“I mean, I had a feeling our rules weren't to your liking, but to break one so publicly, Spawny, you have big balls,” Luke tuts in a condescending tone that has me itching to smack him.
“You have no shame, do you?” Noah drawls, cocking a brow.
“Miss Morningstar!” a teacher I’ve never seen gasps as she hastily walks across the food court. When she gets here, her wide eyes take in Leo still holding me. He says nothing, letting me handle this, knowing I know more of what's going on and what to do than he does. “How dare you break one of the most sacred rules?”
The guys watch me, waiting for the teacher to rip me a new one and send me on my way, loving every second of this.But not for long.
“I’ve read the rules, miss. And it clearly states no public displays of affection with anyone who you are not in a committed relationship with or a fated mate.”
Luke snorts. “We all know you're not in a committed relationship with this guy. You've been here for months and we’ve never seen you with him.” He waves his hand at Luke.
Glaring back in response, I add. “No, but he is mymate.” I grin.
“Bullshit.” Isaac spits, his eyes filling with fire.
“Language!” The teacher gasps again, but she doesn’t do anything more. Not when it'sMichael'sson.
“Not that it's any of your business.” I glare back. “I can assure you it's true. We’ve known we were mates for years now.”
“Oh, well... if that's the case, just please don’t do anything indecent,” the teacher splutters, before giving us a nod of approval and turning away, heading back to wherever she came from.
“Who is he?” Isaac asks, his jaw ticking.
“This is Leo. He’s been my best friend for years. Now he’s attending this school as a scholarship student,” I say, raising my chin.
“So, what, we have another demon in our school?!” Isaac’s Heather huffs. “What is going on in this school? Isaac, you need to talk to your dad. Do something about this!”
“Why don’t you mind your own business,” I tell her, wishing she would fuck all the way off.
“Does he even talk, or do you do it all for him?” Noah asks, giving Leo an unimpressed once over.
“I do talk. And I don’t appreciate how you're talking to Abby,” Leo says, pulling me back to his body, half shielding me away from the guys. From the looks on their faces, they didn’t like that move.
“Well, it's a good thing we don’t care what you think,” Luke smirks, cocking his head to the side.
“How very convenient you happen to have a mate. Where's your mark?” Isaac asks.
“I don’t have one yet,” I say, a blush taking over my cheeks. To make a bond official, you have to vow yourself to that person, and have them do it in return, while you're in the middle of... well to be blunt, while you're in the middle of having sex. Just because you find a mate, doesn’t mean you have to be with them. You have the right to reject them if you really don’t want to be with that person. So nothing is officially tethered to your soul until you make those binding promises.
If someone rejects you, it changes nothing. You will still always be bonded to that person, a reminder the fates chose you to be together. You will always feel drawn to that person, and have a dull need to be around them. But once you make that vow, those feelings become ten times more intense. You go from craving that person to willing to die for that person.
“So how do we know it's not just a lie so you can mess around with guys whenever you want?” Luke asks, crossing his arms as he narrows his eyes.
“Look, I don’t have to prove anything to you. Leo is my mate, and as a matter of fact, so is Zed.” I smirk, loving the shocked look on Isaac’s face before it turns into a dangerous fury.
“Wait, what?” Leo asks, looking down at me with a look of confusion. “Who’s Zed?”
“I’ll tell you about it later?” I say sheepishly.Way to go, Abby.
“How am I not surprised?” Isaac snorts, shaking his head. “The trash does tend to stick together.”
“Don’t talk about Abby like that,” Leo growls, taking a step forward, but I put a hand on his chest. I don’t want him getting himself kicked out before he even officially starts.
“Watch yourself, demon spawn. If you or your little boyfriend put one toe out of line on school grounds, we'll find out. Remember who's in charge around here,” he says, giving us a dismissive glance before turning around and heading back over to his table. Luke gives me a wink before walking away with an obnoxious laugh.
“You don’t belong here,” Noah says. “Why don’t you do us all a favor, and just go back to Hell where you belong.”
My heart clenches at his words, reminding me I don’t belong anywhere. These people will only ever see me by who my father is and not who I am as my own person.
Are these next three years even worth it?
Looking over to my table of friends and their concerned looks then up to Leo, my stomach settles, the sickening feeling it had in the pit disappears. As long as my friends and Leo are by my side, as well as Zed, I think I’ll be okay.