Clarke
Jace was right that her most recent vision was both a learning experience and valuable information. Her hopes had plummeted when they hadn’t found anything in the tunnel, but she was over the disappointment, now. Having a covert meeting place would solve several problems.
Neither of them were resisting the bond. But, through no fault of theirs, they weren’t nurturing it properly, either. Colors would begin filling in the marks as they grew emotionally and physically closer. The colors would be accompanied by a sense of unity, belonging, and security.
Hopefully, there would be a respite from the drills. Being on constant alert wasn’t conducive to rest and relaxation. Sleep deprivation made everything more complicated.
Having one less thing to worry about would be a blessing. The absence of drills and being able to spend time alone with Jace removed two sources of stress. She would take it.
Fear for her dad, and frustration over the lack of clues was ever present. Added to that was the bullshit of daily life. She liked the students in her classes, and had no issues with most of the staff.
Mitch, Russell, and Ray, however, had become an irritation. They were like a rash that persisted in spite of her efforts to ignore it.
Ray was passive-aggressive. He was all grumbled insults, sullen looks, and glares.
Russell had no respect for personal space. He stood too close, touching her hands or arms as often as possible. It made Clarke uncomfortable.
The assistant librarian didn’t do anything aggressive, or overtly sexual, however. He was gregarious, and a font of information. Russell seemed to know something about everyone on campus. She had already learned a lot from his aimless chatter.
Since he could be a valuable resource, Clarke was careful about how she dealt with him. Russell’s disbelief was obvious when she told him that she wasn’t gay. Conversations with him were like a tennis match.
When he invited her out for drinks, Clarke said she wasn’t interested in dating. Russell parried, claiming that he wanted to be friends. She told him she had no spare time, currently, quoting responsibilities of her job.
He pointed out that she should have more flexibility on the weekends. Clarke explained that she should stay close to the underage students until she was confident that they were comfortable. That was mostly the truth.
Russell seemed to realize that it was a stall tactic. While his relentless pursuit was aggravating, Clarke found herself enjoying some of their talks. If the circumstances were different, and he knew she was female, they would probably be friends.
One of the most interesting things to her was Russell’s unsolicited advice on how to deal with Mitch. He seemed to be aware of exactly what the elemental monitor was doing. Clarke had to wonder how Russell had learned everything he seemed to know.
Mitchel Pierce had declared war upon her. Someone had been pulling vicious pranks on her, that were elemental in nature, involving water. Clarke had no proof, but it had to be him.
The elemental students had no reason to attack her. One of the boys in her class was a water elemental. But he was a sweet kid who lacked the control and training to pull these stunts.
Russell, an air elemental, had confirmed her suspicions without telling her how he gained that knowledge. Russell was offended on her behalf.
He was of the same mindset as Professor Halston. The assistant librarian believed that Mitch was blaming her unjustly for his own failings. Sabotaging her was petty, and stupid. It wouldn’t improve anyone’s opinion of the elemental monitor.
Jace seemed to suspect that Mitch was expressing his grievances against her with more than verbal insults. Clarke hadn’t admitted to that, and evaded discussing it, because he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Jace would be furious, and could lose his temper.
Clarke didn’t like hiding anything from Jace, and felt guilty about it. It seemed like the wisest course of action, though. If Jace attacked Mitch, the results might be catastrophic.
He could be reprimanded, lose the respect of his peers and students, possibly putting a spotlight on their relationship. Clarke didn’t feel that it was worth the risk.
Her own temper was being tested. She’d been scalded in the shower twice when the cold water suddenly cut out. The toilet had become a geyser, shooting water everywhere and flooding the bathroom, three times. The kitchen faucet turned on and off randomly.
So far, Mitch hadn’t done anything that affected her students, which was where Clarke drew the line. But, he was getting on her last nerve.
Russell suggested documenting maintenance requests for each incident. The logged requests should constitute proof of the attacks when workers discovered nothing wrong with the plumbing. She decided to take his advice.
As Jace had warned her, her own students played pranks, but those were harmless.
Once, the door to her apartment had been sealed shut from the outside with multiple layers of packing tape.
A student with the power to manipulate metal transformed the doorknob to her office into a rose.
Industrial-strength, two-sided tape had been placed at the entrance to her office, causing Clarke’s shoes to be stuck to the floor.
These stunts were more amusing than anything else. Clarke hadn’t bothered trying to discover the identity of the culprits. Provided the pranks remained harmless, Clarke was content to let them have their fun.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the notification of a text. Jace wanted to meet her in the tunnel between the caster and elemental dorms. Clarke replied that she would be there in approximately ten minutes.
Being away from prying eyes gave her the freedom to be herself. Even with the potion and charm, Clarke had to watch what she said and how she acted. Sometimes, she felt like she was losing her sense of identity.
Impersonating a man was tiresome. Clarke wanted to have her nails done, shave her legs and armpits, wear feminine clothes, and just feel like herself.
The hope of finding her dad was worth all of this effort, but it was taxing.
Even looking and sounding like a man, with Jace she didn’t have to pretend.
Clarke slipped on a pair of shoes, left her unit, and headed for the staircase. She had made her rounds of the dorms a few times that day already. The underage students had been well-behaved, not attempting to leave campus.
Jace was waiting for her when she arrived. He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet, and swung her around in sheer excitement. Happiness bubbled inside her, causing Clarke to laugh.
“That was a pleasant surprise. Do you have good news?” Clarke asked when he set her on her feet.
His strength impressed her. She wasn’t a small woman. But he had to have close to a hundred pounds on her.
“I wish I did, but no,” he replied. “I’m just reveling in being able to touch you. Can we cuddle for a bit, or do you have to get back right away?”
“That sounds awesome,” Clarke said. “I don’t have anything going on right now.”
Jace took her hand, and led her to one of the storage areas. He sat down on a crate, pulling Clarke into his lap. They both sighed with contentment, and simply held each other for several minutes.
“My wolverine is more settled, just having physical contact with you,” he said. “I’m more grateful than I was last night that you had a vision of this tunnel.”
“Me too. I have been restless and scatterbrained, but it’s better now. That had to have been worse for you.”
Jace shrugged before commenting, “It’s been difficult, but we’ll do what we need to do to find Charlie. This was good timing, though. The first home football game is next weekend. That will limit our free time. Do you have any students on the team?”
“No one under eighteen, but I’ll be at the game,” she said. “I posted a signup sheet in the common room. All three of my high school seniors want to go.”
“Same, most of my shifters have team spirit, and the kangaroo freshman, who turns eighteen in November, made the team.”
“So, how does this work with Mars and Venus?” Clarke asked. “I know the sports arena is shared, and the teams must have cheer squads. But I haven’t seen any announcements for pep rallies.”
“We’ll have rallies later in the season in the auditorium, with students from both colleges,” Jace answered. “The cheerleaders are mostly female. They have shared practices after school. You’ll see a lot of students and staff from Venus at the game.”
They talked for a bit more, but mostly reveled in the contentment of snuggling. Eventually, Jace and Clarke pulled away from each other reluctantly, and stood. He hugged her one more time, and kissed her on the forehead before they returned to their dorms.
Jace hadn’t kissed her on the lips, or made even the tamest of sexual overtures. Her seeming manly was probably weird for him. Or, he was holding back for the same reasons she was, possibly both.
Clarke wanted to progress their relationship. But it would be more difficult to keep her distance once they were on that path. Then, there would be added frustration from only being able to take things so far.
There was nowhere for them to spend the night, and explore each other at their leisure. Getting a hotel room in Clementine would be risking exposure. Most, if not all of the staff lived in town.
There just weren’t any good options. No matter how sexy Jace was, Clarke wasn’t about to get frisky on concrete in a mice-infested basement. She would have to keep her libido in check.
Still, it was hard not to fantasize about all those rippling muscles. Clarke just knew Jace would look even more delicious naked. It was a crying shame to have such a buffet of hotness right at her fingertips, and be unable to touch him.
Clarke sighed as she hiked back up the stairs to the powered dorm.
They would figure out a way to explore their relationship without being discovered by the staff, even if they had to wait for winter break.
She had an amazing mate that she trusted, who was helping search for her dad.
They would have to take the good with the bad, and be patient.
On Monday morning, Clarke showered, ready to jump back in case of a sudden temperature change. She scrubbed down fast as she stared at the showerhead with distrust, but nothing happened. Clarke had taken to showering at random times, hoping to keep Mitch from messing with her.
Maybe it was actually working. Or not. When she stepped out of the shower stall, the bath mat slid out from under her feet, sending Clarke careening across the floor, which looked to be covered in a sheet of ice.
Her left knee slammed into the toilet, and damn, that hurt. Reverberations of pain from the impact shot down to her toes, and up her thigh.
Clarke did manage to catch herself on the sink vanity before hitting her face on the faucet. She gasped and cussed a blue streak, trying to catch her breath.
That motherfucker! Did he have nothing better to do than lurk outside her dorm and torture her? A powerful elemental could manipulate his or her element from a certain distance. But Clarke was positive that Mitch wasn’t strong enough to attack her from his dorm.
Moving cautiously, Clarke made her way to the door leading into her bedroom, using handholds to keep her balance and prevent another fall. Her knee and elbows were already beginning to bruise from her collision with the sink and toilet.
Clarke tried to shake it off as she dressed, ate a light breakfast, and prepared for the day ahead. The injuries would probably ache for a few days, but weren’t serious.
She reported the sheet of ice in her bathroom, sending it to the maintenance department. They’d been out twice already, to check the pipes and toilet, finding no mechanical issues. Hopefully, Russell’s plan was working. Clarke was sick and tired of being the target of Mitch’s vendetta.
She had a shift in the library that morning, and braced herself to deal with Russell’s persistent flirting. The sharp pain in her knee had subsided to a dull, throbbing ache by the time she left the dorm. But her knee protested the second half of her walk across campus.
Clarke made an effort not to limp or wince as she entered the library. She wasn’t successful, however. Rather than greeting her with innuendos and a naughty smirk, Russell scrunched his face in a frown, and looked at her with concern.
“You’re moving stiffly. Did something happen?”
“A sheet of ice on the bathroom floor resulted in me getting into a fight with the sink and toilet,” Clarke replied dryly. “I lost.”
“That asshole,” Russell fumed. “I tried talking some sense into Mitch on Friday. Obviously, it didn’t do any good.”
“He seems impervious to logic. Thanks for making the effort, though.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that. He’s gone too far,” Russell said.
She was distracted by the sight of Professor Halston entering the library. With a brief nod in their direction, he strode purposely toward the spellcasting section. Clarke’s eyes followed his tall, lean form appreciatively as he walked.
What was wrong with her? She had a mate who was just as sexy and gorgeous as Heath Halston, albeit in a completely different way. Clarke told herself she had no business drooling over another man.
Her eyes didn’t listen to the lecture, seeming to have a mind of their own. It was like she couldn’t help herself. A loud, dramatic sigh from next to her caught Clarke’s attention.
“I know,” Russell said sympathetically. “Halston is so dreamy, with a fantastic ass, and brains that surpass his physical perfection. But unfortunately for your supposedly non-gay self, and my honestly-gay self, he isn’t remotely curious.
Trust me, I tried, and used all the charm in my considerable arsenal. ”
“I was lost in thought, and facing that direction, not staring at Professor Halston,” Clarke lied through her teeth.
Damn Russell’s keen powers of perception, anyway. He was far too observant for her comfort.
“With your eyes glued to those flexing ass cheeks? Sorry, not that gullible,” Russell teased.
Having no idea what to say, and knowing Russell wouldn’t believe her anyway, Clarke marched off to shelve a cart of books with his laughter following her. It wasn’t even noon yet, and the day had gone to hell.