Kaja came over and wrapped her arms around me. “No, and I’m so sorry because you deserve it.”
We hugged, and Nell and Rue murmured their agreement and then came up from behind and wrapped their arms around us, squishing me in the middle.
“You also deserve a trophy for being a badass fighter,” Nell said.
Rue chimed in with her soft voice. “And for keeping your promises.”
“Holy Mother Mage,” Kaja quipped, rolling her eyes. “You’d better stop or she’ll get a big head and make friends with Mallory, and then where will we be?”
I laughed. “No way that’s going to happen.”
Our group hug disbanded, and I glanced at each of the Harvest girls, my heart brimming with affection. “You guys are the best.”
“You’re pretty okay too.” Kaja surveyed me in my blue ombre dress. “So, you ready to do this?”
Nell had once again dyed my hair blue, and a waterfall of ringlets fell down my back. Together with my curls, the off-the-shoulder sleeves hid my exposed elemental marks—better than if I’d planned it. The masks hid our clan marks, and for the first time since the ball at the beginning of the year, I asked Nell to leave my mate mark. I wanted Rage or Justice to see I wasn’t ashamed to be bound to him. If he didn’t feel the same, no more wood runs, no more masked balls—no more.
Reaching up, I pulled my white pearl and jeweled mask on and then headed out with the girls. Whatever we’d had was over. Time to break the news to my mate.
The entire islandglowed with magic tonight. Lanterns and candles lit every pathway. Students and teachers, dressed to the nines, laughed and joked.Everyonewas dressed up, even the guards. They stood like sentinels on the pathway, holding swords, in black masks and tuxedos.
After returning from Dark Row, Justice didn’t ask again about the masquerade, didn’t follow up to make sure I’d be here. He’d ghosted me, which only served to make tonight easier.
After giving a drop of blood to the masquerade-chalice to ensure I would not make out with Nolan, the masked-man magicked our voices, and then we stepped inside the atrium.
The ceiling had been retracted, revealing a sky filled with twinkling stars. Slow music played over a speaker system, and I scanned the crowd.
This party was bigger. Much bigger.
I started to count and realized this wasn’t just students. With over two hundred people here, the packs must’ve sent in some of their members from the outskirts of the island.
“Our other siblings and packmates are here tonight too. Usually, Samhain isn’t masquerade, but the princes made the rule. Now, I know why.” Kaja winked.
The statement pricked my heart and filled me with fire. One of the Midnight princes was so ashamed of being my mate that he’d talked his brothers into making the ball masquerade so that he didn’t have to be seen with me.
“I’m going to get mage wine!” Nell sauntered off, Rue in tow.
Kaja looped her arm through mine: “Wanna dance?”
I gave her a fake smile, trying to keep the depressing thoughts at bay. “Sure.”
We wove through the crowded dance floor toward the center, and Kaja started to wave her arms, twisting to the beat. I swayed, trying to feign fun, but I couldn’t get into it. When a guy stepped between us and asked her to dance, I gave her a genuine smile and thumbs-up.
“Find you later,” I shouted and then fled, grateful to escape the dancefloor.
I needed air. Massive crowds of people and social niceties were not my things. Insincerity and politicking, also not my thing. Finding my way to the patio, I stepped out through the open doors and gulped in the crisp night air. Maybe Alpha Academy wasn’t my thing, but I’d stick it out for my pack.
I felt him before I heard him, a presence at my back. “You came,” he said.
It was him. He drew near, his proximity sending heat down my spine. The same way a magnet was drawn to its pair, I pivoted and faced him.
My mate.
I sucked in a breath, ready to tell him off, to cut him off. I needed to say I couldn’t do this, that I wouldn’t. But then my gaze fell to his left hand.
Mate marks.
He’d kept them. On display, for all to see.
