Werewolf Academy: Year Two

by Jayme Morse

  “Thanks.” Not that I fully believed him. It wasn’t like I actually knew Brad. I just hoped that he really would watch out for Maddie.

  “I’ll see you at some point tomorrow, okay? We’ll spend the whole day together,” Maddie suggested.

  “Sounds good,” I agreed with a nod.

  As I walked away from her, I just hoped that I wouldn’t end up regretting leaving her alone.

  You didn’t really see him, I tried to tell myself, but I wasn’t even the slightest bit convinced.

  Chapter Twelve

  I had just lifted my hand to knock when the front door of the Darken house was flung open.

  A worried-looking Aiden stood on the other side. “Raven, are you okay? Your heart is going absolutely crazy right now. It’s beating close to three hundred beats per minute.”

  Two hundred to two hundred-fifty beats per minute was considered normal range for a werewolf, so three hundred beats per minute was pretty freaking high.

  “Yeah, we’re all really worried about you,” Rhys said from behind him. “Did something happen?”

  “I think I saw Milos,” I told them as I stepped inside, with Vince and Iris following close behind me. “I just didn’t feel safe going back to my dorm suite, so I thought we could spend the night here.”

  “Of course. But what do you mean you ‘think’ you saw Milos? Where?” Theo asked.

  “At the party. I saw him, but then I blinked and he was gone, almost as if he wasn’t ever there at all.”

  “She was drinking,” Iris chimed in. “We think she might have been imagining it.”

  “But she wasn’t drunk,” Vince insisted. “I think Milos was really there.”

  “I guess we’ll probably never know for sure,” I replied with a shrug.

  “We need to at least try to figure out if he was really here,” Aiden said, shaking his head. “I think we should go sniff this thing out. See if we can find any trace of Milos on the Werewolf Academy campus.” He turned to the rest of the pack. “Who’s with me?”

  “I’m down,” Theo agreed with a nod.

  “Yeah, me, too,” Colton said.

  “Yeah, let’s do this,” Rhys agreed.

  “Well, if you guys are going, then I’m obviously going, too,” I said.

  “No, you’re not,” Aiden replied.

  A low growl escaped my throat. “I’m not about to just sit around doing nothing while you guys could be getting yourselves killed,” I said.

  “No, Raven. Your heart is beating at an unnatural rhythm. You’re way too freaked out for this right now. I know you’re physically ready to kill Milos, but we need you to be emotionally ready for it, too—and the fact that your heart is beating like a freaking hummingbird tells me that you’re not ready yet,” Aiden said. “I’d prefer if you stay here with your friends. One of us will stay with you, just in case.”

  I thought about arguing with him, but I knew that I wouldn’t win. I may have been Alpha of the pack, but it would probably end up being four against one.

  Besides, maybe Aiden was right. Maybe I really did need to be in the right frame of mind before I came face-to-face with Milos.

  I only had one shot—one shot to catch Milos off-guard and completely destroy him. Which was going to be a little bit harder than I had originally thought it would be, considering he had access to my mind. How could you catch someone off-guard when they were always listening to you?

  But it still scared me to know that the others would be going, while I would be staying here and wondering all night if something had happened to one of them.

  Of course, I knew that I would feel it. A werewolf was able to feel when their mates were hurt, the same way I had felt it when Theo had been shot.

  But still. The last thing I wanted to do was sit here worrying about them. If one of them did end up getting hurt, I would spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have done something to prevent it from happening, if I had been there.

  “I’ll stay,” Rhys volunteered.

  “Alright,” Theo said with a nod. Then he turned to me. Before I even knew what was happening, his lips were coming down on mine, and he was kissing me.

  Something about his kiss was… different. It felt like the type of kiss you gave someone when you weren’t sure if you’d ever see them again.

  When he broke the kiss, his blue eyes poured into mine. “We’ll be back.”

  I just hoped they really would be.

  ***

  Three hours passed, and we hadn’t heard anything from Aiden, Theo or Colton. Not a single word or thought from any of them.

  Absolutely nothing.

  To say that I was on edge would have been an understatement. I was a freaking wreck.

  “Go Fish,” Iris said as we sat at the table playing cards.

  I couldn’t seem to get my head in the game. All I could seem to do was panic.

  “Any updates?” I asked through my mind.

  No response… from any of them.

  A knot in my stomach twisted. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but something was. Something had to have been, for all three of them to ignore my thoughts.

  Rhys reached over and grabbed my hand. “It’s okay, Raven. They’re probably just out of range.”

  “Out of range?” My eyebrows lifted questioningly.

  “There are certain spots around the Werewolf Academy campus where we can’t hear each other’s thoughts,” he explained. “In some spots, the Academy has actually blocked magic from being able to happen. In those spots, it’s not easy to mentally communicate. It leads to poor reception.”

  “Wow, I didn’t even know that was a thing,” Vince commented.

  “It reminds of cell phone reception,” Iris added with a laugh.

  “It is sort of like having poor cell reception,” Rhys replied with a nod.

  “So, if you went somewhere that magic was blocked completely, you wouldn’t be able to hear your mate’s thoughts?” I asked.

  “That’s right,” Rhys agreed with a nod.

  “Wow.” Not being able to mentally communicate with my mates scared me. As if I wasn’t already scared enough in this situation, knowing that we couldn’t even communicate through mind-speak scared me.

  “I’m getting really tired,” Iris commented then, stretching. “Do you guys want to call it a night?”

  “I’m tired, too,” Vince replied with a nod.

  “You guys can stay in my bedroom,” I told them. They knew where it was because they’d gone with me when I’d changed out of my dress and into a tank top and shorts.

  “Are you coming?” Iris asked me as she rose to her feet.

  “No. There’s no way I could sleep right now. I think I’m just going to wait up for the others,” I told them.

  “Try to relax, Raven. I’m pretty sure you didn’t really see Milos. I’m sure the others are fine,” Iris told me.

  “Thanks.” I forced a smile at her. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if she was right, but I really hoped she was.

  Once they had both disappeared down the hallway, Rhys turned to me. “Want to watch some TV?”

  “Only if you cuddle with me,” I told him.

  His lips pulled into a smile. “Sounds like a good deal to me.”

  As we moved into the living room, Rhys laid down on the couch. I laid down in front of him. His arm fell around my waist, and he pressed his chin against my neck as I turned the TV on.

  “What do you want to watch?” I asked, flicking through the stations.

  “Whatever you want,” he replied.

  I finally settled on The Werewolf Bachelorette, a reality TV show that we only got in Wolflandia. It was extremely ridiculous. The whole concept was completely flawed. Werewolves only had one mate—at least, normal werewolves did. Werewolves who weren’t me. The idea that a wolf could find her mate on a dating show just seemed so outlandish to me. But it was mindless TV, which was exactly what I needed right now. Something to distract me from the situation at hand.
>
  “This show feels really relatable to me,” Rhys said.

  “Relatable how?” I asked, pulling his arm tighter around me.

  “I just feel like this is us sometimes,” he explained. “We’re all sort of competing for your attention.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Of course you do.” He pulled me closer. “You’re the bachelorette of the Darken pack. We’re all vying for your love and attention.”

  “There is no competition, Rhys,” I said softly. It made me sad that he thought that way. “I love all of you in your own way.”

  “But the question is, are you in love with all of us?” Rhys asked.

  I opened my mouth to respond, but I wasn’t sure what to say. The truth was that I had never been in love before. I didn’t really know what it felt like. I had thought I’d been in love once with this guy Chris who I had dated back in the human world, but now I knew that I hadn’t been. That hadn’t compared to the way I felt about any of my mates.

  Rhys pressed his fingers to my lips. “You don’t have to answer that, Raven. But it’s just something for you to think about yourself. Is it even possible to be in love with more than one wolf at the same time? I don’t know,” he went on. “All I do know is that, eventually, you can only choose one of us.”

  “Have you been talking to Theo?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

  “No, why?” Rhys asked.

  “Theo thinks that, too. He thinks that, in the end, there can only be one,” I said quietly.

  “We’ve never discussed it before, but I agree with him. As much as I don’t want you to have to choose just one of us, it would be the fairest thing—to us and to you,” Rhys replied.

  “Fair how?” I asked.

  “You deserve to have one loyal mate who loves you. And we all deserve for you to only love one of us. We all deserve to not wonder who you care about the most or which one of us has the biggest piece of your heart.” Rhys paused. “When it comes time for you to choose one of us, I want it to be me. But I know it probably won’t be.”

  “Why would you say that?” I asked, turning to face him.

  “I just don’t think I’m your favorite,” he admitted, allowing his arm to fall to my back.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Rhys. All of you are my favorite.” And it was the truth—they were each my favorite in a different way. I got something from each of them that the others didn’t have to offer, something invaluable and irreplaceable.

  “I just want to be your Number One,” Rhys replied.

  “You’re all Number One,” I replied softly, even though I wasn’t entirely sure myself that was true. Then again, I wasn’t sure which of them was my Number One, either.

  “I don’t think I am. I just see the way you are with Theo and Aiden. You’re not that way with me. Not even close.” His dark blue eyes didn’t meet mine as he spoke. “Sometimes, I feel like I don’t get enough time with you, either. If we had more time together, then maybe you’d get to know me better.”

  “You are still a bit of a mystery to me,” I admitted quietly.

  “Well, maybe it’s time for me to start showing you who I really am.” Rhys’s lips came down on mine then.

  His kiss caught me off-guard at first; normally, Rhys’s kisses were slow, and he let me lead the pace.

  But tonight, it was different.

  His kiss was hard and deep. He was fierce tonight.

  Dominant.

  I’d never seen this side of him before. And the truth was, I really liked it.

  As his lips drifted away from mine, trailing their way down my neck, I felt his breath, hot against my skin.

  He trailed his way down my neck as his hands slipped beneath my shirt, unhooking my bra. He tossed it to the side and then his lips glided their way over my breast, his tongue flicking ever so gently against my nipple.

  I drew in a sharp breath, feeling myself dampen between my legs.

  Normally, Rhys was sweet. Tender. This was the first time I’d ever found myself aching at his touch. It was the first time I had ever found myself wanting him. Craving him in an indescribable way.

  Rhys swiftly pulled my shorts and panties off then, tossing them aside.

  He parted my thighs, and his hand glided between my legs. I sucked in a deep breath.

  “You’re so wet,” he whispered, his dark blue eyes meeting mine.

  He slipped one finger inside me then, followed by another.

  I let out a gasp, arching my back against the sofa.

  “Can I taste you?” Rhys asked.

  “Yes, please,” I whispered.

  Rhys dipped his head between my legs, kissing me lightly. His breath was hot against my skin. It was enough to drive me wild.

  He ran his tongue over me, flicking his tongue against my clit.

  I let out a gasp.

  Goddamn.

  His tongue was pure ecstasy. It was in the middle of his assault on my clit when I heard the front door open.

  The others were home, but I couldn’t even react. I was writhing and gasping against Rhys’s mouth, desperate for my release.

  He took my clit in his mouth then, clamping down hard against me.

  “Oh, god,” I groaned as I felt it building deep within me. “Oh, god.”

  My entire body shook as I came completely undone.

  When I glanced up, all of my pack members were watching me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “So, I guess you were really worried about us.” Theo’s voice was thick with jealousy.

  “Actually, I was really worried about you,” I replied, as I pulled my shorts back on. My knees were still shaking from the pleasure I had just endured, and the pounding of my heart was so loud I thought it was going to burst right out of my chest.

  I felt completely embarrassed that they had found us that way. It was awkward on just about every level possible.

  “It sure doesn’t seem like it,” Theo said bitterly.

  “I thought Raven could use a distraction,” Rhys replied.

  “Clearly.” Theo turned away from us then, storming off into the kitchen.

  I shot the others an apologetic glance before I went after him.

  He stood in front of the fridge, with his hands on his hips. He looked so… so angry.

  “What’s going on with you? You’ve never acted this way before,” I told him quietly.

  He turned to me. “Because I’ve never had to witness anything like that before. I assumed that you’ve done… things… with the others, but I’ve never actually had to see it happen.”

  “I didn’t know… we didn’t know… you would walk in at that exact moment.”

  “Obviously.” He didn’t look me in the eye. It was almost as though he couldn’t look me in the eye. He was too angry… too jealous.

  “I’m sorry, Theo.”

  “Save your apologies, and focus on making a decision,” Theo said, his eyes meeting mine then.

  “A decision?” My eyebrows shot up questioningly.

  “You know what I mean, Raven. A decision between us.”

  I know what he meant. A decision on who I wanted to be with.

  “How can you expect me to decide something like that?” I asked. “It’s not fair to me. I love all of you. How can I pick only one?”

  “Like this arrangement is fair to any of us?” Theo shot back at me.

  “It’s not fair to anyone, but clearly this was what destiny chose. Not me.”

  “Werewolves are only meant to have one mate,” he replied firmly.

  “If that was true, then fate wouldn’t have bonded me to all of you, but it did,” I replied pointedly.

  “Don’t you see, Raven? We’re all fucking miserable in this situation,” Theo said, his voice rising. “None of us are happy! I don’t even think you’re happy.”

  “Of course, I’m happy,” I replied.

  “Are you really, though?” His blue eyes lingered on mine. “Sometimes, you seem just as mi
serable as the rest of us are.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who’s miserable, Theo,” I said, shaking my head. “Everyone else seems just fine with this arrangement—the arrangement we all agreed to. You just want to put an end to it because you’re selfish. You just want me to yourself. You don’t want to share me.”

  He stared at me for a long moment. Finally, he said, “You know what? You’re right. I am selfish. I do want you to myself, and no, I don’t want to share you. Because, realistically, this will never work in the long run.”

  “I don’t see how,” I replied, shaking my head.

  “Mates are supposed to be devoted to one another. A wolf’s mate is supposed to come before anyone else. How can you feel that way about one of us if you feel that way about all of us? I’ve waited more than five hundred years to find you, Raven—to find my mate. Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve always wanted to start a life with my mate—to get married and have a family. But how can we do that if you have three other mates, who all probably want the same thing?” He stared back at me, waiting for my answer.

  But I didn’t have an answer.

  “Even if I wanted to do what you’re saying and just choose one of you, how can I? There’s no way for us to become unmated,” I insisted. “The mate bonds can never be broken.”

  “Actually, they can,” he replied.

  “They can?” I just stared back at him, surprised that he had never mentioned this before—that no one had ever mentioned this before.

  “I’ve been talking about it with Professor Lee. She says it’s not an easy spell, but there is a way to break the bonds. She’s willing to help us… if it’s what you decide.”

  “I see.” I swallowed hard. Now that I knew this was actually possible, I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it.

  The truth was that I didn’t want to pick one. I didn’t want to lose three of them.

  “Honestly, Raven?” His blue eyes locked on mine. “If this is the way it’s going to be—if you don’t choose one of us in the end—I would rather not have you at all.” He stared at me long and hard. “It’s all or nothing. I want all of you… or none of you.”