Thief Page 3

All five shake their heads. “No clue,” Asher says. “And that’s what has the Circuit worried.”

  Well, great.

  At least I’m feeling like myself, which is good. Weaker than I’d like to be, but I guess that’s what happens when you spend three whole months in a magical coma.

  I go back for seconds of everything, and as we finish breakfast, the conversation moves on to other topics. I mention that I’ll have to work hard to get back into shape for classes, and the guys all seem eager to help me exercise and eat properly—anything they can do to assist in my recovery.

  Three. Months.

  I’m slowly wrapping my head around that, getting over the shock I felt when they first told me. And it’s no wonder they all keep shooting me worried glances. I wasn’t really aware of time passing, but they’ve spent weeks waiting for me to wake up.

  But if there’s one benefit to this bullshit… it’s getting to see how they all behave around each other. The guys are kind and loving to Maddy, treating her like a little sister. Even Dmitri is sweet and gentle with her. Cam and Asher tease her and joke with her, and Roman’s been teaching her some magical theory stuff so she’ll have a leg up going into her second year.

  Everyone’s become really close. The slight gap I felt between Roman and the other three has disappeared, and they’re all getting along.

  It’s amazing, although it makes me even more pissed at whatever fuckface threw the spell that knocked me out. As cool as it is to see the way things have shifted between them all, I feel a bit left out, honestly. They got three months of bonding, and I got… Sleeping Beauty Syndrome.

  And there’s another thing too, something that’s been stuck in my mind ever since Roman kissed me in front of the others.

  If the guys are all on board with this sharing thing, if they’re all getting along and liking each other… taking this in stride…

  Then there’s really no excuse for me to keep being a damn coward, is there?

  It might be time to grow a pair and admit what I feel for each of them.

  Admit how much I feel for them.

  Chapter 4

  Thanks to that fantastic spell I was hit with, I woke up with only a week left before school starts. Which is, in my humble opinion, a complete load of bullshit. I missed out on summer vacation and on all the guys and my sister bonding—and now I have less than a week before my return to the school where I’ve become notorious for several reasons?

  Super duper.

  At least I’m pretty sure whoever knocked me out with that spell didn’t actually mean to hit me. I was just a casualty of the general chaos and confusion caused by Johnson’s attack. But honestly, that knowledge only helps a little.

  I get in as much time with Maddy as I can before she has to go back to her own school, Neptune Academy. Mads is an elemental mage who can control water, and she’s going into her second year of training just like I am. Cam, Asher, and Dmitri are good about giving the two of us some one-on-one sister time, which I appreciate. Roman is too, but that’s partly because duty calls—he has to leave early to set up for the semester anyway, since he’s a professor.

  He pulls me aside the night that he leaves. I’m not sure what he’s going to say or do, and I’m a bit nervous as we walk into the master bedroom, the one he’s been using this summer. We haven’t really gotten much alone time since I woke up a few days ago, and I forgot how overwhelming his presence can be, how powerful the pull I feel toward him is.

  Roman’s bags are sitting by the bedroom door, packed and ready to go. He’s only got two small suitcases, probably just clothes and a few books. I’m tempted all over again to ask him about his past, about why he has this huge family home that’s beautifully furnished but somehow still seems a little empty—about why he can pack his entire life so easily into two little bags—but now doesn’t seem to be the right time.

  Besides, I’ve been the one who’s been gun-shy about our relationship getting more serious. He probably would’ve told me a lot more about himself by now if I hadn’t been pushing him away this whole time. That’s something I need to fix, and after everything that happened this summer, even if I wasn’t awake for most of it, I really want to.

  He’s told me straight out that he wants to be with me, wants a real relationship with me, and that he’s willing to share me with the others… but maybe even more importantly, he’s shown me the truth of his words over and over. Roman has never given me a reason to distrust him.

  So maybe it’s time I give him the trust he deserves.

  “See you at school, prof. I’ll make sure to sharpen all my pen—” I start to say, because my instinct is to make jokes when I’m nervous, but Roman grabs me and hauls me to him, kissing me, and I just about forget my own name.

  Roman’s not exactly a man of many words, but holy fuck, can he kiss.

  I wrap my arms around his neck, kissing him back, pressing myself up against him as his large hands flex around my waist, his mouth pouring fire into mine. It spreads through my whole body, lighting up my nerve endings and igniting the craving for him that never seems to be satisfied no matter how often I try to quench it.

  My hands thread through his hair, and my clit throbs in time to my heartbeat as he pulls me closer, grinding our hips together. I was unconscious for most of the summer, unaware of time passing—but it’s like my body knows how long it’s been since we last did this and is trying to make up for lost time.

  When he finally breaks the kiss, I’m gasping.

  “Sorry,” he murmurs roughly, pulling back an inch or two as I drag in a shaky breath. Damn. I can’t feel my legs. “Just wanted to do that one last time before the semester started.”

  My arms tighten around his neck. “Are we going to be…”

  “We’ll be fine.” His hands worked their way under my shirt while we were kissing, and now his thumbs rub soothing circles into my skin. “We’re not breaking any rules. There’s nothing in school policy that says we can’t date, although… it is frowned upon. But we’re all of age, and I can prove in your transcript that I’m not giving you better grades or special treatment because of our relationship.”

  I snort. “Yeah, that’s for damn sure.”

  A smile quirks his lips, and his cobalt eyes shine with possessiveness and humor. He kisses me again, hard and dirty, and I shudder. Fuck, I’m going to miss being able to touch him however and whenever I want, to flirt with him as much as I want.

  We break apart slower this time, more reluctantly, as if neither of us wants to let go of the other.

  “But listen, if anything does come out,” Roman adds, resting his forehead against mine, “I’ll take responsibility.”

  I gently stroke my fingers through the soft, dark hair at the back of his neck. “Hey, it’s not like you tricked me into this.”

  “I know. But you’ve already been through enough, and I can take a little heat. If this does get out, let me bear the brunt of it, all right?”

  “…fine.” I’m not happy with that, but I know Roman’s as stubborn as I am, if not more so.

  He kisses me on the nose, the tender gesture making a cascade of butterflies flap around in my stomach, and then grabs his suitcases and heads out.

  I hate how much it hurts to watch him go.

  For the rest of the week, it’s the five of us—Maddy, the guys, and me—and I can tell the others are trying to cram as much good stuff into it for me as they can, making up for what I missed out on. We have a Lord of the Rings marathon, go to the beach even though it takes us two hours to get there, and have a few cookouts. Just fun summer shit.

  Despite having a blast with the guys and my sis, I’m feeling a little… out of it. I’m still kind of weak from being asleep for so long, but it’s not just that. It’s like I’m a bit outside of space and time somehow, like everything’s slightly tilted to the side for me.

  At least everyone else is acting normal. Cam’s an adorable goof, Asher’s soft and sweet, and Dmitri… well, he’s gone
back to being cranky and withdrawn around me. And honestly, I’m not as relieved about that as I expected to be.

  Last semester, there was a moment when I thought he was going to confess that he had feelings for me. At the time, I almost didn’t want him to say anything—I didn’t feel ready to face all the unspoken emotions between us, to admit the depth of my own feelings for him.

  But now? I’m not sure I want to hide from those things anymore.

  When I woke up from my coma, I got just a little taste of what Dmitri’s love would be like, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I want more. I don’t want our relationship to just be about poking at each other from behind our fortified walls. I want to tear those walls down a bit and see what could happen between us if we both stopped hiding from our feelings.

  Dmitri though, seems to have had the exact opposite response.

  He hasn’t mentioned what happened between us, and if anything, he’s acting more closed off now than he was last spring. He’s still fiercely protective of me, we still banter back and forth, and I still catch him gazing at me with intense heat in his eyes sometimes—but he seems to be actively trying to keep things between us exactly the way they’ve always been. To not let them change at all.

  Which… sucks.

  I try not to let it stress me out as we enjoy the last couple days of summer vacation though, and before I know it, I’m saying goodbye to my sister again.

  God, this part never gets fucking easier. I hate being away from her. I squeeze her as tightly as I can and press a kiss to her hair and remind myself that we’re in the twenty-first century, which means I can call or message her pretty much anytime I want to, and she can do the same with me. We’re never as far apart as we feel.

  It’s just… hard, after living in each other’s pockets for so long, that’s all.

  We get Maddy onto the shuttle for Neptune Academy, and then we’re off to Griffin. Dmitri’s driving, because Cam is in charge of the music and Asher has “road anxiety.”

  “You know how most people have road rage?” he says. “Where they get angry? I panic instead.”

  The admission makes me laugh out loud because it doesn’t surprise me one bit, and I plant a kiss on his cheek. He’s such an empathetic person, even beyond his mind-reading abilities, that I can see how dealing with a bunch of other rage-filled drivers would stress him out.

  So that puts Asher in the back seat with me. I’m not allowed to drive because Maddy, the traitor, told the others about my little speeding habit. I also haven’t owned or driven a car in about four years; we had to sell the car after Mom died, and I didn’t really need one anyway since The Den was pretty close to our old apartment.

  Still, did she have to tell the guys about my speeding tickets?

  The drive is fun though, and after only couple of hours, we pull through the large entry gate into the Griffin Academy campus.

  I’ll be honest, when I first got to this school, I was nervous as hell. I was only doing it so my magic wouldn’t be taken away and so I could stay in Maddy’s world. No way would I leave her on her own in the magical community and let myself be cut off from it.

  I felt a little blackmailed by Aurora, as though I didn’t really have a choice. So I was jittery and cranky going in, and I really didn’t think I’d like this place at all.

  But now, as Wellwood Hall comes into view, I get this feeling of peace and happiness. Excitement, even. I’m glad to be back.

  Our school is beautiful, so that helps. The academy grounds are massive, and the stone wall around the campus encompasses an area that stretches over several dozen acres. Most of it isn’t developed though—just the area surrounding the school buildings. Thick woods take up a large portion of the grounds, and Cam and I went running through them often last year.

  We drive past the ancient-looking dormitory buildings, the faculty and staff housing, the dining hall and auditorium, and finally, Wellwood Hall. It’s an impressive structure that looks like it was designed by an insane architect—three or four stories high in some places, six or seven in others, with towers that seem to pop up in random places. Gables and turrets give the whole thing an old-timey feel, and the windows and doors are all ornately detailed.

  On the west side of campus, there’s a small lot that’s enchanted to accommodate a good number of cars without taking up too much space. Most students take the shuttle in from Portland—I’m pretty sure it costs an arm and a leg to park on campus, which is why Dmitri is the only one of the guys who keeps a car here.

  I’m still staring out the back window at Wellwood Hall as we drive up to the lot. I sort of got used to it all last year, but looking at it again with fresh eyes, this whole place really looks… magical. As we pull in, a large bird takes off from the roof of the school building behind us, its wings backlit by the sun like in a goddamn movie.

  “Glad to be back?” Cam teases as we get out of the car.

  “A little, actually, yeah,” I admit.

  We grab our bags from the trunk and haul them up to our room. I’ve lived with the guys since a few weeks into my first semester, although student housing still doesn’t know about it. If they did, I’m sure they’d pitch a fit. But since my original roommates were Alyssa, Megan, and Kendal, I have no desire to leave the men’s dorm.

  Alyssa is the rich brat who’s been annoying me like it’s her job. Megan is one of her hangers-on, the loudest and most dedicated of her crew. Cristina’s another one, but she’s generally silent, like the world’s preppiest assassin. Kendal’s also a groupie but she’s… oddly sweet. Shy. Not like the others. I think she feels like she has to hang out with them. They’re all from old, powerful families so there’s a lot of pressure to do the “right thing” socially.

  Anyway, it worked out for the best. Living with the guys is awesome—and not just because I’m crazy attracted to all of them. We actually room well together, which, with four wildly different personalities in a small space, is saying something.

  The room is large, with beds, desks, and small dressers in each of the corners and a large couch in front of a TV along one of the side walls. We all move automatically to the quadrants we claimed last year and start unpacking our stuff.

  “Home, sweet home,” Dmitri says sarcastically, and I laugh because it really kind of is.

  I’m the last to finish emptying my suitcase, and when I turn around, I see all three guys standing there staring at me.

  “You want to get something to eat?” Asher asks.

  I frown, tugging the zipper on my empty bag closed. “Umm… I mean, not really. You guys can go get something if you want.”

  “Nah, we’re good,” Cam says, sitting back down on his bed.

  My brows pinch together as I narrow my eyes. Hmm.

  I’m pretty damn sure the men are hovering—and my suspicion is confirmed when, for the rest of the evening, they stick to me like glue. Even Dmitri. God knows he’s trying to pretend he isn’t, but when he’s always in the same place I am, well… a girl starts to get suspicious.

  I can’t really call them out on it, though—or blame them. If one of them had been in a magically induced coma for three months, I’d probably be hovering a little too. And it’s not like we don’t already spend almost all of our time together. I don’t really have friends on campus outside of these three and Roman. Blame Alyssa and my own tendency to be a hermit.

  So I keep my mouth shut and just try to enjoy their presence, hoping that in a few days, once we get back into the swing of classes and they realize I’m not going to drop back into a coma at any moment, they’ll relax a bit.

  The next morning, there’s an assembly after breakfast. I’m assuming Dean Hardwick will give a speech as usual, probably something about welcoming the first-years and how it’s cool to be Unpredictable and how proud of us he is. Hardwick means well, really, don’t get me wrong. I like the guy well enough, and I know he cares about this school and the students here a lot. But he’s got a fine line to tread between ack
nowledging the prejudice Unpredictables are faced with and encouraging us to celebrate who and what we are.

  We walk in a bit of a pack, the guys around me, but even though I’m in the middle, people still seem to spot me from a mile away.

  “Hi, Elliot!” one girl says as we head down the steps outside the dining hall.

  I’ve never met this girl in my life.

  “Umm… hi?” I reply, confused.

  “Hey, Elliot, glad to see you’re doing better!” says another guy from my History of Magic class last semester. I don’t remember his name, seeing as we’ve never once spoken to each other.

  It keeps up like that as we make our way to the auditorium. Everyone’s saying hi like we’re close friends, like they were all holding candlelight vigils all summer to make sure I woke up safe and sound. Several first-years—they tend to move around in terrified packs—gape at me, mouths open and eyes wide.

  “Why does everyone know who I am?” I mutter under my breath as we enter the assembly hall.

  “First you stopped Raul, then you won the Trials,” Asher whispers. “That’s going to get you some attention.”

  “You kind of became a school celebrity by the end of last year,” Cam adds. “You were asleep for it, but you were all people talked about for a few days.”

  We walk past Alyssa, who glares at me. Honestly, her venom is almost comforting. It’s good to know some things haven’t changed. And at least she’s honest in her dislike of me, I guess. If she was gushing and pretending to be my friend now, I wouldn’t just be alarmed, I’d be annoyed that she’d think I’d fall for something like that.

  We find spots near the back and sit down, Asher on my right, Dmitri on his other side, Cam on my left. Just like old times.

  Hardwick steps up to the podium, and the whispers around the room die down.

  Oh God, I wonder how many of those whispers were about me.

  “Greetings, everyone. A hearty welcome to our new first-years, and welcome back to our returning students.”