“What’s going on?” asked Oz, wandering over.
“Mel thinks she might have a memory hex on her, so I’m trying to look, but she’s agitated about something,” Nick explained.
“Ah, leave it to me then,” said Oz. “I’ll have her limp and purring in minutes.”
Melody shot to her feet. “I don’t think so, mister!” She whirled to face him, but he stood there patiently with his hands raised in surrender.
“Hey, I don’t know where your mind just went, but I was going to give you a shoulder massage. I’m pretty good at them, ask Nick.”
In her peripheral vision, she saw the dragon shifter nod.
“Relax, Mel. I won’t try anything. I just want to help you clear your mind for Nick to see this hex, so that we can get on with making you the brightest witch of your generation!” He grinned cheekily at her, his smile so much like Justin’s at that moment that it robbed her of breath.
Ruefully, she sat down, and Oz’s hands immediately landed on her shoulders, the unmarked places at least. Nick sat in front of her again, taking her hands in his. Surrounded by men who cared for her, she closed her eyes and gradually let herself relax. They would protect her, she was safe there.
As Oz’s fingers worked his magic, she felt her whole body start to melt. He was right, he really was good at this. Nick's fingertips ran lightly up her arms, across her shoulder and up her neck. They traced the join of her jaw before sliding up to rest at her temple. She could feel his magic caressing her mind, but she was so relaxed now that she couldn’t feel what he was doing. She really didn’t care. Oz’s hands were amazing!
There was a sudden popping sound in her head, and she felt Nick’s presence withdraw. At the same time, Oz’s hands stopped moving and she growled a little in protest. He chuckled before he resumed the massage.
“You were right, Mel. There was a memory hex there. It was blocking any information to do with botany. It was very specific, so someone must have cottoned on that it was the subject that you were tackling next.”
“Or we have a traitor in our midst,” said Trent from across the room, frowning.
Instantly, Melody was stressed again, images of Justin and Jaynie filling her mind, and the magic of Oz’s hands undone in one short sentence.
“Nice one, dude,” growled Oz. “Now she’s all tense again.”
He resumed massaging her, and Nick’s hands grasped her own again. She looked into his eyes, and knew that everything was going to be okay. There was just something about his presence that made her feel safe. He was becoming a touchstone, a bedrock of certainty. While it felt nice to have someone to rely on, it made Melody wonder what would happen to her if he was taken away.
Still, she needed to address Trent’s concern, before it ate away at all the trust they were building between them.
“No,” she said aloud. “I refuse to believe we have a traitor. I did borrow several botany textbooks at the library this week. It wouldn’t be hard to guess that I was going after an early completion of this course next.” It needed to happen sooner rather than later, otherwise the only thing she would succeed in was finishing a couple of weeks early. If Melody wanted to be allowed to start attending the second-year class, she needed time to catch up the first term’s work and actually do the second term’s work as well.
She was just going to have to work harder.
10. Melody
“Why don’t we catch an early dinner, and then we can come back and try again, what do you say, Ryan? Do you forgive me for my tantrum?” she smiled sweetly at him, and saw the moment he melted for her, his deep brown eyes softening.
“Of course I forgive you, Mel. That must have been driving you nuts. No wonder it wasn’t working. For a moment, you had me doubting myself.” He put a hand dramatically on his chest. “Me! Doubting myself! The horror!”
He pretended to swoon, and Melody laughed at his clowning around.
“But I think we should get an hour of work in before dinner and then you can take a break and we can see how much you’ve retained,” he added.
They sat down together and started at the beginning, Melody finding that she was retaining information much more easily. After an hour they took a break to head over to the dining hall together for dinner.
“Nick? Where’s Justin?” she asked him.
Nick looked decidedly uncomfortable and shrugged. “I don’t know. He said he had to go meet someone about something important. That was a couple of hours ago.”
He was lying to her, she knew it. He knew where Justin was and what he was doing. Melody had a fair idea on the ‘who’ as well, just not the where.
It turned out, she wasn’t quite right.
Rather than making out with Jaynie, Justin was already there in the dining room talking to Quinn while they both sat with Shawna and her cronies. The two shifters frowned as they spoke together, Justin ignoring Jaynie who was practically draped across his shoulders, and he looked distinctly uncomfortable. Served him right. If he wanted to go to the dark side, then he needed to accept everything that came with it.
Justin wouldn’t meet her eyes, but Jaynie did with a defiant smirk. Shawna was beaming and she looked at Nick who walked beside Melody and mouthed mine, bitch.
“Not a fucking hope in hell,” murmered Nick beside her, leaning in and kissing her hair. Distracted by the tableau in front of her, she let him, her decision to keep them all at arms length forgotten for now.
“I would have said the same thing about Jaynie and Justin this morning,” Melody told him, moving to the serving line. Nick took her by the elbow and steered her towards the table
