Deal

After I had been knocked out during the landslide, I awoke to find myself in a hospital bed, a little bruised and still breathing. Overall, my injuries were very minor. After waking up, the police had told me that they found my parents bodies after digging through the landslide. 

Apparently, it was small in size for a landslide, but it's effects were swift and precise. We were unfortunate enough to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

That nightmare felt to have come out of nowhere, but after avoiding what happened for so long it was bound to haunt me somehow. I haven't wanted to relive what happened because every time my mind goes back to the accident, my mind is filled with possibilities and guilt. 

I wonder if I wasn't there that day, if their accident wouldn't have happened at all. Or if I hadn't taken so long on the hike, if they would have been waiting in the clearing. And if I didn't disturb the bats earlier, would they have cut off their escape? 

My heart is in a painful vise and my chest is cracking open more with each question I ask myself, so I rub my skin over the hurt to try and soothe the pain.

If only I had walked a little faster, we would still be together - either in this life or the next. And that thought is killing me.

I squeeze my eyes shut and calm the storm of emotions flaring inside of me. With my eyes still closed tightly, I focus on my breathing and drift back to sleep. 

Luckily, I wasn't woken up by my least favorite grumpy professor banging on the door. Instead I was able to wake up with an alarm clock like a normal person. I got up, took a run and finished with some exercises in my room. 

After freshening up, I'm tying my hair back when there is a knock on the door. I open it to see Ryker bending over to pick up a bottle that was on the ground. By the look of what's inside the bottle, I can easily tell what it is as Ryker hands it to me with a smile gracing his lips. 

"It was just sitting there?" I ask him. 

"Yes, it was left by your door," he answers which causes me to frown. Calvin must have already checked with the Headmistress and brought me more lilax tea this morning. He probably jumped at the chance to have a reason to talk to Morwenna. But between Florentino and now Calvin, I feel like people are avoiding me today.

"Well, thank you. I'm ready, I just need to grab my bag." I say while leaving the door open for him. He doesn't cross the doorway and stands there looking at me. Ryker's hair is still wet from a recent shower and with his arms crossed like that, his muscles barely fit in his light blue collared shirt. His eyes are following my every move, causing me to fidget nervously. 

"What?" I finally ask. He purses his lips for a moment before deciding to respond. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

I let out a heavy sigh and walk over to sit on my bed. "You heard?" 

He comes into the room and shuts the door behind him and I make room for him on the bed beside me by tucking my feet under me. 

Ryker positions himself on the bed so he can face me by bringing one leg up onto the bed. His eyebrows are furrowed, seemingly unsure of how to start, so I decide to help him out since I can see how worried he looks. 

"I couldn't shift into my wolf," I say with a shrug of my shoulders. "The Headmistress doesn't seem to know why I couldn't, but she said she will help me." 

"Help how?"

I give another nervous shrug of my shoulders. "Training to become stronger, research to understand what's happening." 

"As you know, I have a strict father who has trained me for most of my life. I've been trained to be ready to become an alpha one day, if the moon grants it. So if there is something that I do know, it is training to become a stronger and better werewolf. I can teach you too." He says with complete ease as though he doesn't even hesitate to offer his help to someone. 

My eyes sparkle with deep appreciation for him. "I will take you up on that offer," I tell him. 

A smirk appears on his lips when he thinks of something. "Hmm, an offer? No." He leans towards me and I shiver when I see the calculated look in his gaze. "No, let's make a deal".

Ah, there's the strings that are attached to his offer. "A deal?" I say while tilting my head to the side in confusion. His gaze slides from my face to my neck when my movement exposes my throat to him. He slowly reaches out and runs a finger down my throat and his touch lingers at the base where my collarbone is. 

He nods with his eyes still fixated on where his finger is touching my skin. 

"What do you want in exchange?" I ask in a low voice. He is confusing me, but I do want his help. 

"A favor," he murmurs, causing my eyebrows to draw together. "Just a small favor," he says again, and my heartbeat kicks up a notch at the meaningful tone of his voice. 

I swallow heavily. "What do you want?" His smirk grows when he hears the nervousness in my voice, and with his finger still on my neck, he can probably feel my racing heartbeat as well. As though he's reading my mind, his gaze goes back to where his touch lingers on my skin. 

"While I am training you, no one will get to bite this pretty little neck of yours."

I look into his eyes and my lips purse when I see he's serious. "Why would someone bite my neck?" I ask while scrunching my nose in confusion. Maybe he is weirder than I thought, because I don't see why I would have anyone bite me. He just shrugs his shoulder in response, avoiding the answer to my question and leaving me even more confused. 

"And…" he says. "I get to share this room with you." My eyebrows bounce to my hairline. 

"What? No! You can't share a room with me," I scoff, my cheeks reddening at the implications. Ryker still sits there with that grin on his face as though he likes seeing me squirm. 

"Your room is better than mine, and there's enough space for two of us."

"There's only one bed!" 

"Is there?" He asks leaning closer to me, making a humming sound. "I didn't notice."

"Ryker! Stop playing around," I tell him, placing a hand on his chest to push him back. The golden sunflowers in his eyes flare when I touch him, and he reaches up to place his hand over mine. 

"I'm not. It'll help with your training," he says, making me think I am overreacting. If it's just for training...I narrow my eyes at him. 

"One night a week," I try to bargain with him, but he shakes his head in denial and my eyes narrow further. 

"Two nights a week." 

He shakes his damn head again and I grind my teeth in frustration. "Damn it...three nights a week, no more." I say with finality. 

As though that was what he was waiting for, he gives a grin full of confidence. 

"Deal." He says. 

He lifts the hand that is still holding mine from his chest to his mouth, and my eyes go wide when I see his canines are extended. He swipes both of our thumbs across the sharp point of a tooth, drawing blood, and then presses our thumbs together. With our blood mixed, he recites a string of words in a language I can't decipher, although it sparks an ember of a memory I cannot seem to grasp.

"Dogovoreni posao je posao koji se ne može poništiti." A thin silver band appears on each of our thumbs and dissappears into our skin! Leaving only a faint shimmer behind. 

My anger spikes when I see he has a shit eating grin on his face.

"Ryker," I growl at him. "What the hell was that?"

"My words are bound by yours, only to be released when the deal is struck complete," he answers. "As long as I train you, no one will bite your neck and I will stay here with you three nights a week - on the weekends and every Wednesday."

"Today is Wednesday…"

"Is it? Hmm" he muses, and my free hand clenches by my side.

We didn't need to do a magical deal, though," I try to reason, hoping there is a way to undo this. 

"It was necessary," he assures me with a shrug of his shoulders. Freaking shrugs at me like he has nothing to be ashamed of. 

"And what happens if it's broken?" 

"Then you are bound to me in another way."

My nostrils flare and my teeth clench. What the freaking hell did I just get myself into? 

"What way, Ryker?"

"You'll be mine," he looks me in the eyes. "Mine to command, mine to do with as I please." 

A laugh escapes me, but it is cut short when I see the blank look on Ryker's face. "You can't be serious?"

"I am serious, Layla. What's done is done. It's a simple deal that won't be broken by either of us, so there's no need to worry, love." He lets our hands go and I scoot back on the bed away from him. "Don't look at me like that. The deal wouldn't have struck if you hadn't agreed to it already."

"That's not really the point, Ryker." 

He stands and holds his hand out for me to take. "Come on, let's get some breakfast and you can tell me more about what happened when you tried to shift yesterday."

I refuse his hand and brush by him, walking out the door without looking back. But when he catches up with me, I eventually calm down enough to talk to him about yesterday's Transfiguration class. 

He said he had some ideas for my training, so on the nights where I'm not too tired from exercise with Professor Florentino or working with the Headmistress, I can train with him. 

I'm nervous about him staying the night tonight, but there isn't much I can do about it now, so I focus on my coursework rather than worrying about it. I don't think Ryker is the type of person to try something that would make me uncomfortable, regardless of the magical deal that he tricked me into earlier. 

I had Fundamentals this morning, and other than learning about demons, the course was rather uneventful. Professor Florentino hardly acknowledged me, which worked for me since it means he wasn't finding new ways to torture me. 

I did receive a flying paper crane from Morwenna. The message said Genevieve is also going to train me at night and prepare me for my next attempt to shift. She told me she has also spoken to Ryker, so I will be training with her, Ryker, and Professor Florentino two times each, and with Genevieve one night a week. Somewhere in there, I need to make sure I stay on top of my coursework by having enough time to study and do my homework. 

I'm now packing up my things since Astronomy class just finished when I feel someone behind me. I turn around to see the dark haired stranger leaning over to sniff me with a frown on his face. My skin is prickling with his closeness and his warmth seeps into me.

"Something's different…" he says with another sniff. His eyes are roaming my body like he is searching for something, and I frown and try to bat him away. 

"What are you doing?"

His eyes finally focus with the look at me, and his confused expression softens into a smirk. 

"Let's go, he says and reaches out to hold my arm. He starts to pull me behind him, so I quickly reach back and grab my things. 

"Hey!" I try to get his hold off of me, but it is like moving a building. He is much stronger than me. "What are you doing?"

He still doesn't answer me as he pulls me through the door of the classroom. When we get to the stairs, he surprises me by not going down, but turning to a door that is at the top of the stairs. 

He kicks the door open and drags me through, and in just a few seconds after seeing him, I am completely at a loss and stunned speechless.

He leads me to a small platform that is the roof over the part of the classroom that isn't inside of the round observatory. Once there, he pulls me forward again, but turns around and catches me inside of his arms.

"What -" my protest dies on a scream because he suddenly bends at the knees and launches into a high leap off of the roof. We land in a tunnel that was carved into the mountainside. With rocks in front of it, it looks hidden from view from below.  

Realizing I'm trapped in a cave with someone who clearly affects my body and I still don't even know their name, I manage to squirm out of his hold and run for the edge of the mouth of the cave. 

"I wouldn't do that," I hear him call out to me.

As I almost reach the edge, I look down to judge the distance I'll have to leap to escape the cave. But rather than soaring through air, I hit something hard and invisible. I bounce back from whatever is blocking my escape and land ungracefully on the hard rock floor of the cave.

My bead hits the ground, jostling any semblance of a thought from my head. My body, however, is frozen in place. I'm unable to move at all.