17. The Distance Between Us

A low hum vibrates in Zachary's throat as he rubs his stubble. His eyes flicker between his two students, pulling his brows together.

'Is it me or do these girls seem... calmer around each other?'

The thought made him question his eyes, since he was used to seeing the constant bickering and fights. Instead, the two rivals sat next to each other without even a glare sent to the other. Zachary expected at least June to do or say something, but nothing.

There was still silence as Zachary's eyes narrowed.

'Is this some sort of plot to make me do something for them? I told Paige that her new jewelry will have to wait. Maybe they have some sort of mutual agreement.'

Perhaps it was the argument the two had only a few days ago. Maybe they saw each other in a new light because of the similarities they shared. Or maybe it was because they were both lost in their own thoughts.

Whatever the reason was, Zachary never guessed that a day teaching them would be so... calm.

It was too good to be true.

"Alright, what do you guys want?" The teacher said, an annoyed tone in his voice.

June and Paige simultaneously blinked, as if they snapped out of their thoughts. They stared at him with a look of confusion.

"I know y'all want something from me. Spit it out." He then turned his gaze to Paige. "What did you two plan?"

Paige flickered her eyes towards June, but then turned away just as quickly. Now Zachary was even more suspicious.

Peering at Paige, he gives her a look. The girl averts her gaze to the ground, an unreadable expression on her face as she was lost in her own thoughts again.

He sighs, knowing that they won't spit out whatever they're thinking about.

"You'd think that after all this time I'll be able to read you both like a book," he murmurs to himself, picking up the piece of white chalk on the board. "As you both know, the weekend isn't some free time from magic. You'll be training every day of the week to fully master the basics of magic."

The girls were getting tired of his speeches, but didn't say a word.

"However, I realized that just training in a single space isn't enough. To truly understand magic, you need to learn how to utilize your magic in different environments with different people."

June's eyes widened as she stared at Zachary with disbelief, and Paige raised her eyebrows at her father's suggestion.

"Wait, are you saying..." Paige trails off.

A smile lights up on Zachary's face. He crossed his arms together, his chin slightly tilting up.

"I've asked the Alpha for permission to take you to the upcoming witch gathering taking place in the Philippines. It's being managed by the Raven's Nest Coven and even rumored that some of the Flower Branch Coven members will be there, including up of course." With a grin, he says. "It's time for a change of scenery."

Paige clicks her tongue in disdain. 'Ugh, those guys. They're so fake it's disgusting. If someone were to tell them to get on their knees and lick their shoes clean, they probably would do it.'

On the other hand, June's eyes shone with excitement. A smile even threatened to break out on her lips in barely contained glee.

"Seriously?" She bounced in her seat, causing Paige to give her a side glance.

"I wouldn't lie to you," the man laughs.

"That's so fucking cool!"

Zachary narrows his eyes. "Remember to filter your language when we get there. These are powerful, more experienced witches who won't brush away your behavior."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she says without any remorse. "So when do we leave?"

"Early tomorrow morning. Make sure to pack some personal belongings. I'll provide you with clothes and food, so you can pack light."

Paige wasn't even listening to what her father said. Instead, her eyes focused on the girl beside her.

'So she likes to travel...'

She felt like she was learning something about June every day.

Meanwhile,

"So how was it?"

Liam stiffened at his Alpha's words, his mouth opening as he tried to find the words to explain what happened. However, nothing came out, and he was left gaping at the woman.

Adella paused before she took another bite of her apple. She turns her head to Liam with a raised eyebrow. Then, she lets out a soft sigh. Something bad happened.

"Is Christine and Haylee alright?"

Liam clears his throat, nodding to her question. "They are fine. Although, I think Haylee needs some time to, uhm, recover."

Adella frowns. She wondered if telling them that the same father who had given them an unhappy childhood is free from prison was a good idea. She never pushed them to meet him– she had only advised that they could no longer be afraid of their past.

But now, she worries that she underestimated the trauma they went through.

Adella's legs shifted as she moved her foot in a circular motion. She cupped her cheek in her palm, eyes looking down at the laptop in front of her. Articles about the White Lotus Coven filled the screen, ones she was previously reading.

"And she doesn't want to touch her dolls or eat at all."

'This is more serious than I thought.'

"I'll go talk to her in a few minutes. Can you and the others stay by her side while I'm not there?"

"Of course. It's what I've been doing for years," the man says.

"Thank you-"

Adella caught movement in her peripherals and her head whipped around to see who it was. The sight of white hair made her breath catch in her throat, especially the view the neckline of his button-up shirt showed. Only a part of his prominent collarbone was revealed, but it was enough to almost drive Adella crazy.

After that night, it's been getting harder to resist the seduction of this man. His eyes were full of purity, but when he was under Adella, he was anything but. The memory made the woman's eyes slowly rake down his body, lingering on his bare legs and remembering when they were shaking during his release.

Without turning her head away, Adella speaks to Liam with a low tone. "We'll talk later."

Getting the message, the man bows his head before walking out of the room without another word.

Kieryn shifts his weight from one foot to the other, eyes trailing across the floor. He felt Adella's gaze on him, a heavy and burning one, so he looked back up at her.

"Come sit," she says, closing her laptop with her free hand.

Shifting again, the man slowly travels to the chair on the other side of the table. As he sits down, his eyes locked with Adella's once more. Heat slowly crept up his neck, and Adella knew it was because he remembered what happened that night.

The side of the woman's lips quirked up in a smirk. She brought the apple to her mouth again, before taking a bite. She saw the way his eyes were trained on her movements.

'A red apple,' he thought. 'It fits her.'

He wondered if Adella's favorite color was red, which would be kind of ironic since his is blue. She almost never went a day without wearing something red. He wasn't complaining, because somehow the color on her made sense. It was dangerous, fierce, seductive. Her eyes were full of untold stories that Kieryn was eager to listen to.

He then remembered how Adella wasn't beside him when he woke up, to his dismay. Come to think of it, he's never seen Adella vulnerable. It wasn't a word he'd associate with her, but he wanted to know if it had something to do with her mysteriousness.

He wants to see her when she's embarrassed, he wants to see her when she's distressed, he wants to know what keeps her up at night and what makes her tick. He didn't only want to see the confident, unmovable Adella– he wanted to see her uncomposed. Downcast. Fragile.

Kieryn was brought back to reality when he heard the loud sound of a crunch. His eyes zone in on her moist lips, glistening with the juices of the apple. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, tongue sweeping across her bottom lip.

The man's mind processed the juices as another substance. His substance. One he produced as she milked him of every last drop, like she promised she would. He remembered her swallowing it all while looking straight into his clouded eyes. Some even dripped out of her mouth onto her lips, and Kieryn wanted to kiss her, to taste himself on her.

"What are you thinking about, darling?"

Her voice once again snapped him out of his impure thoughts. Cheeks red with embarrassment, he shifts his gaze to his lap.

It was ironic, her question. She knew exactly what he had imagined.

Placing the apple on the plate, Adella leans back in her seat while licking her juice-stained fingers.

Kieryn's breath turned heavier as he felt his stomach turn with desire. And it was only for her.

He swore Adella knew what she was doing to him.

Adella allows a smirk to grow on her face. She uncrosses her leg and stretches it towards the man, brushing against his ankle. Kieryn jumps as the feeling of her foot touching him, and he shifts in his seat.

She brought her foot further up his leg, and since the table was small, she did it effortlessly. The man visibly flinched, his body reacting to the subtle sparks sent through his skin.

As if to tease him, Adella's foot slides up and down his smooth skin. A shiver was released from Kieryn's body once more.

"I've been thinking..." Adella trails off, bringing Kieryn's attention back to her. "About our planned date, how about two days from now? I just got rid of a couple of problems and I told Oskar in advance."

Kieryn nodded frantically, resembling a bobblehead. His eyes lower to her foot still trailing up his leg. Gulping, he brings his eyes back to her as she starts to speak again.

"And I have to inform you that Christine won't be able to visit you anymore. She and her sister had some things to take care of."

'She knew?' Kieryn's eyes widened, surprised that Adella knew about Christine's frequent visits.

But, the thought flew out of his head when he felt Adella's foot rubbing against the inside of his thigh. His breath hitches and he grips the arms of the chair as if it would give him the willpower for whatever she did next.

"I assume you've been well during the time we haven't been together. I'll have to make up for that lost time."

Kieryn's mouth opened in an nonverbal gasp when he felt her pressing against the semi hard-on in his pants. A pressure built up in his abdomen and the feeling spread throughout his entire body. He threw his head back as Adella stimulated his lower part by rubbing against it.

Adella rested her cheek in her palm, watching the man react to her touch. It made the smirk on her face grow wider, but she hid it behind the half-eaten apple. She took a large bite from it, but she didn't focus on the sweet taste. She imagined it to be Kieryn who she was sinking her teeth into.

Watching him writhe in his seat was by far the hottest scene Adella had witnessed. She almost let the lust cloud her mind, but she couldn't just jump on his bones as much as she'd like to.

"You look uncomfortable. Is something wrong?"

The innocent tone in her voice made Kieryn grit his teeth, but he could do anything other than focus on the feeling on his pants.

He felt his release coming, and as much as he liked his shorts, he didn't care. Nothing else mattered in the world right now other than finishing.

His vision filled with a flash of white, his mouth opened as a soft but sharp moan came out, and the knot in his stomach was about to come undone.

But the feeling was gone as soon as Adella removed her foot. He snapped his eyes towards the woman, who pushed up out of her seat and looked down at him with a lustfully wicked glint in her eyes.

His flushed cheeks and heavy breaths told Adella all that she needed to know.

"I just remembered that I have something extremely important to do, and it cannot wait." She walks past him, but not before brushing her fingers against his bare arm, eliciting a shiver from him. "Goodbye, Kieryn. It's getting late, so have a good night and make sure to have sweet dreams."

'But it's still mid-afternoon.' The man couldn't protest because Adella already slipped out of the room, quietly as if she were a ghost.

Confused and left mid-orgasm, Kieryn looked down at the large tent in his pants. He placed his hands in his palms and let out a loud groan.

Afterwards,

June excitedly runs down the busy hallways, up the staircase, and to her room on the third floor.

She couldn't even hide the smile breaking out on her face. As she enters her room, she leaves the door slightly open, knowing that no one will come in without knocking.

Frantically looking around for her suitcase, she opens her closet and finds it there. Zachary told her to pack light, but she wanted to be prepared.

After all, this was her first time traveling anywhere outside of Sablecrest. She's gotten sick and tired of the air that everyone breathes.

'It was time for a change of scenery,' Zachary said, and it was absolutely needed.

June stood on her toes to reach the top of the closet, trying to grab one of her favorite sweaters in case it got cold. She tsked, and resorted to jumping for it.

Just as she was about to give up, chuckling was heard from behind her. It caused her to freeze up as she felt a familiar warmth against her back. Her eyes were glued in front of her, where she saw a pale arm grabbing the sweater.

"Having trouble?" The voice snorted from behind her.

"Oh, shut up," June hissed, turning to glare at the person behind her.

Elmarie waved the sweater above her, as if daring her to get it. The girl doesn't fall for the bait and rolls her eyes, passing Elmarie and walking over to the suitcase opened on her bed. It was half filled with clothes that were rolled into balls and thrown in it.

Elmarie walks to the suitcase as she folds the sweater, standing beside June and giving her a look.

"You'll make more space if you fold them right." She glanced at the suitcase once before looking at June again. "You do know how to fold clothes, right?"

The blush on June's ear did not go unnoticed, and it caused Elmarie to snicker under her breath.

"Of course I can! Who the hell doesn't know how to?"

Attempting to prove her point, she takes one of her white shirts and folds it half two times. Giving Elmarie a raised eyebrow, she puts a hand on her hip.

Elmarie shakes her head before taking another shirt. "There's a better way to do it. If you're going to travel somewhere, you need all the space you can get."

June scoffs, but watches Elmarie fold the shirt in her way. She can see the difference between her folding style and Elmarie's folding style immediately, and June can't help but admire the way her skilled hands moved.

'Wow, she's good with her hands. I wonder what else she can do with them...'

Snapping back to reality, June feels the heat growing on her ears for her thoughts. She shakes her head to get rid of them and then turns around to fold the clothes in the suitcase. Elmarie stays beside her to help, folding three times as many clothes as June could.

"Wait, how did you know that I was traveling?"

"Zachary informed the Alpha, who informed me, the Gamma, and the Beta," she replied, eyes still focused on the suitcase. "Are you excited? I know how much you want to leave this place."

A smile appears on June's face again, but she turns her body to hide it. "Yeah, of course. I want to travel the world 'cus the air here is contaminated. But, I don't want to leave you."

Elmarie pauses at that, looking at June's face with a small smile. "You can call me. I don't have much to do, so we can talk over the phone frequently."

"I like talking to you in person," June whispers.

"Me too," Elmarie says, voice softer than her. She wasn't sure if June heard that.

Then, June walks to her drawer and pulls out some of her underwear, throwing it on top of her folded clothing. Elmarie takes a seat on the bed, a sigh released from her mouth.

That's when she jumped at the sight of June bending down to look under the bed, giving her a full view of her ass. Elmarie gulps before averting her eyes to the side, remembering that she needed to have some respect.

Her attention was brought by rustling and June standing to her full height with a book now in her hand. Elmarie raises an eyebrow as June dusts the book off. The girl sees the question in her face and smiles.

"I may or may not have snagged this from the library. Don't snitch on me."

A grin spread on Elmarie's face. "I don't know if I should be worried about what that book is or if I should be worried that you don't want me to snitch."

"Let's say both," June laughs. She threw the book on top of the pile and forced the suitcase to close. "It's not that bad, just something Adella probably would rather me not read."

"I don't know, but I think that's bad."

"Trust me," she says with a light tone, a grin on her face to match Elmarie's.

"Then can you face the consequences?"

"Adella can't do anything to me." June rolls her eyes with a scoff. "I'll just freeze her."

"You resort to freezing everything?" Elmarie laughs.

That's when June steps in front of Elmarie, pressing her index finger on her lips. Her face turned serious, but then another smile replaced it at Elmarie's alarmed face.

"Don't question me and my ways of getting away with something."

Elmarie breathes out a heavy sigh, eyes locked with June's. "Yeah, I forget that you're a sly little girl."

"First of all, I'm not little." June frowns. "And second, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"First, I can see that," Elmarie says, eyes flickering to June's chest. "And second, it means that you're sneaky."

Heat floods to June's face as she takes a step back, covering her chest. "You looking at my boobs now?"

"I was proving a point," Elmarie says, shaking her head.

"Nuh uh, I bet you like them." June looks Elmarie up and down, a smirk growing on her face. "You're attracted to my boobs, aren't you?"

Elmarie's breath hitches, and her gaze immediately turns to the floor. "The hell are you talking about?"

"Exactly as I said," June says, walking forward. Her breasts were right in front of Elmarie's eyes, and she placed her hands on her hips with a smirk. "You like my boobs. Actually, scratch that, you like boobs."

Elmarie swallows another load of saliva, and her eyes frantically search everywhere in the room before placing themselves onto June once more.

"That's not it," she says, trying to make her voice hard and stern.

June's smile turns downward, and her hand drops to her side.

Elmarie looks down at her lap, her grip on her knee tightening.

"I... I just can't-"

"You don't like girls, do you?"

The tone in June's voice sounded disappointed, and the girl wanted to punch herself for slipping up.

The light mood in the air was gone, replaced with a darker, silent one.

June steps back, her gaze stuck to the floor. Her heart started beating frantically when Elmarie entered the room, but now it beat out of fear. 'Fear that she wasn't fit for Elmarie.'

The woman stands up and turns her body towards the door. She is about to walk out, but June finds the courage to speak once more.

"I, I'm going to be away for maybe more than a week." Her voice was dry, but she didn't care. She didn't care if she had nothing to say, she just wanted Elmarie to say something.

"Be safe, June." And then Elmarie was out the door.

June knew that Elmarie didn't like goodbyes, which is why she never verbally said that word.

But somehow, the atmosphere made it seem like that was what she meant.

June grabbed her other arm, squeezing it harshly, as if to stop herself from reaching out to Elmarie. That was exactly what she wanted to do, but she didn't. She couldn't.

She could never do anything more than a little teasing. She had hoped that it was a message that Elmarie could understand.

All she wished for was that she could tell Elmarie how she truly felt, but the woman did not allow it. She was gone everytime the two were remotely intimate for a second. It was as if even after all these years, she wanted to put a distance between them.

'Just what is it that you want, Elmarie? God, you're so confusing.'