The Oath, Book 2 of The Coven Series

Chapter Eight

~ Lab Partners ~

When Xavier entered the Chemistry class, every girl looked at him like he was something good to eat. He was the piece of chocolate they were craving. I seriously didn't want it to bother me, but I found myself glaring at them all. Bethany took one look at my face and resolutely looked down at her lab book. The boy turned those black eyes on me, and I felt my entire stomach clench deliciously. My heartbeat hit overdrive, and for a moment, I forgot that I was mad at him, forgot that he might be a Hunter, and simply basked in the glow of those eyes. The fact that he didn't look at another girl as he crossed the room had absolutely nothing to do with my accelerated heartbeat or the glow I felt growing inside.

He leaned in close when he took his seat, and when he spoke, his warm breath tickled my ear. "Someone's been doing magic."

I frowned at him. How could he possibly know that? Was he hanging outside the office? I didn't use enough magic to even leave much of a trace. It was just a simple memory spell.

"I can smell it."

My eyebrows shot up. Even Hunters couldn't smell magic. As far as I knew, there wasn't anyone who could. "Who are you?"

He grinned his cockiest grin. "Not who, Rose. What."

"What are you?"

"Let me take you to dinner and I'll tell you."

"No."

He laughed. "Rose, what am I going to do with you?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Not true," he said, grinning. "I think we're about to start our experiment."

"All right, everyone, quiet down please," Mr. Simon called out. "Everyone should have come up with their equations and measurements. I want you to compare what you have with your partner and then combine the work to create one project. You have exactly one hour to confer and complete your experiment, starting now."

Xavier pulled out his lab book, and I took one look at the complex equations he had worked out and let out a low whistle. Whoever or whatever he was, he had a good grasp of Chemistry. They weren't as complex as some of mine, but I'd guarantee no one else in this class could keep up.

For the next hour, I forgot how much trouble he could be for me, forgot how cute he was, and concentrated on the experiment. Xavier seemed content to do the same. I could hear people softly cursing around the room, but neither he nor I spoke. We conferred with our notes and adjusted a few things here or there, but by the time the hour was up, we'd produced the bubbly blue liquid that was required. It was an acid that only ate nonorganic material. Mr. Simon came by and dropped a small slice of bacon fat into a petri dish and poured a little of our mixture into it. Nothing happened. That was good. He then took a small piece of rubber and placed it into another petri dish. The acid began to bubble and foam as soon as it hit the compound. He grinned at us like a kid on Christmas morning after checking our equations and calculations.

"I knew you'd be able to do it, Ms. James."

"Xavier did help," I told him grudgingly. "Two of his equations worked better than mine did."

"Well done, Mr. McGregor," he said and beamed at Xavier.

Xavier nodded and gave me a wink when Mr. Simon moved on to test the next table. The groans told me Bethany had not managed to get the equations right. I grinned.

"It's not nice to take joy in others' failures," Xavier told me calmly.

My head snapped up, and those onyx eyes were full of something that made me feel guilty. How could he do that? No one had ever been able to make me feel guilty about anything, not even when I used black magic. My gran and my dad both frowned on it, but they didn't forbid it.

"You're very much like a rose, you know. You're beautiful, but you have thorns," he murmured. "The question now becomes are you going to let those thorns become poisonous?"

"How do you know they aren't already?"

"I wouldn't be here if they were."

My breath whooshed out as those black eyes swirled, and I lost focus. I felt like I was drowning, and my stomach heaved. My fingers clutched the table, and I fought to look away, but I couldn't.

"You don't have to make that choice, my little Rose."

"It's already been made," I gasped. He knew. Curse the Fates, how did he know?

"Then change it." His face became hard, unbending like stone. Then he looked away.

The earth re-centered itself, and my vision cleared. The room came back into focus, and I had to blink several times. What in Hades' name was he?

"Breathe, Melinda," he whispered into my ear, and I shuddered at the sensation of his lips against my flesh. I'd never felt anything like it before. I wasn't a virgin, but I'd only slept with one guy in my seventeen years. Never had I experienced the raw sensations rolling through me with just the touch of those feathery soft lips. It scared me.

The bell rang and I jumped up, flushed and flustered. Xavier laughed softly and made a show of putting my books into my bookbag before handing it to me. He winked at me and waltzed out of the room, leaving me very unsteady, both physically and emotionally. Who and what in the hell was he?

"You okay, Melinda?" Mandy asked when I didn't move.

"Yeah, fine," I sighed. "Just thinking that boy is way more trouble than he's worth."

She laughed. "Yeah, but what boy isn't?"

I smiled. "True."

"Come on, let's go eat, I'm starved." She and her little group jostled me along with them out the door and toward the lunch room.