Page 15 of Entwined
It is time for us to claim our mate, whether she wants it or not.
“Come on. I’ve got a health draught I stole from a warlock I pissed off,” I tell Connor. “Might help with this fucking headache.”
“Why would you steal something from someone you’d pissed off?” he mutters, following me out the door.
I lift a shoulder. “Why wouldn’t I?”
CHAPTER NINE
felicity
“Ihope you’re keeping your head down.” My grandfather’s disapproval oozes down the phone, and I sink back against the trunk, feeling the dampness of the bark seep into my clothes.
It’s quiet out here with almost everyone at classes or getting lunch. I couldn’t stand the idea of facing the eyes in the dining hall today, so I escaped outside to get some air instead…right in time for my phone to start ringing. My grandfather has always had a keen sense of knowing the perfect time to dig his claws in.
“I haven’t heard anything,” he continues, “but I know it’s only a matter of time. You are your mother’s daughter, after all.”
“I’m just going to classes,” I protest weakly. “No more drama, I promise.” My tone is subdued, supplicant, and Ihatemyself for it.
He scoffs. “Yes, well, that’s not a promise I thought I’d need to extract from you. Yet here we are.” He pauses, letting the silence fill with thick tension. “Your mother said she mentioned theThorntons to you.”
“Yes.”
“The deal I’m curating with them is crucial to my career and our family’s political standing. Connor Thornton might not be their heir, but his father has made a point to mention your name specifically.”
A chill skitters down my spine. “Why?”
“I don’t presume to know how shifter minds work, Felicity.” There’s an undercurrent to his voice, one that speaks back to his prejudice against shifters. Except it isn’t just shifters, but every species that isn’t human. “Have you spoken to Connor?”
Apprehension is a weight on my chest, leaving me unsure about what I should say. He and my mother are both aware of Connor’s involvement in what happened last semester, but neither of them seem overly concerned about his breaking and entering attempts.
It makes me wonder how they would’ve reacted if something had actually happened, because there was no good reason that Connor could have had for breaking into my room that night. Just like there is no good reason that, every time I’ve turned around in the last week, ever since Selena attacked me, they’ve been there.
One of them, or both; their eyes always on me, following my every move. They’ve lurked in classes they aren’t enrolled in, leaned against walls in hallways they knew I’d be passing, and hovered outside the front door to my dorm building.
They haven’t approached me, but they aren’t giving me space, either, and I haven’t worked out how I feel about it all. One of the reasons I escaped outside this morning was to get away from them and their constant stares.
“Felicity,” my grandfather says sharply. “I asked you a question.”
“Sorry,” I murmur. “I’ve spoken to him, but I’m not sure what you want from me.”
He lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Always having to do the thinking for you, hm, Felicity? Not sure the money I’m giving the school is worth the return.” I wince. His words always cut deeper than my mother’s, for some reason. But I know there’s nothing I can do to endear myself to him—not when he doesn’t see any value in me other than trading me in his deals.
Maybe if I’d been born with a dick, things might’ve been different. I overheard him once talking to one of his pompous friends about how his next hope would be either finding a new wife—someone younger andbreedable—to give him a son, or marrying me off and takingmyson, raising his great-grandson in his image.
If I have kids, that will never fucking happen.
My grandfather might think I’m an airhead who doesn’t know anything, but once I have my trust fund, he’s never going to see me again.
He makes a low sound of annoyance in my ear. “Just see that you don’t do anything to jeopardize my partnership with the Thorntons, Felicity. You’ve already done enough to tarnish the Hamilton name, don’t you think?”
I murmur a quiet agreement, but I don’t think he hears it, the click and dead air telling me he’s already hung up.Asshole.
These check-ins always leave me disquieted, like I’ve been shoved into clothes that don’t quite fit. I should probably be used to it, but I still want to scrub a layer of skin off.
“You okay?”
I startle, my head jerking up so quickly that it smacks into the trunk I’m leaning against. The tender spot at theback of head throbs, making me think of swirling golden eyes and a mocking smile.