Chapter 9

“Come on, Silas. You know I will fail if you don’t let me copy.” Xavier said. He was flipping through the Spell Craft 103 text book, stuck on the essay they were having to write by Friday.

“If you haven’t started by now, I doubt even with my answers you will pass,” Silas said softly as he scribbled away in his notebook.

Xavier groaned and slammed his head on the desk making me laugh. “Why didn’t you start, man?” I asked.

“Amelia fucking Davis.” Xavier smirked at me, “Need I say more?” He leaned back in his chair, and a loose strand of hair fell in his eyes.

Amelia was a pretty redhead beta the year ahead of us and one of the girls that Xavier hadn’t fucked. Until now, at least.

“So she finally gave in, huh?” I laughed.

“Totally. She’s as hot outside as she is inside, if you catch my drift.” His chuckle was cut off with a yelp as Silas slapped him up his head.

“You aren’t going to get your paper done in two days with gossiping about your conquest, idiot,” Silas mumbled as he got back to work.

I tried to lean over the table to see what he was working on, but he looked up with lidded eyes and slowly dragged his notebook away from my prying eyes. Pouting, I leaned back, but a movement caught my eye. I could see Xiomara shoving her things in her back hastily, and her nose was red.

Was she crying? She never cried, not once have I seen her cry no matter what Xavier or I threw at her. In fact, she’s always given it back to us, I still have a small scar on my shin from her forcing us on our knees on the rocky terrain outside school after we pulled a prank on her last year.

I looked around and saw what I thought was what was going on. Nick had Summer practically in his lap. Nick and Xiomara have always been close, even I could tell and they were in a different class than I was. I always suspected they were dating and were going to continue to through the school year. It’s not uncommon for affluent families like Nick’s to marry for lineage and have a girlfriend on the side. I thought Xiomara was that for him, a concubine if you will. I guess I was wrong.

The burning curiosity of what Xiomara looks like crying had me throwing a random excuse at the boys before gathering my bag and walking out to follow. When I left the library, I could see her a good distance away, but I made sure to slow my walk to make it look like I wasn’t following.

Her hunched back suddenly straightened, and her feet faltered before blindly opening the door to her left.

“Gideon! How are you?”

Fuck.

Plastering a smile, I turned to Violet Lovell. She was shadow core omega and incredibly hot. Her golden hair always had me distracted in Herbology since she always sat in front of me. Usually, I wouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to talk her up, but the need to see Xiomara was overwhelming.

“I’m great; how are you, beautiful?” I asked, forcing myself to take a deep breath of her scent. Her blush was instant.

“Gideon!” She scolded as I threw her a smirk.

“You must have wanted me for something, and I couldn’t think of a better reason.” I chuckled. I wanted to lay it on extra thick, it’s a win-win really. Either I get to sate my blue balls, or I get to sate my need to see Xiomara when Violet leaves.

“I was actually wondering if you wanted to be my partner for the Spell Casting final project. I was going to partner with Amelia, but she decided to partner with someone else.” Her lips pouted slightly.

“Of course! Meet with you on Saturday?” I asked.

“Yeah, I can do Saturday. After lunch?”

I nodded. “See you then.” She smiled before hurrying in the opposite direction back to the library.

When I knew she wasn’t going to notice where I was going, I snuck into the classroom I saw Xiomara enter, expecting anything other than the empty classroom that greeted me. I only had time to blink once in surprise before a gasping sob came from the teacher’s desk. The sound was like a hit of lightning.

She was actually crying.

As I put cautious foot in front of cautious foot, I didn’t want to disturb her before I got what I wanted. When I reached behind the desk, the scent of salt water made me pause as I gazed at her huddled form under a ratted grey blanket.

I stood there, kind of disappointed she was covered by the blanket, but the curled-up form broke my heart. I put my bag down on the desk before crawling next to her. Grabbing her, I pulled her to be and tucked her head under my chin, breathing in the salt water from her tears.

What did Nick fucking do to her? Was it just a break up or was it something more? I wouldn’t put it past the slimy bastard. He always had that “I’m too good for you” mentality that got under my skin.

If anyone was going to make her cry it was going to be me. 

The thought jolted me. I mean, I always liked watching her face light up in pure fury, but I’d never wanted to actually make a girl, regardless of secondary gender, cry before. What was wrong with me?

She let out a particularly wounded sound that had me cooing and holding her tighter against me. The extra pressure must have been what she needed because I felt her becoming more and more relaxed in my arms, and her cries started to taper off until I could have sworn she fell asleep.

I waited until the silence between the students coming and going in the hallway grew longer and longer before I moved her to a more comfortable position for both of us.

Gently moving the blanket away from her face, I was gifted with her sleeping face. Her cheeks were splotchy red, and her hair clumped from her tears. Her nose and eyes were swollen, and her lips chapped. I wanted to lick them and the tear stains that were still decorating her face.

Focusing more on the task at hand, I slowly and as gently as I could moved her off of me so I could tug her further up my chest, then I had room to grab under her legs.

I picked her off the floor, with the blanket still on her lower body, and brought her to the corner with me. Before I settled us in, I grabbed my hoodie from my bag and rolled it to give me a pillow. Then, I settled in with her sleeping on my chest.

Xiomara was beautiful when she was sleeping. So relaxed and ungarded. She didn’t have to fight in her sleep as hard as she fought every person she could when she was awake. Here in my arms she was peaceful, and safe.

Realizing I would, in fact, fight anyone who came in here was a curious thought. I would even fight Xavier or Silas if they reared their mugs here. Groaning, my head leaned back. They were bound to miss me by now. I was probably gone an hour or two, but the thought of leaving, especially before Xiomara woke up, brought me physical pain. I felt I needed to protect her.

I was starting to doze off myself when a sweet, fresh scent caught my attention.

Lily of the Valley.

Taking a deep breath, I caught hints of vanilla, too, making a groan escape with my exhale. My nose buried itself deep into her hair before my brain fog cleared enough to recognize that the scent was coming from Xiomara and not her soap.

I felt a frown tug my expression. She was a beta, right? I took another deep inhale and moaned. Nope, she was definitely an omega. Why haven’t I smelled her like this before? I know our history would have been…well, history, the second I smelled her, and I wasn’t even an alpha.

She was fucking delicious. 

“Wh—“she mumbled, her hand appearing from underneath the blanket to wipe her eyes. When she felt how swollen her eyes were, she gave a quiet whine. I didn’t want her to leave, so I tightened my grip, giving our position away. Her eyes snapped up and widened when she realized who was holding her.

“Carter? Wha-“ She said. Her brain must be foggy from crying so hard.

I wanted to ask her why she was crying because if it was that asshole, I would fuck him up and be happy about it. If it wasn’t, I would personally make whoever did’s day a living hell. Even if it was me.

“You smell so fucking good.” I groaned out instead of what I wanted to ask, and her flush deepened, making her scent get just a tad stronger. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I twisted her so she was straddling me, and I buried my whole face in her neck.

Leaving little kisses on her neck, She threw her head back to give me more access as her hands tangled themselves into my curls. My lips zeroed in on her bonding gland and gave it a suck hard enough to leave a healthy bruise. I hope Nick sees it tomorrow.

I pulled back to see her face; her eyes were unfocused, and her mouth was open slightly. Unable to help myself, I gripped the back of her neck and pulled her to me, tasting her lips for the first time. Her hands flexed in my curls, then a little whimper vibrated against my mouth, and I fucking lost it. I couldn’t get enough of her, of her scent, and most importantly, her taste. I nipped at her bottom lip one last time before trailing wet kisses down her jaw and back on her neck. If I could live here surrounded by her scent, I would be happy for the rest of my life.