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A minuscule smile tilts his lips and he watches me as though he knows what I’m thinking. “Hi,” I murmur, suddenly at a loss for any more words. It almost feels like I’m dreaming rather than this actually happening. Coffee. Yep, coffee will help make sense of this all.
I scramble off the couch and towards the kitchen. This place—which I’m assuming is Dylan’s dorm room—is open plan, like mine, so I can see the tiny kitchen from my vantage point beside the couch. My eyes drift around the area again, realising it’s very similar to the one Lexi and I share, but larger, probably to accommodate the larger size of most supernatural males. My focus darts to the Mountain Man who is following me then back to the kitchen. Yeah, two men like him would not be able to live comfortably in an apartment any smaller than this one.
Shit,Lexi. She must be freaking out. I tug my phone out of my pocket and grunt at the dozens of messages and phone calls. I tap into her most recent messages.
Lexi:I swear to the GGoddess, bitch, message or call me back! I’ll throw out your precious coffee machine!
Lexi:Seriously, I will!
Lexi:Come on, you’re freaking me out.
Lexi:Nessa.
Guilt pulses through my chest. I should have messaged her last night, but I passed out before I had a chance to.
Nessa:I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you. Meet up later to catch up? I’m okay, I promise.
It only takes her a few seconds for dots to appear at the bottom of the screen and I smile at her response.
Lexi:Thank the Goddess. I thought something had happened to you. Meet at the coffee shop at five?
Nessa:Sounds good.
I slip my phone back into my pocket before refocusing on my quest while silently praying that Lex didn’t hurt my precious coffee machine. My nose crinkles when I don’t spy a coffee machine or a kettle. How the heck do Dylan and his roommate survive? Unless they’re health nuts. I peer into the fridge;a pizza box, chocolate, eggs, bacon, a few other take out containers. Hmm, yeah, so definitely not health nuts.
Before I get the chance to start going through cupboards because I’m crazy for coffee like that, and have no boundaries apparently, the front door clicks open and the scent of fresh coffee reaches my nose. My eyes meet Oscar’s silver ones for a moment before falling to the tray of hot take-away coffees in his hands.Oh. My. Goddess, yes. I practically lunge at him and he laughs, passing me a cappuccino, exactly the way I like it. No milk and two and a half sugars, if the writing on the side is anything to go off. I take a long sip and moan.Yep, he’s officially my favourite. I voice as much and he cackles, as a rumpled Dylan and a grumpy Corin make sounds of protest.
I simply smirk sassily before plopping down onto the couch. I’m about to say something to Dylan, when my eyes catch on a speck of red on the arm of the chair beside me.Blood. I swallow past the sudden lump in my throat, my humour and good mood draining away as memories from last night flash through my mind's eyes in a series of gruesome images.Blood, so much blood. I sway slightly before pulling myself together. When I open my eyes, unsure when I closed them, I find Corin kneeling in front of me, his mammoth sized hands clamped on my knees, his thumbs rubbing reassuring circles as his green eyes staring into my soul. Or at least itfeelsthat way. Clearing my throat, I tear my eyes away to find Dylan’s. “D-did, they find the girl?” I mentally curse myself for stuttering, and sure up my emotional defence.I’m okay. It wasn’t her. I’m fine.
“Yes. They did.” My eyes squeeze closed for a moment and I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly before opening them and plastering a smile to my face and changing the subject for now. My eyes dart between the three of them. “What classes do you guys have first?”
It’s a piss poor subject change, but thankfully they go with it. I already know that Corin and I have runes first up, but I’m not sure about the others. A quick glance at the clock on the wall shows it’s just after eleven and I have a moment of shock at how late I slept in before slugging back another gulp of my coffee. Shit. I need to get back to my dorm now if I’m going to get ready before my first class in time. I pull my arms above my head in a stretch—careful not to spill my coffee—and thank Oscar for the coffee. They all frown as I drift towards the door.
“The healer said you should take the next few days off to rest, Nessa.” Dylan’s voice is firm, firmer than I’ve ever heard it and it makes me pause and glance back at him. Those blue eyes are glowing, and I suck in a breath as his features sharpen, a pulse of power rolling off him. My eyes widen at the display and his mouth opens like he’s going to say something else, but his roommate's door opens and a tall guy stumbles out, rubbing his shaggy golden hair as he yawns.
He freezes when he realises that he’s stepped in the middle of something, sensing the tension curling between the four of us, but when his purple and blue eyes lock onto mine the world crashes to a halt and every bone in my body locks up. “Ethan?” I whisper.
Those eyes widen and he takes a step back as I take one forwards. Goosebumps rise on my arms and dizziness rolls over me. How the hell is he here? Panic lights up behind his eyes, before they shutter and his head cocks to the side. “Nessa?”
I nod and he lets out a breath, running a hand through his hair, his complexion pale. “What are you doing here?” My brows are furrowed as flashes of the skinny boy I used to know and the one standing in front of me collide.
“I-I go here now. I’m in my third year.” I shake my head slowly, trying to make sense of everything. Those eyes and the similarity between his features and Anna have the back of my eyes burning with suppressed tears. I never thought I’d see her older brother again. Let alone here.
I glance at Dylan who is looking between us like we’re a tennis match. Catching my expression, he answers my silent question. “He’s my roommate.”
As though he forgot the others were here, Ethan jumps at the sound of Dylan’s voice before his eyes dart between all of us. Brows still furrowed, my focus drops to my shoes before I mumble, “I have to go, I have a class. But I’d like to catch up when you have a spare minute, if… that’s okay with you?” Ethan gives a single nod before disappearing back into his room, and I wave over my shoulder at the guys before practically running out of the room.
I shove it all away for now though, and focus on what I need to do.Shower. Class. I can do that.
*************************
I practically run into runes class as the bell rings and I ignore the glare Mr James throws at me and settle in my seat beside Corin. Unicorn lets out a little purr from where she’s lazing on my shoulder. Since I got back this morning she’s been stuck to me like glue and I can’t help but feel like she knows something happened. The moment she saw me she let out a distressed cooing noise then scurried up my arm and hasn’t left there since, other than when I showered. The little creep sat on the counter and stared at me while I washed, so I had the quickest shower possible. As though she knows what I’m thinking, she snuffles and buries her nose into my armpit.
I squirm and chuckle under my breath. “Alright, you’re forgiven,” I whisper.
I settle in to listen as the Ogre starts speaking. He’s outlining our assignment and I groan low in my throat. It’s a partnered assignment and we have to choose a human issue that we feel passionate about and create a rune circle that could help fix that issue. I’m not worried about the subject, I’m actually quite excited about that and have a few ideas that I want to research right now, but the partner aspect has me feeling stabby. I don’t know anyone here other than the interactions I’ve had with Corin, and the Mountain Man is notorious for not doing his work and acting like he doesn’t understand runes when I’ve caught him doing things multiple times that suggest otherwise. If I get stuck with him I’ll probably have to carry the assignment, which will irritate me more than if I just had to do it on my own.
After it’s been explained a bit more in-depth Mr James hands out a thin pamphlet that has a rundown of what’s required of us and then check-in dates before the complete project is due. It seems like we don’t have to actually create a working rune circle as creating new combinations correctly is incredibly hard, but the theory has to be there and we have to write out the rune circle on the ground as if it were a working one. Honestly, that just sounds like a challenge and considering my other classes have been fairly easy so far, I determine that I’m going to blast this out of the water and create a working rune. A grin lights up my features.I’ve never denied that I’m competitive.
