Chapter 172

Enzo’s POV “You think they know that Lila is my mate??” I asked, staring at her in disbelief.

If they did know, they played it off cool. I never suspected that they could know anything. I suddenly felt extremely nervous.

I wondered if Lila knew that they knew.

“Yes,” my mother said, stifling a laugh. “It explains why he appointed you, out of anybody, to keep an eye on her and go on a trip with her across the world. As opposed to a gamma warrior. He knows you have responsibilities to your pack, but he still pulled you away to tend to his daughter. It’s quite obvious to an outside eye... but it’s even more obvious to a mother.”

I felt stupid; of course, he knew.

“Have you already decided on rejecting her?” My mother then asked with sadness in her tone.

I sighed, but I nodded.

“Yes, but I wanted to wait until after she graduated,” I explained. “Her wolf is still so young that I’m worried if I reject her right now, her wolf will go into permanent hibernation. I didn’t want to do that to her, so I figured I’d wait until she’s stronger.”

“And she knows this?” My mother asked, her brows knitting together.

I nodded again.

I saw a flash of pain in my mother’s eyes.

“You realize that with her knowledge that you want to reject her, it’s basically already rejecting her? I can imagine how much pain she must feel knowing that her fated mate doesn’t want her,” she breathed. “It’s slowly destroying her. Being her mate, you must be able to feel that if you channel her emotions. I know it’s not easy to channel them before you mark her, but you can still do it if you focus hard enough. I feel sad that she’s in that much pain.”

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Hearing her words hurt my heart and I felt Max cowering away. He agreed with her; he’s been able to feel her pain and he’s been trying to tell me... but I haven’t been listening.

How could I have been so careless and stupid?

She reached her hand out and grabbed my hand.

“You’ve come here for a reason. Can I assume that reason is that you are rethinking things?” She asked, eyeing me carefully. “Do you no longer wish to reject her?”

I was silent for a moment longer.

“In Monstro... we decided to have a small relationship,” I explained. “We made a promise to each other that it wouldn’t leave Monstro though. That once we returned, we would go back to normal and pretend it never happened. I never anticipated how impossible that would be though. Because since we’ve been back, all I could think about was making her mine.”

“Then what’s stopping you? She’s your mate. You can do that.”

“I already told you; it would put her in danger,” I said, shaking my head.

“Enzo... regardless of who her father is, she’s always going to be in danger. She’s a young and vibrant girl. She’s not always going to have her father’s protection. You said she’s your student, which means she’s always in Higala, which is far from Alpha Bastien’s pack if I’m not mistaken. Being with her might make Paul aware of her, but being away from her could also prove to be dangerous. Because from where I see it, the school year is starting soon... which means she’s in Higala and you aren’t. She’s in danger right now because you aren’t there to protect her.”

I was stunned and silent because my mother was right.

In fact, this semester starts tomorrow, which means Lila is at the academy right now. She didn’t have anyone there to protect her and some of those students weren’t exactly welcoming.

Sarah was also returning to the academy, and I knew she had issues with Lila.

“One way or another, Paul and his crew are going to find out about her. Once they do... you are going to want to be close to her so you can protect her. Volanas are very strong, some might actually be dangerous if they had lost their way. But something tells me that Lila isn’t dangerous at all, and she wants to use her abilities for good. She should be fighting along your side... not hidden. An Alpha is strongest with his fated mate.”

I found myself smirking, to which my mother asked, “What?”

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “Max is just agreeing with you.”

She smiled and ran her hand down the side of my face.

“Max is a very smart wolf,” she said in return. “Maybe you should listen to him once in a while.”

I nodded, agreeing completely, much to Max’s relief.

“I should go,” I said, standing to my feet. “Lila is at the academy, and I’d like to speak with her. I need to tell her how I feel... again.”

“Again?” She asked, raising her brows.

“It’s a long story. But it doesn’t matter. She needs to know that I’m not planning on rejecting her and that I want to be with her. She’s my everything and she deserves to know just that.”

Tears filled her eyes instantly as she stood to her feet.

“I’m so happy for you,” she breathed. “When will I get to meet her?”

That nervous feeling returned to me; I didn’t want my mom to think I was hiding her from Lila. But I hadn’t told Lila that my mother was a Volana. If Lila knew that my mother was a rogue because of what she is, she might think that I had something to do with this. Knowing her, she would want to hunt Paul and his crew and fight them right away and we were far from ready for that battle.

Paul had way more men than I could comprehend, and they all worked under my father for so long.

They were powerful. I needed more warriors and wolves on my side and until I could change their minds about Volana’s, that wasn’t going to happen.

I needed to continue working on my reputation and become a well-respected Alpha before anyone joined my side.

It took years of hard work for Bastien to make Elysium safe for his family. He’s been actively working on making other parts of the world safe too, but he was an enemy to my father, which means he’s an enemy with my father’s followers. It makes it difficult for him to gain the trust needed to make this world completely safe.

I’m not going to stop trying until my mother can safely leave her village without getting attacked.

The less Lila knew about my connection to Volana wolves, the better. I wasn’t ready for this battle yet and she would run headfirst into it.

“Soon,” was all I said as I hugged my mother. “You’ll meet her soon.”

She smiled brightly.

“Go get your mate!” She urged.

Max was on the edge, already getting ready to shift and run to her.

“I love you,” I said to my mom; giving her one last hug before I shifted into my wolf form and ran from her cottage.

I told Max that I needed to grab a few things from the packhouse before heading to Higala and for some reason, he was more adamant about getting to the packhouse than he was about getting to the academy. I would have thought making this pit stop at home would be frustrating for him, but he was extremely eager.

It wasn’t until the packhouse came into view that I realized why he wanted to get there so quickly.

It was Lila.

She was there.