Chapter 10 #2
I smiled at him. Michael genuinely was a good soul. With anyone else, I might have suspected they would be happy to see me go and see the competition shrink, but not the boy who loved fairy tales. "Don't worry," I told him. "I'm alright. Although I'm afraid Tyrel's mother really doesn't like me."
"She did give you the last date spot."
"Yeah." I stroked my hand through my hair.
The thought of having to watch the man I wanted go on all these dates with all these men really didn't sit well with me.
He'd said he wanted me, he'd made me a promise, but he'd never said he didn't want all these other guys.
I had peculiar powers, yeah, but would that be enough to keep him attracted to me when he had a taste of all the others first? "It's your turn tonight, isn't it?"
"Yes, we're going out for dinner."
I tried to keep my smile up. Tyrel couldn't easily manipulate me, but he could get Michael to do whatever he wanted. Would he?
"Are you nervous?" I asked.
"Maybe a little. I don't know. I feel like I should be more nervous than I am, but it's like…"
"Like what?"
Michael shook his head. "I get this feeling like he's already made up his mind anyway, and we're just going through the motions to please his mother now. Like this is all a big farce."
He might not be too far off there. "We don't know that. You still have a chance."
"He was in your room last night, wasn't he?"
Shit. I was pretty sure no one was supposed to know that. Tyrel had said he wasn't allowed in here, but now Paul and Tyrel's mother and Michael knew. He must have heard.
"The walls aren't that thick," he said, confirming my suspicions.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"I don't know. I feel like I'm not playing fair." I sat on my bed and rested my head in my hands, breathing in deeply.
"Don't worry. It was always clear that he'd only pick one of us in the end."
"Yeah, I know that, but…" It still felt somewhat unfair that I was being given an advantage because I'd been born with a natural resistance to powers I hadn't even known existed until a few days ago. It wasn't anything I'd done.
"It's alright," Michael said. "Honestly? I'm not sure I fit into this family anyway."
"Nothing's decided yet." I wasn't sure why I wanted to cheer on my competition, but he looked so lost that moment.
"It's fine," he said again. "I'm mostly here out of curiosity. But you… You really want him, don't you?"
I sighed. "I don't know. I feel like I shouldn't. He has this hold on me that I can't explain. I know it's not smart to stick with him, that I should just walk out of here, and yet I stay."
Michael smiled softly. "Maybe it's dragon magic," he mused.
"No. Dragon magic feels different."
Michael raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized that I'd said too much. I wasn't supposed to know what dragon magic felt like. That I did know was what made me special. What Tyrel wanted to keep a secret.
Oops.
"How do you know?" Michael asked.
"Just forget I said anything."
"Don't be like that. Please. You know I'm super curious. What happened? Did he use magic on you?"
"He's probably used magic on all of us," I said before I could stop myself. At this point, what did it matter, really? Michael wasn't going to let this go, but I felt like I could trust him.
Michael's eyes grew wide. "On all of us? What do you mean? I don't feel like I'm under a spell."
"You're not. Not right now, anyway. I think.
" I couldn't be sure, really. After all, there could be other forms of magic that I couldn't detect.
I could be just as oblivious to them as Michael was to what I had experienced.
"Tyrel and his mother, they can make you do things when they look at you.
You'll think you're doing it because you want to, that it was all your idea, but that's not true. "
"How do you know this?" he asked again. Approaching the bed, he looked at me expectantly before sitting down next to me.
"Because I can feel it," I confessed. "Tyrel tells me that's unusual, but I can feel when he tries to use magic on me, or when his mother does. It's like this voice in my head that doesn't quite sound like my own."
"But the rest of us don't notice it? At all?"
"Tyrel says he's never met another human like me. I'm not trying to brag, but yeah… He also says his mother can't know." I shot Michael a sharp look.
"Don't worry. She won't find out from me."
"She can make you do whatever she wants, so don't even give her a reason to suspect you might know something."
"Alright." Michael held his hands up in front of himself. His expression grew thoughtful. "You figure Tyrel likes you because you're unusual?"
"That's probably the reason. I wish it was more than that, but I don't know. Our first meeting, he told me I fascinated him because of my powers."
"I see." Michael let his gaze wander through the room, as if he was looking for something, but then he returned his attention to me. "You got any idea why you might be different?"
"Honestly? No." I'd never felt special in any way. Just a run-off-the-mill omega like any other.
"I know this might sound silly, but do you want to know why I'm so drawn to dragons? Enough so that I chose to come here?"
I had no idea where he was going with this, but… "Sure. I'd love to know."
"It's probably just legends, but I love the idea of fated mates. The whole concept."
I swallowed. Part of me liked that idea, too. But it was silly. We each made our own fate, no matter how much the romantic in me wanted to believe differently. "That does sound very much like fairy tales."
"In the legends, a dragon's mate cannot be touched by his magic."
"Oh, it touches me alright." Got me damn hard, too. Even just thinking about it made heat rise in my cheeks.
"But you can throw it off?"
"Sometimes. I'm not entirely sure. I think if he pushed harder, he could win, but he hasn't tried so far."
Michael nodded, considering this. "Well, I don't know if there's anything like fate involved, but why else would you have this power?"
I shook my head. "No idea."
He stood from the bed. "I'm kind of jealous of you."
I laughed shortly. "Don't be. This is a mess. His mother hates me, I hardly know him, but we're thinking about having a child together? The whole thing is insane."
"Well, what did you think would happen when you applied for this job?"
He had a point there.
"I did it to stop my brother from nagging me to get a job, initially. And then I saw Tyrel and…" I shrugged helplessly.
Michael smiled softly. "You know life is what happens when you're making other plans. That said, if you really feel you need to get out, don't wait too long. If you two are really fated, it's not going to get easier."
I nodded at him, because it already felt impossible for me to walk away from Tyrel. "Be careful on your date tonight," I advised him. Tyrel couldn't use his magic on me without my knowledge, but Michael was fair game.
"I will be."
After that, Michael left the room, saying that he had to get ready. For his date. With Tyrel. Goddammit. I wasn't an aggressive person, but I wanted to smash something.