The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 290

Claim

Council Decission-1

The Council’s decision for an evaluation had barely been announced before the news exploded across the kingdom like wildfire.

Within hours, every pack, every territory, every corner of the supernatural world knew that Headmaster Attia Scott-the enigmatic, powerful, untouchable headmaster of the Lycan Academy-had mated with a first-year medical student from a Delta family

The scandal was unprecedented.

The gossip was relentless.

And the Academy campus was in complete and utter shock.

Lori stood at the window of Attia’s office, staring down at the courtyard below. Students milled about in clusters, their heads bent together, their voices rising and falling in animated discussion. Every few seconds, someone would glance up at the headmaster’s window, their eyes wide with curiosity and disbelief.

“They’re still talking about it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Attia came up behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders.

“Of course they are,” he said. “It’s not every day that the headmaster reveals he’s mated to a student.”

Lori’s stomach churned.

“This is a nightmare,” she murmured. “Everyone is staring at me. Everyone is whispering about me. I can’t even walk to class without-”

Attia turned her to face him, his dark eyes steady and sure.

“Look at me,” he said softly.

She did.

“None of that matters,” he said. “Their opinions, their whispers, their gossip-none of it matters. What matters is us. What matters is that we are mated, that the Council has recognized our current bond, and that no one can take that away from us.”

Lori nodded, but the knot in her stomach didn’t loosen.

She had wanted to keep their mating secret. Had wanted to wait until the situation with the Council was sorted out, until they had a plan for dealing with his family, until the dust had settled.

But Iva and Caleb had advised them otherwise.

**Go public,”* Iva had said, her voice urgent over the phone. *”The bigger the splash, the better. If everyone knows, the Council will be under pressure to recognize the bond. They won’t risk the backlash of denying a fated mating that’s already public knowledge.”*

13

Council Decision-1

Claim

*She’s right. Caleb had added. “The Council is a political body. They respond to pressure. If the entire kingdom believes you’re mated, they won’t dare challenge it.”*

And so, against their initial instincts, they had let the news spread.

Now, the entire campus knew.

Now, the entire kingdom knew.

And there was no taking it back.

Lori’s first class after the announcement was excruciating.

She walked into the lecture hall and felt every pair of eyes snap toward her. The whispers started immediately, a low hum of speculation that followed her all the way to her seat.

“Is that her?”

“The one who mated the headmaster?”

“She doesn’t look like much.”

“I heard she trapped him. Used the heat to force the bond.”,

“Did you see the marks on her neck? She’s definitely claimed.”

Lori kept her eyes forward, her face expressionless, her hands clenched in her lap. She focused on the professor’s voice, on the notes in front of her, on anything other than the stares burning into her back.

But it was impossible.

The lecture hall was filled with students who had known her before-who had seen her as just another scholarship student, just another face in the crowd. Now, they looked at her like she was a stranger. Like she had become someone else overnight.

The professor called on her.

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