Chapter 21
* Jiselle*
The cafeteria was packed, wolves filling every available space, the buzz of
conversation blending with the occasional clang of trays. I had barely stepped inside before I was grabbed.
One second, I was walking with Eva, and the next, Max had pulled me straight into his lap.
I yelped, gripping his shoulder out of instinct, but he just smirked, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me in place.
“You’re late,” he murmured against my temple, his lips brushing my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.
“We had to stay back in Pack Landscaping because someone couldn’t get the ratio correct,” Eva said as she slipped into the seat between Max and his friend, Evan.
“I thought I had it.” I pouted, but Max kissed it away.
“Don’t worry, I’ll spend extra time tutoring you,” he mumbled, placing another kiss on my lips.
Eva snorted. “You already spend all your free time tutoring her in that course, Max. She‘ s beyond redemption.”
“I am not,” I defended with a laugh, because I was, in fact, unteachable in that course.
Max chuckled, low and dark. “That’s not what I do with all my free time with Jiselle.”
“Okay ew. I did not need that image right before lunch.” Eva scooted away and Evan simply laughed.
I tried taking my own seat too, but Max wouldn’t let me off his lap.
I sighed. “Don’t you think everyone is tired of our PDA now?”
His smirk deepened. “I don’t care.”
I rolled my eyes but deemed it useless as I got comfortable on his thigh. This has been his move for the past week and a half since we started… whatever we started.
I could feel the stares, and the murmurs rippling across the room, even after all this time. I reckoned I’d give it a month before people just stopped caring.
He was Maximus Laker, after all. He was one of the most respected–and feared-
I
wolves in this academy. He didn’t do relationships. He didn’t claim anyone. Yet here I
was.
Max was… intense.
Not in a bad way. Not really.
He was possessive in ways that reminded me of an actual matebond, and protective
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in a way that made me feel safe, even though I knew I could handle myself.
His presence was constant. If he wasn’t holding my hand, his arm was slung around my shoulders. If we were standing, his fingers were brushing my skin.
It wasn’t suffocating, at least not yet, but I noticed it.
I noticed how he never let me out of his sight unless we were both in class, and how he always made sure I was within reach. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Ethan hadn’t said much about it, but I knew why. He didn’t care that I was sleeping with his best friend’s enemy, because he knew no one would mess with me now. Because no one messed with Max. Basically, his life’s mission of keeping me safe has been accomplished.
Unlike Ethan’s threats–which only some wolves actually took seriously–everyone was scared of Max. Even the cockiest wolves knew better than to cross him.
Everyone except Nate.
He was always there. Always watching. Always pissed. We still trained every night at midnight, and I could feel him taking out that very frustration on me.
At first, I thought maybe he was just annoyed in general. That maybe it had nothing to do with me. But then Max started doing things.
Things like kissing me in front of him.
Like pulling me into his lap every chance he got.
Like touching me just because he could.
And Nate? He looked like he was about to break something every single time.
I needed to tell him that Nate was my mate.
But every time I tried, something interrupted us.
The first time was in the middle of a studying session in my room, and Emari came in, looking annoyed as usual. The second time, we had just settled into one of our late- night conversations when a group of third–years and instructors barged in, dragging Max into some ridiculous challenge, Stupid school.
The third time, Nate had walked past us, glowering, and Max had kissed me right there, backing me up against the wall like he wanted to make a statement.
It had been the reason for our first fight a few days ago. I didn’t like being a pawn in whatever they had against each other, and I felt like he was using me to get Nate upset.
But he had quickly dismissed that thought, apologized profusely until it just got… weird, and promised not to let his ego make me uncomfortable again. Then he made it up to me with his very… very talented lips.
As if he knew, Nate had been particularly bold the next day, leaning down to me when I
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Chapter 21
was walking with Max and telling me that I had a piece of lint on my shirt, then brought his hand incredibly close to my breasts to remove it, never once letting his eyes fall from Max.
When Max came to bed a few hours later with some very evident punch marks over his body, I knew he picked a fight with Nate, but I chose not to address it.
But overall, Nathaniel was not happy.
Even now, I could feel his gaze on me, sharp enough to cut. He was pissed.
Sometimes, I wasn’t sure if it was because I was with Max or because Max was making sure he knew it.
“You gonna eat?” Max asked, nudging my tray toward me and breaking me from rny thoughts.
I blinked back to reality, forcing a smile. “Yeah.”
But my appetite was shot.
The training grounds were tense, wolves stretching, cracking knuckles, mentally preparing.
Today was challenge day in Combat and Training class, and I wasn’t ready. Not really.
Nate pushed me twenty minutes longer last night, and I was sore everywhere. I tried to hide the guilt every day when I had to hide it from Max.
Nate said I was doing much better and would soon be able to get through my challenge on my own and actually win, but that didn’t help the dread of when I’d have to tell Max. I was already keeping our matebond from him. How would he take this too?
“Okay, silence!” Instructor Bastain shouted, getting every single attention in the field.” It’s time to get the challenges started.”
He started calling names and my hands grew sweaty. I didn’t know I was jittery until Max steadied my shoulders.
“Hey relax,” he mumbled in my hair, placing a soft kiss there. “Eva said you’re doing extremely better, though I still wish you’d let me train you too.”
And that, also, was another reason why I dreaded telling this specific secret to him. Though Nate started training me before me and Max became… whatever we were, how would he feel about it? Not even Eva knew.
“I know I just… I don’t want to get overly confident and then end up dying.”
Max actually snorted. “Like anyone would try that.”
“Why because you’d kill them if they killed me?” It was meant to be a joke, but he didn’t
smile.
“Because I would kill them before they even had the thought.”
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I waited for the laugh to come, but he didn’t, and I was suddenly worried for whoever would be my challenge me today.
“Morningstar and Johal!” Instructor Bastain shouted, and I flinched.
Ethan moved towards the empty ring, but Instructor Bastain held up a hand to stop him.
“Jiselle Johal,” he announced and my stomach plummeted.
“He can’t be serious,” Eva mumbled from my left, and I felt Max stiffen.
Did this instructor have something against me? Why was he always pairing me with Nate!
“That can’t happen,” Max said in a growl that made me raise a brow at him. Did he forget that this was a professor?
“Do you have a problem with the challenge, Laker?” Instructor Bastain closed his notebook of doom and gave Max his full attention.
I didn’t need to glance at Nate to know he was ready for blood.
I had done my best to ignore him outside of training, where we didn’t even talk much, but today, there was no ignoring him.
“She can’t fucking take him! He’s one of the strongest third–years–if not students–in the academy!”
Nate smirked, already in the ring. “Thanks.”
Max shot a glare at Nate that I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy, before redirecting it to Instructor Bastain
“He’ll kill her!”
The instructor didn’t even seem fazed. “He won’t.”
“He won’t,” Ethan repeated, though he looked a bit nervous, too. I’m sure he’s been on the receiving end of Nate’s pissy mood these past few days.
“Laker, if you have a problem with this challenge, then you have a problem with at least half the pairings I’ve already made,” Instructor Bastain pointed out, and I looked away just in time as a third–year killed a first–year a few rings away.
Nate won’t kill me. Nate won’t kill me.
It was the only thing that got me moving, though Max’s grip on my hand was deadly tight.
“He’s right,” I said to Max with a soft smile. “I’ll be okay.”
The fear in Max’s eyes told me one fact. He could and probably would kill anyone else in this school if he thought they would kill me in a challenge. But something told me he couldn’t kill Nate.
Instructor Bastian’s voice cut through the air. “Johal, Morningstar. In the ring.”
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I turned my head slowly, and there he was–Nate.
Smirking.
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