Page 6

Chapter Six

Juno

I stared at the beautiful words Remi had sent me, “ I was just surprised when I saw you. ” Those words had to mean he wasn’t rejecting me, right? That he wasn’t saddened to be mated with me? I at least hoped so. I’d been restless ever since he’d turned my world around, only to leave me behind, confused and with a broken heart. I’d briefly thought about chasing him, since my body longed to stay with him, and I was afraid of having my mate out of sight. But I’d stayed strong and fought every instinct as I’d watched his body disappear from my sight.

My new professor, Mr. Trent, had sent me an email about not attending my first class. It seemed like the sort of message he sent to several students who hadn’t shown up. But nonetheless I needed to fix that. My mate aside, I still had a job to do, and failing classes wasn’t part of it.

I got the brilliant idea of sending an email back to Mr. Trent, asking for a brief meeting. I couldn’t work my magic well enough from technology, so I needed to be in his presence for my charm to truly work. It had given me something to do while I figured out how to approach my mate again, without him escaping me. I was surprised when I got a response just an hour later from Mr. Trent that he had what he called open office hours now. I rushed down to find his office and after sitting down and being my charming self, I let my magic do its job.

It wasn’t noticeable for non-magic humans, and he likely didn’t feel anything off. My magic was like smoke, moving where I needed it to, doing whatever I wished, with certain limitations, of course. I selfishly searched his memories of anything related to my mate, wanting to know more. Remi. Mr. Trent wasn’t too fond of him, much to my displeasure. My poor mate wasn’t known for being on time or for showing up at all. I saw it all, while Mr. Trent was in somewhat of a daze, which allowed me to work through his mind efficiently. He wouldn’t remember anything, I made sure of that. But I also added something to his memories, something that rested on those limitations, almost making it illegal for me to do so. Memory alteration was something you were only allowed to do if it was truly needed, the same with searching through someone’s past. Remi being my mate allowed me to do it, not that I was even certain there were rules for our magic in this world, anyway. I saw he was failing Remi. I changed it so he would give Remi one last chance instead, and made sure that it would somehow involve me, the new guy. I was so clever.

My slate dinged with a new message. I still hadn’t responded to Remi’s message, too lost on how to respond properly.

Remi: Sorry for, you know, running off like that.

Shit, now he thought I wasn’t replying because I was upset? Well, I was, but not anymore. Quickly typing out a response I hoped would be seen as okay, I sent it, not wanting to stall again and make him worry.

Juno: No need to apologize. I was actually wondering if you’d like to meet up?

I had no idea if he wanted to be near me, but he texted me and told me he was just surprised. I had to trust that my mate felt the same as me. And it truly was a surprise, I had to give him that. My dick was equally confused, constantly getting hard whenever I pictured his green eyes.

Before Remi could respond, I called my father. I was in the safety of our dorm room and I needed his advice more than ever now.

“Are you in danger?!” My dad’s worried voice reached me before his face showed up in the projection. The other rulers were around him, likely worried since we were told not to contact them for a week.

“I found my mate!” I blurted. They watched me with astonishment, none of them blinking.

“What do you mean?” Henriette asked with clear confusion.

“He’s from this world,” I explained, even though they must’ve gathered that already. I wasn’t worried that they would keep us apart or anything like that, even though mating with non-magic humans wasn’t something we ever thought possible, or at least they hadn’t told my team and me if they had seen it as a possibility.

They gasped in unison and then Trise’s face was all I could see. “Are you certain?” She smiled hopefully.

“I am.” I had zero doubt that Remi was mine.

“That’s wonderful news, son!” Dad gushed excitedly. “My son has found his mate! We need to celebrate as soon as possible.” I grimaced. Considering how Remi had acted meeting me just hours before, I couldn’t imagine him taking another world too well.

“Um, we need to wait with the celebrations a bit,” I said rather sheepishly. It was normal to mate the same day you met, since the urges were mostly too strong to fight and why would you want to wait anyway when you found your person? Many mated and had a celebration with family and friends a few days later. That was just normal for us. But Remi was a non-magic human from another world, and I had to take into account that they might do things differently here.

“Why?” Dad asked, concerned. I was his only child, my mother died when I was ten, leaving just me and my dad. I knew that was why my leaving had been hard for him.

“Well,” I started, already embarrassed. “I went over and introduced myself to him, called him beautiful, because he really is,” I added. “And then he kind of… ran .” I waited for a gasp, lecture, hell even a laugh, but when they just stared and waited for me to go on, I continued. “He might not realize we’re mates. I know they’re able to feel attraction and romantic feelings here, having seen it myself. But they might do things differently from us. What should I do?”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Henriette said thoughtfully. “You might scare him off if you tell him of our world. And if he told someone who then tells someone else, you and the others could be in danger.” I felt anger rise within me. How dared she think so lowly of my Remi. He wouldn’t do that! “He needs to trust you before you tell him about our world. Try befriending him first, then do some research about how these humans mate.” My anger subsided as the logic of her words registered in me. Befriend him . I could do that.

“I don’t want to lie,” I admitted. Lying to Remi felt wrong, since he was supposed to be the one person I could tell anything to. My person.

It was Dad who spoke this time. “We trust that you’ll do and say what you find acceptable.” That eased some of my worries.

“Thanks. I’ll do my best,” I reassured them. “I promise to keep you updated.” I hung up and noticed that Remi had responded.

Remi: Um, sure. When?

I couldn’t help smiling. I was so glad I found his room, not a hard thing to do with my magic, having access to find the information through the school system. It seemed that technology was easy enough for me when it involved my mate, and since I got his name from my meeting with Mr. Trent, it all worked out perfectly. His roommate assured me he would give him the note, after sniffing the air around me a little too obviously. I decided not to think too hard about that part, maybe it was normal here.

Just as I was about to reply, Nix walked in. “You found your mate?!” I was a little disappointed our rulers had told the others. I’d wanted to tell Nix and Charlotta myself. But I knew they worked freakishly fast whenever there was gossip involved.

“Yeah,” I grinned as he closed the door behind him. “He’s in one of my classes.”

“That’s amazing! What’s he like?” I couldn’t stop smiling as I thought about how wonderful Remi was, even without knowing him, yet. I told Nix everything, filling him in on my dilemma and that I’d yet to reply when I wanted to see Remi.

“Then reply, you idiot!” Nix blurted, shoving my slate against my face, like that would make me work faster. I laughed and started typing.

Juno: Tomorrow?

When the message was sent, I saw several new ones waiting from our team.

Nolen: Juno! I just heard from the rulers! They told me you found your mate! And that he’s from this world?

Evie: What!?

Charlotta: Congratulations, Juno!

Nim: I didn’t even know that was a possibility! Congrats!

Nolen: Neither did the rulers! They are all buzzing with excitement! They hope we all find mates here. Can you imagine if we can procreate with non-magic humans? This could be our answer to save our dwindling numbers and maybe the magic!

Sid : I can’t wait to hear more about your mate, Juno. Is he okay with you not being his kind of human?

I looked at all the messages and took a calming breath before replying.

Juno: Thanks! I still don’t know him that well and I need to research more about how these humans mate. Could you all help me with that? I need to spend my time getting to know my mate so anything you could help with would be greatly appreciated.

Juno: Also, I’m not allowed to tell him my true identity before I fully trust him. I’ll keep you updated on that.

A reply from Remi came through, diverting my focus to him as I closed the other messages down.

Remi: I would like that. I heard you’re new around here, so maybe the harbor? They have a few places to eat that aren’t too expensive.

He’d asked around about me? The thought made me smile. And he wanted to eat with me? I’d thought we would meet up to talk or something, but eating was much more intimate.

Remi: Or we can just walk around talking. I’d like for us to be friends.

Was he nervous? Maybe I was taking too long smiling like an idiot when I should be replying.

Juno: Food sounds good, I’ll pay. And I’d like to be your friend.

It sounded awfully childish, but I’d already sent the message.

Remi: You don’t have to pay, it’s not like it’s a date, lol

Oh. That left me feeling like shit. I was so out of my comfort zone here, not knowing how this mating thing worked for him. I kept getting mixed signals, but maybe he truly meant the friend thing as friends only. Was that how they treated their mates here? It was horrible. I wanted kisses, dammit!

Juno: Oh, okay.

I didn’t really know what to reply, so I opted for that and not what I truly wanted to write, which would be, “please love me and have my babies”.