Chapter 62 Study Sessions
Malia's POV
Midterm exams are hanging over Mooncrest College like a dark cloud ready to burst, turning everyone on campus into a batch of frazzled nerves. The stacks are full at all hours, students settled in with barricades of textbooks and enough caffeine to fuel a small army.
That’s why I started studying in Aiden’s room most nights.
Our room, begins to make me think he thinks he means “our room” as in “our relationship”. Aiden’s place has gradually taken on bits and pieces of me in the past few weeks—my beloved hoodie casually thrown over his desk chair, my textbooks piled on the nightstand, my toothbrush resting in the bathroom.
Small invasions that he not only allows but encourages, like he’s trying to brand me as his through proximity and shared space.
There we are, crumpled on his enormous bed with our textbooks and notes in disorganized piles around us in perfect scientific chaos. I’m on Pack History, trying to learn the many alliances and rivalries that define the current political scene while Aiden studies Advanced Pack Law.
“Quiz me,” I say, as I highlight another passage in my textbook. “The Treaty of Silver Creek.” In what year?’ and ‘What were the key features of the Treaty?’”
Aiden doesn’t even glance up from his own pack of cards. “1847. It established territorial lines between the Northern and Western packs, recognized the Elders’ Council as a nonpartisan mediating organization, and established a precedent for the honor of inter-pack mate bonds despite territorial disputes.”
I look at him unbelievingly. “How do you just… know that?”
He glances up, a small smile playing at his lips. "I've been training to be an alpha since I could walk, Malia. Pack history and law aren't just subjects for me—they're my future."
Right. Sometimes I forget that for the Moonfall brothers, all of this isn't just academic. It's their inheritance, their responsibility, their entire lives mapped out before them.
"Your turn," I say. "What was the significance of the Blood Moon Accords?"
"Prohibited using bond manipulation as a weapon during pack conflicts," he recites. "Established that forced bonds or bond-breaking attempts constituted acts of war. Signed by all major packs in 1923 after the—" He pauses, his eyes darkening. "After the Bond Wars."
The way he says it makes my skin prickle. "Bond Wars?"
"Long story. Brutal history." He sets his textbook aside and shifts closer to me on the bed, his shoulder pressing against mine. "Let's just say our ancestors learned the hard way that weaponizing something as sacred as a mate bond leads to nothing but devastation."
His hand finds my thigh, settling there with casual possessiveness as he leans over to look at my textbook. His touch is warm through my leggings, distracting in a way that makes focusing on pack alliances suddenly very difficult.
"This section," he says, pointing to a paragraph about territorial disputes. "This is going to be on the exam. Professor Martinez always tests on the exceptions to standard territory law."
"How do you know what’s going to be on the test?”
“Because I listen to what he’s focused on in lectures.” His thumb starts to trace mindless patterns on my thigh, and I don’t know if even knows he’s doing it. “Also Rowan had his class last year and told me about his testing style.”
A small knot of tension in my chest is triggered by the mention of Rowan. The two brothers have remained polite at our lunch table, but the rift they’ve always had still lurks there, simmering just beneath the surface.
Through our bond, Aiden must feel me shift because his hand comes to a rest on my thigh.
“Don’t,” he whispers.
“Don’t what?”
“Worry about me and Rowan. Now’s not the time. We’re fine.”
“You’re not fine—”
“Malia.” He seizes my textbook and put it away with his own, then he turns to me. “It’s just, there’s us two here in the moment. Can’t we just have this, without bringing in all the complicated stuff?”
I want to argue. Because I want to stir the pot in the wake of that rift between him and Rowan feeling like a ticking time bomb. But the look he’s giving me — honest and a little bit vulnerable — makes me relent.
“Okay,” I agree softly. “You and me. For now.”
“Thank you.” One more time, he reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my cheek. “Now where were we? Oh right – studying.”
But he doesn't grab the textbooks. His hand glides from my cheek to the nape of my neck, his fingers splaying in my hair and suddenly studying is the last thing in the world I want to do.
"Aiden—"
"Mm?" He was now looking at my lips, his pupils expanding a bit more as the bond vibrated between us.
"We have exams in three days."
"I know." He leans in, I can feel his breath on my skin now. "We've been going at it for two hours. Let's take a break."
"A break?" I try for a disbelieving tone but all that comes out of my mouth is a breathy voice.
"A break," he said, and then his lips were on mine.
The kiss begins soft, nearly hesitant, as though he's gauging my response. But when I sigh into his mouth, when my hands shoot up to clutch his shirt, it shifts. The kiss grows deeper, more frenzied, and all of a sudden I am being pushed back against the pillows, textbooks crinkling under us.
Aiden’s weight is solid and warm on top of me, one hand still tangled in my hair, the other braced by my head. He kisses me as if he's committing the flavor of me to memory, as if I'm the only thing that exists in this moment.
And god, it feels good. To be desired this way, to feel the connection buzzing between us, to let everything else—the pressure of exams, the drama with Lydia, the strain between the brothers—just drop away.
His lips leave mine to graze the curve of my jaw leading down to my neck, where they locate that small sensitive spot under my earlobe that always leaves me gasping. He smiles against my skin, clearly happy that he has gotten such a reaction from me.
“Aiden,” I breathe as my fingers weave into his blonde hair.
"Yeah?" He sounded hoarse, affected.
“Should study really.”
It might be the least convincing protest ever, but then again I’m pulling him closer and tipping my head to offer him easier access to my neck at the same time.
“We are studying,” he whispers on my skin, and with every word comes a kiss. "Each other, to go deep, very important research.”
A chuckle rises from my stomach, enough to diffuse the heat that’s making it nearly impossible to find air. “That is terrible logic.”
“Is it working though?” He raises his head to meet my gaze, and the look of amused desire in his blue eyes makes me catch my breath.
“Maybe,” I say hesitantly.
He smiles – an actual, open, boyish kind of smile that I hardly ever see from dour, responsible Aiden Moonfall.
Then he’s kissing me again, and this time I don’t even pretend to protest…