Chapter 35

KATHERINE.

The moment I got off the phone with Kit, a desolate feeling washed over me and I heaved a sigh just before Hunter came back.

“Sorry about that. Some painting supplies fell,” he said as he took his seat and when he glanced at me, a small frown crept onto his face at whatever expression I had on my face. “What’s wrong?” he asked and I gave him a sad smile while shaking my head sideways.

“It’s just my little brother… I miss him.”

“Oh.” He gave me an understanding look and I tilted my head.

“Do you have younger siblings too?”

“Yeah, three – two girls and one boy. They’re quite the handful,” he replied, making my lips curve into a smile. “You can take permission to leave school and go see him,” he added and I raised my brows at the fact that I needed permission to leave the school before deciding I should read the rule book as soon as possible before I did something against the school’s rules. Even if I got permission though, I doubted my aunt would come get me if that was the reason I wanted to go to the pack and there was nothing for miles so I couldn’t catch a bus.

I shrugged.

“If you don’t want to, he could come for Blackwood’s anniversary with a guardian.”

“Anniversary?” I asked and he nodded.

“Yeah. It’s coming up soon.”

“When?”

“Two weeks after the Administration visits.”

My eyes rounded at that. “The Administration is visiting?! Here?!”

“Are you even a student?” he replied in an incredulous tone and I snorted. “Yes, they’re visiting ‘here’ on Friday. The school’s throwing a dinner party for them.”

‘A dinner party… The Administration was coming here…’ I hadn’t met them before and since most people from small packs rarely got a chance to meet them, I didn’t think I was going to, but now I might. I didn’t know how to feel about that. I was going to be the Alpha of a ‘small’ pack and small packs weren’t exactly important to them so they might not even glance in my direction if I met them but still… meeting them could make a difference in the issue going on between River Ash and Silver Bow.

“Will students be able to attend it?” I asked Hunter and he nodded.

“It’s a big event. Important members of most packs will be able to attend too.”

That meant Alphas, Betas and higher-ups of packs. Seeing as the event was on Friday and neither my aunt nor uncle had texted me about it, it was clear that my pack hadn't received an invitation.

‘Damn…’ Of course, I could attend as a student but the fact that my pack hadn't been invited made me feel that I wouldn't be welcome there.

“What's on your mind?” Hunter asked softly, snapping me out of my thoughts, and I blinked at him before glancing at my sandwich.

“I didn't know we could order food to school.”

“It's from the dining hall.”

“Oh…” I muttered before something dawned on me. “Wait, do you always order food? I've never seen you in the dining hall.”

“Yeah, there's nowhere for me to sit there.”

I drew my brows together. The dining hall was massive so there were always empty seats and tables. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged and didn't say anything else till we were done eating. The time was one-thirty pm by then and since I had a class by two, I got to my feet.

“Thank you for this. It was really nice.”

“We should do it again sometime then,” he replied and I grinned while grabbing my phone from the table.

“We should. Bye, Hunter.”

“See you around.”

****

I couldn't sleep.

I'd been tossing and turning for about an hour now but still, sleep eluded me and I couldn’t help but worry about my pack. The thought of not figuring out who my mate was before the next Administration meeting was horrifying and I didn’t want to think of how things would go if that happened. The way it would end though was that I’d most definitely lose my pack’s land to Silver Bow and the other pack next to mine, Blue Moon, and I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

I needed to find my mate as soon as possible and so far, it looked like an easy enough task since I already narrowed it down to the boys but it wasn’t.

No one really knew how the mate bond worked. Sometimes mates had to wait till each of them was eighteen to find out they were mates. Sometimes they found out before they turned eighteen. Sometimes one person found out another was their mate before the other did. The point was, I didn’t know when my mate bond was going to snap into place and I was worried the person I felt ‘my heart aligned with’ would end up not being my mate. I couldn’t afford to make that mistake with the next Administration meeting, where Silver Bow and Blue Moon would push for the dissolution of my pack, only being five months away.

Then there was the issue of the pack Blake and Hunter were from – Blue Blood – and how they’d react when their Alpha’s son or Beta’s son ended up being my mate. Those two had always been nice to me so I didn’t want to think of either of them rejecting me but I couldn’t help it because there was a possibility things could go that way.

‘Then’ there was the other issue… the fact that Theo could be my mate. I barely knew him but it was clear he adored Lenore and the fact that he’d already marked her… He’d definitely reject me if we turned out to be mates so I prayed he wasn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about that moment in the forest though.

A glance at the grandfather clock told me the time was some time past one am and I huffed as I finally sat up in bed. Lenore had fallen asleep long before I began to try to and I was pretty sure Josie and Priyanka had too so I had no one to talk to and I didn’t feel like reading or watching something.

I returned my attention to the other side of the room and as I stared at the starry sky outside the window, I decided I should go for a walk to clear my head. I got out of bed and changed out of my nightwear before heading out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind me.

Sure, it was past midnight and there were ghosts in Blackwood but I didn’t believe they walked around on the main campus and if they did, I’d just have to hightail it back to my room.

The air was chilly when I stepped out of Stavenger Hall and I wrapped my arms around myself as I glanced around my surroundings. There was no one else around and the only noises I could hear were that of the night and girls talking in their dorm rooms so I began to walk down the stairs. When I got to the bottom of it, a wave of cold air swept past and I shivered before wondering if I should go back to my room for a jacket, but before I could make a decision, I saw ‘him’ striding past the hall’s relaxation center with his hands in his pocket.

Blake.