Page 3 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

3

DEXTER

I ’d fucking rejected my fated mate after she’d forgiven me.

The damp chill of the caverns settled into my bones, but it paled in comparison to the icy grip of raw terror that clenched my heart like a fucking vise.

Poppy would have killed her if I hadn’t.

Each breath I took mingled with the stagnant air.

But I rescinded it. I fucking rescinded it with every part of my heart and soul.

“Pandora…” I cradled her in my trembling arms as shards of tourmalyke bit into my knees on the unforgiving stone.

My mind raced with images of Poppy’s shadows lashing out at my mate.

She tried to destroy the one soul in Kalista that I couldn’t live without. In the depths of my anguish, I clung to the bitter truth that Pandora had killed Poppy—our captor and my mother. Her lifeless body sprawled just a few feet away from us. Somewhere deep within me, the fleeting notion of vengeance for my sister had been partially fulfilled, but it felt hollow.

“Please, wake up.” Each gentle shake of her shoulders was a plea to the Fates, a desperate invocation of everything I believed in.

The Fates had fucked up so royally. We deserved to be compensated.

“Come on, trouble. I can’t do this without you. I can’t…” My throat tightened, choking on the weight of my words.

I had rejected our matebond, a choice that impaled my chest like a jagged knife. The agony of that decision reverberated within me, a cruel echo that taunted every beat of my heart. But I knew Poppy; she would’ve decapitated Pandora just to spite me.

In that horrible fucking moment when she gave me the order to reject her, I felt I had no other choice without killing Pandora.

The dark magic that had coursed through my veins granted me the courage to act, to save her life—but at what cost?

What if she accepted the rejection? Or worse, rejected me back?

But she hadn’t.

She refused to.

“I take it back. I take it all back,” I murmured again, tears spilling over and splashing onto her skin, mingling with the remnants of blood that surrounded us.

“I rescind the rejection. I want you, Pandora. Baby, please …” I buried my face against her neck, inhaling her sweet, caramel scent as I rescinded the rejection again.

She lay still in my arms, and madness threatened to consume me entirely if I didn’t see her red eyes soon.

“I’m sorry,” I croaked. “I promise I’ll never hurt you again. Wake up for me, fated. ”

A flicker of warmth surged within me as a soft sigh escaped her lips. It was like a wisp of light in this suffocating darkness, and it banished the madness to the corners of my mind.

Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing depths of pain and longing that mirrored my own. “Dex,” she rasped.

“Pandora.” Relief washed over me, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

Our reconnected matebond surged to life as she lifted herself up. Her lips found mine with a desperate urgency.

Fucking Fates. My mate was kissing me ? —

The kiss ignited a fire in my very soul, a flame that chased away the shadows and madness that lurked in the corners of my mind. I wasn’t haunted by any of it right now.

Pandora’s lips were on mine, and the bond surged between us, strong and undeniable, weaving us together.

The Fates had answered my prayers.

“I don’t ever want to feel your rejection again,” she croaked, pulling away slightly, her breath mingling with mine.

“I promise. I promise I’ll never do it again, trouble. You’re my fated, and I accept our bond with every fiber of my fucking soul,” I gasped out, my heart racing as the bond pulsed between us. “I’d seal our bond now if you wanted me to.”

Our matebond was the only thing holding me together.

She was the only thing that stopped me from spiraling with the dark magic, and she would always be the one thing that gave me the power to hold on to my sanity.

“Not yet, Dex.” Her red lips curved into the softest smile, but her red eyes shimmered with a mix of relief and something deeper—an understanding of the darkness we had fought, but also of the light that still flickered between us. “But I forgive you.”

“You do?” I croaked, tears spilling down my cheeks, each drop a testament to my fear of losing her forever. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” She cupped my face with her hands and pressed her lips to mine again. Tension rippled through her as she pulled back and darted her gaze around the cavern. “Where’s Vane?”

“Fuck.” I tried to run my hand through my matted hair, but yanked it away. I was too focused on Pandora to keep track of that bitch.

“She ran when he broke the collar around your neck,” Jenni’s voice cracked.

I jolted.

Behind us, in that damned cage, Jenni and Craven huddled together. They’d been keeping each other company through all of this as they bore witness to the horrors Poppy inflicted upon us. Honestly, I couldn’t pay mind to anyone but my mate. I’d forgotten that she and Craven were with us.

“I’m so sorry.” Pandora let out a whimper as she tried to stand, as if the weight of the world weighed down on her. But it didn’t, and it wouldn’t. Not as long as I was there.

“Not your fault,” Craven wheezed before I could. His voice was barely audible, yet filled with a sincerity that cut through the despair. “You saved my life.”

“You saved mine, too,” Jenni cried softly as she clung to Craven. “None of this is on you, Pandora. This is Dark Veil’s doing.”

“They’re right,” I told her. “You’ve saved all of us. Me included.”

Pandora’s expression shifted as she turned toward the dark tunnel of the cavern, her eyes fluttering shut. “I can feel them….” Her breath hitched. “I talked to Reed in his dreamscape. I told him where we were.”

“Thank fuck,” I murmured, holding Pandora tighter. “See? You’re constantly saving us, trouble.”

Our bond pulsated between us, and it was a beacon of eternal hope amidst the encroaching darkness of that fucking cult. But Poppy didn’t win—not this time. And she’d never win again.

As long as I had Pandora, I’d keep hold of the small shred of sanity I had left.