Page 12 of Untamed

Fear trickles in. Rejected mates is a much bigger problem than I ever expected. “It can’t be that hard for someone to watch your two mates back at Daybreak and figure out the truth, though.”

Mia’s face falls. “You’re forgetting the other part to the bond, Kinsey. If we do that to them, and they’re cast out, made to go Feral, what will that do to us? Sure, we might be leaving here, but only to face a life without the one thing that’s supposed to hold us together.” She shivers.

I blink at her. I never thought of that. We really are fucked here.

Mia lets out a breath. “I know. Heavy shit. It’s always heavy shit. I hope you brought Xanax.”

We eat in silence until a woman in a business suit approaches our table. Mia gazes up first, and when the woman clears her throat, I peer up, too. “Miss Walker, Ms. Ebon would like to see you in her office when you’re done with breakfast.”

My heart sinks. “Thank you,” I tell the woman.

Her friendly smile unnerves me. I watch her leave, and Mia informs me it’s the academy’s secretary. She works for all eight advisors, and of course, the head of Greystone.

“Who’s the head of the academy?” I ask, kicking myself for falling asleep instead of reading the manual.

“Sister to your alpha.” Her lips thin. “She hates all of us.”

My stomach plummets, and everything I just ate threatens to come right back up. That would be Lydia Greystone—the worst accuser of my parents’ relationship.

That’s fantastic. The woman is already predisposed to hate me, so this should end well.

6

Deflated and annoyed, I trudge to Ms. Ebon’s office after breakfast. Mia has to give me directions, but there are handy signs on some of the walls, so I should learn my way around sooner rather than later and not have to ask where I’m going all the time.

I knock heavily on the gigantic, wooden door. “Come in,” she calls.

The door creaks as I swing it open. Ms. Ebon stays behind her desk and gestures toward the chair across from her. I take a seat, the wood protesting under my weight. When I asked Mia what she thought my advisor wanted to meet me about, she said she didn’t know but guessed it had something to do with my schedule if I hadn’t gotten that yet.

Instead, the first words out of Ms. Ebon’s mouth shock me. “I need you to fill out this questionnaire about Jonah.” I take it from her, and after quickly scanning it, I peer back at her with a frown. “Are you kidding?”

“That’s the second time you’ve asked me that. I’ll once again assure you, Kinsey, that I have a very important job to do. My methods work, so if you would please fill out the questionnaire, I will share some information with you.”

I tap my feet against the floor and read through the paper again. This is different than anything I could’ve imagined.Do you find your mate attractive? What could your mate do to help you find them more attractive? Do you like his/her personality?This sounds more like I’m signing up for online dating.

I study Ms. Ebon from the corner of my eye, but she’s already moved on to other work. This seems like a freaking waste of time. We’re talking about fate here, right? What does it matter if we find them attractive when it was meant to be?

With a sigh, I resign myself to filling the form out. I pluck a pen from her mug of writing utensils and get to work.

Do I find Jonah attractive?A part of me wants to get revenge and say “no, he’s a petty asshole.” But Jonah is a god, to put it lightly. I’ve always lusted after him, to be honest. Every female wolf did. It’s actually shocking that Jonah would have a problem with his mate. Which means, obviously, I am the problem, aren’t I?

The form leaves a huge space for me to answer the question, but I don’t feel particularly loquacious about this topic, so I just writeYes. It kills me to do it.

What could your mate do to help you find them more attractive?I smirk. Ha. That’s easy.Don’t be a dick, I write in the box. Then, because apparently I am talkative about this topic, I keep going.It would be nice to have a mate that was open-minded and wouldn’t jump to conclusions. I find that really sexy.

Do you like his/her personality?

Ha. Another good one.Not particularly. I was treated like an outsider since I was a pup due to something that’s not true and completely out of my control.

I tap my pencil against the wooden desk, thinking. My statement is entirely accurate. However, thinking back, Jonah was always nice and respectful to others. I can’t remember a time when he participated in talking shit about me either. He didn’t stop it, but he didn’t actively participate. He just ignored me. I bite my lip and add:But I saw him be nice and respectful to other people, so that’s not all that bad.

I fill out the rest of the form, trying hard not to roll my eyes at some of the other questions, includingWhat would you want to do on a date? What do you like to eat? If you could go anywhere, where would you go?There are more questions concerning him, too, as well as abstract ones likeWhat would you want in an ideal guy?To that, I answer:Just someone to come home to that will accept me for me.

It’s a little too much like a dating profile, but I go with it. Ms. Ebon has awesome statistics, so she must be doing something right. At least, I have to tell myself that because the alternative is too scary.

“Finished,” I tell Ms. Ebon.

She holds her hand out. “Excellent.”

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