Chapter 1
Molly
He was staring. Again.
Josh was the first to point it out, but afterwards it was impossible to glance at the blonde without finding him already looking at me. He looked confused, maybe even a little put off.
“That’s it, I’m going over there.”
“Oh calm down. He isn’t even doing anything.”
Mark, Josh, and I had practically been best friends since we'd come to the Siobhan University for the Magically Gifted - and that was nearly nine years ago now. We'd grown up together in the walls of this old castle, and in turn had ended up more like family.
Before you turned 18 it was much like any other boarding school, except instead of English, maths, and science it was Latin, alchemy and potions - although there was technically still maths. Unfortunately.
After you turned 18 you could move on to the University to further your education, which all three of us had done.
That also meant I had two overprotective brothers - though Mark considerably less so - that did a fairly good job at keeping the unwanted suitors at bay.
Not that Owen Lovett was a suitor. The thought alone was laughable.
For the first four years he'd done nothing but torment me - and Mark and Josh by proxy as they always stuck up for me - jinxing my papers all over the library, laughing when his friends tripped me in the hall, poking fun at my hair or my love of books - typical things a spoiled brat would pick on another child for.
But then in our fifth year, things changed. He just ignored me. Blessedly ignored me - he had to have told his friends to leave me alone as well, because it was the calmest three years our little trio had in regards to them.
Last year was...odd. He hadn't necessarily acted any differently, but it was when I had initially noticed the staring - though it wasn't anything like it was now. He just seemed to be more aware of me - though I suppose the only reason I knew that was because I was more aware of him.
Josh glared across the dining hall at Lovett, who was no longer staring at me, instead engaging his friend in conversation.
“It’s been two weeks of this shit. Has he said anything to you?” asked Josh, looking to Mark for support.
I shook my head, refusing to look at Owen again. “Nothing out of the ordinary, no.”
“You two practically live together, how -”
“We don’t live together.” I snapped, glaring at him. It’d been two weeks of this nonsense and I’d had enough. He wasn’t doing anything to me. “We share a common room and a bathroom with four other people. I hardly ever see him.”
Not for his lack of trying, though, that was for sure. He’d attempted starting plenty conversations lately, none of which I’d been particularly keen on participating in. I didn’t trust him, not really.
“If he keeps this up I’m -”
“Oh come off it, Josh.” muttered Mark with an eye roll, “You won’t do anything. We're all here to finish our last year and get out."
I could always count on Mark to be level headed.
We returned to our food without mentioning him again, but each time I glanced over to his table I caught his gaze.
It was like he was trying to get under my skin.
“Earth to Lovett!” I said, waving my hand in front of his face, “Did you hear anything I just said?”
He blinked a few times before nodding, “Sorry, yeah. I heard you.”
He’d said very little to me over the past few days, which was strange considering he’d gone out of his way to speak to me any other time. The staring, however, didn’t change at all. He just seemed...resigned about it.
“So?”
Owen cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair before his eyes met mine again. He was more unfocused than I’d ever seen him before.
Strange.
“We can take the last carriage. At least that way we’ll know everyone else is on.”
We were in charge of the weekend trip into town, so I wanted to make sure everything ran smoothly, even if that meant sharing a carriage with Lovett.
I nodded, but before I could say anything else I heard Josh calling my name. Owen's expression instantly soured when he spotted him.
“Your boyfriend calls.” he said, barely contained contempt lacing his voice.
“What’s your problem? You’ve been weird since we got back from summer hols. You’ve done nothing but make the start of this year strange and uncomfortable.” I snapped, glaring at him.
He laughed, though the sound wasn’t humorous at all, “You think you feel strange and uncomfortable? You don’t know the half of it.”
I could’ve stomped my foot on the ground I was so angry. He was the one doing all this. Without a word I turned away from him, finding Josh, Mark, and his girlfriend Gwendolyn getting ready to get onto their carriage.
“Are you coming?” asked Gwen, already seated inside.
“I’ll meet you guys there. I’m taking the last carriage so I can make sure everybody makes it there.”
Mark looked over my shoulder, no doubt at Owen, as he said, “Just be careful, yeah?”
I rolled my eyes, “Come on, I need one of you to keep a clear head about this.”
He chuckled, joining Gwen and Josh in the carriage.
“If he tries anything, let us know.” said Josh, before the carriage pulled off.
I already felt more tense as they left, but I squared my shoulders and helped the rest of the students onto their carriages.
Sooner than I would’ve liked everyone was headed to town, leaving only Owen and I at the bottom of the stairs, one carriage remaining.
“After you, Benet.” he said, offering his hand to help me up into the carriage.
After a second of contemplation I took it, surprised by the slight electric shock that sparked along my fingers. I glanced at his face, but he wasn’t looking at me, the only sign he’d felt anything was his slightly clenched jaw.
After we were both seated across from each other the carriage started moving, leaving the two of us in a rather uncomfortable silence that was only filled by the clacking of hooves against cobblestone.
I kept stealing glances at him, but he was staring stoically out the window, seemingly content to ignore me for the entire ride.
But I was just too curious.
“What’s going on with you?”
He didn’t respond for a while. In fact, he didn’t even act like he’d heard me.
But after a moment he turned to look at me, his eyes meeting mine and -
Was that gold?
But it was gone the second I saw it, his eyes their usual slate grey as he said, “I don’t know that it’d do me much good.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you loathe me, Benet. That much I do know.”
I frowned. That wasn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t even know if I did loathe him.
He was just a stupid kid - and he hadn't actually done anything to me in years. We were all adults now - Uni students for fuck's sake. I didn't even know him anymore.
“I don’t, though. I don’t trust you, but I can understand that kids do stupid things.”
He flinched at the mention of our past, his eyes dropping from mine, “I never apologized to you for that, did I?”
“You didn’t have to.” I said with a shrug, both of us jostling a bit as the carriage came to a stop.
He nodded slowly, his eyes meeting mine again as though he’d made up his mind about something. “Will you join me for a drink?”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I countered.
His face paled, but he nodded.
“Then yes. Let me find Mark and Josh so they don’t go starting a search party.”
“I’m sure they’d be more likely to form a mob with pitchforks.” he quipped, stepping out of the carriage and offering me his hand again.
I didn’t bother stopping the laugh that bubbled up at the thought, “Accurate.”
That same electric shock zapped my fingers a second time, but this time his eyes met mine.
“What was that?” I asked, eyebrow raised.
He cleared his throat, retracting his hand as he said, “Meet me at the Brookstone.”
Before I could say anything he was gone, his thick black coat blending in with the crowd within seconds.
What the hell is going on?
I found Josh and Mark, unsurprisingly, looking at broomsticks.
“This is the new one, Gwen. It’s a big -”
“I couldn’t care less, babe.” sighed Gwen with a bored eye roll, “I’m going to Madam Leroux's.”
She smiled and invited me to tag along after I was bored of their broom talk.
“Hey, Mols.” said Josh, swinging his arm around my shoulders. “Glad to see you made it in one piece.”
“I’m fine.” I said, looking to Mark for help in case he continued the Owen-berating.
“We were thinking about buying a few things in here.” said Mark, pointing to the broom they’d been talking about.
“It’s the ne-”
“New one.” I finished with a smile, “I heard.”
He had the decency to look embarrassed as he said, “Feel free to join Gwendolyn. We know this isn’t your thing.”
“Actually,” I said, sliding out from Josh's arm, “I’m going to grab a drink with Lovett.”
“What?” asked Josh, voice raised considerably higher than was acceptable for inside a store.
“You wanted to know why he’s been so weird; I’m going to find out.”
“Where?”
I rolled my eyes, “Brookstone, where else?”
It was the only bar in this little town.
“We’re coming.” snapped Josh, his face a rather unflattering shade of red.
“No we’re not.” said Mark, a bored expression on his face, “Because if we go you’re just going to start a fight, everyone will have to go back to the school, and we still won’t know what’s up with Lovett.”
Josh couldn’t seem to come up with anything to refute him, his face reddening further.
“Thank you.” I said to Mark, “I’ll see the both of you later.”
Before he could continue the argument I left the store, hoping Mark could keep him from following me.
I saw him sitting at a booth tucked away in the farthest corner, practically out of sight from the rest of the pub. I made my way toward him slowly, relieved that there were so many people here already.
I slid into the booth across from him, but he didn’t seem surprised, as though he knew I was headed his way.
“That didn’t take as long as I thought.” he said, looking up at me with a smirk. “I was sure Josh was going to follow you in here raising all sorts of hell.”
I shrugged, ordering a glass of whiskey as well before saying, “Mark was on my side.”
He seemed surprised, but didn’t comment on it any further.
“So what’s up with you?” I asked, thanking the waitress for my drink before looking back to him.
He forced out a chuckle and said, “Straight to the point, eh, Benet?”
“Why do you think I’m here?” I asked, taking a sip of my drink, “You’ve been staring at me for weeks looking like someone kicked your puppy - not to mention,” I said, speaking over his attempts to interrupt me, “That weird fucking shock back at the carriage.”
“I -” he stopped, knocking back his drink before continuing, “I’m a veela.”
That was certainly not what I was expecting.
“You...okay...did you always know?”
He shook his head, a sharp chuckle erupting from his throat, “No. I found out the night before we came back here.”
“Woah...how?”
“My parents didn’t think it mattered much. They weren't expecting anything to happen until my 25th birthday.”
I let that sink in, taking a few more sips of my drink. I noticed Lovett had another of whatever he was drinking, watching as he brought the glass to his lips when the thought hit me.
“Lovett...what does any of this have to do with me?”
He frowned, his eyes trailing over my features before he smirked, “I think you know.”
I shook my head, “You’re absolutely out of your fucking mind.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, “Do you seriously think I wanted this? You think I chose you or something?” He spat the words at me, venom laced in each as he continued, “I don’t know why it’s you, Benet. Gods know I don’t know why it’s you. Fuck I tried for weeks to convince myself that it wasn’t you.”
I crossed my arms defensively, leaning back against the booth, “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not -”
“It’s not supposed to mean anything.” he snapped, knocking back the rest of his drink, “You’re it for me. I don’t know why, but I feel it. That’s what the shock is.”
I shook my head, “No. No. You don’t even like me. How can you -”
“Benet, I don’t know. I don’t know anything, other than when I’m around you I don’t feel like I’m about to crawl out of my skin.”
His blunt admission caught me off guard, and I found myself just staring at him. My mouth might have been open, I had no idea.
“Could you say something?” he snapped, annoyed.
What was I supposed to say to that?
“I...I don’t know what that means.” I said lamely.
He leaned back as well, his eyes holding mine, “It means that I need you to survive, Benet.”
No.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
“You have completely lost your mind.” I said, digging through my bag for a few bills, ”Completely.” I snapped, slamming down a few crumpled fives before standing from the table. “I’ll meet you at eight by the carriages to make sure everyone gets back safely.”
Before he could say anything else I turned on my heel and left the pub, making a beeline away from all the shops to find a quiet place to process my thoughts -
And maybe have a breakdown.
I slipped behind one of the last buildings, sliding down the wall. I had the presence of mind to be thankful I’d worn my thick coat, otherwise my pants would’ve surely been damp from the slightly wet stones.
It had been a rather rainy October.
I leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths.
Owen didn’t know what he was talking about. He didn’t even know he was a veela until a few months ago, how was I supposed to believe he knew the signs of a mate. Didn’t the idiot know that was for life.
Goddess, this wasn’t happening.
I tried controlling my breathing, and was slightly successful, when I heard quick footsteps on the stones around the corner.
Great, now what?
