Wanted Bonds (Their Fated Mate Book 1) [Reverse Harem]

Chapter 4

Aurora

"You heard?" I asked as I dropped my duffel bag and waved at the mage in the training cube beside Levi and I's shared training cube in the Supernatural Council.

He flashed me a lopsided smirk as he continued punching the custom-made sandbag in our cube. "How could I miss it? Your little videos have spread through Camdine Academy and the Supernatural Council like wildfire. I'm just not sure if I should say I told you so now or later."

"Oh, please, you said nothing about Charlotte. The only person you warned me about was Ezra, that asshole." I said as he stopped punching the sandbag and turned to face me, his glistening eight-pack abs making me dizzy.

"Actually . . . if you think hard enough, you will remember that I told you there was something strange about her when I met her." He teased as he pulled off his boxing gloves.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, you were right. Can we train now?"

"Wait a minute, let me savor hearing that I was right again." He said with a wide grin as he sipped from his water bottle.

After he dropped his bottle, he turned to me, wiping the sweat that made his muscles glisten with a towel. "What are you going to do about Ezra?"

"What else can I do? I already sent that confession to the Academy forum and the Supernatural Council's recruitment panel. There's nothing else I can do. He didn't commit a crime, did he?" I said, my mood souring at the thought of Ezra.

"As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't been punished enough for hurting my little princess," Levi said.

I frowned and retorted, "I already told you to stop calling me your little princess."

"Why? Aren't you Uncle Levi's little princess?" He teased.

I glowered as I felt the sudden urge to give him a black eye, even though I knew that was nigh impossible. During all our training, I'd only been able to hit him in a vital part once, and it was because he was distracted. After all, there was a reason he was called Superman in the Supernatural Council and he held the title of the strongest hand-to-hand combatant in the Supernatural Council.

I hated him calling me his little princess because it was what he called me when he was training me as a child. Now that I was older, a woman, if I do say so myself, I took offense to him calling me that, especially when he knew I was interested in him as a lover.

He sighed, his sexy accent becoming heavier as he said, "Alright, I'm sorry. I won't call you my little princess anymore."

I didn't let up on my glare because he'd promised the same thing last month, but here he was doing it again a month after.

"Don't you want to know how we can punish Ezra?" He asked, gesturing for me to move closer.

I was curious, so I moved closer and allowed him to whisper into my ear while struggling to restrain the butterflies fluttering in my belly and the shiver of desire running down my spine as his hot breath hit my ears and the sensitive side of my neck over and over.

"How about that?" He asked, stepping away from me.

Without really remembering what he said, I nodded.

So after our training session, Ezra, the asshole, found himself in his boxers tied to the pillar behind Uncle Tariq's statue in front of Camdine Academy's library with the words "Cheater" written on his chest in red paint, courtesy of Levi and me.

After sending a picture to my acquaintance to be spread to Camdine Academy's forum, Levi escorted me to my room.

"Do you need some blood?" I asked as Levi turned to my door, ready to leave.

He didn't turn to look at me. Instead, he tensed mid-step before turning to meet my eyes with a forced smile. "My blood donor is back from her vacation."

Usually, that would be enough to restrain me, but I was feeling bold, so I asked, "Do you want to stay the night?"

He paused for a minute, obviously not expecting me to ask him such a direct question. "Um . . . no. I have something to do."

Feeling bolder, I asked. "Can you tell me why you don't want to . . . have sex with me after that time? Is it something I did wrong? It was my first time. If I made a mistake, you can just tell me and I'll . . . try to change. I heard some guys don't like moaning. I think I moaned. Was that bad? I . . ."

"Stop! It wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong. Aurora . . . that night was a mistake. We shouldn't have—" He said.

"Why was it a mistake? I wanted it. I . . . I've tried to have boyfriends, but I don't like them like that. I can't stand the thought of them touching me and . . ."

"That's just because of your instinctual magic. Not anything else. The only reason you want me is because you can't see or hear my thoughts, feelings, or memories when you touch me, okay?"

I moved closer to him, pressing my body to his, wrapping my arms around his neck, and gazing up at him. "No, no, you're wrong. I have always wanted you since I knew what wanting anyone meant."

Refusing to hold my gaze, he stared at the wall behind my back. "I feel like I'm using you, okay? What would your parents think if they found out that we had sex? Aurora, I was among those who trained you when you were a child. I also served as your bodyguard for a while. Don't you think they'd feel it's too inappropriate?"

"You're making excuses and guilt-tripping me using my parents to keep me away, but I already spoke to Daddy Aisling, and he said it was fine. What other excuse do you have?" I glared at him.

He parted his lips to speak but couldn't seem to find the words to say as we locked gazes.

When I saw the pain in his eyes and the unwillingness in his gaze, I released a shaky breath and stepped away from him.

"I'm sorry. I understand. You . . . always wanted to keep yourself for your true mate, right? I'm sure you're full of regret, so I won't pester you anymore."

"Princess . . ." He started to say.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I'm so pushy. I just thought . . . but I guess not. I will stop bothering you, okay?" I turned, so I didn't have to see his face or the pain in his eyes.

"Aurora, wait for me, okay? Once . . ." He tried to say, but I knew better than to believe him like I did a year ago.

A year ago, I didn't know that having sex with me had brought him as much anguish as I'd just seen in his eyes. However, seeing it made me regret falling in love with him. It made me remember that time when I first asked him to be my boyfriend as a teenager and he told me he couldn't because he was waiting for his true mate.

When feeding him my blood had led to our first night together, I'd thought I was his true mate, but he'd told me that wasn't the case more than once. People's eyes never lied. Several times, he'd revealed how pained he was to have betrayed his future true mate by sleeping with me, but I had continued pestering him to go out with me and I'd even gotten a boyfriend to get him jealous.

Maybe now was the time to admit that even though he was the only one I liked as well as the only person I could touch skin to skin without seeing his thoughts, feelings, fantasies, and memories, we weren't meant to be.

"Go. Just leave. I want some time alone, so I won't train with you next week." I said, refusing to look at him because of the tears streaming down my face.

"Movie night?" He asked after taking a shaky breath.

"Go away, Levi! I don't want to see you." I yelled.

"I'm sorry." He said and then he moved away, jumping down from the window of my ninth-floor room.