Fae Fiefdom - M. Sinclair Page 0,21

eyes as I felt a headache slowly build, “I am going to hang up, right now. Because if I don’t, I’m going to say something I'll regret. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I hung up and when I opened my eyes, I found the chess set open on the coffee table but Oliver was nowhere in sight. Yeah. I was imagining him for sure. Falling back in my bed fully. I breathed in the truth that would always be the same no matter how long I stayed in this town.

I was alone.

Chapter 5

Kirin Bhatt

One Red Rose Bouquet: An Apology for a Necessary Evil

I pushed my way into Section 3, one of the local restaurant bars, eyes dipping as I passed in respect and submissive behavior. I didn’t care right now one way or another because my eyes were focused on the asshole, whose neck I was about to snap. I could feel my panther right under my skin and my normal, refined sensibilities were out the door the minute I saw the pixie asshole surrounding my Ophelia with his magic. Fucking Merrick.

I had been here less than a year and all of us had managed to keep her safe, keep her in the dark about what was going on. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think for a moment that she didn’t have a feeling something was off, but she’d yet to start questioning people about it.

I hated that everyone kept their distance from her, but I couldn’t risk her life and future, just because I wanted to be able to pull her into my arms and kiss that beautiful face until she was dizzy. I sure as shit wanted to do a bunch of other shit to her but I would take about anything right now.

Without my permission, the memory of the first time meeting Ophelia rocketed through me like a bulldozer. The moment where everything changed.

This was stupid.

There was no reason that I needed to attend this last year of school. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I’d use my education, but I’d technically finished academy two years ago in England. Yet, the United States Education system seemed to believe that I needed to attend this ‘fundamental’ last year. So here I was, wearing an uncomfortable uniform and hanging out in the outside pavilion. My Uncle’s claw of panther shifters had already known that I was arriving. No one seemed particularly upset despite me being a newcomer, and if they did…they didn’t voice it.

I could tell everyone was worried about my Uncle. Worried that he wouldn’t make it despite having treatment for a nervous system breakdown that only affected shifters. It was called Fire Heart, but I am positive someone in the supernatural community had come up with a medical term for it, I just didn’t know what it was. All I knew was that he was constantly in pain, like searing fire lighting up every nerve in his system, and while he seemed like he was functioning at his normal energy and hardass self, I could see that it was slowly wearing on him. I just hoped the treatment would work, but his progress was slow-moving.

“Hey, Kirin,” A shifter, Marissa, approached the wall I was relaxing against waiting for class to start.

“Hey,” I offered her a small polite smile.

“So I know you’ve been super busy with your Uncle,” She chimed. No shit. “But tonight some of us are getting together, and we would love it if you could join us.”

I opened my mouth to offer some excuse but then my nose caught a whiff of a scent that was so damn near mouthwatering, I was worried I was hallucinating it. My eyes snapped over to a woman walking away from a small BMW, her head down and her face expressionless. ‘Woman’ was such a simple term for a fucking angel that had just crashed into my universe. I felt like for a solid moment my heart stopped and the breath in my chest felt like it had been pushed out.

“Who is that?” I demanded, the scent of roses and fresh rain tickling my nose the closer she got. My panther let out a snarl in my chest causing everyone that was a shifter to instinctively shy away. Even though I hadn’t done anything towards them specifically.

Marissa’s voice was tense and worried, “That’s Ophelia Rose…”

No fucking way, I hadn’t seen her in years.

I was already walking towards her and I tried to ignore the urge to hide her