by Jayme Morse
I swallowed hard and then darted my eyes away from him. “I thought you said you didn’t hear anything I said when you were in a coma last year.”
“I lied. I wanted to see if you would tell me on your own, but you never did. I figured if you really meant it, you would say it again, but then you didn’t. Now I just want to know if you ever meant it at all.”
“I meant it at the time,” I replied quietly. “But I was also just bargaining with you. I was trying to give you the will, the determination, the motivation to live. I was just trying to make you fight to survive.”
Theo stared at me for a moment. “So, what you’re saying is that you tried to make me fight for you, when you never had any real intentions of being with me at all.”
“I didn’t say that, Theo,” I replied. “You’re putting words in my mouth. Last night was… amazing.” I wrapped my arm around his bare chest.
He pushed my arm away. “Last night was just sex, Raven. That’s all it was.”
Theo climbed out of the bed then, pulling on his clothes.
“So, that’s all last night was to you? Just sex?” I could feel the tears building up behind my eyes. We had just experienced what had been the most amazing night of my life together. We had just done something that I had never done with anyone—something I had waited six hundred years to do—and he was telling me that it essentially meant nothing to him.
“I didn’t say that. But unless you were truly in love with me, then last night doesn’t actually mean anything.”
“I am in love with you, Theo. You know that,” I insisted, frustrated that he didn’t realize that. “I told you how I felt last night.”
“Is it even possible to love more than one person at once?” Theo asked aloud. I wasn’t sure if he meant for me to answer the question, but I did anyway.
“Yes, it is possible. But just because you love four guys doesn’t mean you love them all the same way. Like I told you last night, you’re… different.” I wished I could make him understand how different he was, or somehow make him believe it.
But, judging from the way he was acting, I was pretty sure that it wasn’t possible. He didn’t understand because he wasn’t in my shoes. He wasn’t the one who had gotten stuck with four mates.
“Raven, if you were in love with me in the way I want you to be, then you wouldn’t even be thinking about any other guys except for me. They wouldn’t mean anything to you.”
“What are you saying, Theo? That last night was a mistake?”
Theo’s eyes met mine one last time before he made a mad dash out of the room.
Burying my head in the pillow, I let the tears fall.
Chapter Twenty-Five
On New Year’s Eve, my friends gushed over my engagement ring. We were in my bedroom, away from the rest of the party, which was mostly taking place outdoors and on the first level of the house.
“I can’t believe that you got engaged when you were away,” Vince said, staring at the ring admiringly.
“And that you don’t even have a fiancé.” Maddie just stared at me with wide eyes. “You do realize how weird this proposal is, right?”
“I know it’s a little… strange,” I replied. “But you just had to be there. The way they all proposed was so incredibly cute.”
“It sounds like something I would have loved to be there for,” Vince commented. “The four of them prancing around in those Santa Claus boxers sounds hot as freaking hell.”
I let out a low growl. “Don’t talk about my mates that way.”
Normally, it didn’t bother me when Vince gushed over my mates in that way. I knew they were hot as fuck. It would be naïve of me to not expect other people to notice it, too.
But things had changed.
It was as though my feelings for all of them had intensified on Christmas. I may have lost my V-card to Theo, but my feelings for all four of them were stronger than they ever had been before. Hearing someone else talk about their looks just sent a surge of jealousy through me, even though the logical side of me knew there was absolutely nothing to worry about.
“Feisty,” Vince commented.
“There’s something else, too, you guys,” I said, lowering my voice. “I lost my virginity.”
“It’s about damn time!” Vince said.
“It really is,” Maddie agreed with a nod. “Which one did you lose it to?”
“Actually, can we guess?” Vince asked. “My money is on Theo.”
“I’m going with Aiden,” Maddie said. She glanced over at Iris, who had remained quiet until now. “Who do you think?”
“Uh, Theo, I guess.” She shrugged.
“Why do you guys think Theo?” I asked.
“Because everyone knows the two of you freaking belong together! You’re like Romeo and Juliet.”
“You do know the two of them die at the end, right?” I asked with a frown.
“Okay, but that was their destiny,” Vince replied. “Yours is to live forever with Theo.”
“Why do you think Aiden?” I asked Maddie.
“Because he’s the most swoon-worthy, if you ask me.” She shrugged. “So, are you going to tell us which one you decided to do it with?”
“Two of you are right.” I replied with a shrug.
“I knew it! Destiny wins again, baby!” Vince said, proud of his accurate guess.
“Well, I’m not so sure about that,” I said with a sigh. “He’s not speaking to me right now.”
“Why? What happened?” Maddie asked.
“We just got into this fight. It was stupid.” I didn’t want to give them the specifics, because I was afraid that they would agree. And, on some level, I didn’t want to tell my friends everything there was to know about me and my mates. As it was, they thought the proposal had been strange enough. And while I knew that it was strange, the truth was that this whole arrangement with my mates was strange. It just seemed to fit us.
“Anyway, tell me about your Christmas breaks,” I said, trying to change the subject. “Did you and Branden kiss?”
Maddie nodded. “Yes, we did.”
“And?” I asked. “Is he your mate?”
She smiled and then squealed, “Yes! Branden is my mate!”
“Ohmigod. I’m so excited for you,” I commented.
“I’m excited for you, too!” Vince said. “I have some exciting news. I found my mate, too.”
“You did?” Iris shot him a surprised glance. “Who is it? I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”
“Because I totally wasn’t,” Vince replied. “But when I went back home, there was this little party with some of my friends from high school. So, I went, and I ended up kissing this girl—"
“A girl?” I raised my eyebrows. Vince was bisexual, even though he tended to lean towards men.
“Yeah, what can I say? Fate and destiny just seemed to align,” he replied with a shrug. “Her name is Julie, but she goes to Lupin Academy right now.”
“Lupin Academy?” I questioned.
“It’s the other leading boarding school for werewolves,” Iris explained.
“But due to the circumstances, she’s going to be transferring to Werewolf Academy right away. As in, she’ll be starting classes with us this week. I’m really excited for you guys to meet her.”
“Great. I can’t wait,” Iris said, but as she spoke the words, she didn’t sound even the least bit excited.
No, she sounded incredibly bitter.
“What’s wrong, Iris?” I asked her.
She rolled her eyes at me. “What makes you think something is wrong, Raven?”
“You just don’t sound very happy.”
“Because why is it that all of you have mates, and I don’t? Maddie is a new werewolf and she’s already found her mate before me.” Iris rolled her eyes. “You have four mates and can’t even decide which one you like the most. And now Vince has a mate. Meanwhile, there’s me, still pining away for the guy I love, and there’s no chance of me g
etting a mate any time soon.”
“I told you, Iris. If you kiss Harley, then maybe you’ll know if he really is your mate or not,” Vince said gently. “You won’t have to spend the rest of your life wondering about the ‘what if’s. You’ll be able to find out, once and for all, if he’s actually your mate. You can’t get mad at the rest of us when you might be choosing to miss out on him.”
“I’m not even talking about Harley,” Iris replied with an eye roll.
“Then who are you talking about?” I questioned. “Matt?”
“No.” Iris lowered her eyes to the floor. “It doesn’t matter. The point is that I’m just so tired of being mate-less.”
I was going to open my mouth to say something, but I heard it then.
The noise of what sounded like a bomb going off.
What. The. Fuck.
“What was that?” Vince asked.
“It sounded like some sort of explosion,” Maddie said.
“Coming from the backyard,” I replied, rising to my feet and glancing out the window.
The few party guests who remained in the backyard were staring at the five, life-size dolls, that had been strung over the pool.
“Holy shit,” Maddie said as she glanced out the window alongside me.
“Whoa, this is creepy,” Vince commented.
The Theo, Rhys, Aiden, and Colton dolls had all been shot straight through the heart.
The doll that looked like me hadn’t been shot, but it was, perhaps, far creepier than the others.
My doll was wearing a wedding gown.
“Who would do something like this?” Maddie asked.
“Do you really need to ask?” Vince said. “Our girl Raven might be engaged, but there’s only one werewolf who wants to marry her that badly.”
“Milos,” Maddie whispered.
Colton opened the door to my room then. His gray eyes fell on me. “Are you okay, Raven?”
“A little freaked out, but I’m alright,” I replied. “Are all of you guys okay?”
“No, we’re just a little confused. Milos is obviously behind this, but we can’t find him anywhere.”
“He must have used an invisibility spell,” I replied with a sigh.
I was over Milos Santorini and his threats. I was tired of him and his tactics.
First, he had left the blood-written message on my countertop. Then he’d shown up at the party and made eye contact with me without actually doing anything. Now, he had left these dolls in our yard. Instead of making these threats, I wished that Milos would just face me.
I remembered then that he could Mind Travel—that he was probably listening in on my thoughts that very second.
“Stop this and just face me,” I thought to him. “I don’t know what it is that you want from me, but let’s talk it out, face-to-face.”
I was half-expecting Milos’s black eyes to appear in my mind then, acknowledging that he had heard me. But they didn’t.
Apparently, he was all about staying hidden from me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
When we returned to school, I was just fed up with everything.
I was tired of Milos’s constant threats. I was sick of whatever the hell was going on with Iris. And I was especially over constantly fighting with Theo. He was ignoring me again—surprise, surprise. The truth was that I was used to him shutting me out now, which wasn’t how I wanted to feel. I had given a part of myself to him. This was supposed to be one of the happiest times of my life. But his jealousy was never-ending.
When he came into the Psychology of Love and Mates that morning, he didn’t even make eye contact with me.
“Welcome back from the break, students. We’re going to dive back into this course by going over Jealousy,” Theo said as he stood at the center of the classroom. “One of the main factors that separates a werewolf’s mate bond from a human relationship is jealousy.” He wrote jealousy on the board. “Jealousy can affect both female and male wolves, but this feeling tends to be more dominant in male wolves. The amount of jealousy a werewolf feels when his mate is attracted to another guy—especially another wolf—is indescribable. That level of jealousy can be so intense that it can keep him up all night.”
At that moment, his bright blue eyes locked on mine for the first time since the morning after Christmas.
I knew then that he was speaking from personal experience. That this was our entire problem.
The jealousy.
We both knew it. Theo had hated this arrangement we’d made from the beginning—that I would be with all of them.
It was the reason behind every fight we’d ever had, and it would probably be the cause of every fight we ever would have in the future. It was the reason he could barely look me in the eye. Theo hated this whole arrangement because he wanted me all to himself.
And honestly? It was complicated, even for me. I had feelings for all four of them. Having four mates, and being in an open relationship with all of them, definitely blurred the lines of what was right and wrong sometimes.
Even though the proposal had shown me that they were ready—and willing—for me to make a choice, it actually complicated things further, in some ways. Because now I had to make a choice; there was no way out of it. I had to decide which one of them I wanted to be with, which one of them I wanted to marry and, ultimately, spend eternity with.
But how could I choose when I was in love with all four of them?
A part of me thought that Theo was who I should choose. I had chosen to lose my virginity to him, and he was right. Our kisses were like magic.
But there was a big part of me that just kept thinking that me and him were like a loose cannon. There was no consistency, no stability. He was always so hot and cold with me.
Even though a part of me thought that I should choose him, another part of me worried that I would be making a mistake. And the one thing that I was certain of was that there was no room for mistakes or errors. Not this time.
Once I decided on who I wanted to be my forever mate, there would be no going back.
***
“Welcome back to Werewolf Herbs and Potions,” Aiden said as I sat in our lab-style classroom.
Iris was missing from classes today, so the seat next to me was empty. I had tried texting her to find out where she was, but I hadn’t gotten any response. I wasn’t going to lie. I was a little bit worried about her. Since we had met, I’d never known her to get sick, but I wasn’t sure where else she would have been.
“Many of you have asked me from the very beginning when we were going to learn about wolfsbane,” Aiden went on. “Well, the good news is that day is today. Now that we’ve covered a lot of the basic werewolf herbs and potions in this class, I think you’re all ready to cover this one. So, let’s get started.” He pulled out a cart, which was full of purple flowery plants.
“Professor Flores, can we actually be exposed to those?” A girl asked from the front of the classroom.
Aiden nodded. “Yes, you can be. Wolfsbane is the only plant in the entire world that’s known to be deadly to werewolves, but contrary to popular belief, it won’t kill you in this form. In fact, wolfsbane is a bit of a contradiction for werewolves. When wolfsbane is in its natural state, it can actually help you heal at a quicker rate. If you were suffering from a bad wound right now and you ate some of this wolfsbane, you would immediately become stronger and healthier.
“But when wolfsbane is subject to magic, it can—and will—kill a werewolf. It is the second deadliest thing to a wolf, next to a silver bullet. Tomorrow, we’re going to dive in deeper with this. Professor Lee and I are going to bring our classrooms together in order to teach you all how to cast a spell on wolfsbane to make it deadly. But I just want to give a word of caution: Do not, under any circumstances, eat any of the wolfsbane after you have casted the spell on it. We will also be providing you with face masks because it’s not safe to breathe in the fumes of wolfsbane, either. Every year, students try to test it out
because they don’t believe that wolfsbane will actually kill you, but trust me when I tell you that it will. It most undoubtedly will.”
***
As Colton stood at the front of the Werewolf Self-Defense class, I texted Iris… again.
I waited long enough to see that she had opened the text message, but she didn’t respond to me.
What the hell was going on with her?
“We’re going to do something slightly different today,” Colton was telling our class. “We’re going to choose an enchanted weapon.”
An enchanted weapon? What the hell was that?
“An enchanted weapon means that you place a spell on a weapon to make it your own. There are a number of benefits of casting a spell on a weapon to make it your own,” Colton went on, walking through the classroom.
He dragged a cart to the center of the room. The cart was full of different weapons, from knives and daggers to swords and guns.
“Enchanted weapons are more powerful than regular weapons. The spell links the weapon to you. If anyone were to ever get their hands on your weapon, it would be useless to them. They wouldn’t be able to use it on you. In many cases, the weapon will actually turn on another user and severely injure them. In some cases, an enchanted weapon might even kill anyone who tries to use it except for you, depending on how strong your magic is.” He paused for a moment. “Another one of the benefits of having an enchanted weapon is that it will always find you. If, for some reason, you end up getting separated from your weapon, it will be able to travel to you with a snap of your fingers.”
As he walked over to the cart where he had laid out all of the weapons, he said, “There are several things you will want to consider when choosing an enchanted weapon of your own. For starters, you will want to make sure you choose a weapon that you’ve already mastered using. A weapon that you’re extremely talented at. Additionally, you will also want to choose a weapon that will benefit you. If you were to ever find yourself in a dangerous excursion or a deadly battle, what weapon will be most useful to you? What weapon will give you the upper hand over your opponent?” Colton asked, glancing around the classroom. “I want you to form a single-file line in front of these weapons. Before you make a decision on which weapon you would like to choose as your lifelong, enchanted weapon, please discuss it with me first. If you need help in choosing, let me know.”
