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Chapter 7

YARA

It had been a week since I met Aiden Hendrix, my mate, and unfortunately, my thoughts had been filled with him since then. My dreams too.

I heaved a sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose, as he popped into my mind for the nth time today and I shook my head sideways to dispel my thoughts of him. Spoiler alert: It didn’t work.

Damn you, Aiden– Hendrix. Damn it. Damn you, Hendrix!

Thinking of him as Aiden, instead of Hendrix like I desperately wanted to, was another recent development. I had been thinking of him as Hendrix, my boss’ boss who turned out to be a witch’s mate by some fluke, so I wouldn’t get too attached to him but it turned out that if someone appears in your dreams frequently enough – most of which he kisses me like I sort of wanted him to that night – you couldn’t distance yourself from them the way you wanted to.

I picked up my bag and as I opened it to shove my books inside, the card Aid–Hendrix gave to me last week caught my eye and I frowned before grabbing it. I hadn’t reached out to him with a restaurant for our dinner date the day after I met him and I didn’t even have a way of knowing if he had called me because I hadn’t fixed my phone. He most likely had though.

Maybe if I talked to him and told him I didn’t want to be his mate, I’d get him out of my head. I pulled the phone Willow lent me till I got mine fixed out of my pocket but before I could type the number in, I realized I probably shouldn’t call him. I mean, who am I kidding? I couldn’t tell him that day and I haven’t even thought about how to tell him since then. What makes me think I’ll be able to do it now?

I clicked my tongue and tossed the card back into my bag along with my books before making my way out of the row and towards the door. I was in the middle of thinking about which side of town I would go job hunting today when he also gathered his things and got up from his seat.

I raised a brow, watching him till I walked past the row he was in and walked out of the lecture hall.

Like every day since Monday, when I glanced over my shoulder after walking through a couple of hallways, he was there. He was following me again. For fuck’s sake.

Sure, this was a university and he could just be on his way to his next class which happened to be in this direction but he was in every single class I was in and my department had no other classes scheduled for today.

Also, I had caught him staring at me several times and he had never approached me to speak to me so all of that led me to suspect one thing – He was a witch.

I gritted my teeth and picked up my pace before walking into a short hallway and into the room at the end of it. I then waited by the door and when I was sure that he’d be in the hallway outside if he was following me, I quickly walked out of the room – And right into him.

Instead of coming face-to-face with him like I’d planned, I came face-to-throat instead – as in, my face slammed into his throat – and the impact made him suck in a breath before he proceeded to choke on it.

“Who are you?” I asked as he braced himself against the wall and I couldn’t help but think he looked familiar when he lifted his eyes to mine. He opened his mouth to say something but a wheezing noise came out instead so he took a moment to focus on his breathing and if I wasn’t completely sure that he had been following me, I might have felt a little bit bad for him. “Why are you following me?”

“I’m not,” he finally said, blinking watery eyes as he stood upright, and I raised a brow.

“Really?”

“I’m not following you,” he repeated and I pointed at the sign that said ‘Ladies’ at the entrance of the hallway. He turned to look at it.

“Oh! Um…” He returned his attention to me and cleared his throat before speaking again. “Sorry, I’m new here,” he started and I nodded because I knew that. I knew the face of everyone in my department, not because I was their friend but because I liked keeping tabs on my surroundings so I could know if/when someone new showed up. “I transferred from Kincade. I resumed last week so I just need someone to show me around and you look friendly.”

I’d been told by multiple people that I have a resting bitch face so I raised a brow. “I look friendly?”

“Yeahh…” he drawled as he stared at me, probably regretting that lie he just told, and I clicked my tongue.

“Not interested. Stop following me.” I walked past him and out of the hallway, hoping he would listen to me and not be a problem for me because I really didn’t want to deal with witches right now – if he was one, that is.

He didn’t give off any witchy vibes though… well, to be more specific, he didn’t give off witch-that-was-after-me-because-of-my-mother vibe. I would find out soon enough if he was one but I desperately hoped that he wasn’t, that he was truly just a guy that needed someone to give him a tour of campus, because if he was after me, I’d have to move again and probably drop out. I didn’t want to do either of that, especially the latter.

I sucked in a breath as I walked out of my faculty and thankfully, when I glanced over my shoulder, he wasn’t there.

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