Harley seemed to be the first person to notice me. Elijah, who was right next to me, seemed to also be frozen in shock. He had no idea who any of these people, besides Jace, were and was probably freaked out. I hoped he didn't think it was always like this.

She ran around the fighting boys over to us, and put both hands on my cheeks to see if I was okay.

"Kit? Kit, snap out of it!," she gently slapped one of my cheeks and I looked at her, my eyes still wide and my heart racing.

Mate? I knew what that meant.

Mostly.

Honestly though, it felt like I was being forced into a relationship with a guy I know nothing about.

There was something I didn't understand, though. Why would Jace tell him to stay away from me? Why would Axel listen to him? He seemed like one of those 'you can't tell me what to do' kind of guys, so I didn't get it.

The two boys fighting froze mid punch and their heads snapped over to me. They both had similar 'oh fuck' faces. If I wasn't so tired or shocked, I probably would have laughed.

Jace had guilt in his eyes, and Axel looked very nervous and worried.

"K-Kit?," Jace said, face pale and eyes wide. The two boys stood up, completely forgetting about the fight, and walked over to us. "Kit, I can explain."

"Kit, baby, are you okay? You look pale," Axel asked in a soft voice.

I cleared my throat, and managed to choke out, "I'm okay. ... I think. Listen, it's too early for this, and we only got a few hours of sleep. If you'll please excuse us, we are going to eat breakfast." I grabbed Harley's hand with my free one, and started walking to our table, dragging them behind me.

"Kit, can't we talk about this?," Jace asked with tears in his eyes.

"Not now, Jace," I said and sat down when we approached our table. I probably sounded angry, but I wasn't. Yet. I was just really confused. Obviously there was something he hadn't told me that he should have.

Harley sat in her seat, and I pulled an empty chair from another table for Elijah. He sat down, and I went to grab breakfast for us.

I sat a tray down in front of him, and sat down in my seat with my own tray. He looked at his tray with wide eyes and his mouth parted open.

"Are you okay?," I asked him.

"Yeah, this is just a lot more food than I'm used to," he answered and took a sip of orange juice before digging into his food.

"Really? How much did you eat before coming here?," Ty asked, surprised.

"They only let us eat a small amount of eggs in the morning, apple for lunch, and dinner was pretty rare for most of us because of clients. Most clients came at night, and if we missed a meal, we would have to wait for the next one to eat. There were no exceptions," he explained and everyone at the table looked confused.

They didn't know where he was. Oh shit.

"Clients?," Sora asked in confusion.

Before I could say anything, Eli said, "Kit didn't tell you? I'm sorry, I thought you knew. I'm a prostitute. Well, I was until last night when Kit saved me from that hell. I lived in a whore house."

The table was silent for a moment. They were all staring at him with wide eyes. Some had tears in their eyes and hands covering their mouths in shock.

Eli had to reassure them many times that he was okay and happy and they didn't need to worry about him, for them to calm down. I had already finished my breakfast by the time he finally got started on his.

"Kit?," I heard Cam call my name as he approached the table with a concerned look on his face. I looked up at him and gave him a smile.

"Hey, Cam," I greeted and he sat on my lap in his usual position. My hands automatically went to his hips, and I saw him blush slightly.

"Are you okay? I saw what happened with Jace and Axel," he asked and laid his head on my shoulder, his nose brushing against my neck. I pulled him closer and rubbed my hands up and down his back.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's definitely not what I expected to happen first thing in the morning, though," I ran my fingers through his hair, scratching the space between his ears. He started purring and I chuckled.

"Kit, what do I do with my tray?," I heard Eli ask me and I looked over at him.

Before I could answer, Ty said, "I can take it. I'm done anyways."

"Thank you," he slid his tray towards Ty and I felt Cam pull away. I looked at Cam and saw him looking at Eli with wide eyes.

Ty stood up, taking the empty trays to the garbage, and I asked Cam, "Cam? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just still processing that you have a twin and he is sitting right next to us. When did he get here?," Cam answered, looking Eli up and down.

"Early this morning. We got back to the school at about 4. Cam, this is Elijah. Eli, this is Cam," I introduced, and they both said hello shyly. It was really cute, to be honest.

"I have a question," Titan asked suddenly.

"Yes?," I asked him and pulled Cam close to me again. I wasn't feeding from him since I had fed from Eli this morning, but who doesn't love cuddles? Cuddling with Cam is my favorite part of the day.

"Now that everyone knows you are Axel's mate, are you and Cam still going to be close like this?"

Cam tensed slightly at the question, but my answer calmed him down immediately.

"Of course. I'm never letting Cam go again," I kissed Cam's cheek and felt his smile against my neck.

"Won't he get mad though?," Logan asked.

I shrugged, "Like I said, I'm never letting him go again." I left it at that. I didn't really want to get into detail about everything when we were around so many people.

I felt Axel's eyes on me, and I looked over at his table. He was sitting with his friends, not listening to their conversation. He was staring at me, then would look at Eli. He raised an eyebrow in question. If I had to guess, he was probably asking 'Who is that and when did he get here'. The same questions everyone has been asking all morning.

I was glad that my friends quickly took him in, though.

What I wasn't happy about though was the conversations I was going to have with Jace and Axel.

I was too tired to deal with any of it. Luckily, it was the end of breakfast. After Harley gave Eli a long, tight hug, we went back to our room, ignoring Jace's calls and Axel's gaze.

We napped until Eli had to go take his test. I took him to where he needed to go, and told him how he would get to the dining hall from there. He was going to meet me in the dining hall for lunch when he was finished.

He gave me a hug goodbye and I went to our meeting spot, under our tree, to talk to Jace. As I expected, Jace was already there. He was chewing on his thumb with an anxious look and was pacing. He hadn't noticed me yet, so I leaned against the tree with my arms crossed as I watched him.

It took him a few minutes to notice me, and when he did, he jumped and cursed.

"Fuck!," he had a hand on his chest, over his racing heart. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry, it was just funny that you didn't see me," I laughed and pushed my hair out of my face since the wind blew it in my face. Before he could argue with me, I reminded him why we were here. "I'm giving you one chance to explain your actions."

"First, I want to say that I'm really sorry," he started.

"I want to know why you told us to stay away from each other," I ignored his apology. I knew I was kind of being an ass, but I just wanted to get this over with.

He sighed and began explaining, "Axel and I are in the same pack. His dad is the beta. The reason I told you to stay away from him is because he has a history of being violent. Kit, he has killed people. He killed his own uncle! I don't want you getting hurt. I overheard him telling his friends about you being his mate, and I panicked. I told him to stay away from you or I would tell you, well, what I just told you. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed. I feel bad because I know how hard it must have been for him. I'm so sorry, Kit. I hope you can forgive me." Jace was in tears at this point.

I didn't know what to say. I know I should have been scared. I wasn't though. Surprisingly.

You'd think that I would freak out because I was fated to be mated to someone that killed his own uncle.

I could only think about one thing though.

I'd killed someone. Not only that, I almost killed another student, too.

I couldn't help myself from comparing myself to him in that way. I already knew that some people think I'm a murderer. Obviously, people think of Axel in the same way. People don't know what happened to me; why I had killed someone. It was probably the same thing for Axel, too.

"Jace, have you ever considered that maybe you don't know the full story?," I asked him and he wiped his tears away, looking at me in confusion.

"What do you mean? I know he killed someone. Isn't that enough?"

"People think of me the same way before they find out the person I killed was actually my rapist. People don't know the full story, and some call me a murderer. Have you let him explain himself?"

He was silent for a moment, thinking about what I said. "Well, no. I haven't," is all he said.

"I know I don't know a lot about mates, but I do know that he would never hurt me. I can see it in his eyes," I said, "Jace, I know you just wanted to protect me. I appreciate that, but you need to consider that there could be more to the story. Okay?"

He nodded and started crying again. I hated seeing him cry. It made me want to pull him in a big hug and not let him go until he was finished. I needed to finish this conversation, though.

"You're right. I'm really sorry," he sniffled and I could see him bite his lip. That was something he would do when he had something to say.

"There's something else. Say it," I told him and he sighed.

"How did you know?"

"Don't worry about that. Just tell me whatever it is that's bothering you."

"Fine," he said then mumbled something.

"You're going to need to speak up. I couldn't hear you," I chuckled.

"I said, I was also jealous," he muttered and blushed. He looked down at the ground.

"You have nothing to be jealous about. Even if anything happens between Axel and me, you wouldn't lose me. Okay?," I assured him and he smiled.

"Thank you, Kit. Do you forgive me?"

"I will forgive you, if you apologize to Axel. Deal?," I answered and he nodded.

"Deal." I smiled and pulled him into a hug. He held onto me tightly, and didn't let go until it was time for lunch.

We walked together to the dining hall, then separated to go to our tables. I frowned when I didn't see Eli.

He was supposed to have finished the test at least ten minutes ago. Had something happened to him?

I left the dining hall and walked towards the testing room. Once I finally reached the hallway it was in, I froze at the sight before me.

Axel and Eli were hungrily making out. Axel had Eli pressed against the wall, not even a little room between them, and Eli's legs were wrapped around Axel's waist. Axel's hands were cupping Elijah's ass, and Elijah's hands were tangled in Axel's hair. I heard them moan, and saw them grinding their hips together.

Honestly, I felt a little jealous. The jealously made me feel a little angry and before I could stop myself from saying something I would regret, I said, "Wow. You haven't even been here a whole 24 hours, and I catch you about to have sex with Axel. You should have told me if you were interested in each other. I'm so fucking tired of people going behind my back."

I turned around and walked to our room. I locked the door behind me, and laid down in bed. I pulled the blanket over my head and ignored the tears that were stinging my eyes.

I felt betrayed. I knew it was stupid, but I couldn't help but feel hurt.

I closed my eyes, hoping I could sleep away the pain.

I was so tired of getting hurt.

❤️