Melody blushed and turned to the front of the class where the lesson was indeed beginning. Near the door stood Asher, intent, alert and worried. She held her hand out flat and tilted it from side to side, shrugging helplessly.
Later, she mouthed at him, and he nodded. Then his head tilted to the side and he looked at Dean. When she turned to him, his eyes were a little glazed, then he nodded and his gaze focussed on her. She realised that Nick must have opened the link again. So, Asher would know the little that she had been able to tell Dean. She was nervous about telling them the rest, but it had to be done.
16. Melody
“So there’s a chance, if the provost can convince her to come earlier, then things can be done and an oath of fealty taken,” Melody carefully explained to them all as they hurried to the next class, avoiding any terms that might trigger the geasen.
Nick had joined them, casting a ward around them, guaranteeing their privacy.
“I still don’t get why we’re doing this. I mean, if all I have to do is swear fealty to Melody, then what’s the issue?” protested Asher.
“I’ve sworn fealty to my coven, Asher. What do you think will happen during the next holidays? Or when I graduate?” she asked him.
“But, you just say no, right? If you don’t want them to do stuff, you just say no.”
Melody stopped in the middle of the corridor and threw her hands in the air. “I can’t be part of this discussion. Nick, take him back to the provost, please. Make him understand.”
It wasn’t until he gently prised her hands off him, kissing her knuckles, that she realised she was gripping the front of his shirt.
“Ugh, we should probably look at a histrionics hex too,” she sighed.
”Is there such a thing?” asked Nick.
“Do I normally grab your shirt?” she responded. “I’ve never heard of one, but that doesn’t mean that someone hasn’t found a way to do it.”
Nick chuckled. “Yeah, okay, we’ll look at the mood affecting hexes again,” he reassured her, putting a careful arm around her shoulders.
Melody didn’t know if Dean had told them about her sleeping in his arms, or whether they had simply smelled him on her, but all of them had become more demonstrative since this morning. It was kind of nice, but at the same time, it stressed her out. This was not conducive to her holding them all at arm’s length.
For the rest of the day, the men took turns guarding her, switching out between classes. Melody assumed they were arranging it via the magical link that Nick used for them, but it still was a feat of organisation. It meant she got time with all of them, and that nobody managed to be around long enough to start any arguments with anyone else. While they were sure they were reasonably safe in the cottage, out and about they had to be vigilant for almost any threat.
The worst part was that Justin still took part, which meant that Jaynie hung around them too. She commented on everything, from Melody’s hair, to her clothes, and even her accent. She even tried to instruct Melody on how to handle a shifter, all the while failing to notice how the shifters around her were reacting. Far from helping them avoid conflict, Jaynie’s presence seemed only to ratchet up the tension.
Eventually, Melody had to say something to Nick when Justin wasn’t there.
“If he’s helping, it’s without her, otherwise he can just hang around his new friends. We don’t need Jaynie’s kind of help.”
Melody knew that she’d played right into the witch’s hands. It was likely to be exactly what the catty woman had been aiming for, a division between Justin and herself, but Melody couldn’t help it. She had bigger shit to deal with. Tomorrow, her aunt would be here, and Melody would need to be ready.
To her surprise, though, Justin sat with them at lunchtime, ignoring Jaynie completely. Even when she came over to sit with them, he simply told her to fuck off, and then turned his back on her. Melody saw the venomous look that Jaynie gave him, and she knew it would brew trouble from the whole bunch of them.
With Justin back on board, fewer hexes were getting through, although the three of them were kept busy defending against the spells coming their way. It was an exhausting day, and there was still no news from the provost. Melody racked her brains for spells to use, for ways around the geasen, but it was no use. She’d been trying to find a way out for years and hadn’t found anything. The only thing she could do was run, and she said as much to the men that evening after dinner.
“There is danger here for me tomorrow, for the good of my coven I could run from here, but I’m not leaving without you all. I can take Dean and Asher with me, but we’d be outcasts then.”
Dean looked at her, snarling in his frustration. “There’d be a bounty placed on finding us, and if we were caught, our bonds would be broken. Asher and I would be given to your aunt as property of the coven, while you’d be stripped of your powers.”
Melody nodded. “It would still mean that my aunt wouldn’t get the matriarchal magic, that would be destroyed, but it would net her two alpha shifters, and I know she’d love that, if only to ...” The heat on her back prevented her from saying more. Already she was skirting too far over the line. Melody had no idea what had prevented the geasen from triggering. Possibly only the fact that she hadn’t said she would do it, only that it could be attempted.
“You’re not running, Mel, we’ll protect you, all of you. Dean and Asher won’t leave here
