Theo's younger self swirls around my head. A ten-year-old boy is wearing a bored look on his face. His white uniform has smudges of blood and dirt. He is holding a baseball bat and on his feet is a trembling and wounded student that is halfway on his werewolf shift.
'What teacher?! You plan to annoy me too?!' he asks. 'Want to replace him on the ground?'
'Eugene! Students already know you are strong! There is no need to keep on reminding them!'
'Yeah, but some of them still think, that because they are werewolves, they are so much better than I am!'
Another set of images flashes in my mind. Moments of Theo bullying the other students and moments that I stop him until he is too annoyed that his focus turns on me instead. However, it didn't last long. The next set of memories shows how Theo is surrounded by ocean water. They are on a ship for their school trip. He makes a promise that he will make a show of overcoming ocean magic, or else he will die trying.
He really almost died. And so, she helps him, gives him pointers-all done so that he won't waste his life. However, heaving from exhaustion and visibly more powerful, he snaps at me.
'Stop being a f*ucking hindrance! You stop my outlet to relieve stress! You are too strong to be bullied! And now, you don't want me to kill myself?! You even help me gain power! So, fuck off! Leave me be!'
'Born into common people. Orphaned because the kings deem your parents as political enemies. I am sorry, Eugene. Even the Duran King agreed to punish your parents when all they did is reveal the Orttenburg's corruption.'
'I don't need your pity! I will be strong enough until I avenge them!'
'Rather than revenge, live with me. Stay with me. I am always alone anyway. I can teach you. And when that's done, once you have controlled both your magic, strength, and temper. You can leave anytime you want.'
'You will let me live with you?'
'Yes, it will be fun. Just a warning, I… you might find me a weird roommate.'
Different memories and scenes replace the ocean trip again. I watch how I lived with him. Those are happy memories. We had fun times doing things together. His disposition changes into that of a more calm teenager. When he was sixteen years old, when he places first on the national mock exam, he starts giving me flowers. At eighteen years old, he confesses he loves me.
'Thank you, Eugene, but you know that werewolves have mates.'
'You have one? I have never seen one.'
'Because my mate is busy.'
'Too busy to be with you?'
'Right now, I am mated to the Duran King, Eugene. I haven't marked him so I can be away from him.'
'But is it forever? You can mate with me too.'
'I only mate with kings.'
After his confession, the scene transitions again. He is twenty years old, already graduating top of his class in just two years. I am telling him that I need to leave him soon. That he can support himself already. I can see that my face is red and I am trying to control myself. It's obvious I am on my estrus. It's time to meet with my mate again even if he told me not to come because of the danger. However, as I am leaving, he traps me.
'The Duran king is at war and he is losing!'
'All the more I need to go to him!'
'No, Kaiya! You will die!'
He grabs me and pushes me down the floor. Without hesitation, he touches my crotch.
'Stop! I am your teacher!'
'I am graduating, so you won't be my teacher anymore! Besides, I haven't been coming to school because I already have a job!'
'Stop, Eugene!'
His touches become intimate, and I see myself shivering in both pain and pleasure. Soon, my protests decrease, and I allow him to touch me more. I even guided his fingers to enter me. I was screaming at the overwhelming pleasure as he focuses on the spot I told him.
There is a shift in the scenes again. I am telling him again that we need to separate because my presence in his life is doing more harm than good in the meantime. I will also stop teaching because of what happened between us.
Yet, he snaps with a, 'Your mate is no longer the Duran King.'
'I know.'
'Why would you know that? Did you get a hold of him?'
'Because my mate's bond with him got severed yesterday. And it's not due to death.'
'So, your mate bond depends on your mate's position?'
'Yes, something about who I am.'
Another shift and the next scene is of lavender strewn across the floor and furniture of the apartment. Vases have been filled with it. He is standing in the middle of everything while holding a massive bouquet of lavender. At twenty-two, he's confessing his love again. He asks if I am not yet tired of the way the gods are guiding my life. He says that together, we can go against it.
The next that happened is that we are kissing each other and when our lips separate, he promises, 'Someday, I will be King and you will mate with me. I will shower you with love and luxury. We will deserve each other and I will prove to you that in your long life, we are meant to be with each other. And then, we can both test the gods.'
A rebellious smile appears on my face. 'Let's do a vow then.'
He nods and presses his forehead against mine. 'Call me Theo and I will continue calling you Kaiya.'
I cup his cheeks and promise, 'Theo, even if you are not my mate, I promise that I will learn to love and cherish you and it will continue forever, even if the gods and fate may try to separate us.'
He smiles. He grabs my cheeks and promises the same thing. 'Kaiya, even if you are not yet my mate, I promise that I will love and cherish you forever, even if the gods and fate may try to separate us.'
Then we start to incessantly make love. I watch our limbs and sweaty bodies intertwined together. As if in ecstasy, I watch how we pant in resignation, moan, and scream. I watch how we succumb to pleasure while being engulfed by the smell of lavender.
Then memories transition into a darker tone. Assassins enter the school while I am delivering a farewell speech to my students. They are looking for the Duran King's secret lover. The new Duran king wants to ensure that the secret lover is not pregnant.
I am reasoning out with them. However, they also come for my student werewolves, other than to kill me. My students cower in fear when they could have fought back. And so, I face them. I am fighting them when suddenly, I feel my previous mate, the Duran King, dying… and being tortured. Our mate bond had been severed, so why can I still feel it?
In a searing pain, I drop to the ground. The next I become aware is when half of my student werewolves are dead. Mad hatred follows. I am no longer thinking when I take a hold of their mind and control them. The battle continues until the source of my anger is all dead. The police arrived and see our state. But rather than choosing to protect us, they become afraid and kill some of my transformed students.
The werewolf parents arrive and before things escalate, I take a hold of their minds so no more killing will happen. Then, before I lose my memory, I asked the other werewolves to come and take the surviving werewolves somewhere. They must fake their deaths, so it will appear that only Theo and I survived. And then, I lose my memory the instant I set foot on the island hunting park.