Page 49 of Fortune Fae Academy

Still he ignored me.

Okay. Now I’m starting to get pissed off.

He began the long process of unfolding the religious garment with the care and respect it most certainly didn’t deserve. Not after what that part of his life had done to him.

Most fae knew the House of Wisdom through their jewelry and their renowned power over the Web, but I knew the truth. They were a bunch of hypocritical religious zealots.

My House wasn’t much better. The House of Iron were the blacksmiths of the Fortune Fae and treated as such.

Like lower-class citizens.

And my family had taken the scraps, expecting me to build up our status by heading to the Academy and finding myself a powerful mate-circle to bring us out of poverty. After seeing the Omegas of my House and how they were treated, I had no interest in subjecting one to an Alpha’s control.

Leaving me ostracized, at least until now. My parents would welcome me home with open arms if I returned with my Alpha’s bites on display. They’d see it as a badge of honor, not the trauma it was.

Fuck the Houses.

That was a sentiment Zeke and I had always shared.

We had both left our Houses as soon as we were old enough to attend the Academy. Finding each other had been an answer to our prayers.

Zeke used to be religious. Maybe he still was, in his own way.

I wasn’t, but even I admitted to muttering a prayer or two that my shit life could have at least one good thing happen to it.

Zeke had been that thing.

But now he’s being a dick.

“Zeke,” I said through gritted teeth.

The only evidence that he’d heard me at all was a momentary pause from working on the oversized sleeves of the robe.

Then he continued.

Growling, I slammed into him from behind, blocking him in with my arms as I pressed my hips against his ass. “Deaf, mute,andblind? You’re pushing the pity card a bit far, Zeke.”

Despite my aggressive approach to get Zeke to talk, he locked his arms and refused to acknowledge me.

Zeke had never treated me like this. From the very first moment we’d met, it had been us against the world.

I wrapped my arms around his middle and held him. “Zeke.Please, tell me what happened at the Collegium. Tell me why you aren’t with Gina and the Alphas.”

Clearly, something terrible had happened. And I felt like a shit mate for not being there for him.

I should never have let him and Gina go to the Collegium alone.

He trembled as his walls seemed to fracture under my new tactic to get him to talk.

“I can’t,” he whispered, his voice filled with so much pain that I wanted nothing more than to kiss his worries away.

“You can’t, or you won’t?” I pressed as I rested my chin on his shoulder. He held us up as he kept his arms locked, his gaze fixed on the now disheveled robe on the bed. Its emblems were theonly blips of contrast against the dark material, displaying silver runes that represented various religious meanings I’d never cared to learn.

Because that wasn’t part of Zeke’s life anymore—or it wasn’t supposed to be.

His warm scent made me tighten my grip on him. He’d always smelled sweet to my senses.

Tasted sweet, too.