MERRIELYNN. Monday morning rolled around, and I still hadn’t heard a word from Cormac. I had spent most of the weekend staring into my phone, but his presence could not be felt anywhere. With each passing day, my frustration only increased. I tried to push it all aside; it wasn’t that important, right? I had bigger things to focus on than my moon-given, unhinged mate potentially losing his cool and marking me forcefully—or worse. More important things like my education. The school day dragged on, each class blurring into the next, and I found myself lost in thought, my mind wandering to everything but the lessons. There was this one class where the teacher realized I had zoned out and asked a question, but I didn’t even hear it. “Huh?” I blurted when someone sitting next to me tapp

