Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Izzy
Reid pushes open the door of the lounge on my dorm room floor as if he already knows where he’s going, then holds it open for me. His back is braced against the door, his arms folded across his chest, and walking by him brings us close together.
For the first time, I notice how much he’s changed since I really looked at him last. He’s filled out lately; he’s tall and broad-shouldered, even though he’s still skinny, which he always has been. But when did so much lean muscle fill out his narrow frame?
I liked him when he was the skinny geek with the heart of gold. That boy stole my heart. But now, any girl who looked at him would be likely to feel the same stir of desire I do…
“Oh wow,” I interrupt my own racing thoughts, trying to distract myself from the shape of his lips. “I’m starved. Can’t wait to eat some cereal!”
“Well, that’s a good thing.” Aiden stands, and I realize he was reclining on the couch.
“What’s…” I turn and look back at Reid. What’s he doing here too?
“Come on,” Aiden says, waving us over his shoulder as he heads into the next room.
Reid and I exchange a look, and he shrugs.
I follow Aiden into the adjacent dining room. It looks like the dorm is set up for a family, not to accommodate a bunch of students; there’s a round table with a lazy susan in the center, decorated with fresh flowers, and five chairs.
The long buffet table against the wall is covered in boxes of cereal. Every kind of sugary cereal sold in the United States of America, quite possibly, packaged in colorful boxes.
“Oh my gosh! Where did all this come from?” I head to the doors on the other side of the dining room, which leads to a kitchen with an exterior exit. The kitchen is empty.
“Did you ask for cereal?” Aiden leans in the doorway between the lounge and the dining room. “Because while I hate almost everything about this place, they do seem pretty willing to cater to our whims.”
“And if I remember correctly, cereal is one of your favorite things,” Reid says.
I pull a face. “That makes me sound like the most boring person in the world. Some girls love travel, some girls love fast cars...she loves breakfast cereal.”
But that doesn’t stop me from grabbing two boxes off the buffet and sitting down at the table, which is already set with bowls, a lavish display of fruit, and a glass pitcher of milk.
“I think it’s cute,” Reid says.
Aiden shoots him a look.
“What?” Reid asks. “Remember when she used to come over and eat our cereal all the time on the weekends? Stole the toy out of the box half the time, too.”
He says it light-heartedly. But Aiden scrubs his hand over his face.
“What’s wrong with you?” I kick his leg gently under the table.
And then I freeze. I don’t flirt with Aiden, not anymore. I don’t want to care what’s wrong with Aiden.
But everything here is strange and unfamiliar. These men are definitely strange too, but also in a way, they’re as familiar and warm and comforting as a favorite sweatshirt.
“Nothing,” he says.
I haven’t spent a lot of time with Aiden lately, but he used to always bite his lip after he lied. He catches his kissable, plush, pink lower lip with his teeth in a way that most girls find adorable, but it’s a little less sweet when you know it’s his tell.
Whatever. I pour a bowl of Chocolate Puffs. My foster mom never spent money on this junk, but I have fond memories of picking out a box of cereal as our last stop on grocery shopping trips with my mom.
“So we need to talk about the gods,” I say as I pour milk into my cereal. “About...us.”
Reid shoots a look at Aiden, and I know he doesn’t want to talk about the way we just almost fell into bed together…if we hadn’t been cock-blocked by an old woman with a leaky bladder.
A clatter resounds in the doorway. All three of us jerk around.
Van kneels in the doorway. He’s carrying an enormous sword, the kind knights wielded with two hands in stories like King Arthur, and he tries to prop it up in the corner, but it falls over again.
He gives up and stands, crossing his arms over his chest. “Speaking of the gods...we’ve got to stick together. Everyone hates us.”
His words come out flat.
“What’s new? Everyone always hates you,” Aiden points out, not taking any of this seriously, or at least pretending not to. His usual.
“Why do you have a sword?” Reid asks.
There’s something grim in Van’s face that bothers me. “What happened?”
His gaze locks on my face. Van’s gorgeous, bright blue eyes, surrounded by dark lashes, have always been eyes I could get lost in. Just for a second, I can’t look away. Then he shakes his head, his jaw tight.
“Where’s Wilder?” he demands. “None of us should go out there alone.”
Reid and I exchange a look.
“I guess we already figured that out,” Reid says. “When Izzy went out there, some guys tried to…”
When he trails off, Van’s gaze turns icy. “Tried to what?”
His voice is so full of cold, protective fury that it makes a shiver run down my spine...and it kind of turns me on at the same time.
“They were babbling about how they weren’t going to let the old gods come back,” I say. “And also, Reid and I have magical powers.”
That seems important to get out in the open. I expect disbelief, an argument....
“We’d be pretty lousy gods if we didn’t,” Aiden says.
Well, that was easy.
“We need to find Wilder,” Van says. “Then we need a plan to get out of here.”
“What do you mean?” We can’t go anywhere. Classes haven’t even started yet. We’re not quite here willingly, either.
“People want to kill us.” He points out the windows. “There are all kinds of weird beings out there--vampires and shifters and witches--and they’re all assholes. We. Need. To. Get. Out.”
I’m still unsettled by how it felt when Loki came over me; I was so full of power and possibility. I could’ve done anything.
When I think of the vampires who tried to hurt Reid, I know I could’ve done horrible things.
“We should give this place a chance.” I stand up, grabbing a box of cereal for the road. “But yeah, let’s go find Wilder. Then we need to get some rest before classes tomorrow.”
“Did you even look for him?” Aiden asks Van, his voice lazy and condescending as usual. “He should be here.”
I look at Aiden sharply. “What do you mean?”
“We’re roomies.” He slings an arm over my shoulders, and I breathe in the scent of his aftershave. “I guess they put wolves with wolves, vamps with vamps, mortals with mortals, and gods...with gods.”
Oh hell, are their rooms the ones next to mine?
I push his arm off my shoulders, even though part of me wants to lean into his touch--even if he is a cocky jackass. “Lucky me.”
The four of us spread out through our lavish new place.
The idea that the five of us are living together is weird.
Not the weirdest thing that’s happened to me lately, but still.
Maybe it’s because the rest of my life is so crazy right now that I’m freaking out about spending my days in close proximity to the guys.
Plus, how am I going to get to know other people and make friends here?
The guys all had their real lives, their regular plans ahead of them.
They’ll move on if they get the chance. But if I can figure this place out…
I don’t mind the idea of staying. I’d like to know where I’m going to be for the next four years.
I get a glimpse into the guys’ rooms as they go through looking for Wilder. Then when I push open a door and find a room with a bookcase full of fantasy novels and a guitar propped up in one corner, I know it must be Wilder’s.
The bed is untouched, but two zipped duffel bags have been dropped on the floor by the closet.
“Typical Wilder,” Van says, running his hand through his hair. “Just takes off. Doesn’t wait for help.”
“To be fair,” I say, “who knew we needed help?”
“You must’ve had a different welcome committee than I did,” Van says.
He carries the sheathed sword in one hand, and even though it must be heavy, he barely seems to notice the weight now.
There’s power in his broad shoulders, and it stirs both a sense of desire and a certainty he could protect me.
He glances around at us. “Do you all have your weapons?”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to walk around campus carrying a sword,” Reid says.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to walk around here unarmed,” Van shoots back, and the two of them glare at each other. “The vamps and the wolves always seem to have their weapons.”
“And we’re gods,” I remind him.
“With little-to-no idea how to use our powers.”
“That’s what we’re here to learn.”
“Is it?” Van asks skeptically. “I’m not sure that they’re here to teach us.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Then what are we here for?”
“Maybe we’re here to be tested.” It’s Wilder’s voice, and my heart leaps in my chest when I turn to see him in the doorway.
Before I realize he’s bruised and bleeding.
And then he stumbles and falls into the room.