Chapter 124

KATHERINE.

I couldn't come up with a reason why Blake had acted like that and as I picked up a letter to put it back in the golden box, someone behind me said, “Drop it.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Priyanka and Theo standing in the doorway, and Priyanka was frowning at me with a look that said ‘Really?’ on his face. Then I realized this looked like I was snooping through Lenore's stuff – to be more exact, going through her letters with Blake, since I'd returned everything else into the box – and my eyes widened before I got to my feet with the letter still in my hand while they walked into the room with some people, some of whom I recognized as the ones that packed and moved most of Lenore's things yesterday.

“I accidentally knocked the box to the ground,” I said in a rush as Priyanka headed towards me. “I was just putting them back.”

“Okay.” She stretched out her hand and after I placed the letter in it, she picked up the golden box and put it and the other letters on the ground in it. My eyes slid back to Theo and he had that blank look on his face that didn't give away what was going through his mind. The fact that he was here meant that he knew what happened between me and Lenore and the things I said to her, and I internally winced because his opinion of me had definitely been altered now. To what degree, I didn't know, but I took solace in the fact that his eyes weren't red as he stared at me. They were a dull blue instead.

The both of us just stood there, staring at each other while Priyanka and the movers picked up the rest of the boxes and left. The moment the door clicked shut, Theo heaved a sigh and rubbed his forehead while I pressed my lips together.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” he asked and even though he'd said it at a normal volume, his words were unusually loud in my ears. I blinked at him, surprised that he'd asked that when Priyanka and Josie weren't interested in hearing it.

“You want to hear about it?” I asked and he raised his shoulders in a half-shrug.

“I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to, would I?” he replied and the corner of my mouth turned up.

“You said it was bad manners to answer a question with a question,” I said that to lighten the mood but the atmosphere didn't change and I sighed before walking over to my bed and sitting on it. “She's getting married to Blake.”

Theo removed his hands from his pockets and walked over, sitting on the bed too but with considerable distance between us. That hurt for some reason. “And you have a problem with that why?” he asked and I slightly raised my brows at him.

“She didn't tell you why.”

“I'm asking you,” he replied and I stared at him in silence for a couple of seconds before responding.

“He's my mate…” I got a funny feeling in my stomach when I said that to him and it wasn't a ‘good’ funny feeling. “I felt a bond with him.”

Theo raised a brow and a small frown crept onto my face because he looked like he didn't believe me. “Are you sure?” It sounded like he wanted to tell me I was confused and I was tired of hearing that word.

“I'm sure, Theo.”

“And have you told Blake this?”

I ground my teeth as I remembered his reaction the first time I told him and when I repeated it three days ago. Then how he acted like he didn't know me yesterday. He was seriously infuriating. “Yes.”

“What did he say?”

I let out a harsh breath and dropped my gaze to my feet. “What's with the interrogation?” I asked and when he didn't respond, I added, “He said I was confused. Twice.”

“He wasn't wrong.”

At that, I lifted my gaze back to his and he shrugged. As I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn't confused, he spoke again.

“Blake is Lenore's mate.”

My brows snapped together. “What?” I blurted out and he nodded. I wanted to say that wasn't possible, but he wouldn't have said that if it wasn't true. But the moon goddess wouldn't give a person two mates either, would she?

“They've known since last year,” he said and I furrowed my brows even more.

“She told me she didn't have a mate.”

“She told everyone except ‘us’ that because he was acting weird when she got here, so she thought he was going to reject her.”

‘Oh! But wait… Still… What the hell is happening? And why did no one tell me when I started getting close to him?’ I paused after that second question came to mind because no one knew I was going around with him or developing feelings for him because I didn't tell them.

Then what was that I felt with him then?

“I felt something when I touched him,” I started and Theo raised a brow. “Something electric. A spark.”

“Starting from your fingers?” he asked and I bobbed my head. “That's what it feels like when one's element is about to surface.” He got to his feet while surprise washed over me again. “You should speak to Professor Embers. She'll help you figure out how to bring it out.

“But…” Apart from the spark, he and I were alike. The same duties and problems. The pack's seer said my mate was whom my heart aligned with, so it wasn't difficult to see why I thought it was Blake. And if it wasn't Blake, who was it?

“I'll be taking my leave now,” Theo said before heading out, leaving me with my thoughts.

****

It was past midnight and I was currently out for a walk because the thoughts running through my mind wouldn't let me sleep. I wasn't walking in a secluded place though due to the fact that students were going missing in Blackwood, so it was no surprise that I came across Blake on my walk.

The troubled expression on his face switched to annoyance when he saw me and I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, so you recognize me now?” I asked and he looked at me like I was dumb.

“Huh?”

“Why'd you do it? Be nice to me.” I had finally accepted that he wasn't my mate when it all fell into place hours after Theo left, and by ‘it’, I meant Blake's behavior. He'd never actually been interested in me; his focus had always been Lenore. He constantly asked about her, he didn't hesitate to go after her when he found out a ghost had taken her, he beat Jackson up because he was hitting on her, and all the other little things I'd dismissed.

I honestly felt stupid for not realizing it sooner.

“Was I supposed to be mean to you?” he asked, raising a brow as he stopped leaning against the tree behind him.

“Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about .” I scowled. “The cookie basket? The picnic? The flowers? Ending the alliance with Silver Bow?”

Once again, he looked at me like I was dumb and my fingers itched, wanting to connect with his face harshly. “Those were for Lenore. That's why they were sunflowers, and the alliance dissolution was already in motion. Lenore asked for it and I figured she did so because of you. That's why I asked. The person that left the basket at the door didn't know she had a roommate. It was rather annoying when you showed up.” Annoyance was evident in his voice when he said the last part and I was quickly beginning to believe that I was wrong to think I knew him. I didn't know the boy standing in front of me right now.

“You told me you haven't found your mate.”

“Did I?” he asked and I remembered the picnic. He hadn't said he didn't have a mate; I was the one who said it, but he didn't correct me properly when I did.

I set my mouth in a hard line and gave him a nod. “Goodbye, Blake.” After that, I resumed my walk with my mind a bit clearer than when I'd stepped out of my dorm.