Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We step out of our building and into the courtyard. The sun is bright, and the space hums with life. Students spill from every direction, drifting toward the redbrick building ahead. Laughter echoes off the stone walls. I should feel excited. I should feel like a new chapter is beginning. Instead, I feel like prey.

Eyes lock on me the moment we enter the flow of students. Whispers follow us like shadows. I keep my chin high, trying my best to ignore it, but the back of my neck prickles with unease.

“Hey, beautiful,” a deep voice calls, and Dot squeals before I can even react. A tall man with messy shoulder-length blond hair lifts her clean off the ground. She laughs and kicks her legs, but then another man is suddenly there.

He’s shorter and broader, with a buzz-cut and piercing blue eyes. He pulls her from Blondie’s arms and plants a kiss on her lips like he’s staking a claim. My stomach knots. I freeze, half-expecting a fight to erupt, but Dot just giggles and slaps his chest. “Put me down!”

He obeys, and she lands with a bounce, tugging her shirt into place before looking back at me. “Josie, this is Marcus,” she gestures to the blond one, “and Cole,” she adds, patting the buzz-cut’s arm like this is all totally normal.

I try to play it cool, but I’m sure my smile is as awkward as I feel. “Nice to meet you,” I say to Marcus, then turn to Cole. “You too.”

“Where’s Joe and Max?” Dot asks as we begin walking.

“They got here early to grab a front table,” Cole says casually.

“Oh, goody.” Dot claps her hands like a kid promised ice cream. “Front tables get first dibs on seconds,” she stage-whispers, her eyes twinkling as we step into the dining hall.

But I don’t register the food or the space, not really. Because the moment we cross the threshold, everything stops as every single person stares at me.

It doesn’t feel subtle or curious. It feels hungry. My legs turn to lead. My heart racing faster than an Olympic runner.

This is it. I’m a tiny fish, and I’ve officially been dropped into the shark tank. My mind helpfully repeats the words I’d read earlier. Greys, superhumans with powers that could be used against me. How am I going to survive here? I am helpless if anyone turns on me. I step in a little closer to Dot.

“Don’t worry. They’re just curious,” Dot whispers beside me, her arm sliding through mine. “We don’t get new students often, especially not ones our age. Most of us have grown up together.”

It doesn’t help. The way they’re looking at me, it’s like they already know something I don’t.

Dot leads me further into the room, and I finally take a second to look at my surroundings. I’m quite disappointed, if I’m honest. I’d had imagined Hogwarts; instead, I got a plain old college dining hall.

We reach the table, and a stunning black man with intense blue eyes rises to greet us. His smile is friendly and movie-star bright.

“So this is your new pet, huh?” he asks Dot before pulling her in and kissing the top of her head.

“Yes, Josie, meet Joe,” she says.

Joe holds out his hand to shake. I hesitate, remembering what had happened with Theo.

“Hi,” I force a smile and give him an awkward little wave instead.

A second later, a bottle of strawberry milkshake appears on the table in front of Dot, delivered by a smirking dark-haired guy with prankster energy written all over him.

“You know how to treat a girl,” Dot coos, kissing his cheek. “Josie, this is Maximus.”

“Max,” he mutters, rolling his eyes with a grin before turning to Dot. “Anything for you, baby.”

“And what did you get for me, Max?” Cole asks, elbowing him in the ribs playfully.

The boys fall into easy banter, elbowing and teasing each other. It’s chaotic, and I blink as I watch them, wondering if I’m hallucinating right now.

“Sorry, they’re a lot, but I love them,” Dot says wistfully as she watches the men scuffle. “Let’s get some food,” she adds, leading me towards the food counter.

She hands me a tray and a plate, then takes one for herself before she loads food onto it. The food is laid out under hot counters in a self-serve-style buffet. I take a slice of pizza and some fries as we move along the counter.

“So which one are you dating?” I ask, glancing over to the four men who are now seated at the table.

Dot grins. “All of them.”

I almost choke on my juice. “What? And they’re okay with it? How did you pull that off?”

She laughs. “It’s just how things work here. Look around you.”

I do, and what I see spins my stomach. At every table is one girl, surrounded by multiple guys. Three, four, sometimes even five.

“Our population is small,” Dot explains, “and females are rare. Mate bonds form in groups. Usually four men to one woman, but it varies. Soul-seers match us; they are people with the gift of sight. When a girl turns eighteen, the seer guides her to her mates.”

My skin crawls. “And people are just okay with this? They’re happy to have their choices taken from them and be forced to share?”

“There’s always a choice,” she says gently. “In very rare instances, some resist it or run, but it’s hard to fight fate.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, watching the bonded groups around us. They do look happy. Whole, even. But I’m still not convinced.

It’s not just about the smiling faces or intertwined hands, but the deeper meanings. Every table, every group, every bond… it’s all built around this idea of one girl with multiple guys, and no matter how normal it seems to them, it feels alien to me.

I always pictured something quieter, simpler. One partner, a modest house, maybe two kids and a dog. That vision seems naïve now, a fantasy I can’t bring with me into this realm. Maybe that’s not just about this place. Maybe it’s because the last time I let someone in, he tore that dream to pieces. One man, one heart, and he still broke it like it meant nothing. The idea of multiple? It doesn’t feel romantic. It feels dangerous.

My eyes land on a table at the back, and I see them. All men, and every single one of them, are staring straight at me.

My skin heats under their gaze.

“Who are they?” I whisper.

Dot follows my gaze. Her voice drops. “The unbonded. Declared to have no living soulmate in the realm. They’ve accepted solitude. But you’ve just given them all a second chance. There’s no doubt that at least a part of your future is sitting at that table right now.”

My pulse stutters. I try to look away, but my eyes snag on his.

Mason.

His stare is like a punch to the chest. Cold and calculating, and I swear I feel the slightest pressure around my throat again.

Dread fills me when he smiles, because it’s not a kind one. Not even a cocky one. It’s a murderous one.

Like he’s just been waiting for me to show up to take another shot at me.