by Laura Wylde
“What are you doing?” Duncan hissed at me as he sat beside me. He shot an awkward look at Megan before glaring at me once more. “Why are you tormenting her? She doesn’t seem to want us around.”
I shrugged and smirked at him. He might have felt the negative vibes coming off of Megan. Hell! I could feel them too, I wasn’t exactly an idiot, but at the same time I knew that deep down she wanted us. They all did. That wasn’t me being an arrogant asshole, but all the druidesses at the academy had made their feelings about us very clear. We were one of the most lusted after clan which was a nice position for all of us to be in. We had a choice…
But maybe having too many choices might have been the issue. Every woman wanted us, but we hadn’t found the one that we all agreed on. None of them felt quite right for the whole clan, which was an issue. But maybe this woman here, the only one who didn’t seem to give us any attention at all, was the one. She certainly intrigued me in a way that no other woman had done before. I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe I wanted the one thing I couldn’t have…
“Oh God.” Duncan threw his head in to his hands in dismay when I didn’t answer. “What are you playing at?”
“It will be fine,” I insisted. “Don’t worry about it. Just sit back and enjoy this class, will you?”
The less Megan looked my way, the more I wanted her to. Even as the teacher started droning on about demons, somehow managing to make them really boring, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. There was something really nice and sweet about her. She didn’t seem like an overtly sexual druidess who would have the whole world wanting her, there was a subtle sexiness to her. Almost as if she didn’t know how stunning she was. I liked her flame red, slightly wavy hair that seemed hard to tame, her piercing blue eyes, the smattering of freckles across her button nose. I even enjoyed the sweetheart shape to her face and the way she dressed plain, almost as if her body lying underneath was a secret that I was utterly desperate to unwrap and hold. Yep, I was going to have to get to know little miss O’Malley, even if it took some effort to do so. I couldn’t stop myself.
“I thought that you had a thing with that Zena going on at the moment?” Trevor asked quietly. He was also darting suspicious looks at Megan as if he didn’t know whether or not he could trust her. “What’s going on?”
“No, she has been after us. Not the other way around.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not interested.”
“But she is right up your street, isn’t she? For fun, I mean. I thought that you would like her.”
I completely ignored Trevor then and turned towards Artemis who had a much more serene look on his face. He had taken his seat happily and was looking at Megan as if he liked the look of her. Yes, this was good. Someone was going to be on my side when it came to trying to get to know Megan little bit better.
The party raged on around me, everyone was having just the best time dancing and laughing along to the very loud music. Once upon a time, I was sure that parties such as this one wouldn’t have been allowed, but in this more politically correct era, where the teachers needed us to mix more with one another, they turned a blind eye. As long as no one’s work at the academy slipped, there wasn’t going to be a problem.
Usually, I enjoyed all of these events. I found them a lot of fun, but tonight I was restless. I just couldn’t settle and enjoy myself. My eyes kept darting around the room as if I was looking for someone in particular, and that hadn’t gone unnoticed. Duncan kept desperately trying to get my attention, but I was too distracted to pay attention.
Deep down, I knew who I was looking for as well, which really irritated me. The one girl who was starting to piss me off more than intrigue me. Megan freaking O’Malley. I wanted to get to know her and had spent the last couple of weeks trying to make that happen. Every demonology class was another chance to chat to her, to try and bring down her walls, but it wasn’t happening. She continued to push me away, made it obvious that I annoyed her, and it was beginning to become an issue for me. I was more than willing to put in some effort, but I didn’t need to put in this much, it was absolutely crazy. What the hell did she want from me? Did she want me to lie down on the floor in front of her and fucking beg her to look my damn way? Because that would never happen.
“Woah, you are all raging.” Trevor touched my arm. “Look at you, making fists. You aren’t about to start a fight, are you? Because this is a great party and I don’t think we need to start something out here.”
“I’m not about to start a fight.” I shook my head hard. “I think I just need to get out of here.”
“But why?” Duncan demanded. “Something is going on with you. Why won’t you just talk to us about it?”
“I don’t have anything to talk about,” I insisted. “I’m just not having a good time here, that’s all.”
I couldn’t explain it, not even to my clan. It was embarrassing to have my head all in knots over this woman. It hadn’t ever happened before. I wasn’t that guy who got all emotional about someone. Especially someone who wasn’t giving me the same back. I couldn’t let these guys know that I was a mess inside.
“Oh God.” And then I caught a glimpse of Zena coming our way which was the last thing I needed. “Yeah, guys, I really need to get the hell out of here. I can’t do it. It’s winding me up. I will see you back at the room.”
Before any of them could stop me, I stalked out of the party and down the hallway. My mind was churning violently the whole time, I couldn’t stop my brain from lashing out at everyone internally, so as I passed the library and bumped into the figure of my despair exiting with her head held high as if she wasn’t causing all the problems.
“Oh you,” I sneered at her, grabbing her focus. “What are you doing here? Working instead of partying?”
To be fair to Megan, she did look a little taken aback by my change of attitude towards her, which wasn’t much of a surprise. I had turned from the charming, look-how-good-my-harem-is, to a dick but I couldn’t stop myself.
“Er, yes.” She clutched the books tighter to her chest, almost as if she wanted to protect herself from me. “I don’t need to party, thank you very much. I have a lot that I would like to catch up on.”
“Demonology books? But you’re the most focused in the class. Why are you doing extra?”
“Maybe that isn’t the question you should be asking,” she snapped while giving me one shouldered shrug. “Maybe you should be worried about why you aren’t working extra. Especially in demonology. It’s important that we are all clued up on everything, isn’t it? I mean, we don’t know, an apocalypse could be coming.”
“Oh my God.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing nastily at her naivety. “You are serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course, I am! Why wouldn’t I be?” She threw her hands in the air in frustration. “Why else are we here?”
I dragged my tongue along my bottom lip. “I think you will find that the primary reason we are here is to find our harem, to expand our races and to make sure that the magical community keeps on going all the time.”
And there it was again… the adorable bright redness on her cheeks every time anyone mentioned anything romantic.
No, not adorable, I cursed myself angrily. She isn’t adorable at all. Megan is a prissy bitch. It angered me that I even allowed myself to think the word ‘adorable’ when it came to Megan was annoying. I hate her.
“But that’s going to be an issue for you, isn’t it? Because no one seems to like you.” I shrugged, trying to play off the horrible words that were flying out of my mouth. I couldn’t believe that I was even saying them, yet I couldn’t prevent them from continuing to roll off my tongue either. “I have everyone here wanting me and my guys because we’re the best harem around. Any woman would be lucky to have us. You are a different story…”
“Wow, with that attitude it amazes me that you aren’t paired off already.” Now it was Megan’s turn to roll her eyes at me. “Because you know exactly what women want. Cock
iness, arrogance, basically an asshole. I’m sure it must have taken you a lot of time to work out the perfect formula for becoming basically a love god.”
She tried to walk away from me, but my arm lurched out on instinct to hold her in place to stop her from going anywhere. “It seems to work for most of the girls here,” I hissed. “It’s just you who is being a bitch.”
Her eyes remained fixed on my hand. I could tell that she didn’t like it there, but that didn’t make me move it.
“I am not a bitch,” she practically whispered back. “You don’t know anything about me at all.”
“No, no one does because you don’t make any effort. Maybe you should make some effort with people.”
She glared at me, the fire dancing behind her eyes causing a weird churning sensation in the pit of my stomach that was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Why was she doing this to me? I didn’t get it.
“I don’t need to ‘make effort’ with people like you, Connor.” She moved back away from me. “And clearly, you have an issue with me, so why not just leave me the hell alone. If you don’t like me, then don’t put yourself in the position to be anywhere near me. I don’t have anything to do with you, and you don’t need to have anything to do with me. Just leave me and spend time with all of those women that supposedly want you. If you can.”
Those words stung like a wasp. I felt pinched as she stalked away from me, but that didn’t stop me from watching the curve of her ass as she left. She was still sexy as hell, even when she made me mad. Maybe even more so. She really did hate me, and I was always popular, I couldn’t think of another person who had ever actively hated me before. I had to turn off any feelings about her now, I couldn’t get my head in a twist about her. She couldn’t see what I could offer her, or the other guys, then she didn’t deserve to be in our lives at all.
I would sit away from her; I wasn’t going to speak with her anymore. Any words that I would say would be filled with the same pure hatred that she spat my way. She was probably only jealous of me anyway, me and the other women at the academy that actually had a chance of being with us. Yeah, that had to be it, didn’t it?
“What the hell was that about?” Trevor demanded from behind me, making me jump. “We leave the party where we are all having a good time to check up on you, just to find you berating poor Megan? What the hell is going on? You can’t seem to leave her alone, and not in a good way at all. First, comes the aggressive flirting and now you are laying into her as she leaves the library? Connor, what the fuck is happening here?”
“She looks really upset…” Artemis joined in. “Should I check up on her?”
“No,” Duncan insisted as he rested his hands on both the guy’s shoulders. “No one is going anywhere. There has been tension going on between us for a while now and we need to fix it. Whether it is related to Megan or not.”
“Oh, it’s definitely related to Megan.” Trevor folded his arms across himself. “We just don’t know why. What is it, Connor? Do you like her or something? Or do you hate her? Because we can’t figure it out.”
The fact that the other guys had been talking behind my back about me fucking pissed me off further. I loved the guys in my harem, they were my best friends and brothers basically. I didn’t want to be separated from them, but something about Megan had gotten in the way of us. Now, I needed her gone more than ever. I actually wanted her out of the academy completely, so I didn’t have to deal with her ever again.
“I don’t like or hate her,” I growled back, still not being honest with them, which was probably part of the problem as well. “I don’t anything her. She is just an annoying nobody who I like to tease, that’s all.”
“Connor!” Artemis gasped. “You aren’t like that. I haven’t ever known you to be like that with anyone. Does she hurt your pride by not wanting you or something? Because that is really messed up. This isn’t you.”
I hated that comment, it was bullshit. I wasn’t acting out because my pride was hurt, that was utterly stupid. She pissed me off, that was all. To hurt my pride would have to mean that she got under my skin, which she definitely did not. I didn’t care about her one bit, she just needed to be swatted away like a fly.
“Well, perhaps you don’t know me as well as you think you do,” I snapped. “Maybe there is more to me.”
“Well, if there is then I don’t want to know this side of you.” I watched in horror as Artemis moved away from me too… not that I allowed that to show on my face. “Because it’s very unpleasant. You don’t need to be like that. She’s just a nice girl who is trying to get by here. I don’t know what sort of time she is having here, but I always see her alone so I don’t think teasing will make her experience better. This isn’t high school bullying shit.”
Those words hurt me, but I didn’t know how to respond. I wasn’t sure what to say. I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times as if something was about to come out, but only silence remained. I was never speechless. What the hell had happened to me? This was becoming very embarrassing by the moment.
“Look.” Duncan tried to be the peacekeeper. “Nothing good is going to come from keeping this conversation going, so let’s all go to the room and get some sleep. We will talk about it in the morning.”
I flickered my eyes between Artemis and Trevor, trying to find some kind of resolution there, but neither of them was looking at me at all. This definitely wasn’t going to get sorted out right now. Luckily, it seemed to me that Duncan wasn’t on anyone’s side about this, so he could be the one to make it better.
As we walked back to the room, following Duncan like naughty fucking school kids about to be grounded, I couldn’t help but think that it would be better not to bring a woman in to our mix at all. They only ever seemed to cause us issues because we couldn’t agree. Perhaps we needed to forget about future and think about now instead.
“What the hell is class in the library for?” I barked as I finally found the guys sitting around a table. “And why did no one tell me? I have been sitting in that fucking demonology classroom by myself for ages.”
Yep, it was safe to say that the morning hadn’t exactly brought with it any kind of resolution. We all just dressed in silence and started to get on with our day in the weirdest vibe ever. I didn’t like it at all. It didn’t even matter that it was my fault anymore, I simply wanted the tension from last night to dissipate.
“I did text you,” Duncan hissed. “You were late, that’s why. We did all start in the classroom.”
I was late on purpose, not that I was going to admit that, so I simply nodded and sat beside Trevor, immediately feeling the coldness flying off of him. The only person who wasn’t sitting with us was Artemis. I glanced around to find him sitting with the fucking enemy as if we weren’t fighting over her. What the hell was it about Megan?
“What is he doing?” I barked, no longer trying to bypass the awkwardness anymore. “Why is he with her?”
“She needed some help with something.” Duncan shrugged as if this was nothing, but I didn’t miss the sheepishness on his face. “Artemis offered, that’s all. I’m sure he will be back with us soon.”
“Why would he offer?” I couldn’t stop myself from demanding. “He doesn’t even know her, does he?”
“I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter to us. Come on, Connor, let’s just focus on what we need to do, shall we?”
I tried to remain calm because I didn’t want to have another blow up like last night, but that didn’t stop emotions simmering underneath the surface. I was utterly fuming and couldn’t concentrate on anything else. From here, it actually looked like he was bonding with her as well, getting along with Miss O’Malley with ease, which was the one thing that I had never been able to achieve, however hard I tried. Was that a smile? Fucking hell, she was actually grinning at him like she didn’t hate his guts. It had to just be me. I had made the effort to be nice to her and it wasn’t enough. She still seemed to be able to see right th
rough me to the core which I didn’t let show…
She saw my core and she didn’t like it one bit. That actually hurt. I thought that the rift between me and the other guys could heal today but as I watched Artemis with her, I had a feeling that it was going to grow a whole lot bigger before we put a band-aid over it and sealed it once more.
Chapter 3
Megan
“Wow, you know a lot about magic,” I declared happily to Artemis, even managing to crack a smile in his direction. With all the bullshit that I had experienced with Connor recently, I was a bit freaked out when one of his buddies and harem offered to assist me with the class. But the more that time went on, the more I could see that this wasn’t a trick but an actual genuine offer of help instead. “That’s surprising really.”
“Why, because I’m a dragon?” For a moment, I freaked out that I had inadvertently insulted his race and upset him, but then Artemis let out a little delicious sounding laugh. “I know. Most of my shifter friends are more focused on the flying and physical side of things, but I have been brought up around a lot of strong druidesses and I guess their influence has rubbed off on me a lot.” He shrugged and blushed a little. “So, yes, the magic side suits me.”
“Is there a story there?” I asked without really thinking that it might be a sensitive subject. “Sorry if that’s…”
“No, it’s okay.” Immediately he made the effort to reassure me. “It isn’t a secret or anything. My fathers…” His eyes dipped low and I suddenly felt bad. Shit, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned anything related to family at all. “They were killed by a powerful demon when I was just a baby, so I never really got to know them.”
“Oh, my goodness.” I clasped my hand to my chest in shock. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry to hear that. Where did that happen? I didn’t know there were still outbreaks of demons in recent history like that. Violent ones anyway.”