Chapter 124

Anila’s POV

My eyes wandered over to Damien periodically as he stood in the center of the dining hall with Sarah. It seemed as if my eyes had a mind of their own because I couldn't bring myself to look away. I wondered how long he had been there before I noticed.

I was so busy talking with my friends that I didn’t pick up on his scent right away.

Damien’s face went from stoic to a softer expression within minutes.

Sarah’s face turned a slight shade of red like she was embarrassed and upset. He put a hand on her shoulder, making my inner animals stir like crazy. I felt uneasy about it too, not wanting to see my mate with another woman.

Whatever Damien had said to her made a smile appear on her lips and she gave him a curt nod. He nodded as well and then pointed at an unoccupied table. Sarah tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and sauntered over to the empty table while Damien went to the lunch line alone.

“Earth to Anila,” Penny said, waving her hand in front of my face. “Are you okay? You totally spaced.”

“She’s been watching her mate,” Sally snickered as her eyes also found Damien in the lunch line.

“Yeah, what’s up with him talking to Sarah? Didn’t she like… cheat on him?” Sadie asked casually while she put butter on her toast.

“I’m sure they are just friends,” I said, taking a bite of my omelet. I finally managed to pull my eyes away from Damien and fixed them on my plate, but I could feel my cheeks burning.

“They’ve been friends forever,” Becca agreed with a shrug, trying to sound just as casual. “It’s hard to throw something like that away.”

I lifted my gaze to look at Damien once more, my animals not satisfied until we had him in sight. My chest tightened. He had two trays in his hands, and he was putting food on each of them. Once he reached the end of the line, he grabbed 2 water bottles and then started back towards the tables.

My heart fell into my stomach when I saw that he was walking towards Sarah’s table. He lowered himself into one of the seats, which was a seat away from hers, and then he handed her one of the trays, putting the second one in front of him.

She thanked him, her face lighting up.

He didn’t smile or anything, but he nodded, acknowledging her, and then started to eat while she talked his ear off. I thought about using my wolf or bear hearing to listen to what she was saying to him, but before I got enough courage to do just that, a couple of others from Damien’s class appeared and sat all around them.

It made the moment less intimate feeling, but still, I didn’t like that he was sitting with her at all and not with me.

Did that make me selfish?

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Penny whispered from beside me. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

After breakfast, I went to my classes as usual. I felt behind on most of them, but I managed with some of the notes I got from Damien.

I had a few classmates stopping me in the halls between classes to ask me how Xaden was doing. Everyone had heard about his injury by now and most of them knew that I was in the Redmoon pack with him.

I told them that Xaden was healing and would be back before the competition started. I left it at that; there were excited whispers everywhere though and I knew I appeased most of them.

Once classes concluded for the day, I met Damien in the spellcasting room. I half expected him to be with Sarah, so I was surprised and pleased to find that he was alone.

“Are you okay?” Damien asked as I walked into the room; he must have noticed the passive look on my face.

“Yeah,” I lied, forcing a smile. I didn’t want him to know that I was jealous… it felt like admitting that I was weak when it came to my feelings for him. I guess I was weak.

“Just looks like something is wrong,” he continued with a frown.

“What are we practicing today?” I asked, dodging the question.

He narrowed his eyes at me and after studying my face for a moment longer, he finally sighed.

“I thought we could practice basic broom riding,” he suggested, pointing at the brooms across the room. “You’ll need to know at least the basics for the competition. There are also a few spells I’d like to teach you. Starting with the spell that lets you breathe underwater and ending with the one that makes you invisible.”

My excitement spiked at everything he was saying.

“Broom riding?” I asked. “Is it anything like riding a dragon?”

Damien raised his brows.

“Well, I’ve never rode a dragon before, so can’t answer that. But a broom isn’t living despite what it might do while in the air,” he replied. “We’ll practice the basics in here and then once you’re ready, we’ll go outside.”

“Are we allowed to ride inside?” I asked, glancing around the vast space. Though it was large, there were still a lot of things we could run into and break.

Damien glanced at me from over his shoulder as he grabbed the brooms from across the room. He smirked when our eyes met, making my heart skip a beat.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” he said, winking at me.

My cheeks burned and I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of my lips. I liked the playful side of Damien, and it made me want to see it more.

He handed me one of the brooms and then he mounted the one he was holding. I followed his lead, not entirely sure what I was expecting.

“Sursum,” he said confidently, and within the same second, the broom lifted on its own and Damien was in the air.

My eyes grew wide as Damien showed off by flying effortlessly around the room. When he finally returned to my side, he motioned for me to do the same.

I mimicked his moves and before I knew what was happening, the broom was lifting me up. My scream nearly tore out of my throat as I gripped the broomstick so tightly my knuckles were growing white.

“The broom will get to know your body and move accordingly. It’s not going to let you fall unless you make a stupid mistake,” he explained “All you have to do is move your body in the direction you want to go, and the broom will take your lead.

Damien started to move forward slowly, his broom gliding in the air like they were on invisible tracks. As he moved, he kept his hand on my broom, moving me along with him. We went slow so I could get used to the feeling of the broom moving. I kept a tight hold on the wooden stick, desperate to keep myself from falling.

“It won’t let you fall, just relax,” Damien said as if he could read my mind. I looked up at him and saw the small smile on his lips.

With a sigh, I relaxed my body and leaned a bit so I could practice turning the broom myself. Just as I felt myself slipping, the broom dipped and stabled my position. My eyes grew wide at the quick movement.

Damien only grinned.

As I got more comfortable, I started to move the broom on my own and used Damien less. He eventually let me go altogether and started to fly behind me, keeping me in his sights as I started to whirl around the room, my confidence growing with every second.

I kept turning my body, leaning to the right, making the broom turn corners with Damien hot on my trail. I started to get faster, and I even heard Damien chuckle a few times. The sound of his chuckling warmed my heart, and I wanted to look back at him.

Turning my body, I met his eyes and gave him a small smile. The broom must have gotten the wrong idea because it too turned around and started to fly in the opposite direction. I heard Damien yelling and we were soon slamming to the ground with our brooms clattering beside us. Damien fell onto his back and before he could even comprehend what was happening, I was falling directly on top of him. He wrapped me in his arms and rolled us both over to keep me from getting hurt.

“What was that?” He groaned, trying to recover from our accident.

“Sorry… I just… I wanted to… see you,” I said in a squeaky tone as my cheeks burned even more.

“Never turn directions on an enemy,” he continued to scold. “Or something like this could happen.”

“I didn’t turn around on purpose,” I said defensively.

He was quiet for a moment, processing what I had said. We both remained silent, and I remained in his arms, nibbling on my lower lip.

As if he realized we were basically cuddling on the floor, his arms loosened around me and then they fell to his sides.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. I could feel his heart hammering against his chest and the blood pumping through his veins.

I lifted my head off his chest and crawled off his body with so much resistance, that I was surprised I didn’t slingshot back into his warm embrace.

He sat up quickly and ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes averted from mine; like he was the one who was embarrassed.

“We should practice some more,” he finally said, as he stood to his feet. He reached down to help me up as well. I slowly took hold of his outstretched hand and as he pulled me to my feet.

That was when my eyes caught sight of it.

My cheeks burned as my eyes widened.

By falling on him, did I turn him on?