by C. J. Cooke
“I figured you might be hungry” he said.
“I’m always hungry” I said flopping down onto the step beside him and greedily looking into the bag. They looked like some kind of breakfast sandwiches and there were four of them. I pulled one out, unwrapped it and then literally just shoved it my face. While I was chewing my first mouthful I offered him the bag to see if he wanted one.
“Don’t worry I already ate. I don’t think I’d dare put my hand in that bag anyway for fear of what you might do to me if I took food away from you.” He smirked at me and I just grinned at him with my cheeks stuffed with sandwich. It was not one of my most attractive looks but right now I didn’t care. I wasn’t sure what was in this sandwich. Some sort of meat with melted cheese. Basically it was amazing.
Once I managed to eat two of the sandwiches and down half the bottle of water I felt more like a person again. “Where are the others?” I asked unwrapping the third sandwich. It was truly a beautiful thing and I sighed as I inhaled the delicious smell.
“I got first shower so I had time to win points with my beautiful mate by bringing her food.” He smiled throwing an arm around my shoulder.
“I need a shower” I said standing up and offering him one hand to help him stand while still eating my third sandwich with my other hand. He let me pull him up and then pretended to stumble into my arms so he could steal a bite of my sandwich. “I’m going to make you all sweaty.” I laughed at his playfulness.
“That’s the aim, I want to go through the day covered in the scent of my mate.” He purred nuzzling against me.
“Urgh, don’t that it so gross. I stink right now.” I said cringing away from him.
“You stink beautifully” he said dreamily at me.
“That’s really not attractive.” Playfully slapping his shoulder, I turned towards the front door to head back inside.
We walking back into the academy hand in hand while I continued to eat. I was a little concerned about the size of my appetite right now. Sykes came up to my room and waited for me while I quickly showered and changed. Classes started at 8:00am and I only had half an hour to get ready. When I came out of the bathroom Liam and Kyle were in my room talking to Sykes.
“We should talk about the room situation.” Kyle said turning to me and watching me pull on my socks and knee high boots to go with the terrible uniform..
“What about it?” I asked distractedly rummaging through my dresser drawers looking for a black hoodie.
“Well we would like you to move into the pack room?” Kyle said awkwardly.
“You want me to move in with you guys?” I said turning around. This seemed like a conversation which needed to be had whilst actually looking at each other. Rather than me busy looking for clothes and apparently Sykes staring at my ass. He just grinned at me when he realised that I had caught him. There wasn’t even an ounce of embarrassment. Typical.
“Well you are our mate and … well … yes. We want you to be with us Aria. If you aren’t ready that’s okay, we can wait.” Kyle mumbled. It was adorable when the alpha got nervous. He was always so confident in life but he definitely had a softer side when it came to me.
“Of course, I want to.” I smiled at him. Not even a week and moving in with three boys. Yes, it probably was a bit quick. But we were mates and it’s not like there was ever going to be anyone else for us.
Kyle strode over to me and pulled me into his arms. “I’ll have the necessary arrangements made. Maybe we could get a bigger room.” He said looking over at Liam.
“Your room is enormous, do they even have bigger rooms?” I asked laughing.
“Some packs have up to six members,” Liam answered. “Our room is relatively small compared to some of the pack rooms. I’ll make enquiries with the administration office.” He said getting up and leaving.
“Isn’t he coming to class with us” I asked as the door closed behind him.
“He’ll join us there later Aria. This is more important. I will let Professor Octavia know where he is. She will understand. One of the original reasons for these academies were so that shifters could meet their mates. It puts all of the young shifters together in one place. That’s why the majority of this particular academy are shifters. It is rare in our world that fated mates find each other, but once we do, they understand that it takes priority for us.” Kyle explained.
“Will it cause problems that I’m not a shifter” I asked nervously. This was something that we hadn’t discussed yet but it had been playing on my mind a bit recently.
“No, whilst it is rare that fated mates are of different races, it isn’t unheard of. Anyway we don’t exactly know what you are yet. Maybe there is some shifter in you somewhere.” He smiled down at me holding me tightly, before taking my hand as we walked out the room. Sykes scooped up my book bag which was laying by the door and then closed the door behind us. As we walked down the corridor I noticed that he stayed a step behind us rather than walking at my other side. I glanced back every so often and it was clear that he was keeping an eye out on our surroundings. I wondered if he was even aware that he was doing it.
As we drew close to the classroom I couldn’t help but ask “Will you be disappointed if there isn’t?”
Kyle frowned for a minute not quite realising what I was asking. We had been walking in silence for a short while and it was like he was trying to rewind the conversation through his head. When he finally got there his brows lifted in surprise and he pulled me off to the side rather than walking through the classroom door. He cupped both my cheeks with his hands and stared deeply into my eyes. “I don’t care what we find out Aria. You are perfect. You are my mate. You are exactly how you are supposed to be. I am honoured to have you by my side.” He kissed me gently and I sighed against his lips. Damn this man was smooth. He gently rubbed the tops of my arms as he leaned his forehead against mine and we took a moment. When I looked up Sykes had his back to us and was facing off into the corridor. It was kind of adorable that they thought they needed to protect me. Kyle took my hand and we went to go into class. I made sure to give Sykes’ ass a pinch on the way past and he let out a high-pitched squeak that was quite frankly hilarious. Kyle and I both burst out laughing and he glared at me mouthing “retaliation” to me. I snickered and jogged into the classroom where I assumed I would be relatively safe. Professor Octavia looked up from her desk and smiled gently at me. I gave her a quick hello wave as I made my way to a group of free desks. Kyle walked over to the professor and they began talking while Sykes slipped into the empty desk on my left. There was one free to my right and the one in front was empty as well. He passed me my bag and I smiled in thanks at him. I hadn’t realised that Witch Bitch was sat a few rows behind me with her group of friends until I heard them giggling and her making a gagging noise. One glare from Kyle as he took up his seat next to me silenced them but I had a feeling that they were going to be an issue. Britt and a couple of my running group came in next with Mae and Aeryn. They waved across at me while they took some desks at the other side of the room and I happily waved back at them. I like Britt, I’d learnt from our training sessions that she had the brutal kind of honesty that I appreciated and I was glad that we were becoming friends.
Professor Octavia had barely started when Liam jogged into the classroom and took up the empty desk in front of me. He quietly turned to Kyle and told him “All sorted, we move this afternoon.”
Chapter Eighteen
By the time class was over I was starving again. I was going to have to start carrying snacks around with me if this was going to continue. As I was about to leave class Professor Octavia waved me over to her. “Aria, the headmaster has asked if you could go to his office to see him.”
“But … but food.” I said looking forlornly out of the door in the direction of where I imagined all of the food was.
She laughed at me and my obvious distress, kinda mean if you ask me, and just said “Hurry along he’s waiting for you. I’ll ask one of
the kitchen staff to drop something off at the office for you. They will be taking the headmaster’s lunch there anyway.”
“Okaaaay.” I said, not convinced that was something that I actually wanted. Have I just agreed to have lunch with the headmaster? I turned and headed out of the door, trying to decide if I was about to do something a bit strange.
“What’s up?” I heard Kyle ask.
When I looked up I saw all three of them leant against the wall of the corridor waiting for me. “You waited for me.” I smiled.
“Of course we waited for you sweetheart.” Kyle said draping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. We starting walking down the corridor heading in the direction of the cafeteria and the administration part of the academy.
“I’ve got to go and have lunch with the headmaster in his office.” I said sullenly.
“That’s a bit weird.” Sykes said furrowing his brow. I couldn’t decide if he was concerned or annoyed.
“It is! Well, I’ve actually got to go and talk to the headmaster about something and they are sending some food there for me because it’s lunch time and I am apparently just going to be hungry forever now.” I moaned just as coincidentally my stomach growled in protest.
The guys just laughed at me. “You do seem to be hungry pretty much all the time.” Sykes said earnings a slap upside the head from Liam. “What?” He complained.
“You can’t say that to a woman.” Liam explained.
“But she is!” Sykes pouted looking down at the ground. “It’s not like it’s anything bad.” He looked so adorable when he pouted. I bumped his shoulder with mine as we walked so that he would know that I wasn’t mad at him and gave him a smile when he looked across at me.
“I have never felt this hungry in my life.” I said trying to lessen the blow for him. “Even after I’ve stuffed my face, literally an hour later I’m starving again. I really think that something might be wrong with me.”
“There isn’t sweetheart, don’t worry about it.” Kyle said giving me a quick squeeze. “If it makes you feel better though talk to the headmaster about it when you see him.”
“I suppose I could” I sulked. I wanted to have lunch with my mates. I didn’t want to go and talk to Headmaster Farsight. Don’t get me wrong I suppose he was alright. I just knew that he was going to want to talk to me about my magic and I just wasn’t in the mood for it.
I left the guys at the door of the cafeteria and dragged my feet down the corridor to the headmaster’s office. I knocked quietly on his door. If he doesn’t hear me it’s not my fault and I am totally going to go back to have lunch with my mates. I nearly snickered as my not so evil plan formed in my head but then suffered crushing defeat when the door swung open and the headmaster was stood smiling on the other side. “Aria, thank you for coming. Won’t you come in?” He said swinging the door open further and walking back into the room. At first I thought he was going to sit at the desk but he strolled past and dropped down onto the sofa at the far end of the office. He indicated to the armchair opposite him and I reluctantly walked over and sat down in it.
“Professor Octavia said that you needed to speak with me.” I said stating the obvious. I wasn’t really sure what else to say.
“Yes, I’ve been making some enquiries about your magic and I think I may have made some progress. Madame Nines had to help me out quiet a bit,” he smiled. “She’s very fond of you already you know.”
“I like her too.” I smiled feeling a bit more at ease.
“I’ll get straight to the point Aria, I believe that I have identified the branch of magic that you have.” The headmaster stated leaning back into the sofa and crossing his legs over. My mouth nearly dropped open with how casual he was acting. Was he waiting for me to ask or something? Am I supposed to congratulate him?
“Okay, do you want to fill me in on that?” I asked.
The corner of his mouth twitched up in a half smile and he answered. “God magic.”
“Riiiiiiggggghhhhhtttt.” I replied. “I’m definitely not a god. I think you got it wrong.”
“Definitely not wrong and no you are not a god or goddess as it would be. You must be either a demi goddess or one of the god touched.” He said.
“Demi goddess would mean that one of my parents would have had to be a god though, right?” I asked.
“Or goddess,” he corrected.
“Yeah, you’d think a god or goddess would keep a better eye on their kids.” I replied.
“Exactly, that is why I believe that it is more likely that you are one of the god touched.” He replied. “The god realm is supposed to be sealed and there have been no reports of any god sightings for millennia. I think it is unlikely that they would allow a demi god to be raised in the human realm although I suppose that it is always a possibility. We haven’t heard of any of the god touched for just as long.”
“I’m sorry, am I supposed to know what god touched is? Kinda sounds a little pervy.” I said slouching back in my chair. This was all just so exhausting.
“There are several ways to become one of the god touched. There are species that were created to serve gods; individuals whose lives were touched by a god and through whatever means absorbed some of their magic; or by coming into contact with a divine object.”
“So basically, it’s impossible to prove or know.” I realised. “I just continue to be nothing but a freak and there is no end to this. No end to being on the outside.” I looked up at him and felt what I knew was an unfair anger raise in me. “You said that you would help me, you said that you would find out for me.”
“Aria, it hasn’t been very long and at least we know the branch of magic that you have. There are people that we can ask to help us.” He said leaning forward. Unfortunately, he had one of those annoyingly trustworthy faces. Stupid, trustworthy face. “Tell me about your magic. How is it reacting to this realm?”
“It’s changing.” I replied non-committedly.
“Is it increasing?” He asking smiling. Of course my personal problems would be entertaining for everyone else.
“Why?”
“Because if you had been, let’s say gifted, with god magic presumably it would be a ‘you get what you’re given’ type scenario. But if you were a god touched species?” He said leaning forward looking at me like I was about to become some kind of science experiment. “Well, you would mature as you aged, grow into your magic. I don’t think we have seen everything from you just yet Aria.”
“Ok, firstly,” I said waving my hand in front of his face, “turn down the crazy a bit because you’re making me uncomfortable.” He at least had the decency to look embarrassed as he sat back a bit. “Secondly, what if it grows too much? Have you ever considered that? What if I explode in a flaming psycho massacre of students? What if I become one of those mall killers that were all over the news?”
“Aria, I already told you that what the human news was reporting wasn’t true. Those people didn’t lose control of their magic, they were possessed.”
“You don’t understand,” I said standing up feeling the need to pace. I walked over to the window and looked out to the forest beyond. “I … it’s … well, it’s getting hard to control. The usual ways I had to manage it aren’t working as well. What if it gets to a point where … I don’t know … it doesn’t work anymore. What if it gets to the point where I get possessed?” The thought of my mates suddenly slammed into the front of my mind. I couldn’t risk them if this was going to be a possibility for me.
I hadn’t realised that the headmaster had got up and followed me over to the window until he came to stand next to me. “That isn’t going to happen to you Aria. We won’t let that happen to you. I don’t know if you are aware of this but magic users can get a sense of other people’s magic especially when that person is stronger than they are. The shifters are especially able to sense this, it’s how they identify their alphas.”
“Yeah, the guys mentioned something about being ab
le to feel my magic but I figured that it was a mate thing.” I mumbled.