Claire spends the day following me around at school.
‘Boo-boo, I was hoping we could talk?’
‘Stop calling me Boo-boo, and I’ll give you five minutes to talk to me.’
‘Oh, okay then, B-Magnus…’ she trails off.
I lean against my locker with my arms crossed.
‘What is it?’
‘I was hoping you would reconsider… us? I want us to be together again. Magnus, I miss you. She says and tries to caress my bicep.
‘I’m not interested, Claire.’
‘But I don’t want to be with anyone else.’
‘Claire, you say that now, but you will eventually meet your mate and want to be with him. I’m going to be late for class. I’ll see you around.’
Claire’s eyes well up, and she storms off to her class.
At lunchtime, I head to the library and pull Pipsqueak aside.
‘I heard about what happened at your wolf ceremony. Are you alright?’
Of course, the entire school would know about it.
‘Yeah, I’m fine, but I need to update you on everything else. Nina told her boyfriend, Moss, about the curse. He has told his friend Hank, and now Hank is using it against me to choose his sister as my mate. I spoke with his father, Alpha Mason. I stretched the agreement to a year until I have no choice but to choose his sister Addison as my mate. Otherwise, Hank would tell everyone about Nina’s curse, which puts her in danger of being hunted down and killed. So, I have one year to break the curse, which will also get me out of the mateship agreement.’
‘I see.’ She says, pushing her thick glasses closer to her eyes. ‘And we still have no clue what the curse is? Did you find any relics or symbols in her bedroom?’
‘No, we tore the room apart and found nothing.’
‘So, we can rule out that type of curse, then? What was another way to curse someone? Didn’t it mention by a witch or a Mage?’
‘Yes, but I don’t think mages exist anymore, and there is only one witch I know of, and she had never met Nina before the day she came to see me. She has no reason to curse Nina.’
‘I guess the only thing we can do is wait for the curse to affect her to give us any clue or lead to work on.’
‘What if that doesn’t happen for years to come?’
‘Then you will have no choice but to accept Addison as your mate.’ She cringes.
I look away, punch a hole in the wall, and drop to the floor. My hands cover my face as I panic—pain sears through my body. My wolf is fuming at the thought of having a chosen mate. He tries to take over and shift.
‘Magnus!’ Pipsqueak yells. She tries to calm me down, but I only growl at her touch. She trembles and takes a few steps back.
‘I’m going to find someone to help. I’ll be right back, Magnus. Whatever you do, don’t shift.’
Everyone is panicking and fleeing the library. Pipsqueak disappears into the crowd. The entire school can probably hear my screams of pain. There is no use fighting my wolf anymore. I’m exhausted and barely conscious.
I stand on all fours and sway for a moment from exhaustion. My wolf exits the library and enters the school corridor. Anyone in the corridor quickly runs into the nearest classroom and locks the door.
Dozens of students stare out the windows. They tremble at the fierce size of my wolf with my large snarling teeth on show. I have no control over my wolf. He won’t listen to me.
‘I know you want your mate, and we will find her one day, but we need to keep Nina safe.’
He lets out a ferocious growl. He has picked up a scent. I realise it’s Moss’s scent.
‘We can’t harm Moss, and I know you hate him. I hate him too, but we are the future Alpha of this pack. We can’t go around killing someone just because we don’t like them.’
My wolf ignores me and is now in pursuit, following the scent up the corridor. He stops at a locked door and howls. Moss is in the room.
My wolf repeatedly rams into the door.
‘Magnus?’ Nina says behind me. Pipsqueak is next to her. ‘My wolf shakes his head, letting her know he is in control.’
‘I know Magnus can hear me. You need to give him back control.’
My wolf growls low.
Nina steps closer and kneels in front of my wolf, something no one else would dare do, not even Pipsqueak. She is so courageous, facing my fierce, unpredictable wolf like this.
Her fingers caress the fur on my face and glide down my back. My wolf whimpers and lowers himself down, and rolls onto his back.
Nina giggled as she scratched my belly.
No one can believe their eyes. We aren’t mates, yet she can control my wolf. It is unheard of and nothing anyone has seen before. I sit up, and she wraps her arms around my neck. My wolf has completely calmed and completely forgotten Moss is only meters away.
My wolf is giving me some control back. I lower myself and whip my head around, gesturing for Nina to hop on my back. I want to take her somewhere, do something special for her.
With no hesitation, she smiles and climbs onto my back. I’m so large it’s like she is on horseback. I run back down the corridor and out of the school grounds with great speed, even faster than Nina could ever run. She screams with excitement as she holds onto the thrilling ride. We glide through the woods to the mountaintop. I let out a vast, dominant howl. Anyone that can shift does so and howls in return as a sign of respect. Nina spends an hour on my back. I don’t stop, and I don’t slow down. My wolf is so happy to be running free with Nina. He hasn’t even thought about our fated mate and is content. We finish our run by the lake. I run and thrash through the water. My fur is soaking wet. Nina swims around and laughs when I shake my body, causing droplets to splash onto her.
‘Magnus.’ She laughs.
My wolf collapses with happiness on the grass. The sun shines over me and dries my fur. Nina wrings the water from her shirt out and sits with her back against my belly.
‘I have never had so much fun, Magnus. You ran faster than I could even run. Wasn’t it the best feeling? It was so thrilling and so much fun?’
She turns her head to see my response but sees a giant sleeping wolf passed out from exhaustion. She snuggles up to me and falls asleep.
Hours go by, and I wake up dry to find Nina asleep against me. I spend the next half an hour silently watching her sleep until she wakes up.
Her eyes open, and her lips grow wide with a smile. She sits up and pats me gently.
‘You’re going to have to shift back, you know. Did you want to do it now while I’m here or privately back home?’
Even though it will be excruciating either way, it’s easier when Nina is with me. I focus my mind and whimper. She knows I’m going to shift now. The pain is horrendous, but her touch helps soothe me through the process. I sit up in my human form, thoroughly drenched and weak.
Nina throws her arms around my neck and hugs me. I place my hands on her back and make the most of the moment, knowing that I will never get to hold her like this again once I’m mated.
‘Let’s go home.’ She smiles.
She helps me stand, and we trudge home. She has my arm over one shoulder so I don’t fall. As soon as we arrive home, Leon and Seth quickly take me from Nina and help me to my room, where I pass out for the rest of the day and night.
