A minute later, she’s clearing her throat on the line and I’m on tenterhooks waiting for her to talk.
“Okay, she’s in the gardens so that’s where she’ll meet you. I’ll contact the gate guard, and you’ll be let inside.”
“Thanks,” I mutter as she hangs up.
I slip the phone into my back pocket as I turn back to the guard on the gates.
He’s got a walkie talkie in his hand now, and he nods as he glances at me, now with marginally less suspicion in his eyes.
The gates start to open, and I take in a deep breath as I wait.
I promised my mates I wouldn’t mess this up, and I don’t intend to.
She agreed to meet me, and she’s good with me showing up early.
Now, all I need to do is convince her what she’s feeling is real …
Despite the fact I didn’t even feel our true mate bond when we met.
I didn’t feel it when we spoke on Friday night, either.
What does it say about our bond if I’ve met her twice now and I didn’t feel it?
That doesn’t matter.
You know you were distracted.
Don’t be an asshole.
You’ll only mess this up.
Sighing, I make myself move forward when the guard inside the gates waves me over.
I follow him down the dirt road toward the academy, hearing the gates clanging to a close behind us as he leads me into the left, where the side entrance to the building is. On Friday nightthis was a car park full of Alphas, with dozens of armed security personnel covering the area.
Now it’s Sunday morning, and we’re walking across an empty, bumpy dirt track toward an iron gate that appears to lead into a plot full of flowers.
It’s a pretty drastic change of scenery as I follow the guard onto the clean path on the other side of the gate. The plants and flowers in the garden are arranged in neat clusters around paths, and the forest beyond has been fenced off.
In all the years I’ve lived in an apartment, I can’t say I’ve ever dreamed of having a big garden but looking at the way this one has been designed, for people to walk around and sit on benches, it’s making me wonder if I’ve been depriving my mates of something special.
Getting a house together was always the end goal, but that only seemed to get further and further away while I was trying to figure out a career I could be content with.
I look around until I spot Robin, kneeling next to a rose bush a few feet away.
“I’ll be on the other side of this gate,” the guard tells me, his tone as flat as his expression.
He leaves me inside the garden, my gaze on the red-haired Beta.
She doesn’t see me. Her attention is focused on the rose bush.
She looks happy. There’s a smile on her lips, and I think she’s humming faintly under her breath.
I take a few steps toward her, and she stops humming and turns.
“Hi,” I start.
Her smile fades as she looks up at me. “Oh, hey!”
