Chapter One

Sage

The aftermath of rescuing all of the Centres and their Bonded was intense, and it's still not over. The academy housed those that it could for a few weeks before they all either went back to their estates or found places to live. There was a lot of persuasion involved in trying to get any of the Centres kids that qualified into the academy, but none actually agreed to stay; I think the idea of having to spend time separated was too much for most of them to handle after everything that they've been through. Every single one of them has lost someone during their ordeal, and I really hope they heal. I imagine that it will take a long time, and they're going to be doing it out of the eyes of the rest of the Fae Realm.

Thankfully, there was so much going on that the guys and I managed to fade into the background somewhat, and the fear of having everyone's eyes on me when we first arrived quickly diminished. Lessons were put on hold while the school instead dealt with the influx of people. Once the scale of the help needed was realised, it was decided to start one of the school breaks early so that the Centres, their Bonded, and families could be seen to and helped properly.

Nicole and Rebecca quickly decided to head to the Earth Realm, and Nicole said something about that being where they were needed, and we haven't heard from either one of them since.

School has been back on for a few weeks now, and I'm starting to realise why the majority of the Centres and their Bonded mates left as soon as they were able to. The people who run this school and all of the various visiting people in power seem to have a control issue; several times, I heard it strongly suggested that children were left in the care of the school and that they were all logged into the database so that it was well known where their strengths lie and where they'd be useful.

I'm actually disgusted with how they were treated; it was all about what they could do for other people, and I'm not surprised at all that they've all disappeared. The only Bonded groups left in the school are Erin and her men, Cole and his, and me and mine.

The majority of the teachers here either hate me or treat me like I'm not capable of anything other than learning about politics and leadership roles and all the shit that I'm not interested in. They still haven't allowed me in any of the combat classes despite knowing that without my men and me, those Centres would've been lost forever. Somehow, they just seem to have glazed straight over that and are choosing to treat me how they treated the Centres in the past, like they're delicate flowers that can't do anything for themselves.

I sigh as I look into the mirror in my bathroom. I know that I'm supposed to be here so that I can have my magic trained and that I should be grateful that I've got somewhere safe to go, but after the mission of saving the Centres and everything that we went through in order to do it, this feels boring and pointless, especially since they are yet to train me in any of my magic and I can feel it, it's starting to get restless now.

How am I supposed to help anyone if I'm a liability myself because no one has taught me how to use my magic properly? I know that I have some experience and I know that I've practiced, mainly with Erin and Cole, but I don't know enough, and there are more parts of my magic that I need to learn how to control as well. However, I am still keeping those parts hidden from the academy. I had a spike of intuition, and it became clear that they shouldn't know everything.

I know the answer to how they think I'm going to help others; I'm simply not. They assume, or rather they demand, that the Bonded men are the ones that actually do any of the work, and the Centre is just like a battery.

I'm getting really fed up now, but I'm still holding out hope that they're going to realise that I'm capable of so much more and actually start training me, or at least let me attend the combat class, it's not just my magic that's getting twitchy, and that's never a good thing.

Their treatment is somewhat unexpected though, because Erin was in the combat class and was being taught about her magic until the rescued Centres turned up, and now, she's being taught like me, and all requests to go back to training are being ignored. It's pissing her off too, I guess the only silver lining is that the guys are being properly trained. In fact, they're being trained harder and longer than most of the other students. They're expected to train before classes start, and they tried to get them to stay after their classes finished but the guys outright refused. None of them wanted to be away from me for that length of time; the morning sessions already mean that our time together is extremely limited, and I fucking hate it. It's almost like they're trying to keep us apart, but I don't know what the possible reason could be; we're Bonded, they're mine, and I'm theirs.

Over the last couple of days, my magic has started to stir in ways that I don't like. It's restless, and if they don't start training me to use it properly, then I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands.

It's far too strong to be left untrained, which is pretty much what it is; I've only done minimal actual training with it and then had real-world experience. I need help to refine it, and that's how they're supposed to be training me now.

I can't even just fade into the background like I'm used to doing in school situations and where I feel safest because everyone's eyes are on us, not only because we brought the Centres back but also because I'm a Centre and I have my Bonded as well.

So far, my academy experience in the Fae Realm isn't living up to what I'd hoped it would be. I actually learned more back at the Earth Realm academy, and I never thought I'd say that.

I know that the Goddess has a plan for us she must do after everything that's happened, but I'm struggling to understand how being here is going to achieve anything but increase the risk of me accidentally exploding one of my teachers because they've refused to help me again.

"You look like you're thinking about something far too hard for this time in the morning, Little Star," Jax observes as he walks into my room and scoops me up into his arms, holding me closely.

"I'm feeling twitchy. It's been ages since I've been able to spar with anyone, and my magic is mad as hell," I reply, the frustration in my voice is clear as day.

"I know," Hunter answers me with a frown as he walks into my room, "we need to figure something out before your magic decides to take matters into its own hands."

"Why don't you try and call your parents and see if they can have a word with the headmaster and get him to relax on the whole Centres are precious thing and let you spar, and talk some sense into him about how unwise it is to have an untrained supernatural," Jax suggests.

"Yeah, that's actually a really good idea," I reply, standing up on my toes and kissing one of the scars that reaches up his neck before my lips meet his in a soft kiss; pulling back, I add, "I can't do that now though, we've got to get to class. I'm glad that you guys come back to the room to shower after your morning training, at least I get to see you a little bit."

"We come back for kisses mostly," Hunter smirks, as he pulls me out of Jax's arms and into his own.

His lips descend on mine in a heated kiss, and my arms wrap around his neck as our tongues fight, but before it can go any further, Knot squawks, effectively breaking us apart and reminding me that I've got another day in a place that I'm beginning to hate.

I grab my bag, already armed with a few of my daggers, because I outright refuse to go anywhere without weapons, especially not when the reception so far has done nothing to make me feel comfortable or safe here.

"Good morning, Beautiful," Kai greets me as I head out into the front room that all of the rooms surround.

I kiss him as I make my way through the room, kissing Maverick and Levi too.

"Come on, let's get this over with," I say once I pull away, aware that I really can't waste any more time with my men, no matter how much I'd prefer to do that.

We've been so busy, or rather they have, that I've only had them naked a couple more times, and my dream of spending an entire week in bed with them naked was utterly impossible, and that's made me fucking mad too. Not that we could have anyway, because after those few times that we managed to be together thanks to the stone that Kysen gave us, it broke. Which is unheard of and has never happened before, but our combined magic managed to do it.

Go us.

As I walk through the halls with the guys, eyes are on us, like they always are, and the guys all split up to go to their classes. I don't particularly appreciate that we're all separated; it doesn't feel safe, and it feels like it's done on purpose.

Even though we were in danger, and the conditions weren't exactly great, I feel like we had so much more freedom when we were saving the Centres, and now, I feel stagnant and stuck.

"Hey!" Erin greets me as I walk into my class and take a seat next to her and Cole.

I could sit anywhere, as the only three Centres left in the school, the class only consists of us.

"Hey," I smile, grateful for a friendly face, "has the teacher shown up yet?"

Erin shakes her head, "Nope. It's really starting to make me angry now. Before the Centres arrived, the academy was really good, and I was learning stuff, and now it's like all of the teachers and the headmaster have had a personality transplant or something."

"I'm going to have to take your word for it because they've been assholes ever since I've been here."

Cole's eyes fill with sympathy as he grimaces, "Yeah, I know. It is really strange though." He glances at Ghost and Knot as they appear in the room, preferring to do that than travel through the hallways. I think even they don't like the extra attention, "What do they think of the teachers?"

"They'd prefer to avoid them like the rest of us," I reply, glancing over to them.

"I can't blame them," Erin replies, and then grins as her gaze moves back to Cole, "so, how are your Bonded? Specifically, Kysen?"

Cole's cheeks turn an adorable shade of red, "They're good."

Erin and I share a bemused look, "Oh, come on, don't get all shy on us now! Your first conversation with Sage was about how much dick you were getting."

The reminder has us all smiling at the memory; even though Erin wasn't there, she found the retelling hilarious.

Cole smirks, "That's very true, but these men I actually care about, and that's what makes it different." He pauses, and his eyes fill with humour as he adds, "having said that, they've absolutely kept me on my toes and curled them."

Erin and I both burst out laughing.

"We figured they were keeping you occupied. We haven't seen you much recently," I reply.

"On a more serious note, I'm surprised at how quickly Kysen has just fit in with the dynamic since we managed to find it without him. I guess it helps that they're brothers, so they know each other well enough, and it's just me that he's got to get to know. It's like he's been around from day one, and all of those things I was worrying about before seem to be silly now," he explains, looking immensely relieved.

Once the initial chaos from our arrival was over, Cole effectively disappeared with Kysen and his other Bonded; they needed to get to know each other properly and find out how they all fit together. We saw them occasionally, but they took the time to explore their new dynamic.

"The Bond always fascinates me, but I guess it makes sense because we're going to be with these people for the rest of our lives, and if we didn't like them, that would make things really complicated." Erin points out.

"Why do I feel like there's something that you're not saying?" I ask him when my intuition seemingly pings out of nowhere.

All the happiness that was in his eyes while he was talking about his Bonded mates disappears, and instead, it"s replaced with apprehension.

"Cole?" Erin questions, sounding confused.

"Some of the teachers seem to have an issue that I'm a Centre, and my mates are all male," he shocks me by replying.

"What?" I ask, "That doesn't make any sense. If we were in the Earth Realm, then maybe, but not here, same-sex couples are common, and even Centres with same-sex bonds have been well known in the past, so why on earth would they have a problem with you?"

He shrugs, "I honestly don't know. It's really strange and doesn't make any sense."

"Pay attention,"the Goddess"s voice echoes through my mind, completely surprising me.

"Okay, I think we need to keep an eye on the teachers, something must be going on for them to have changed so drastically," I reply.

"You think, or you know?" Cole asks, his eyes narrowed slightly.

I smile, "I know."

"Well, okay then, I'll let the others know that they need to be doing the same in their classes as well," Erin replies, as she goes quiet to talk to her Bonded through the Bond Lines, and Cole does the same.

"Guys?"I say through the bond line.

"Beautiful!"Kai exclaims, "I'm so happy to hear your voice. I'm bored."

I giggle, just the sound of his voice making me relax more, "Hey Kai."

"Is everything okay?"Levi asks.

"Yeah, well. The teacher hasn't bothered to turn up yet, but at this point, I'm not surprised in the slightest."

"Seriously?"Hunt replies, sounding outraged on my behalf.

"It's been a few months now, and as far as I'm concerned, we're actually better off if they aren't here. They don't teach us anything we need to know anyway, and I just get madder and madder the more shit they spout at us."

"Actually, come to think of it, when was the last time that they actually taught us something to do with being Bonded Mates?" Maverick asks.

"Er, I don't remember,"Kai replies, and then adds, "I'll ask the others, please hold."

I can't help but laugh at his antics and the groans that the other guys give.

"I hadn't thought about what they've been teaching us, more on the fact that they aren't teaching you. That's a massive oversight on our part,"Levi replies, clearly not happy that he didn't notice.

"Yeah, I was thinking about that, and after what you said this morning, maybe we should do what we were doing before and practice with you ourselves?" Jax suggests. "It will at least take the edge off."

"Yeah, I'm up for that,"I reply, feeling relieved already that there's a plan in place. "I think Cole and Erin will most likely want to join us since they've also stopped being taught and need to practice."

"Okay, you let them know, and we'll try to figure out somewhere that we can meet to do it. We're going to have to be discreet about it and possibly do it in the middle of the night," Levi suggests.

I smile, not that they can see me and reply, "That could work, with Erin's shielding ability, we should be able to get to wherever we need to go without being seen."

"Good idea,"Jax replies, but before he can say anything else, he gets interrupted.

"Thanks for waiting,"Kai says in a posh voice like he's some sort of receptionist. "So, the guys can't remember either, and they're all pretty mad about it."

"I figured,"I reply.

"Is that what you wanted to talk to us about?"Jax asks, and I know that one of the others is probably filling Kai in on our plan to get some practice in.

"Oh no, actually it wasn't, you guys distracted me,"I say with a smile before continuing, "We were talking about how different the teacher"s behaviour apparently is now, compared to how it was before, and the Goddess told me to pay attention, I can only assume that it"s because not everything is as it seems with them."

There's a beat of silence while they all think about it, and then Maverick agrees thoughtfully, "That would actually make sense, especially with what the others have said about how they were acting before."

"Exactly, so watch them closely and see if you can see anything that's odd about them,"I reply.

"You got it, Beautiful,"Kai replies.

"How soon do you want to get some practice in?"Levi asks.

"As soon as possible. My magic feels weird because it hasn't been properly wielded for so long, and I'm worried about what's going to happen if it decides that it wants out."

I chew my lip as I wait for them to reply, what I don't mention is that under my normal magic is something darker that's churning and becoming restless too, and it is that part of myself that I'm truly worried about. I'm just hoping that by exercising my usual magic, it will help to satisfy the other.

"Sounds good to me. We'll get the guys on board. Hopefully, we'll have an answer for you by lunch. Are we eating in our room again?"Levi replies.

"Unless you guys want to go through eating with all the uneasy stares, then yes."

"Good point. Those only seem to be reserved for us though Cole and the others don't seem to have that problem."Kai replies.

"I know I think we're actually making it worse by not just showing up until they get used to us, but I'm too on edge today to do it,"I reply honestly.

"That's not a problem,"Jax says before adding, "We're starting to get weird looks. We need to get back to the lesson."

"Yeah, so are we,"Levi adds, since they're in different lessons.

"Alright, bye, guys."