Page 13 of Soulmates

“I don’t think it’s a dream, Maddy.”

Shit, had he said that out loud?

“Yes, and you are still talking out loud.”

“Jake, with all the love, please shut up.”

“Okay.”

“We’re going to the dean’s building, and we are going to sit there until Forrester or someone shows up. And we will not stop touching the entire time. Got it?”

“Yes, Maddy. I got it.”

Exhaustion had etched itself across Jake’s face, leaving dark circles under his eyes and a drawn expression. More than that, though, was the sadness hovering around him like the fireflies had earlier. Maddox couldn’t help but reach for him, trace his thumb against Jake’s unusually pale cheek. Jake closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I don’t mean to snap, but this night… I’m scared. And it’s been the most terrifying and then the most—”

“What?”

“Hopeful. It’s been the most hopeful night. Santiago was right,” he said. “Now, let’s go get help.”

He started walking, and Jake followed, hands still connected. The fireflies appeared to have lost their more intense interest in Jake but hadn’t let it go entirely. They flickered at a distance around them both. Not flying directly at Jake but still gravitating near them.

Neither spoke as they walked out of the woods toward the dean’s building. Dean Forrester was an incredible mage and a great teacher without being pretentious in the way most of the professors at Reinhold were. He was also a bit of a mess. Possibly an alcoholic. No one knew his history, other than that he had a lot of power. It radiated from him. The students liked him, if in a guarded way one has around people prone to drunken outbursts in the evenings.

Their lead healer, Margaret Hooper, was also well-respected among the students. Erratic and creative, she took all things in stride, no matter what weird or sometimes illegal medical problems the students encountered. Maddox had seen her cure a magical overdose while infusing another student with an antidote to something that went very wrong in potions class.

Surely, they could find one of them. One of them could fix Jake. Or fix Maddox? Fix them.

The dean’s house was next to the administrative building, where he had his office. It was a good distance across campus from the forest Maddox had no intention of ever entering again. He shuddered.

“Are you cold?” Jake uttered the first words in the last ten minutes.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I have your hood…um, your hoodie. Still.”

“Right,” Jake said softly.

They continued on in silence. Maddox looked behind him every once in a while to see the fireflies still halfheartedly following along like a very long, torn train from a glowing dress. He shook his head and kept moving forward. Jake held on to his hand, walking behind him.

A roar cut through the night. Not a person screaming, but what sounded like an animal.

“Shit,” Jake said, “we need to run. Just go.”

Maddox didn’t question him—they ran. Jake moved ahead of him, pulling him along as fast as Maddox could move on his already overtaxed muscles. They dashed between two buildings and paused in a small alcove near the entrance to the labs. Jake pushed Maddox into the wall, his back hitting with a thud, and Jake covered him with his giant body.

“What—”

“Quiet,” Jake whispered and pressed two fingers against Maddox’s lips. Maddox froze. He guessed they’d made it about five hundred yards from whatever had roared. The night was still. As their breathing slowed into the silence of the night, Maddox rested his head against the bricks, looking into Jake’s face. Suddenly, nine inches of height distance seemed like a mile.

“Jake,” he whispered, the word barely a breath from under Jake’s fingers. Jake looked down at him. He dropped his hand to Maddox’s hip just as Maddox lifted his hand to Jake’s cheek. Jake’s tears started to fall again. From fear or pain, Maddox could only guess. “You know it’s going to be okay, right? I’ll fix this. I promise.”

Jake tipped his head down, resting his cheek against the top of Maddox’s head. He whispered something about oranges again and left a lingering kiss on Maddox’s forehead. Maddox’s whole body slumped against the wall in momentary relief. Jake did as well, pressing Maddox more firmly to the rough bricks. They stayed like that, listening to the night. Jake hardened against Maddox’s stomach, and Maddox wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch Jake’s cock and kiss him and take the comfort he needed in Jake’s body. But he couldn’t trust Jake’s emotions tonight, and he would never take something that wasn’t freely given. What if this was part of the casting or whatever magic was making Jake act so erratically?

Jake pulled back, just enough to take a breath, a spare handful of centimeters between them. Maddox looked up and pressed one quick, barely there kiss to Jake’s lips before ducking out from under him and pulling him toward Forrester’s house.

The dean’s house wasn’t what a person might expect from the head of the most prestigious magic school in the country. Moderate and boring, two stories of brick and mortar tucked between a pair of buildings, as if trying to hide in plain sight. Maddox pounded on the door. Waited. Pounded again. Waited some more. Pounded and pounded and pounded. Finally, an enraged Dean Forrester opened the door so hard it banged against the wall, then bounced off, nearly knocking the dean over. Forrester was a forbidding-looking man. His warm, umber skin stood in contrast to his typical expression of exasperation. He stood in a wrinkled and patched smoking jacket, hanging open over silk pajamas. His attire in no way detracted from the fierce glare he leveled at Maddox and Jake.

Younger students would have run for it. Or maybe less desperate students. Maddox was not young, and he was very desperate, so he stood his ground.

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