Chapter 20. New semester begins.

PROSE MODE.

"Luke, you're blocking my way."

She tried to go around him but he wasn't planning on letting her off the hook so easily, especially since he'd been anticipating the moment when he'd be able to get a hold of her without the Queen or Seth interrupting.

"I'll let you go when you give me an answer."

"An answer to what?"

His gaze slowly descended, lustfully taking into consideration how much this dress accentuated her flawless figure.

"I want us to get back together."

"You're pathetic!"

She was getting uncomfortable with the way he stared at her lewdly. His jaw clenched, he was done letting her say whatever she wanted to. He seized her and pinned her to wall, using domination to impede her ability to summon a protective spell with her mind.

"You better watch your tone."

"Or what?"

Grappling, she tried to break free from his grasp. If she could just get one hand loose she could summon her wand and send him hurling through the air with a restriction spell.

She was scared witless when his fangs shot out, he held her cramped against the wall, her frantic struggling only bruising her hand against the veneered wall all the more.

She whimpered when the tip of his fangs grazed her jugular.

"Get away from her!"

Luke's skin grew pale in an instant, it felt like he was being suffocated. He bawled over holding his neck in a panic-stricken manner, wheezing and trying to get air moving through his bloodstream again.

He licked the blood on the tip of his fangs, grinning like a Cheshire cat, at least he was still able to get a taste of her.

"She's mine, don't you dare touch her again".

Seems like the lessons with Reichert were paying off. Although he'd almost asphyxiated Luke, he was able to snap out of it more quickly than previous times.

Melody ran to the safety of his embrace. Luke held the wall to pull himself up, sniggering. He winked at Melody and wandered off still gasping for air.

"Are you hurt?"

His fingers traced along the edges of her skin and limbs, searching for the slightest abnormality.

"I'm fine."

She squeezed into his arms, still a little alarmed by what had just happened.

***

Melody put the last of her clothes into her suitcase and another one she had to buy so all the clothes she'd gotten could all fit into it. She pressed the suitcase shut and handed it to Hillary. The new semester begins in the next three days, so she was flying back with Seth a day earlier than the rest of his family.

"Come join us for lunch before you leave?"

Soteria chattered, she didn't like the fact that the lady who got her, her favorite pair of shoes was leaving so soon.

"Hope you enjoyed your stay with us?"

Josie smiled as she stepped forward,

"Yes I did, thank you so much your Majesty."

Seth rubbed Melody's hand gently.

"Let's get going."

***

"For you to be able to channel positive energy as much as possible, you'll need to find your mate."

Reichert emptied another glass of wine.

"Isn't Melody my mate?"

"Most likely. I was stunned at how well you retracted the projection of your darkness on Luke, just because you didn't want Melody to get hurt in the process."

Seth was holding unto that brief scene, hoping it was a glint of hope that his darkness could be controlled.

"How am I supposed to discern if she's my mate or not?"

"Mind communications."

***

Seth dragged in the last of Melody's suitcase.

"That's the last of them."

"Well, almost."

Melody turned to count her bags again. He pushed his hand down his back pocket and took out a sterling silver necklace with a heart pendant.

It glistened in Melody's eyes. The hue in her eyes assuming a much lighter color, you could mistake it for silver.

"Wow, Seth it's beautiful."

"You're eyes are even more bewitching than this."

She pulled her hair up and he tugged at the clutch, pulling it over her head and placing it at the base of her throat before clipping it shut.

***

A few hours later, Kristyn and Felicy rolled up at the door to their room.

They all hugged it out.

"How was your holiday guys?"

Felicy replied first.

"Awesome. I met this really cute alpha, he name's Othen, I can't believe I'm his mate!"

The name Othen sounded familiar to Melody, the blue riv...no...um... the silver something...gun?

"Isn't that the leader of the something bullet pack?"

Kristyn scratched the back of her head, she hated anything that had to do with excessive reasoning.

"Silver bullet! He's the leader of the silver bullet pack, right?"

Melody had finally summoned up the memory.

"Yes! That's it."

Felicy shrieking like she'd won a lottery but who could blame her. The silver bullet pack were the originators of the white werewolves. The strongest and most formidable breed, able to withstand at least thirty eight silver bullets without flinching. Wow, Felicy just hit the jackpot, they were one of the longest lines tracing back to over two millennia ago, all known for their teutonic-gold hair when they assumed human form.

"Okay my turn. Still single anyway but my new year was a major roller coaster. My mom took off somewhere with my younger siblings, so I had to take care of my Dad, he was almost thrown into depression. We're still looking for my Mom till date."

A foggy silence followed. Kristyn was always the one dropping bad news like it's no biggie, Melody was always filled with admiration or either lost for words whenever she talked about what she's gone through.

It was probably one of the reasons why she couldn't easily get mad at her.

"Mine started off pretty badly till when I spent it with Seth and his family."

Felicy and Kristyn's head bobbed in her direction.

"You were at the the palace?!"

She nodded. The flame in the two pairs of eyes staring at her flickered to life with curiosity.

"Fine, I'll talk but Felicy come with me first".

Melody took Felicy to her room. The orchids Seth had given her last year had wilted.

"You want me to revive it?"

"Yeah, do your nature fairy thing."

Felicy mumbled some words in an ethereal language, swiveling her fingers round the vase. The orchids convulsed, regaining their pigmentation and blooming once more.

***

Melody opened her locker. She wanted to reorganize it against the new semester beginning the next day and get a head start on some suspended projects at the library.

"I love what you did with your hair."

A grin formed on her face as she jumped into the embrace of her best friend.

"Aww, I missed you too munchkin."

Yona patted her back in a bear-like yet affectionate hug.

"I tried your number so many times but it was always unreachable."

She released Melody but avoided her gaze.

"I went back home to Chrysalis."

That explains the missed calls. Chrysalis was an arboreal country. Founded by Aura; the titan goddess of wind. It was really high up, the capital that was highest point of it was called Cloud city, it was estimated to be higher than the tallest mountain in the planet, from below it looked like it was sitting on a cloud bed. It was inhabited by mainly winged creatures or magical creatures that could use portals. Anyone could visit there but magical flying fuel was rare and expensive, so non-winged creatures only visit the paradise country once in awhile.

"You missed Aaron that much? Aww, I'm sure he was so happy to see you."

Melody hollered but Yona's expression didn't lighten up.

"Let's just skip that for now. Why hasn't Seth marked you yet? A lot of guys have been ogling you all morning, it's the vampiric solstice this week, you know."

Melody knew Seth would have done it if Hillary hadn't interrupted them that day. They didn't get much privacy after that.

"I don't know and I can't bring up the issue either but My holiday was pretty fun though."

She tried to change the topic to pique Yona's interest.

"I spent most of it with Seth and his family."

Yona snapped open her locker after it identified her fingerprint.

"Spill babygirl, did you meet their Majesties?"

"Yes, the King not so much but the Queen and I talked for a bit, she's soooo beautiful. I even played seven questions with Seth."

Yona organized her textbooks alphabetically.

"Did you ask him why guys make their car their profile picture?"

Yona said chuckling. Melody's eyes broadened, she'd been racking her brains for questions and now she couldn't believe she failed to ask him a question this obvious.

"Nope, but I'm glad we opened up about some things. Staying with his family made me see just how much he actually cares about me. I never expected him to be so straightforward about his feelings, I thought he'd play hard to get before admitting how he really felt, just to see how much I liked him or we'd figure out if we were a good match first. But he told me that he wasn't that good at mind games or hiding his feelings and even if he were good at it, he didn't want to play hard to get with someone he really liked."

Melody came to a stop realizing she'd already said quite a lot. She turned to face Yona, who quickly wiped away a tear she couldn't suppress in time.

"I'm glad things are working out for you darling, you've been so unlucky in relationships, it's about time you met someone who really loves you," the tears were falling faster now, her voice was also shaking.

"Y-Yona are you okay? Tell me what happened?"

Melody shut her locker and moved closer to her best friend.

"I'm sick of long distance relationships. I went all the way to Chrysalis but I couldn't spend time with Aaron at all, I missed him so much, but he was still so busy in the army. I don't think I can do this anymore..."

Yona let the tears fall out. Melody noticed a familiar guy in a mohican cut with nifty clothes walking up to them.

He raised a finger to his lips, pleading with Melody not to give away his presence.

"I can't keep doing this anymore, I'm gonna..."

"You're gonna what? Break up with me?"

Yona wheeled around to the voice from behind her. Aaron stood towering over her, he was a six foot nine. He had a manly Samson physique, all burly and wrestler like, he walked with a jaguar like thread and his teal blue eyes twinkled. They were Saturn round, embodying the presence of his scythe-shaped eyebrows. He was attractive, any girl could see that.

"I'm gonna leave you both alone."

Melody patted Yona's shoulder scurrying off in the libraries direction.

"W-What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in over three months and..."

In one swift movement he took her up in a his arms and caught her lips in a searing kiss. Their noses bumped slightly against each other, her cheeks flushed. She pulled out after a few seconds, to breathe, he'd caught her off guard.

"I've been promoted to Vice admiral and the major region I'm in charge of is the capital in Asgard."

"What?!"

Yona was still shocked he was standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't spend the holiday season with you in Chrysalis, I was on a mission, if I couldn't complete it, I won't be able to get two direct promotions. I missed you so much, you're not really going to break up with me now, are you?"

He wiped her tears with his thumbs. He took her in her arms and placed her head against his chest, stroking her hair.

"Forgive me this last time, okay, in my present position I can take a leave every sixty five days, I bought a house close to the campus, come stay with me, okay?"

She snuggled up against his chest.

"Okay".

NOTE:

Aaron: Titan god. (All titans are recruited exclusively into the army, they are the direct descendants of Cronus the father of Zeus)