Their Hidden Princess Chapter 115

Zora

After my devastating conversation with Maximus, I was a shell of a human. Any hope I had that I could keep all of my fated mates, was gone. I should’ve known. A happy ending wasn’t meant for me.

Monday morning, I dragged my ass out of bed and to training with Valentin. When I arrived at the gym, both Kairos and Maximus were missing. Valentin stood in the low light of the morning, arms crossed over his chest. Immediately, he could sense something was up with me. His eyes narrowed in on the dark bags under my own.

“Are you ill?” he said, softly.

I shook my head. “Just sleeping like shit.”

“Just that?”

I gave Valentin a pointed look. His gold eyes bore into me. I weighed my options in the back of my mind before sighing and reaching up to rub my temples. I dropped my hands back to slap against my thighs.

“This multiple fated mate thing is looking bleak,” I mumbled.

Valentin raised an eyebrow. “How so? You heard what your mother said. She believes the only way to get to the truest form of your power is to consummate all your bonds.”

“I know!” I snapped then shot him a scathing look. “But apparently, not everyone is on board.”

I watched Valentin’s jaw tick. His face was still a mask of indifference. He nodded then looked away from me before murmuring softly.

“I see,”

“Have you known many wolves with multiple fated mate bonds?” I pressed.

Valentin shook his head. “No,” he said. “I only know what I’ve read.”

“So, you know what happens when not all of the bonds are completed?”

Valentin snapped his head to look me in the eyes. His mask was wanning into a look of terror. His eyes shifted to dark along the floor.

“And I’ve smelled Wolfham on you,” he mumbled, mainly to himself. His eyes were still rapidly darting across the floor. “Oh, Gods—”

“Yeah,” I snapped. “We’re fucked.”

“Not necessarily,” Valentin jerked back to look at me. “Wolfham could still sever the bond.”

“And shorten his life?” I scoffed. “No thanks. Plus, I don’t exactly want to get rid of it.”

Valentin’s jaw ticked again. Was he…jealous? The gall of him to be jealous when I’d basically thrown myself at him from the start. I scoffed again and crossed my arms over my chest, turning away with the shake of my head.

“We could do it the other way.”

I whirled around to look back at Valentin.

“What other way?” I snapped.

“I could severe the bond,” he said. “Moonraiser and I. Blythwitch has already done it. Our lives would be shortened but you’d still have Wolfham’s bond.”

I frowned as my chest felt like it’d been cracked in half. He still didn’t want me. He’d never want me. I had to get over him. I shook my head.

“I don’t know if Kairos would,” I murmured.

“Even if Moonraiser doesn’t,” Valentin said. “I could. Blythwitch and I would suffer but the rest of you would be fine.”

“What about my power?” I protested. “The prophecy said all my bonds.”

“That’s true,” Valentin mused. “But I have a theory. By severing two of the bonds, your body may be able to take more from the completed bonds. That would be enough to power you.”

I threw my hands up. “That makes no fucking sense!” I snapped. “Just bond with me! I can see it in every tick of your jaw. Every time one of the others look at me. Jealousy is flowing out of you like a river. You’re the problem here!”

Valentin’s nostrils flared. He took one slow step towards me, eyes boring down into mine. I tipped my chin, proud and unafraid. He was being irrational here and I had no choice but to stand my ground. Our chests were so close, they were almost touching as both of us sucked in heaving, breaths. We were close enough that all I needed to do was press up on my toes, and our lips would meet.

But Valentin had other plans.

“I will not,” he snarled. “Allow you to meet the same fate as her. If that means I take myself out of the picture, then so be it. But I will not lose another fated mate, Zora. Even if that means I don’t have one at all.”

I opened my mouth to speak but Valentin turned his back to me as he walked away. He only looked back at me once he was a safe distance away. Even then, his face was schooled back into the mask he wore.

“Now warm up,” he snapped. “I’m making use of this time whether Wolfham and Moonraiser are here or not.”

The entire rest of the morning, my head was spinning, and my body was tense with anger. I tried to take as much of it out on training but in the end, I still entered the locker room with curled fists.

I slammed one of them into the lockers. An ear shattering bang echoed through the room. I stared into the dent I’d just slammed into the metal. Then, I sunk to the bench and threw my head into my hands.

How fucking dare he?

How dare we act jealous and then reject me? As if I couldn’t see how I affected him both physically and mentally? The words he’d uttered when he’d saved me from the vampires were ping ponging through my brain.

“How dare you hurt my mate!”

I snorted. As if he cared about that now.

He will come around, Mona assured in the back of my mind.

I snorted, again. Sure, I said back, bitter and sarcastic. And pigs will fly and monkeys will breathe fire.

Stranger things have happened, Mona mused. I rolled my eyes and completely ignored her.

I grabbed my towel and walked into the shower room. I turned one on and waited until steam filled the room before I stepped under the spray. The hot water burned my skin but it felt nice to match the mental hurt in my head to the physical hurt on my skin.

I pressed my head against the tile underneath the shower head. It was a cool juxtaposition to the heat slamming in between my shoulder blades. I sighed, heavily. Between Maximus’s ultimatum and Valentin’s opposition to completing our bond, it was looking like the bond would be a party of two for the future. Unless Maximus gave up on me as well. Then, I’d be alone all over again.

The thought made my hair stand up on my skin, despite the flames firing into my back.