Void(78)

“Yeah, that’s probably going to be a problem.” I turned my attention back to my food and started chewing. I didn’t want to think about my newly bonded shifter who’d abandoned me in the hallway with his cum still dripping down my legs.

Quade and I didn’t speak again until most of our plates had been cleared, and I took a sip of his drink, surprised to find that it was wine in his glass and not juice. Gritt got up from his table and stormed out of the cafeteria, making me roll my eyes.

“Why is he so melodramatic? If he wanted to sit by you, he could’ve come over here.” Quade’s words made a resonating anger billow up in my chest.

“You’re one to talk. Why are you over here, anyway?” I asked while looking over at the elemental table. They all were staring at us in confusion, shocked that their fearless leader would stoop so low as to sit with me. “Did you tell them you had to come babysit me? Or did you admit that we were once friends? That we are friends again now?”

“I didn’t tell them shit,” he said heatedly. “Maybe I’m tired of letting prejudice get in the way of me being with you. Maybe I’m tired of always having to answer to someone.”

My mouth dropped open in shock at his words. “Is this you talking or whatever weird pull you feel?” I asked carefully. “Because I don’t want this to turn into something you’ll resent me for.”

“I won’t,” he answered adamantly, and I melted a little at the fierce way his dark eyes locked on mine.

“But I don’t understand what’s happening with my Void. It’s like we’re all…”

“Bonded? Yeah, I know. But that only happens with shifters. Maybe your Void attracts the powers it wants, somehow. Lures them in.”

“You think I’m trying to lure you?” My voice was incredulous, and I shoved my plate away before standing.

“Shit, that’s not what I meant, Devi,” Quade replied before standing and giving a cautious look around the cafeteria. Around us, everyone was staring, mouths gaping open and full of food as I seethed with anger. My eyes glanced down, and sure enough, my amulet was glowing.

“Then why don’t you explain to me what exactly you mean,” I replied before crossing my arms over my chest. I didn’t care if we had an audience, didn’t care if everyone saw the blow up between us. If he really wanted to be my friend, then he shouldn’t care about admitting it in front of everyone. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s dirty little secret.

“I just mean that there are things we don’t understand about the Void. Things that aren’t in textbooks. I might be drawn to you for reasons I don’t understand right now, but this isn’t new. I’ve always...” He looked around before taking a step closer and lowering his voice. “I’ve always loved you, Devi. When my parents said the Void took you over, it felt like my best friend had died. I hated you because, in my mind, you were something toxic using the girl I fell for as a shell.”

Girls at the elemental table gasped in shock. I saw out of my peripherals that one even got up and stormed out of the dining hall, but I kept my eyes on Quade. “You should have fought for me,” I whispered. “You should have tried to see me.”

“I was just a stupid kid. It’s why I stayed close to your mom. It was a way for me to check in on you without having to see what you’d become,” he whispered before cupping my cheek and shocking me by his outward display of affection. “I don’t know what this means, or why I feel the way I do, but I’m not going to fight it.”

“And what about your image?” I challenged. “You’re the Paragon Poster Boy. Aren’t you worried what your people will say? Your parents wouldn’t even accept a friendship between us,” I argued, though it felt like gravity was pulling us together. “What are you going to do when everyone finds out that we’re more? They’ll talk, Quade.”

“Let them,” he whispered over my lips before pulling me in for a kiss. If I had any doubt before that he was going to try to keep me a secret, that was swept away the moment his mouth pressed to mine right there in the middle of the dining hall.

It wasn’t like our frantic kiss before. There was no push or pull. It was like both of us were finally giving in, a reunion filled with pain and recovery swirling around our tongues as I moaned into his mouth. It felt like an exhale, like I had been holding my breath for so long, grieving a friendship that I hadn’t realized I’d missed. It just seemed perfect. It seemed...right. Just like it had with Gritt.

Resting my hand on his chest, I smiled against his mouth. That pulling sensation was like a rope being snagged, yanking us together. I didn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter just then. Sinking his fingers into my hair, he groaned against my lips as I dug my nails into his shirt, bunching it up in my grip.

“Gods, I’ve wanted this for so long,” he spoke against my mouth before wrapping both his arms around me.

I was just about to tell him that I wanted it too, when a hard body slammed into Quade from the side, knocking him away from me and making him fall to the tile floor. I gasped up at Gritt.

“You fucking elemental!” he roared while struggling to hold back a shift. Claws appeared where his fingers should be, and he took a swipe at Quade’s face, but a blast of water knocked him back before he could make contact.