Chapter Eight
Theo
Resting the journal he was reading against his knees, Theo leaned his back against the tree that had been magically replaced.
Theo wasn’t certain if it was his tree or not but it was in the right place.
He was between classes and taking a few minutes to read through the fae journals again.
He’d gotten through the journals once but Theo knew that he hadn’t retained it all.
The biggest problem was the number of creatures that hailed from the fae realm. And a lot of creatures fell both under the seelie and unseelie umbrella, meaning Theo actually needed to learn the names of clans to know where they truly fell.
It was all confusing and was just giving him a headache.
“I don’t know,” Theo said to his companions. “Can’t I just look at everyone fae as the bad guy?”
“No, my friend, I am not a bad guy,” Bo told him.
“Me either!” Aurelia said.
Garrett, back in his stone form, swiveled his ears as if he agreed with the other two.
“Fine,” Theo whined. He didn’t really feel that way.
Aurelia and Bo were great. And Theo was really looking forward to seeing who else would be added to their family eventually.
Family was everything to someone like Theo, who’d never had anyone to count on.
He hoped for the biggest family ever. “But it’s too much to remember. ”
“You should eat!” Aurelia suggested. She scurried to Theo’s backpack and the bag that Dario had packed for a snack. She grabbed the bag and returned to sit on Theo’s lap.
He set the journal to the side before pulling out what he had. Theo grinned seeing the huge sandwich with ham and cheese, lettuce and tomato, and fresh bread. There was also a Ziplock bag full of chips, one with apple slices, and the final contained chocolate chip cookies.
That wasn’t a snack. Dario had packed him a full lunch. Which suited Theo as he didn’t want to spend his time in the dining hall. It was noisy and packed with other students.
Theo might still have issues about food and spending money and this was a much better solution. Maybe Dario would pack Theo’s lunch every day. That would be awesome.
Whatever this nesting thing was that dragons did, it was an amazing benefit Theo. Nesting. That was something else that Theo had wanted to research. But which book would that be in? Since his backpack was already full of books for school, Theo had only grabbed two journals. Fae and hell.
He’d grabbed the journal about hell since Theo also wanted to learn more about Mitch. The ceremony with Mitch presenting the sword to Wylder had been cool. Theo felt bad for ruining the special moment for Wylder. It had been childish and unfair.
He’d tried to apologize but Wylder had waved him off, telling Theo that nothing had been ruined.
Theo disagreed. There had to be some way for Theo to make it up to Wylder.
And Mitch too. Theo wanted to encourage Mitch to be in his natural form around him, which was the biggest reason he’d agreed to move into the house by campus.
With the high ceilings, Mitch would be more comfortable in the house than the apartment.
Theo had given Dario his answer that morning before he’d left for school.
Dario promised that he would put an offer in and that they’d know by the end of the night. Another thing that was happening fast. Theo’s life was moving at a speed that he was learning to roll with. What else could he do?
“Hey, baby,” Wylder called.
Theo looked up to see Wylder and Josh headed in his direction.
For one brief moment, panic filled him. A reminder of the last time that Wylder and Josh had joined him under the tree. Theo dug his fingers into the dirt, holding on as he shook internally.
He couldn’t be taken again.
No! Theo wouldn’t survive this! He’d given everything las time and had nothing left.
“Hey! Hey, Theo. Look at me.” Wylder grabbed Theo’s face between his palms.
Pain yanked Theo back to the present where he was still leaning against the tree with Wylder crouched in front of him. Theo blinked.
“There you are,” Wylder said. “I need you to keep breathing for me. You were having a panic attack.”
He was? Hellcats! Theo needed to get control of himself. The ground was solid under him. No rumbles of magic trying to steal him away.
“Your eyes are glowing,” Wylder said. “Calm down, baby.”
His eyes were glowing. Why? “Huh?”
“We noticed it when you were using magic back in fae,” Wylder said. “Your eyes glowed so green that it was almost blinding. It’s not like that now but they are glowing. Too many humans around us.”
Theo nodded before dropping his chin to his chest. Maybe it would be smart to work with Seb. At least learn how to control whatever was happening with his eyes. He couldn’t walk around with glowing eyes!
“You can do it, friend,” Bo encouraged.
Aurelia climbed up Theo’s chest to settle against his heart.
Theo patted his little brownie’s back as he forced himself to relax and think happy thoughts. Like moving into a house with his mates. Theo had been the one hold out since his other mates didn’t care one way or another.
It wasn’t that Theo was opposed. Never having a home made Theo wary of losing the small comforts that he’d found. His dorm and Dario’s apartment, which was where their mate bond had formed.
A house was a big commitment as well. Not that Theo imagined any circumstance that he wouldn’t want to be with his mates. The bigger house just made sense for them.
And going to bed every night snuggled in the middle of his mates was every dream come true.
“Perfect.” Wylder leaned forward and kissed Theo’s forehead. “Good job, baby.”
Theo grinned back at his mate. “Thanks.”
“That was a really good job. Unseelie magic can be tricky.” Josh dropped down beside Theo and as close to Garrett as he could get.
It was such a shame that Josh never got to speak with Garrett like Theo had.
“I see you got the Dario special.” Wylder nodded at the food spread around Theo. He pulled his own food bag out of the backpack on his shoulder.
“Right! It’s so much.” Theo unwrapped his sandwich. He glanced at Josh. “Want to share?”
Josh laughed. “I grabbed something from the coffee shop earlier. They miss you, by the way. You need to swing by and say hi.”
Yeah. With so much happening, Theo had neglected the connections that he’d made with the other students. Friends that Theo hadn’t even known he was making. But he had. Theo wasn’t as big of a failure as he’d always believed. He needed to remember that. “I’ll do that.”
“Hey, guys!” Ethan hollered as he jogged down the steps from the dorm building.
“Hey!” Theo waved him over. “Are you back in the dorm?” Ethan had said he was moving in with Evian. Had something changed? Theo didn’t want his friend all alone.
“Nah, man.” Ethan dropped to a crouch beside him. “I moved most of my stuff to the house. It’s just easier to keep my hockey gear here than trying to lug it all around.”
That was smart. Theo nudged Wylder’s knee. “We’re still going to his game tomorrow, right?”
“Of course we are!” Wylder said. “And I’m going to buy you the cheesiest nachos, a hot dog, popcorn—everything that you’ve always wanted from a concession stand.”
Ethan laughed. “Are you coming to watch hockey or eat?”
Theo blushed. He’d confessed to Wylder about his first hockey game and how the other students around him had shared nachos that had looked so good.
Wylder had promised that Theo would get the whole hockey game experience.
“We’re going to cheer you on,” he told his friend. Hockey was okay. Ethan was better.
“You’re awesome, buddy,” Ethan replied before stealing an apple slice.
“How’s your mating going?” Wylder questioned Ethan. “I still can’t believe that Evian ended up being your mate.”
“It’s pretty dam cool,” Ethan said with a shrug. “He was a little worried about the whole professor and student thing. He even offered to give up his position if need be since he wants me to stay in school.”
“He’s leaving?” Evian was Theo’s favorite professor.
Ethan shook his head. “There was no need. As long as I’m not in any of his classes, it’s not a conflict of interest.”
Hellcats! Theo was so relieved. “So you’ve known about shifters?”
“I do.” Ethan settled on his ass and crossed his legs.
Theo passed Ethan the Ziplock bag with the apples. Then he handed a cookie to Aurelia, who was still curled against Theo’s chest. He would much rather have the sandwich anyway.
Wylder set his own apple slices in front of Bo, who immediately began to shove them into his mouth.
Looking around at their little group as Ethan told them about his shifter friends, Theo couldn’t help the huge smile on his face. This was what he’d seen other students doing. Sitting around talking, sharing food, and just hanging out.
Sure, their little group was unusual. Two humans, one of them enhanced, a shifter that had no clue about their world, a dryad, gargoyle, brownie, and troll slash gnome. It was even better than Theo had hoped for.
* * * * *
Mitch
The heat from the fire at his back already had him sweating. Mitch tried to hide his impatience. He’d returned to the hell realm to gather the rest of his belongings to move them. Sami was back at Mitch’s house, packing up boxes and magically transporting them to Mitch’s room in the new place.
Dario had called to tell him that the offer had been accepted and they already had the keys to surprise the boys with once they got done with school for the day. Dario was pushing for them all to get moved as quickly as possible.
Seb and Mahah had already placed a protection dome around the house. Having a private estate in their name made working the magic easier. It had been near impossible to completely protect the apartment with so many humans living there.
They hadn’t told Theo that was the real reason for the push to move into a house that would belong solely to them. He needed to feel safe in the apartment and Mitch had agreed with Dario and Alek’s reasoning.