Chapter 48: The Gifts From My Future Lover

Aina

Aina took off down the hallway of the Headmaster’s private sanctuary as if her heels were on actual fire. Her mind was a chaotic, screaming disaster, repeating the exact words she had blurted out over and over until her brain felt like fried battery acid. "Yeah... you are hot. You know that, right?"

Why? Why did I say that out loud?! Aina screamed internally, her cheeks burning so intensely she was convinced her skin was going to blister and melt right off her face. Who says that to their Headmaster?! Who says that!

She hadn’t even waited for his reaction. The second those mortifying words had burst past her lips, she had panicked, spun completely on her heel, and sprinted straight out of his quarters before he could even register what she had said. She hadn’t stayed to save the conversation. She hadn’t stayed to explain herself. She had just fled like a scared rabbit.

Which, in retrospective retrospect, was quite possibly the dumbest thing she could have ever done.

Because now, Aina was actively dodging groups of early-morning students across the wide stone courtyards of Moonside Academy while wearing nothing but Headmaster Roiner’s oversized white dress shirt, a wig slapped haphazardly onto her head, and zero shoes on her feet.

Every single time a group of wolf shifters walked near, she darted behind a stone pillar, holding her breath, praying to the Moon Goddess that no one paid attention to the barefoot "guy" sneaking through the bushes. She didn’t look like Travis right now; she looked like an absolute lunatic who had escaped an asylum.

By some absolute stroke of cosmic luck—or pure, miraculous pity from the universe—Aina managed to slip into the dorm complex entirely unseen.

She practically threw herself into the high-speed elevator, her bare toes cold against the metallic floor. She pressed the button for her floor, leaning her head back against the wall, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.

Just get to the room, she bargained with herself, her chest heaving as the lift ascended. Just get inside before Malric, Vance, or Theo spot you.

When the elevator chimed, Aina didn’t walk; she darted down the corridor like a shadowy streak. Thank the goddamn Goddess she still had her dorm keycard shoved into the pocket of Roiner’s oversized shirt. With trembling, sweaty fingers, she tapped the card against the scanner. The light beeped green, and she quickly slid into the room, locking the heavy door firmly behind her.

She sagged against the wood, letting out a long, shuddering breath.

"Oh, wow," Aina whispered to herself, noticing the thick curtains were still drawn tight against the morning sun. "The curtains are still drawn."

She blinked, looking around the pristine, empty room. "Do I even have roommates?" she wondered out loud, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because I swear this place is always empty. Every time I come in here, it’s like a ghost town."

She reasoned to herself that maybe whoever lived here had already left for their early classes, which meant she needed to get moving expeditiously.

Aina raced down the short hallway into her bedroom, shutting the door. She tore off Roiner’s crisp linen shirt, feeling a tiny, reluctant pang of sadness as his rich scent left her skin and grabbed her standard Moonside male uniform.

She scrambled frantically, putting one foot over the other, nearly tripping over her trousers twice in her sheer rush to finish changing. She yanked the dark fabric over her legs, buttoned up the high-collared shirt, and took off the curly wig.

When she stepped back out into the kitchenette a few minutes later, Aina looked entirely like a man again. The feminine silhouette was gone, replaced by the sharp, tailored lines of the male Academy uniform. She was still painfully girlish compared to the towering wolf shifters, but Travis Whitelock was officially back in the building.

As she rushed past the kitchen corner, aiming straight for the front door, she caught something out of the corner of her eye and froze.

Sitting quietly near the far end of the counter, nursing a mug of dark tea, was Keali.

Oh, this guy is one of my roommates, nice, I’ll talk to him later when I come back, Aina promised herself, biting her lower lip as her eyes lingered on him for a second longer. I literally cannot afford to be late for physical class.

She spun around and pulled open the dorm door, racing out before he even lifted his head.

Aina sprinted across the cobblestone paths toward the main Moonside building, her boots slapping rhythmically against the stone.

She pulled out her phone as she dodged small clusters of students lingering in the hallway, her fingers flying across the glass screen. Her notifications were completely blowing up. A long string of frantic text messages from Molly flooded her screen.

Molly:

TRAVIS WHERE ARE YOU?!

Molly:

Are you dead? Did my brothers kill you?!

Molly:

I swear to god I am going to murder Vance if he hurt you.

Molly:

Please reply to me! I’m so so so sorry for what happened at the party!

Aina sighed, her heart softening slightly, but she didn’t have a single second to type a reply. She shoved her phone straight into her pocket, weaving through the crowded hallway toward her assigned student locker.

She needed to get her physical training gear. Moonside Academy had a rigid, utterly ridiculous rule: every single student was required to show up to class in their formal dress uniform, then change into their black athletic gear in the locker rooms right before physical instruction started. They weren’t allowed to just wear the training gear at their dorm rooms.

And Aina hated it. She absolutely loathed it with a burning passion. Why couldn’t they just change in their private rooms? Why did they have to do this stupid uniform routine every single time?

Having to change inside a crowded, chaotic room full of broad, hyper-masculine males was an absolute nightmare for her. Every single time she unbuttoned her shirt in that room, her anxiety spiked through the roof. She was constantly terrified that someone would notice her soft shoulders, her complete lack of male muscle, or worst of all, realize that Travis Whitelock was entirely a girl. She felt like she was walking on a tightrope over a pit of hungry wolves every single day.

Aina finally reached her metallic locker, pulling her key card out and tapping it against the lock. The heavy metal door clicked open, swinging wide.

Aina paused, her hand hovering in the air. Sitting right on top of her folded black training uniform were two neatly wrapped, elegant boxes, one long and slender, the other small and square.

She blinked, completely confused. "What are these?" she muttered under her breath. "When did I even get these boxes?"

She knew for an absolute fact that she hadn’t left them here. She scanned the busy hallway left and right, looking around her locker to see if anyone was watching her or acting suspiciously. But the other male students were simply laughing, slamming their own lockers shut, and ignoring her entirely.

"Okay..." Aina whispered, her curiosity overriding her caution. She reached in and picked up the longer box first. She pulled off the sleek lid, and her breath caught in her throat.

Lying on a bed of dark velvet was a pair of pristine, high-end, dangerously sleek glasses. The frames were crafted from lightweight, dark matte titanium, looking ridiculously expensive and infinitely better than the crude, cheap wire pair she currently had perched on her nose.

"Whoa," Aina breathed, gently lifting them out of the box. "These look insane..." She took off her own battered, scuffed glasses and carefully slid the new titanium pair onto her face.

The world instantly transformed.

Aina gasped softly, her contact irritated eyes widening behind the clear lenses. Everything wasn’t just clear, it was crisp, vibrant, and stunningly sharp. She looked at the metallic inner wall of her locker and let out a breathless laugh.

Wow... my locker had a huge scratch on the left side, she thought in absolute shock. I literally never noticed that before! The prescription is so much stronger!

Hands trembling slightly, she set the long box down and grabbed the second, smaller box. She popped open the lid, and inside sat a cute, dainty, custom-designed inhaler crafted from sleek silver metal, filled with high-potency lung medication.

Aina stared at it, her heart stopping completely.

"No way..." she whispered, her voice cracking with pure emotion. "No goddamn way..." Who did this? Who could have possibly gotten these for her?

Her brain rapidly eliminated the possibilities. It couldn’t be her parents, they wouldn’t care enough to send her high-end custom medical equipment, and besides, they don’t know she’s here. It couldn’t be her grandmother, her sweet grandmother was dead and gone.

Which left only one person in the entire world.

The only person who knew about both her severe asthma and her terrible eyesight. The only person who had held her while she couldn’t breathe, brought her to his sanctuary, and washed his hands in his sink just hours ago.

Headmaster Roiner, her mind screamed, her cheeks instantly flushing a deep, radiant pink behind her new glasses.

Aina clutched the tiny silver inhaler tightly against her chest, a ridiculous, sappy smile breaking across her face. He bought these for me... He actually paid attention to my glasses and my lungs...

Her heart began thumping, not in a frantic, terrifying panic, but in a slow, heavy, intoxicating rhythm that made her entire chest feel warm and full. She was completely, utterly lost in her feelings for him. I can’t believe he did this for me... Goddess above, I am so screwed... I see myself falling for him...

Suddenly, a heavy hand landed directly on her shoulder. Aina gasped, flinching hard as she whipped her head around, her hand instinctively flying to her pocket.

Standing right behind her, breathing a massive sigh of relief, was Princess Molly.

"Oh my gosh!" Molly squealed, stepping forward and throwing her arms completely around Aina’s neck, pulling her into a tight, fierce hug. "I missed you so much! Where were you?! I thought I lost you! I literally thought my psychotic brothers did something horrible to you!"

Aina staggered slightly from the force of the embrace, her cheeks burning. "Molly—"

Molly pulled back from the hug, holding Aina at arm’s length as her eyes scanned her face. She stopped, her eyes locking onto the sleek matte frames resting on Aina’s nose.

"Wow," Molly said, her eyebrows shooting up in genuine admiration. "Yeah, okay, those glasses are really nice! They seriously suit your face so much better than those old granddad ones you had before!"

"Thanks," Aina said softly, adjusting them with a light tap of her finger.

Molly’s expression instantly shifted from admiration back to an irritated pout, crossing her arms over her chest. "Anyways! Why on earth didn’t you answer any of my messages?! I sent you like fifty texts!"

"Oh," Aina rubbed the back of her neck, offering an apologetic, slightly sheepish smile. "Sorry, my bad! I was just... so completely exhausted from everything that happened yesterday at the bash that I fell asleep the second I got to my room. I literally just woke up and rushed here, so I couldn’t answer. I was just in my dorm the whole time. So sorry to have worried you."

Molly let out a dramatic, long-winded huff. "You really did worry me, Travis! I was ready to call a search party!"

Aina took her black training uniform out of the locker, her jaw tightening as she thought back to the night before. She looked at Molly, her tone dropping into a dry, exasperated hum. "Anyways... your brothers are completely full of shit."

Molly let out a loud, miserable groan, throwing her head back. "I know! I know, and I am so sorry for that! I had no idea they were going to put that stupid mark on you and turn you into the pig for their dumb party! I was so furious at them!"

"Yeah," Aina muttered, shoving her locker door half-shut. "That was a pretty terrible party, hey?"

"It was a complete disaster," Molly agreed fiercely, before pausing and looking around the crowded hallway. She leaned closer to Aina, her voice dropping into a secretive whisper. "Oh, by the way... all my brothers are actively looking for you right now."

Aina froze, her hand pausing on the metal latch of her locker. She slowly turned her head, looking at Molly through her crystal-clear new lenses.

"What do you mean by that?" Aina asked, her voice tight with sudden, rising dread.

"My brothers are just frantically hunting for you, apparently," Molly explained, rolling her eyes in pure annoyance. "They think you know something. They want you to help them find their fated mate."

Aina blinked, her brain coming to a dead, screeching halt.

"Their fated... what?!!!"