Alpha Island: My Enemy Mate

Chapter 11

RORY

When the sun kissed my eyelashes, I didn’t want to wake up. And when my alarm clock rang loudly on my phone, I wanted to ignore that too. I hadn’t slept so well in a while and was ready to do anything to prolong it. It was so warm; I felt at peace and had the best dreams about flying and then running around the forest when the grass covered with dew tickled my feet. It was so… freeing.

However, the alarm clock had different plans. It kept playing that annoying song, and it was getting louder and louder every minute, to the point of getting so irritating that I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“I am going to break that thing!” Kayden groaned.

“Be my guest,” I muttered as he cuddled me tighter, his butterscotch scent enveloping me. Thoughts of him tasting sweet as well crossed my blurry mind and made my lips curl.

Wait. What?!

My eyes opened wide in an instant when I realised what was going on. We couldn’t… It wasn’t…

Yet the lycan’s huge body was wrapped tightly around mine. I wanted to shove him off the bed just like I had planned before, but for some reason, I couldn’t move any limbs.

“What the–” I almost swore under my breath and noticed that Kayden wasn’t sleeping anymore either.

His large hand was still on top of me, and so was one of his legs. While I… what was up with me?

“What did you do?” I gazed at myself and realised that I was wrapped in a few layers of a blanket, like in a cocoon of sorts.

“Oh, this?” Kayden chuckled, finally taking his hands off me. “I swaddled you.”

“Excuse me?!” my jaw would have been on the floor by now if I could stand. Was he serious? Did he swaddle me like a baby?! Me?! A general?!

“You were very active during the night,” he rubbed the back of his head as he looked at me with a smirk. “You know, it was either this or making you exhausted in some other way.”

“Don’t you dare!” I roared. This time, it was the dragon in me, and she was out for blood. Or a burnt toast.

“Oh, Rory, I’d never dare!” Kayden lifted his hands up to demonstrate his innocent intentions. “But even after I swaddled you, you were so pushy that I had no choice but to hold you in place. Only that calmed you down. And, by the way, you sleep like a log. Only soundly.”

I saw red. The lycan had to die. To hell with this lycan/dragon war. They would have one general less anyway, so the victory would be ours!

“I don’t snore!” My eyes narrowed at him.

“I didn’t tell you snore,” he chuckled. “You speak. And let me tell you, if you ever decide to re-enact your dirty dreams, I volunteer as tribute.”

“Untie me!” I gritted my teeth menacingly while he only grinned at me.

“Say the magic word, Storm!”

“I will k.ill you!” I hissed, which made him let out a chesty laugh.

“You are very grumpy in the morning. Did anyone tell you that?” Kayden rolled off the bed and went in the direction of our kitchen, leaving me alone.

Oh, no, he didn’t!

Anger boiled in my veins, and I tried to wriggle out of this… captivity.

“I think I am in the mood for pancakes! I am starving!” Kayden snorted as he walked, and it suddenly hit me that the kitchen was too far from where I was.

The pull of the curse was inevitable, and I prepared to kiss the floor when two strong hands caught me.

“Just kidding!” Kay said with a strange smile on his lips. His hand travelled to my back, and the blanket suddenly got loose around me. He pulled the edge, and it fell to the ground, leaving me sitting on his lap in just my nightgown.

“That was foul play,” I whispered. I wanted to say it in a firm, authoritative tone, but my voice broke before I even started to speak.

“You are the one who planned to push me off the bed,” Kayden’s face got so close to mine that I couldn’t stop thinking about our hate kiss the previous day.

I had to say something. Anything. But nothing was coming to mind. Other than how soft his lips were and how his fingers were digging into my skin now.

“Pancakes,” I blurted out, and the word brought us both out of our daze.

“What?” He cleared his throat even though we were not really talking.

“I am in the mood for pancakes as well,” I said, thinking of how stupid that sounded. But his momentary confusion let me slip out of his hands. “They will have some in the Dining Hall.”

“Oh, please! Those things taste like stale bread!” I could feel Kayden watching me as I was going through my bags in search of something to wear today, settling for a set of black and purple training leggings, a sweatshirt and a top. I had my first Elemental Attack & Defence practice today and didn’t want to miss it.

I went to the bathroom to change, and this time there were no surprises from Kayden, for which I was grateful.

When I came back, I found him mixing the batter for the pancakes, which, in turn, made me gape at him. Was he making us breakfast? Did he know how to make pancakes?

And most importantly, why couldn’t he throw a t-shirt on? Kayden was still wearing just the pants he slept in. The worst part was that I couldn’t say anything about it; not without being obvious that his abs on full display bothered me. So, I did what any girl would do in a situation like this. I faked it, pretending that everything was absolutely normal. Half-naked lycans made me pancakes every day.

Yep.

Sure.

“Would you like chocolate chips?” Kayden asked, observing me with a smug smile on his face.

“I am more of a blueberry kind of girl.” A giggle escaped me as I went to the coffee machine. I hated to be indebted, so I had to bring at least something to the table.

“How do you like your coffee?” I grumbled, not wishing for him to think too much about it.

“Black,” Kay responded at once, and now it was my turn to grin back at him.

“Liar!” I chuckled, getting out the caramel syrup. “You obviously have a sweet tooth, Butterscotch!”

“And you know everything!” He flipped a big fat pancake in the air as if he had done it every day. “Surprise me then.”

“Fine,” I accepted the challenge and brewed him my favourite drink – a caramel macchiato.

When everything was done, we sat at the table together like the great cursed little family that we now were. I tried a bit of the pancake Kayden placed in front of me and had to use all my training not to moan loudly. It was the best thing I ever tried. Not too sweet, not plain, not sour. Just perfect. And I didn’t even really like pancakes.

“Did you find anything useful on curses in your book yesterday?” The lycan was already finishing a huge pile on his own plate.

“I got stuck on legendary curse-breaking artefacts,” I admitted. “Sadly, there aren’t too many in the world and creating one now would take us years.”

“Maybe we could borrow one, though?” He winked at me.

“Not a single clan that has them would ever admit their existence in the first place,” I informed him. “Shame neither dragons nor lycans have one. That would have solved our problem by now.”

“My guess is fairies, warlocks, and bears do not have anything either,” Kayden continued my thought. “Otherwise, they would have already offered.”

“Yeah,” I had to agree. “So, our options are to find one of the few curse-breakers in the world or help Darren and Dylan to figure out the breaking condition. But that could be literally anything, so I wouldn’t count on that.”

“At least you know that Sky is going to survive, thanks to being a phoenix,” he sighed.

“That’s a big maybe,” I wrapped my fingers around my cup of coffee as if it was going to help me somehow. “Phoenix have a limited amount of lives. It’s always a lottery if she will rise from the ashes again. Not to mention that if she survives, but if Darren dies– Loki says that the curse is so powerful that it can take out a royal dragon. Without Darren… Let’s just say that all kingdoms will feel his absence. I am the next in line to the throne after him, but I can tell you that no one would want to see me wearing the Dragon Crown.”

“Why not?” Kayden asked me matter-of-factly, and then our eyes met.

“I think you can guess why,” I hinted and the earnest expression on his face changed to a shocked one.

“Because you're also a lycan?” He sounded so surprised at that; somehow, it started to annoy me even more.

“Don't say that out loud,” I warned him calmly. “I'm a dragon. Just a tainted one.”

“Being a lycan is an honour,” he growled.

“Only if you live in the lycan Kingdom, and even in that case, it's best if you are not a hybrid.” I didn't know why I even bothered to explain this.

“We don't discriminate,” Kayden assured me.

“Neither do we,” my lips curled, “but tell me, Kay, if Dylan did not survive and you were a part dragon, do you think everyone would be happy about that?”

He knew the answer, and this was exactly why he did not say anything. People in the kingdoms did not rush to trust hybrids. Their loyalties were always under question. Partially, it was thanks to the Renegades, but there were also a few cases in history where shifters with mixed blood only brought trouble.

I wanted to change the subject desperately.

“How's the coffee?” I gave the lycan a little smile, already knowing the answer. “Sweet enough for you, Butterscotch?”

“I have tasted things sweeter,” the corners of his lips rose upward when he added. “Just yesterday.”

~***~

After breakfast, we discussed our schedule again and decided on who would keep what subjects. Afterwards, we gathered our bags and went to the lessons. At the Elemental Attack and Defence class, Kayden had nothing much to do there since he couldn’t summon any elements, but it was one of my majors; thus, it couldn’t have been missed. This was the first class of the day, and the added bonus was that it was held outside.

“Now that I think about it, maybe it’s not such a bad idea that I attend these lessons with you,” Kay scoffed, when we took a place in the student formation on the practice field, making sure we stood as far away from Lorcan and Torrin as possible. “I can’t use any elements, but knowing how all of you wield them will give me an advantage when I have to fight an elemental in the future.”

“Good for you,” I brushed him off as I saw something I didn’t expect in a million years.

“Welcome, class,” Darren said with a grim expression on his face. “I am your new EAD curator. Call me Professor Thorn.”

DARREN

My mood was already too sour when I remembered I had an actual class to teach today. And not just one class. Three. I had three classes to go through, two of which did not give me the opportunity to watch over Skylar. Griffin, Deidre and Loki would be taking care of that in my stead, but I still would have preferred to do it myself. It was calming to see her…

Simply knowing that Sky had to be a part of the first lesson made my heart skip a beat every time I allowed myself to think about it. I would be able to be close to her, to speak to her and maybe even touch her if I was lucky enough. I needed that contact with my mate desperately because my dragon was going crazy, unable to hold her in our arms. Even one brief touch could make a big difference.

Luckily, a plan on how to arrange her falling into my hands was already forming in my head, and a smile spread over my lips at the thought. All I needed was for this lesson to finally start.

All the students lined up, taking the first battle training position – legs wide, backs straight, hands behind their backs, face forward. All stood perfect. All but one. Skylar was missing.

I gave her a few minutes before I started to panic. Why didn’t she come to her first class? Did something happen to her while it was Loki’s turn to observe her?

“Where is Skylar Aster?!” I demanded, raising my voice. I noticed Rory was here too, and Dylan’s cousin Kayden stood right behind her. I had no idea what all that was about, and, frankly speaking, I had a more pressing problem on my hands.

One of the students, a girl who looked like she was an Earth element fairy, raised her hand. I nodded at her, allowing her to speak, and she gave me a weak smile without looking me in the eyes.

“Professor Thorn, Skylar always trains individually with her private battle instructor,” she informed me. I was contemplating telling them to run because the dragon was about to burst out and destroy anything and anyone that wasn't Skylar.

The worst thing was that I knew whom she was talking about. It had to be a set-up to drive me crazy because there was a guy who was almost always around my Sky. He was there at every turn she made, he practically lived at Jelly Bean, and something told me that it would be him training my mate personally when no such thing was allowed in the whole university. He was lucky because, so far, Loki prohibited us from scaring the girls in any way or giving them any useful information. He had to do more tests before we were allowed to act, and I had to obey. For Sky’s sake.

Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder, and right now, they tested my limits.

“Would you be so kind as to tell me where they usually train?” I sneered at the fairy student, and heard her swallow visibly.

“The second polygon on the left,” she stuttered, crumbling under the pressure.

Note to self – that one would have to be trained twice as hard as everyone else to at least try and catch up. She had nothing on someone like Rory, even if my cousin had to fight with her eyes closed and hands tied.

However, all this was of no relevance to me now as I was already on my way to the second Polygon. I noticed them from afar, shooting fireballs at each other under a magical dome that made sure none of the missed blows flew into people walking around.

Skylar was in her training clothes, charging, jumping and dodging. I noticed her using a few of the moves I had shown her a year ago when I was the one to personally train her. Which proved once again that the memories were still inside of her. Whoever did this to her, whoever placed this curse on her… that person didn’t erase her memories. That person found a way to suppress them somehow, yet deep inside, she knew and felt everything. The same way as our mate bond was still there even if she didn’t feel it now. It would always be there. No curse would take that away from us.

I was thinking of how to stop this without looking like an as.sho.le and arousing any suspicions. I wanted to make Sky trust me again.

Right when these peaceful thoughts were circling through my mind, Skylar tripped on her foot and almost fell down, but her partner caught her and tried to press her around his shirtless torso.

The guy didn’t know it yet, but he was already a walking corpse!

“Emrys! That was cheating!” Sky giggled, trying to wriggle out of his hands. I took a step forward, ready to act, ready to kill, when Rory appeared right in front of me, followed by that lycan. She didn’t say anything, just shook her head, knowing this would be enough for me to remember what was important here.

“I am fine,” I whispered, and my beloved cousin cleared my way, knowing I was in the right state to handle it. I had to admit that she believed in me more than I did because I still wasn’t sure I wouldn’t rip that Emrys to shreds.

The guy held Sky in his arms for longer than it was necessary, and for a second there I thought that he was about to lean down and kiss her, but she sneezed, and he placed her back onto her feet.

“It’s not my fault you make the same mistake all the time, Sky!” he chuckled lightly and then caught her arm, pulling her closer. “Wait, you have something in your hair.”

I wasn’t going to let him use this old trick on my mate, so I burnt the magical dome around them, clicking my fingers and making sure they both saw me now.

“Darren?” Sky gasped and my name on her lips brought a little piece of my soul back to me. “What are you–”

“I am a bit surprised you are skipping classes, Skylar,” I tried not to sound ominous, but in all honesty, it was really hard.

“I don’t!” she protested, looking appalled.

“You are supposed to be at The Elemental Defence and Attack practice right now,” I insisted.

“And that is exactly where I am,” she tried to explain to me and went to her bag, getting something out of there and then handing it to me.

It was a note from the headmaster, allowing her to replace classes with private tutoring if she wished.

“Everything is legal,” Emrys joined in, striking my last nerve. I wanted to grip his long blonde hair and drag him over the ground until he shut up.

“Oh, really?” I smirked and burned the note too.

“What are you–” Emrys seemed shocked by that, his expression getting darker by the minute. “I will be complaining!”

“Be my guest!” I nodded at the main building. “The headmaster’s office is right there.”

“Sky, I will deal with it!” he promised and brushed his palm over her arm while she blinked. “We are unbreakable, remember?”

Whatever that was supposed to mean, it just cost him his life. During the past year, I was killing people for less.

However, what concerned me more right now was Skylar’s hesitation. She seemed to be in a daze, but then her eyes became focused again..

“Yeah, of course,” she mumbled.

Emrys left, shoving my shoulder with his on the way and letting me get a sense of his aura. I suspected this before, but I was sure as hell now. Emrys was a hybrid, and this only aroused more of my suspicions about him.

We were finally left alone, and I didn’t know what to say.

“We really did have permission,” Skylar sighed, looking at me. “I am shocked that you are a teacher here, by the way.”

“It’s temporary,” I couldn’t hold back a smile. We were talking again, and it felt so good. “Listen, elemental training is important. You can’t skip my classes for questionable sparring with some guy you barely know. It’s just not safe. That’s all.”

“Oh, but I do know Emrys very well,” Sky decided to reassure me. “My friends Ava, Caspar and I went travelling together. Emrys was our battle curator during freshman year, but when we left the island, we got into trouble, and he was the one who came to the rescue.”

How convenient!

“Doesn’t matter,” I cut her off. “One heroic act doesn’t make him an expert–”

“One?” she let out a little laugh. “There were so many! We spent the whole last year together, and Emrys saved me more times than I can count. I owe my life to him!”