Conjuring Dragons by Chante Francis (surface ebook reader TXT) 📕

Cassie snorts and rolls her eyes, "Oh please. I for one am not jealous at all. I would be happy for her, if it wasn't for the fact that he's one of the biggest playboys in the entire fucking school! Which you probably didn’t know because you just got here! Silvana isn’t new, she should already be aware of that."

"She’s right." I hear Silvana say as she goes from Rudolph's nose red to fresh untouched snow pale, "What if I was just some fling to him? Just another booty call?" She looks at me dejected, “I gave him my virginity. In the supply closet for goodness sakes. I gave the man something I’ve wanted to save until the right person and the right time, and I gave it to him in a supply closet.”

When she starts crying, I do the only reassuring thing I can in this moment. I hug her with her head shoved into my chest, “Oh don’t you cry child. You just sink your head in your good ole Mama Celeste’s bosom now while we figure this out.” Although probably inappropriate for the moment, my unexpected antics seem to work as she laughs a bit. At least she’s not crying anymore.

            "I’m sorry Silvana, we’ve been friends since we were in diapers, I should be the one to have your back right now. No offense Jyps, but we did just meet you.” Vivi says, obviously coming around. “Besides, a supply closet isn’t that bad, do you remember where I gave Ilvandi mine? We had like no space what so ever.”

            “At least you guys didn’t have brooms and mops falling on you.” She sniffles.

            “No. I just got a concussion from knocking my head into the car door multiple times.”

 “He's your mate right?" Cassie checks, as though she wasn’t just on the opposing side. "No way in hell it's like what he did to other girls. He should cherish that gift forever because you saved it for him." She tries her hand at comforting, “Yea he played the other girls, but they weren’t his mate. They weren’t you.”

I blink and next thing I know they’re all reassuring and hugging her. I take that time to gather my shed clothes, it’s all covered in fur from a horse sized dog and in desperate need of a wash. I can smell Phaedron on them and I don’t even have a super powered sense of smell like everyone else seems to. We start making jokes and teasing her as we walk out of the empty locker room towards the cafeteria.

"I always knew you liked fish, but I never thought you would take things to this level." Vivi says smirking.

"You get any tartar sauce on him?" I ask wiggling my eyebrows. She turns a bright red and we break down into hysterics, earning weird glances from the stragglers in the hallways.

"Sh-Sh-Shut up!" She yells at us as we fall to the floor laughing with watery eyes. She gets even more embarrassed as people start staring at us and whispering. She starts stamping her feet, and eventually we sober up, only to look at each other and break out in a fit of laughter all over again.

We sit on the floor for a while, completely sober but still grinning at each other. "I hate you guys so much!" She yells at us and we just turn to look at her.

"Love ya too!" They all yell before everyone gets up, everyone except me.

"Are you just going to sit there Jyps?" Eleanor asks me, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm keeping the floor warm." I say as they roll their eyes. Something catches my attention, and I look past them to see the new love of my life. I get up without warning and run to him. Only stopping when I'm in front of him, I reach my arms up and acting like a child, I clench and unclench my fists. Understanding immediately, he leans down and picks me up. He holds me like a toddler as I wrap my body around his.

"What's up love?" He says to me as he kisses my cheek.

"We were only apart for a few minutes, but I missed you!" I say as I bury my face in his neck, breathing the warmth in.

"I missed you too."

Chapter Eleven

"Are you eating lunch with me?" Phae asks pouting his lips and giving me puppy dog eyes, which is kind of ironic considering he is one. Well, closely related enough to one.

I turn around to see Silvana fidgeting, Ilvandi looking at me in confusion and the others just beaming. I unwrap an arm and motion them over with a confused look. "You guys want to eat with these nice gentlemen here?"

"We'd love to eat with you and your mate." Silvana smiles. I turn my head to meet Phae's questioning gaze before we both turn back.

"What?" We ask at the same time while tilting our heads to the side in confusion.

"Wow. I thought only twins could do that..." Cassie murmurs to herself.

"Don't try and hide it. We saw your mate mark during gym, and the way you jumped into his arms..." Eleanor says trailing off.

Viviette fakes hurt, "We're not that stupid." Phae and I look at each other again before bursting into laughter which earns us puzzled looks from everyone around us.

"What's their deal?" Eleanor asks Phae's friends, but stops short, forgetting everything when her gaze meets Bastien. Her mouth drops open and she just stands there watching him with wide eyes. We call her a few times, and the guys try calling Bastien but neither of them answers. Everyone but Phae and I start moving their hands in Eleanor and Bastien's faces. When they get their hands slapped away for interrupting, things start to click for me. I look at Phae and without a word he understands too, we go and stand between them. They try to push us out the way but we fight back, and they snap out of it.

"Well look who found their reason for living." I watch as Eleanor blushes and looks at the ground mumbling incoherently. Everyone starts congratulating them and teasing the newly formed couple as Bastien takes her into his arms. Unfortunately the happy moment is ruined when I see Jason walk past with his friends, Octavia and her entourage following. The guys continue down the hall and I see them stop outside the cafeteria asking Jason about something, but I don't get the chance to snoop because Octavia decides to engage me.

"Hanging with the freaks?" One of her accomplices says as they approach.

"Exactly where she belongs." Octavia says smirking, as everyone in the hallway watches silently, even Jason and his buddies are trying to catch the confrontation.

"And you belong on a dirty street corner turning tricks. Need a pimp?" I ask her with a bored expression.

"Where do I apply?" Veronica says walking past with Carter, she tries to stop and stay in the conversation but Carter tugs her away. They head into the Cafeteria, leaving me to wonder what the hell is going on with her.

Just like earlier, Octavia opens and closes her mouth like a fish. She looks to Phaedron standing next to me, and her jaw slackens. It feels like 5 minutes pass as they just stare at each other, one of her friends elbows her in the side and she snaps her attention back to me. I put an innocent mask on my face as I say, "Did you know that you remind me of a McDonalds?"

"Popular? What everyone wants?" She says with a smirk regaining her composure.

"No,” I pause for dramatic effect, “Open for business 24/7."

"Bitch!" She screams at me frustrated.

"Octavia!" Jason bellows, "Come here for a sec."

She glares at me before fixing her clothes and strutting away with a flip of her hair. She walks up to Jason and he pulls her down the hall away from all the curious eyes, even mine.

"I think I mated her." Phaedron says to himself quietly, while we’re all making our way towards the cafeteria. His little mumble breaks me out of my fantasy about the delicious foods I’m going to consume to satiate my growing hunger.

What do you mean you mated her?

I ask Phae, knowing fully well that he and Jason are trained to my mind. I don’t feel Jason listening in though, so I’m hoping it’s safe to speak freely.

I'm pretty sure I mated Octavia.

How do you know? If she's your mate, why did it take you guys so long to connect? Are you positive she’s really your mate?

The way her face lit up when Jason called her, the way she couldn’t walk fast enough to be near him... It just made me want to snap that pretty neck of his, made me want to break every bone in his body for having that effect on my woman. I've never felt jealousy like this. My thoughts have never been this violent over a female before. I could literally kill him right now.

"You better not!" I accidentally scream out loud gaining weird looks from everyone around me. All of my new friends, except Phaedron turn and look at me questioningly and all I can do is shrug noncommittally.

Why not?

You just can't, I reply vaguely. Why did it take this long for you two to mate?

That was our first time ever actually being face to face, and making eye contact like that. Everyone in this school usually just sticks to their own species; there are only a few integrated groups.

That explains why even though you've gone to school with them for a while; you didn’t know Ilvandi and everyone else.

Yea. He says as his thoughts travel elsewhere, our initial bond isn’t complete yet, but I can tell she’s my soulmate, the one I was made for. I can see this conversation is pretty much over, so I tune back into my surroundings.

"How did I get here? With lunch?"

"So princess finally decides to join us back on earth?" Cassie asks me with a smile.

"We thought we'd lost you." Viviette says smirking.

"I was thinking... God, how much did I miss?"

"Not much. We just got to know your other friends a bit more, they're not too bad." Eleanor smiles at Bastien and the other shifters at our full table start whistling and grunting in approval.

“Hey Silvana,” I waited until she looked at me, “Why did it take so long for you to snag Alec? I mean you guys have been going to school together for a long time now right?”

She thought about her answer while she finished chewing, “Well, I didn’t exactly know he was my mate. I just knew that I was physically attracted to him on a really serious level, and that his smiles made me smile. I don’t know how to explain it, it was just the way I felt, but I was always too afraid to go up to him and say anything. I didn’t know if he felt it too.”

“What made you take that chance? And why today?” Eleanor joined our