Page 2 of Shattered Darkness
Go us.
As I walk through the halls with the guys, eyes are on us, like they always are, and the guys all split up to go to their classes. I don’t particularly appreciate that we’re all separated; it doesn’t feel safe, and it feels like it’s done on purpose.
Even though we were in danger, and the conditions weren’t exactly great, I feel like we had so much more freedom when we were saving the Centres, and now, I feel stagnant and stuck.
“Hey!” Erin greets me as I walk into my class and take a seat next to her and Cole.
I could sit anywhere, as the only three Centres left in the school, the class only consists of us.
“Hey,” I smile, grateful for a friendly face, “has the teacher shown up yet?”
Erin shakes her head, “Nope. It’s really starting to make me angry now. Before the Centres arrived, the academy was really good, and I was learning stuff, and now it’s like all of the teachers and the headmaster have had a personality transplant or something.”
“I’m going to have to take your word for it because they’ve been assholes ever since I’ve been here.”
Cole’s eyes fill with sympathy as he grimaces, “Yeah, I know. It is really strange though.” He glances at Ghost and Knot as they appear in the room, preferring to do that than travel through the hallways. I think even they don’t like the extra attention, “What do they think of the teachers?”
“They’d prefer to avoid them like the rest of us,” I reply, glancing over to them.
“I can’t blame them,” Erin replies, and then grins as her gaze moves back to Cole, “so, how are your Bonded? Specifically, Kysen?”
Cole’s cheeks turn an adorable shade of red, “They’re good.”
Erin and I share a bemused look, “Oh, come on, don’t get all shy on us now! Your first conversation with Sage was about how much dick you were getting.”
The reminder has us all smiling at the memory; even though Erin wasn’t there, she found the retelling hilarious.
Cole smirks, “That’s very true, but these men I actually care about, and that’s what makes it different.” He pauses, and his eyes fill with humour as he adds, “having said that, they’ve absolutely kept me on my toes and curled them.”
Erin and I both burst out laughing.
“We figured they were keeping you occupied. We haven’t seen you much recently,” I reply.
“On a more serious note, I’m surprised at how quickly Kysen has just fit in with the dynamic since we managed to find it without him. I guess it helps that they’re brothers, so they know each other well enough, and it’s just me that he’s got to get to know. It’s like he’s been around from day one, and all of those things I was worrying about before seem to be silly now,” he explains, looking immensely relieved.
Once the initial chaos from our arrival was over, Cole effectively disappeared with Kysen and his other Bonded; they needed to get to know each other properly and find out how they all fit together. We saw them occasionally, but they took the time to explore their new dynamic.
“The Bond always fascinates me, but I guess it makes sense because we’re going to be with these people for the rest of our lives, and if we didn’t like them, that would make things really complicated.” Erin points out.
“Why do I feel like there’s something that you’re not saying?” I ask him when my intuition seemingly pings out of nowhere.
All the happiness that was in his eyes while he was talking about his Bonded mates disappears, and instead, it's replaced with apprehension.
“Cole?” Erin questions, sounding confused.
“Some of the teachers seem to have an issue that I’m a Centre, and my mates are all male,” he shocks me by replying.
“What?” I ask, “That doesn’t make any sense. If we were in the Earth Realm, then maybe, but not here, same-sex couples are common, and even Centres with same-sex bonds have been well known in the past, so why on earth would they have a problem with you?”
He shrugs, “I honestly don’t know. It’s really strange and doesn’t make any sense.”
“Pay attention,” the Goddess's voice echoes through my mind, completely surprising me.
“Okay, I think we need to keep an eye on the teachers, something must be going on for them to have changed so drastically,” I reply.
“You think, or you know?” Cole asks, his eyes narrowed slightly.
I smile, “I know.”