by S. L. Morgan
“Haven’t they done this before? Watched the quests on that screen?” I asked Vannah, who was attached to my hip since getting back.
“No,” the giggly leprechaun said, approaching my right. “It was actually mine and Dom’s idea.”
I looked at her and forced a fake smile for fear of what my expression would be in hearing her have some weird possessive tone as she said Dom’s name. “Cool. Looks like you and he had fun with all of this.”
“Well, he insisted that the school watch the students. It was my first quest, and after the school wanted to see how strong a leprechaun I really was,” she flipped her red hair over her shoulder, “Dom said it would be an awesome idea for everyone to watch it on screen through the hawks. Of course, it was a simple quest, nothing like I hear the masters go on. Dom told me a little about those, and they’re impressive.”
“Yeah, the masters are all pretty hardcore,” I said, remembering the quest I went on when Dom and I first realized we were fated to be together.
“Bummer you and Dominic didn’t last, right?”
I craned my head to Vannah, gritting my teeth. The girl’s tone and the way she talked grated on my nerves like she was Kat, walking with us and drooling on about something Dominic related. Vannah shrugged, most likely realizing this chick was going to be more trouble than Dom’s plans to use her were worth.
“Right?” she pressed when I didn’t answer her.
“Right.” I wasn’t quite sure how Dom and I were going to slowly break the school back into us being an item, so I didn’t know how to handle his new groupie. “Though, he stepped in while I was on my quest, and well—”
Vannah elbowed me in warning, so I knew I had to withdraw my jealous wolf who was ready to take a leprechaun out in an instant. The girl was oozing her fascination with our mate, and it was thoroughly annoying.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, what were we talking about?”
“You and Dom out on the quest together? He wasn’t supposed to have contact with you, so I’m curious as to why he did.”
“Wouldn’t you be?” I withheld my glare to her.
How has it this five-minute walk suddenly felt like we were on a fifty-minute hike?
“I can’t believe he would intentionally work to fail you. Weird.”
“Yeah, weird, and guess what? I failed anyway, didn’t I? Poof! Fell right into your perfect human-world trap,” I said dismissively.
“I have to wonder if Dom was helping that trap be successful though, you know? It was pretty obvious your wolf wasn’t paying attention when it fell. I’d love to take the credit for your wolf loving the scenery, but now, I’m sort of wondering if Dom served as a distraction?”
“What in the hell would make you conclude that?” I snapped and turned to face the redhead who stopped when I did. “Go on, fairy, why would you think Dom would help you kick my ass in that quest?”
“Jenna, let’s go before we get busted,” Vannah insisted.
I shook Vannah’s arm off me. “Answer me.”
“Well,” her eyes got wide, and I knew it was my wolf peeking at her through my eyes, me allowing the wolf to, of course. “He and I are just good friends, and I know you two had some history together. He told me it was nothing, but maybe it meant more to you than him?” She cringed like she was saying all the wrong words, which she was. “I don’t know. I just think it’s cool he helped me take out a strong shifter, and now I’m going to remain at IA and run some of the House Fae projects.”
“Glad Dominic could help you achieve all that,” I said after taking some anti-shifting, rip a leprechaun’s throat out, breaths. “He’s a good guy like that.”
“Wow, so a clean break between you both?”
“Listen,” Vannah interrupted. “We need to get to bed, thanks for hooking up the entertainment for all of us.”
“You were on that quest with Dom’s sister, right? Assignments from House Mage and House Draugar to watch Jenna and study the shifter?”
“Yes, I think the entire school knows that,” Vannah lied.
“Were you both cool that Dom interacted with Jenna when she was supposed to figure it out on her own?”
Vannah let out a laugh. “You just won’t quit, will you?”
“None of my business?”
“None!” Vannah and I said in unison.
“Sorry if I crossed any lines. Dom just made whatever relationship you had with him seem like it was nothing. I’m surprised he intervened, and I’m sort of hoping it was to help me.”
“You need to go to bed before—” I bit my tongue. “Before we all get busted for being out here.”
“Alright, can’t wait until they all get back tomorrow,” she said and then bounded up the steps like her feet had springs in them.
“That…” Vannah started.
“Is going to be as big a problem as the evil lurking at this school,” I seethed. “Why in the hell would he use some immature teenager? A damn leprechaun of all creatures?”
“There’s a reason he needed her help. All eyes would be on her, not him doing this entire last-minute quest. He knew she already had the eyes of the school on her and used that to his advantage.”
“She seemed to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. If she managed to pull off this quest and have everything activated when Dom said go…” I trailed off as I looked at Vannah.
“We warned Dom that we saw her attaching pretty quickly to him,” Vannah said, “But Dom was too focused on keeping the school’s eyes off you. In a way, she definitely achieved that. No one is questioning Lusa and me, going on some research quest that Dom wanted our feedback on.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Tell me you’re sensing how powerful this leprechaun is? Creating a quest that quickly…everything!”
“I know she’s strong, but it’s nothing Dom can’t smooth over. He already said she would accept you two getting back together. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it.”
I rolled my eyes. “I hope he can handle her. It’s bad enough I have to break things off with Bradley because it wasn’t me who was attaching to him.”
“How do you feel about Bradley now?” Vannah asked as we resumed our walk back to our dorms. “Just curious.”
“I saw him on the screen, and he seemed just like a cool shifter. There was nothing else. My eyes were drawn to Dom over him like they should be when I know who my true mate is.”
“How do you think you’ll handle breaking up with him or whatever you’re going to do.”
“He’s such a nice guy,” I sighed. “Sadly, I fell for him because of that thing inside me, and I can’t even tell him that was the reason. God, even if that didn’t sound crappy enough, I don’t have the heart to tell him a demon was the reason I found him attractive and sparked up a relationship with him.” We walked into the room. “I guess I’ll handle it as it comes when he gets back. Shifters get back together all the time.”
“Oh. My. God!” Kat’s voice reminded me why I hated the shifter as much as Dom’s new leprechaun friend. “Do not tell me that you and Dom are back together. How horrible for sweet Bradley.”
“Good to see you again too. Oh, and thanks for helping and showing you actually do have a heart when I crashed out in here the other night.”
“What are you talking about?” she looked at Vannah and me like we were possessed.
“It’s nothing. Some crazy mind manipulation House Mage did to her on the master’s quest. They altered her mind to see a different reality.” Vannah fake laughed and nudged me in the arm. “You almost got zapped with that one, huh? Good thing it was all fake and it never even happened.” She slowly let the words fall from her lips as she hinted that she did some spell for Kat to forget me going down that night with the demon.
“Right.” I turned to throw on my pajamas. “Well, between the awful embarrassment of falling to a leprechaun’s simple trap today, and it just being a long few days altogether, I’m looking forward to slee
ping in my bed again.”
“It’s been nice and quiet,” Kat remarked.
“Well, your vacation is over.” I looked at Vannah, slipping on her light blue nightgown, “Any chance Kat gets kicked out anytime soon, or are we bunking on top of each other in here now?”
“I think Lusa has a transfer in for her to bunk down the hall. They opened up a new wing. Apparently, IA is running out of room with keeping seniors another year and a lot of new students coming in next year.”
“Awesome.” I leaned to the side to see pink-nightmare Kat. “Hey, you’re out of here pretty soon, so enjoy us while you have us.”
“You’re in too good of a mood. You and Dom are back together.”
“Yep,” I slipped into bed, “and if you think you’re going to spread that news first thing tomorrow? Then I think Dom told me he’d deal with you.”
“Well, I hate the guy. I should’ve known he was leading me on this entire time.”
“Yeah, probably shouldn’t have second-guessed us feeling out whether or not we were true mates.”
“You’re a horrible person, Jenna,” she snapped.
“Despicable, right?”
“Go to bed. Do whatever with Dom.” She turned her back to me.
“Oh, I intend to and goodnight.”
Vannah and I gave each other the obvious smirk and eye roll over Kat’s pettiness, but Kat wasn’t really our problem, the leprechaun who had all the tricks up her sleeves was my problem. This girl could shut me down hard and fast, and no one would see it coming—not even me. With that thought in mind, I looked at Vannah and mouthed, “I need to figure out my powers, or I’m screwed.”
Vannah quietly mouthed, “yes,” with stern eyes in return. It was easy to see that I needed the powers to protect myself from a very powerful leprechaun. If Dom was going to go with the who gives a damn what anyone thinks about us back together approach, I needed to be prepared to protect us both from whatever the leprechaun threw our way.
I could see why Dom used the chick, but did he really think he was getting off easy after she figured out she was old news? The girl seemed to radiate with an obsession over him, and that was what I picked up on by being in her presence, not listening to the way she talked about him.
Hopefully, Dom could pull off a miracle and let her down easy because she was extremely powerful for her age. She proved that by fashioning that obstacle course, insisting on the way we watched them in a live-action environment—all of it. The chick was good. It’s what made her scare the shit out of me and also what made me think we definitely could use her on our side when the school went south again.
The evil firing up was a matter of time. I could feel the energy already nudging its way back. So, yeah, I guess I was all about pulling a leprechaun into our upcoming war against evil…but, in all honesty, I couldn’t give this chick too much credit. Leprechaun’s had a tendency to go dark and fuel evil powers if they got angry enough—and instead of being at a school that should be teaching them to stay away from the darkness, we were at a school that possessed its students with darkness…that’s if it didn’t kill them first.
30
I was heading up to House Fae when Bradley found me.
Finally, they’re all back!
The bear shifter was definitely easy on the eyes, but the only reaction that was surfacing from me and my wolf was that this meant Dom was finally back.
Soon after Bradley hit me with his unforgiving smile, I sensed Dom’s wolf, prompting me to glance around for him. Nothing? Okay, this was a new reaction to my mate…sensing him close by, but not seeing him. Instantly, the desire and unparalleled need to be in his arms and feel his closeness hit me like a ton of bricks. I took a breath, controlled my wolf, and finally returned Bradley’s friendly smile.
“Hey, there,” he greeted me by wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“Hey,” I managed, trying to hush my wolf from her reaction of this being totally wrong. I eased myself out from under his subtly romantic gesture and sighed at his look of confusion. “You survived the quest. That’s awesome.”
“Yeah,” he stopped, and I turned to face him. I guess we were doing this break up right here and now. “Kind of a crappy move on Dominic’s part.” His eyes bore through mine. “You know, requesting we all go on a random quest out of the blue. It’s like he was determined to watch us all fail.”
“You know Dominic doesn’t operate that way,” I responded. “He’s always been about success. He’s never been one to amuse himself with others’ failures. That’s obvious in the way he trains us differently than the other masters do.”
“You’re defending him?” The shifter was definitely picking up on Dom being his competition again.
“I’m stating a fact.”
“Well, only ten percent of us survived his sincere desire for our success,” he said with sarcasm. “So, I’m not entirely convinced that quest wasn’t designed to surprise us to make us all look dumb. He and his little leprechaun girlfriend…” He watched me as he slowly said that last word that grated on my nerves. “They worked together to put the display on for the school to watch us fail too. That was a nice touch.”
“Listen…” I swallowed hard, my mood shifting to pissed off because he was working to bring out reactions that he knew would have an effect on me if I had feelings for Dominic again.
“Don’t tell me you still think about him?” He paused for a second, watching me nervously before he continued. “Jenna, you need to be straight with me. I can see something isn’t right. I can sense that you and your inner wolf are completely shut off to me now. What happened on that quest you disappeared to that changed things?”
I had to hit this head-on.
“You’re right about my wolf and me.” I glanced over at the sparkling fairy bushes as I searched for the right words. “We're both going to be late for classes, but I really don’t care. I need to get this over with.”
“Why?” he looked at me in confusion. “Why would you feel like there was hope when you were certain he wasn’t your mate?”
“I wasn’t certain,” I answered truthfully. “I mean, look, we all know that it’s pretty uncommon for shifters to really understand who their true mates are until full maturity. I hate that I can’t let him go, and I hate that I led you on. This is like the worst version of myself I ever imagined being, and trust me, I’ve done some pretty rebellious crap in my time at these stupid schools. You deserve someone—”
He reached for my hand. “Don’t say someone better than you.” His eyes pleaded with me. “You are a good person inside and out, Jen. I can’t lose you.”
“Don’t call me, Jen,” I growled at the nickname I hated coming from anyone but Dom. “I’m not the person you think I am. Jesus, Bradley, I led you on all while trying to see if Dom was my mate or not. How can you call someone who does that a good person? That’s as nasty as fairies, playing their hateful games.”
Surprisingly, Bradley smiled. “You don’t need to be that hard on yourself, comparing yourself to the spiteful behavior of a fairy is pretty extreme.”
“Okay, so you’re officially the nicest guy I’ve ever met.” I sighed. “Bradley, you really are a phenomenal person, and I can tell you with certainty that there is someone better for you out there.”
“I don’t agree with that. Like you said, we’re young. We—you—won’t really know who your true mate is until a few years from now.”
Little did he know!
“Trust me, I can feel it, and so can my wolf. He’s the one.”
Unexpectedly, Bradley forced his lips onto mine, and it took everything in me not to knee the shifter in his balls. This was unsettling and was driving me hard to defend Dominic’s place in my life.
I shoved myself off of him and clenched my fists. “If that was done to make me realize that I’m uncertain about Dominic, then you just proved how confident I am that he is my true mate and the one I love.”
I had to drop the L word and
get away from shifter talk. Bradley was not backing down, and instead of hurting the shifter, I was making him stronger in protecting what he believed was his. So now, it was time to bring up Jenna’s personal emotions outside of my wolf’s feelings.
“Love?” he scoffed. “No one knows what that is like unless they’ve been through hell and back, survived that, and came out loving each other on the other end.”
“Well, Dom and I have been through hell and back, and it was that experience that brought us back together and let us know we are true mates.”
He stepped back, and his eyes were set with determination. “You can believe whatever you want, we’re all young…too young. I’m not giving up on you and me, and I’ll be there waiting when that alpha breaks your heart.”
“Bradley, don’t do this. Please, you could actually lose who your true mate is by hanging onto someone who isn’t worth your time.”
“It seems like you and I aren’t an item anymore, right?”
“Right,” I answered, hoping he was going to let me go and wait for his true mate the healthy way.
“Then I don’t answer to you anymore. Like I said, I’m not giving up on us.”
“Well, shit.” I pinched my lips together. “All you’re going to do is make me feel like crap and that I’m the worst person in the world now.”
“That’s the point,” he answered.
“You two need to be in your classes,” the president of the school—of all people—caught us out here while being officially ten minutes late for class.
“Yes, sir,” Bradley said before he offered me a smirk and took off.
“Yes, sir,” I softly answered and then headed up the steps to my least favorite room, filled with fairy dust, glitter, and rainbows.
Well, Bradley’s definitely a problem, I thought as I took my seat.
I tried to wrap my brain about the consequences of the damn bear shifter being too stubborn to let go, feeling a twinge of guilt that he had been so much more rooted into our relationship than I ever was. How horrible must it be to be in a relationship with someone who didn’t seem as into it as you?