what I would do.”
I grabbed Maddie’s elbow. “Be very careful about who you kiss,” I warned her. “You don’t want to go getting mated to anyone who you don’t want to be mated to.”
“But if he’s my mate, then obviously I’ll want to be mated to him,” she replied with a shrug. Then, tilting her head back, she downed all of her beer in one gulp. “Wish me luck.”
Not that it looked like she needed it.
We all watched as she strutted over to him and, tossing her long, dark hair over one shoulder, struck up a conversation. He laughed, and then she laughed.
Maddie was such a natural at this kind of thing. Me, on the other hand? Well, I wasn’t. It was just sheer luck that I had somehow ended up mated to four guys. If I had never left the human realm, I still would have been as single as ever.
Peeling my eyes away from them, my gaze shifted across the field. And that was when I saw him.
It was the first time I had ever actually seen him in person before.
He had dark hair and stood about six foot four, towering over a lot of the other guys. He looked older, more mature, but youthful, at the same time. There was a sense of maturity written all over him—the type of maturity that told you he was hundreds of years old—but he still had a youthful glow to his sun-kissed skin.
But it was his black wide-set eyes that stood out to me the most.
I had seen those eyes before… but only ever inside my mind and in my memories.
Milos Santorini.
Chapter Eleven
My heart pounded against my chest like a snare drum as people continued to dance all around me, their bodies moving in sync to the music.
All I felt was straight up fear.
The panic rushed through me, flooding my veins. Everyone and everything just seemed to fade away into the distance. It felt like it was just me and Milos standing there, about one hundred feet apart from one another, staring each other down.
This couldn’t have really been happening. Why the hell would Milos Santorini be here at this party?
Of course, I already knew the answer; it was an obvious one.
He was here for me.
It was the same reason he had obviously found my dorm room. I was more convinced than ever that he was the one who had left the blood-written message on my countertop now. The fact that he was here, showing his face to me, only confirmed it for me.
I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, he was gone.
I scanned the crowd for him, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
Confusion flooded through me, and I glanced down at the cup I held in my hand.
Was I just so drunk that I was hallucinating?
Was it possible that someone had slipped something into my drink?
Had I imagined Milos?
Except I didn’t believe he had only been a figment of my imagination. He had been right there, one hundred freaking feet away from me. It felt so real.
And now there was no way I wouldn’t be on edge for the rest of the night.
“Raven, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Iris studied my face. “Are you okay?”
“No.” I shook my head, realizing just how not okay I was.
Her light eyes were full of concern. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s here,” I managed to squeak out.
“Who’s here?” Vince asked, turning to me then.
I swallowed hard, glancing around the crowd to make sure that no one was listening—to make sure that he wasn’t listening.
“Milos Santorini,” I whispered.
“What? Where?” Vince’s hazel eyes scanned the area where other students were dancing drunkenly.
“He was over there,” I replied, pointing to the empty spot with my chin. “But then he disappeared.”
“Are you sure he was there?” Iris asked.
“Yes.”
Pretty sure, anyway, I thought to myself.
I knew that I probably should have let my mates know, but I also didn’t want to bother them, either. What if I was only imagining it? I didn’t want to make the Darken crash the party and make waves over nothing.
“We should probably head back to your dorm,” Vince commented. “And we should probably let Headmaster Black know that Milos was here. And your mates.”
Iris shook her head. “We can’t let Headmaster Black know. He doesn’t even know there’s a party being held out here. If we tell him, then he’ll know… and it will ruin this for everyone else.”
“But if we don’t tell him, then there’s a chance something really bad could happen to Raven,” Vince reminded her.
“That’s only if Raven even really saw him,” Iris insisted. “She might not have.”
“Iris is right,” I agreed. “I don’t want to cause an uproar when we aren’t even one-hundred percent sure I saw him.”
Vince frowned. “But I thought you said you were sure.”
“But what if I was wrong? Maybe I just had too much to drink or something.”
“You don’t seem too drunk to me.” Vince studied my face with a frown. “But you should at least let us come spend the night in your dorm room.”
“I don’t want to go back to my
dorm,” I told him. “It’s not safe there. Not now that I know Milos might be on campus.” I swallowed hard. “We’ll go back to the Darken house.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Vince agreed.
“Let me just get Maddie first.” I glanced over at where Maddie had been talking to that guy and realized she wasn’t there anymore.
“Where’s Maddie?” Panic washed over me as my mind jumped to the worst possible scenarios. Milos had somehow figured out that Maddie was my best friend and taken her from me. The same way he had taken my parents from me. The same way he had nearly taken Theo from me…
“She’s right over there.” Iris pointed her chin across the field, where I spotted Maddie dancing with the same guy she’d been talking to.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Let’s go get her and then get out of here,” I said, suddenly feeling weird about this whole thing. If Milos had really been here, I probably would have seen him again before now… wouldn’t I have?
I probably hadn’t seen him. I had probably been imagining all of this. I had to have been.
But those eyes, staring into mine… It had all felt so real. Even though I wanted to believe that Milos had been some sort of hallucination, I just couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that he had really been there.
As I approached Maddie, she was so lost in the guy she was dancing with that it took a while to catch her attention.
Once she finally realized I was there, she looked almost disappointed to see me. Disappointed I had rained on her parade. So, it made me feel bad when I said, “Hey, we’re going to head back to the Darken house. Are you coming with?”
She shot me an apologetic glance. “Actually, I think I’m going to stay here with Brad.”
“Just be careful getting back to your dorm room, okay?” I asked. The last thing I wanted was for Milos—if he was here—to realize Maddie meant something to me and try to hurt her the same way I believed he had hurt Theo. Headmaster Black might not have been sure that Milos was the one who had shot Theo, but I was.
“You have nothing to worry about, Raven,” Brad said, his forest green eyes locking on mine. “I’ll make sure she gets back safely.”