Chapter 70 Exams Can Be So Brutal!
Malia's POV
The exam week becomes a haze of caffeine, flashcards, and pure willpower. I can’t recall the last time I got more than four hours of sleep. I can't sleep my eyes are stinging and my hand is cramping from writing practice essays and I think I've drank enough coffee to power a small city. But I keep going.
The f᥆ᥙr𝗍һ exam—Pack History—is a three-hour marathon that makes my brain feel like mush. I stagger out of the exam hall squinting in the afternoon sun, and Rowan is there holding a sandwich and a bottle of water.
"Eat," he orders gently, both into my hands. "You look like you're going to pass out."
"I'm fine," I protest as I start tearing into the sandwich.
“Sure you are." He watches me eat, amused and worried.
He laughs and escorts me back to the suite, where Aiden is holding a heating pad for the tension in my shoulders and Cian has already pulled up a mindless comedy show for me to tune out to.
“You have to rest," says Aiden firmly. “Two hours, at least, before you even start to study for tomorrow's exam.”
I want to argue, but the couch is so comfortable and all of a sudden my eyes are closing despite trying as hard as I can to keep them open. When I wake up, just three hours have passed and Aiden is sitting nearby with his own textbook, watching. He looks up as I stir and softens.
"Feel better?"
"yes, actually." I stretch, as I feel muscles I never knew were tense finally relaxing. "Thank you."
"Always ." He puts down his book. "Ready to review for Pack Law?"
And so the cycle continues.
—----
The fifth day is Chemistry, and I'm dreading it. Cian finds me at breakfast, looking half-dead over my third cup of coffee.
“You know,” he says, sliding into the seat opposite me, “there’s actually research that suggests drinking too much caffeine can have a negative effect on your memory.” formation and recall of memory.”
I blink at him slowly. "Are you seriously trying to take my coffee away from me now?"
"I'm proposing moderation." He nudges a plate of real food in my direction — eggs, toast, fruit. “And proper nutrition. Your brain needs fuel, not just stimulants.”
"I need my brain to remember what the difference is between exothermic and endothermic is,” I mutter, but I eat the food anyway.
"It's all going to be fine," he tells me as we walk to the science building together.
The exam is a killer. Three hours of calculations and predictions of reactions and molecules, diagrams that make me cringe. But when I come out, I'm cautiously optimistic.
Aiden is waiting outside, and the sight of him makes something in my chest relax. “How was it?” he inquires, already pulling me against his side.
“Hard. But I think I did okay.” I lean into his warmth, tired all of a sudden. “Two down, three to go.”
“Come on.” He's beginning to guide me to the cafeteria. “Food, then a nap, and then we’ll go over stuff for tomorrow.”
The sincerity of his concern in his eyes is the final straw that breaks my resolve. “Okay. Food and a nap. Then we study.”
“Deal.”
—----
Day six is Advanced Pack Dynamics, which should be a breeze considering all the studying Aiden and I have done together. But by this time I’m so exhausted that reading comprehension is like scaling a mountain.
I'm crouched over my notes at three in the morning, begging my brain to hold on to just one more idea.
“Bed. Now.”
“I’m not done—”
“Yes, you are.” He’s employing his alpha voice, the one that doesn’t take any input or questioning. “I’ll carry you to bed if I have to!”
“You wouldn’t.”
He raises an eyebrow in challenge.
I smile and go to bed.
He follows, pulls me against his chest, and holds me like he can protect me from the worrying minds with his physical might.
He grumbles into my hair. “I’ll wake you in time to go over everything before the exam. I promise.”
By the last day of exam week, I’m running on nothing but a strange mixture of asleep and awake. I’m pretty sure I had an hallucination during my Werewolf Literature exam — at one stage the words in the page seemed to be dancing.But I kept on, took my time and did my best on each question.
The three brothers each check on me in turn through the day. Rowan brings me lunch. Cian quizzes me during a study break. Aiden is next to me as I study for my final exam tomorrow, his presence a rock I can cling to.
“Almost there,” he said. “One more exam. Then you’re done tomorrow.”
“Then I’m done,” I say, the words both feeling real and impossible.
—--
Pack Politics and Diplomacy is my last exam — three hours of essay questions and case study analysis that demand everything I've learned this semester.
I write until my hand hurts, until my mind feels wrung out like a wet cloth, until the proctor finally calls the end of the time. It’s surreal to step out of that exam room. Like emerging from a tunnel into sunlight.
The burden of exam week is finally lifting from my shoulders. And Aiden is there.
He's standing there, like a groom waiting for his bride, looking unfairly handsome and alert despite the fact that he's been holding me up through this whole hellish week.
When he sees me, that brilliant smile breaks out on his face. "Hey you " he smile as I approach.
“I think I did it.” The words are breathless, almost disbelieving. "I think I really went through with it. All of them.”
"Of course you did." He pushes off from the wall and opens his arms. "I knew you would."
I go into his arms and suddenly he is picking me up, spinning me around right there in the hallway. I laugh — I actually laugh — the sound caught and jubilant as the world rotates.
"Aiden!” I protest, but I’m smiling. "Put me down!"
"Not yet. I'm celebrating. My brilliant, hardworking girlfriend just survived the week."
"We haven’t seen the marks yet—"
“I don't care." He cups my face, his thumbs dancing over my cheekbones. “You worked harder than anyone. You earned whatever grades you get. And I am so incredibly proud of you."
Exhausted but relieved and grateful, all mixed up. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You could have. But especially you.”
"Yes, you could have." With conviction his voice was fierce. “You’re strong enough to do anything, Malia. I just got to be there to watch. To support, to remind you of what you already are.”
“And what’s that?”
“Clever. Capable. Strong. Mine.” He kisses me softly. “So incredibly mine.”
“Yours,” I say against his lips.
We’re standing there in the hallway holding each other as other students are rushing past us with their celebratory or commiserating in their own exams. But they all flicker and disappear into noise. It’s just us now.
“Come on,” Aiden says finally. “We need to get you back to the suite. You need to eat, to shower, and to sleep for about twelve hours.”
“I’d say that’s paradise.”
He takes my bag from my hand and we walk across campus arm in arm.
"What are you going to do this weekend?" he asks. “After you’ve rested a bit and gotten a rest of what you lost?”
“Nothing.” The word comes out with great satisfaction. “Absolutely nothing. I want to go to bed and do nothing for at least forty-eight hours.”
He laughs. "I can arrange that. Though Rowan mentioned something about celebrating the end of exams. And July has been texting about plans."
"Later," I decide. "Right now I just want sleep and you and maybe some pizza."
“I can absolutely give you those three things.”
Back at the suite, Cian and Rowan are waiting. There aren’t any questions being fired at me, just quick hugs and congratulations on finishing.
"I already ordered, pizza," Rowan announces. "Should be here in twenty minutes."
"You're all the best," I say it with every exhausted fiber of my being.
Aiden leads me to the bathroom. "Quick shower.You'll feel better."
He's right. Hot water rinsing off stress and tightness accumulated through the week; I feel almost human again when I splashes off. I grab one of Aiden’s hoodies—the soft grey one that smells most like him—and I pull it on over my pj shorts.
As I toward the couch, the pizza delivery man comes. We dine, all four of us really, and the dialogue is light and simple. You don't hear a word about exams or grades or stress.
Like friends—mates—simply having a good time.
I see Aiden from across the coffee table looking at me; his expression is soft and happy.
After we eat, I can hardly keep my eyes open. Aiden immediately notices. "Let's get you to bed," he says, already rising and holding out his hand.
I follow him to his room, and I’m asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow.
The last thing I know is that Aiden is sliding in beside me, pulling me close to his chest, and laying a kiss on my temple. "So proud of you," he whispers. "Sleep well, love."
And surrounded by his warmth, finally free of the weight of exams, I do.