Chapter 14

Tobias

I didn't know why I was sitting at our table. I wasn't hungry, even though I had skipped breakfast, and every instinct urged me to leave the dining hall and proceed with my plan.

I didn't want to see Arya. I had successfully avoided her all weekend and this morning—hence, why I skipped breakfast. But the nagging itch that had escalated in her absence had reached a level of agony I could no longer ignore.

After ghosting her since Friday, she probably wouldn't even talk to me. Which I absolutely deserved. I should have apologized. Should have at least given her some explanation—not the truth, obviously, but something.

No, it was fine. I didn't need her to talk to me. I just needed to be in the same room as her for a couple of seconds. That should be enough to sate this torturous need.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Niko asked me behind a mouthful of cheeseburger.

"I'm not hungry," I answered flatly, bouncing my heel under the table. I'd convinced myself that moving any part of my body helped settle the anxiety. It didn't, but it was the only thing I could do to keep from losing my damn mind altogether.

Niko swallowed, examining his burger for the best place to take his next bite. "Then why are you sitting with us? I mean, no offense, but you usually study or workout when you skip meals."

"He's waiting for Arya," Brett interjected, flaring one of his eyebrows teasingly.

"Shut up," I ground out, tightening my arms around my chest.

He put up his hands in faux submission. "Whoa, someone's testy today."

I opened my mouth to shoot him an insult, but a flash of blue caught in my peripheral vision, and I turned my head to see Arya and Ashlyn entering the dining hall. Just the sight of her made my anxiety lessen slightly and the bouncing of my heel pause momentarily.

She was laughing at something Ashlyn said as they got in line at the buffet, and a traitorous smile began to spread my lips at seeing her happy. I bit down on my lips to stop it, telling myself to get a fucking grip.

I watched her like a hungry hawk as she filled her tray, and when she began to walk this way, my heart began to pound. What would I say to her? Would she say anything to me? The ire I had forced myself to feel toward her—or rather, to the imprint that bound me to her—melted away into acquiescence, and I entertained a thousand different things I could say to placate her.

When she reached our table, she stopped, locking eyes with me. Her smile fell like a dove shot out of the sky, and my heart knotted painfully inside my chest.

"Hi, Ashlyn," I said without taking my eyes off Arya. "Arya." I offered her a nod in greeting.

"You know what, let's sit with Kendall today," Arya suggested to Ashlyn, then started walking away without waiting for Ashlyn's agreement.

"Ooo-kayyy," Ashlyn said awkwardly, glancing at the three of us before shrugging and following her.

"Ouch," Brett hissed.

My insides stung at the rejection, and I welcomed the ire once more. I shoved away from the table. "See you guys later."

I had gotten what I came for, and now, it was time to get to business. I strode to a table in the far right corner of the dining hall where a group of naga girls sat.

"Petra," I said to the pixie-cut blonde as I came up to the table. "I need a word with you."

She eyed me under her thick black eyeliner, then waved an inviting hand. "Alright, go ahead."

"In private," I added.

Her friends looked back and forth between us as she deliberated. Petra Adder may have been the most petite-framed of the nagas on campus, but her impressive skills had put her at the top of the food chain, which was exactly why I was coming to her for this. [1]

Finally, Petra shrugged. "Okay, I need a smoke anyway."

She got up and headed for the exit with a nod for me to follow her. We went through the main doors and came out onto the lawn, skirting the wall to the corner near the greenhouses. She pulled a vape pen from inside her shirt that I assumed she had tucked into her bra, then put it between her lips and sucked.

"So, what do you want?" she asked after blowing out a thin line of vapor.

"I need you to hypnotize me," I said bluntly.

She furrowed her brow as she took another hit and exhaled. "Seriously?"

I nodded.

She jutted a hip and gave me a curious expression. "Why on earth would the great Tobias Dracul let me fuck with his mind?"

"I have a…problem that needs to be…erased," I replied, choosing my words carefully. "One that requires your vow of secrecy."

Her brows jumped with intrigue. "Ooo, this sounds juicy. What do I get out of it?"

I was wondering when this conversation would go there. It was in situations like this that I appreciated my family name, and the power that came with it. "Name your price. Money is no object."

She pursed her lips and looked up. "Mmm, I was thinking more along the lines of a favor."

My eyes narrowed on the elfin naga. "What kind of favor?"

She shrugged, holding her vape pen between her lips. "I don't know just yet. But it's always nice to have a powerful dragon in your back pocket, just in case. Basically, you'll owe me one."

I considered that for a moment. I didn't like being in the debt of others, especially so vaguely. I liked knowing exactly what kind of deal I was entering into. But I didn't have much of a choice. What I was asking was no simple feat.

"Alright," I conceded. "You've got yourself a deal."

I extended my hand, and she shook it, sealing our bargain.

"Ex- sss ellent," Petra hissed. "Meet me in the first greenhouse at three—no, make it four. And we'll see if I can't erase this problem of yours."

She took another drag from her pen.

"You know those things are bad for you, right?" I chided.

She arched a brow at me as she blew out. "Really, dude? You literally breathe fire. Let's compare lungs in twenty years and see who's worse off." She patted my shoulder patronizingly and sauntered away, leaving me frowning at her assessment.

* ? * ? *

"Why exactly did you want to meet here?" I asked Petra, looking around at the various vegetables growing in rows of raised beds on either side of us. The warm air of the greenhouse amplified the scents of greenery, almost overpowering my keen dragon senses.

"You wanted secrecy, right?" she asked. "I can't exactly hypnotize you in the middle of the archaic common room, now can I?"

I tipped my head, admitting she had a point. Outside of the staff who tended to the plants at scheduled times, no one ever came to the greenhouses—except for the occasional couple that wanted to make-out in private. Hopefully, none of the other students had plans of getting frisky while we worked.

"Have a seat," she instructed, gesturing to the dusty wooden floor at our feet.

I wasn't thrilled about getting my clothes dirty, but I didn't argue. She sat down a foot in front of me, pretzeling her legs beneath her.

"So, what's this problem of yours?" she asked, propping her elbows on her knees and resting her chin on braided fingers.

I looked around the shack, making certain there was no one else in here or outside within hearing distance before confessing in a hushed tone, "I've imprinted on Arya Walker."

"Oh, congratulations," she said with a wry smirk. "Shouldn't that be a good thing? It's not every day someone finds their destined mate or whatever."

I shook my head. "Nevermind the reasons, I just need the imprint broken."

She pursed her lips in consideration. "And what makes you think naga hypnosis can do that?"

I sighed and shrugged, my shoulders feeling suddenly heavy and straining with the effort. "It's the best option I could think of, and I'm willing to try anything."

She nodded pensively, then shrugged. "Well, I'll give it a shot, but I make no promises. I've never heard of someone breaking an imprint before."

"Then let's make history," I said with determination.

She grinned. "I do like the sss ound of that."

As I looked at her, vibrant green scales spread across the exposed skin of her arms, neck and face, her short, feathered hair rescinding into her scalp as a cobra-like cowl fanned out on either side of her head. Her dull brown eyes turned bright purple, her pupils elongating to slits.

She hadn't looked intimidating in her human form, but like this, she was beautifully terrifying. It was hard not to lose myself in admiring the honeycomb plating of her scales, the way they shimmered in different shades of green as they caught the dim light.

I was so distracted with her entrancing allure that I didn't see the tail spring out from behind her until its poisoned tip pierced the side of my neck.

"Ah, what the fuck!" I cursed, pressing my palm to the burning sting.

"The hypnosi ssss is more effective with my venom in your sy ssss tem," she said, her snake hiss more pronounced in her shifted form.

Her venom seared as it webbed rapidly through my veins, and I sucked in air between my gritted teeth against the intoxicating inferno that engulfed me. My vision doubled and blurred, my head swimming as the toxins infiltrated my mind.

"Look at me, Tobia sss ," I heard her say, and I tried to focus my eyes on the three of her.

My vision snagged on those glowing purple eyes and became locked there.

"Good," she rasped, her voice vibrating like the rattle of a viper's tail. "Listen only to my voice."

As the fire in my blood cooled, my limbs seemed to freeze, stuck in their position like I had turned to stone. There was a small voice in the back of my head that said I should panic, but I lost myself in the rhythmic, thrumming glow of her eyes, unable to care, feel, think.

"You are no longer bonded to Arya Walker," she intoned, her voice booming in my eardrums. "Your imprint is irrelevant, flimsy, ready to crumble away."

Her decree wormed into my mind, slithering through the tiny channels of my brain to the very center of it. I could feel it gnawing at the fibers of my imprint, a sense of calm filling me.

With a sudden and piercing ferocity, blinding pain shot through my skull, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut and arch backward despite the paralysis of her venom.

I distantly felt cold hands on either side of my face, pulling it back down.

"You are not imprinted to Arya Walker!" she commanded, the sound rippling the void in which I floated.

The ripples invaded my mind like a siege, assaulting the bond in my neurons, and agony more acute than anything I'd ever known consumed my entire being.

"Agh!" I heard my own cry of purest torment, helpless as my lungs emptied in desperation.

"You are not imprinted to Arya Walker!" Petra yelled, her power tangible in her thundering voice.

"Stop!" I screamed as my skull threatened to split in two. "Stop!"

Her hands released me at the same time her hypnotic powers did, and my once again paralyzed body slumped sideways, my cheek grinding against the rough, dirt-covered wood floor.

My breaths came in short, sprinting pants, all energy abandoning my clenched muscles as the pain slowly ebbed away. I closed my eyes, willing its departure with each dragging second, until exhaustion forced my eyes shut.

"Well, so much for that," Petra's muffled voice filtered into my ears. "The poison will wear off in an hour or two. I still expect my favor to be paid."

I heard her move, having no more fucks to give as I heard her footsteps carry and eventually disappear. I would have left me here, too.

My only thought was wordless gratitude for the suffering finally subsiding. And as the last of it left me, I welcomed the blackness that mercifully engulfed me .