Star-crossed Royals

Chapter Nine

ME

| Good morning beautiful

Jamie deleted his first try at sending Akiko a message immediately. After talking to Leif all night, he was exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep. He felt like he’d found the part of him that was missing but someone had immediately taken it away again. All he could think about was sending her something so he could at least talk to her and figure out when he’d be able to see her again. Unfortunately, all he could think of were stupid cheesy messages like this. So, he just decided to be honest instead of worrying about how it sounded.

ME

| I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since I left yesterday…

It was noon the day after they met, and Jamie still hadn’t gone to sleep. To continue Leif and Jamie’s training that couldn’t be seen by humans while at school, Jamie’s father had bribed the school with an exorbitant amount of money to buy the next few dorm rooms on their floor. Before they got there, they were outfitted for training with weapons, mats, acoustic panels, and more to make it silent from the outside but durable enough for the boys to not destroy the building inside. As far as anyone knew, the doors looked like were still there in the hallway and said closed for renovations, and the entrance was covered by a bookshelf in their room. Leif was in the training room broodingly beating a dummy with a training sword and had been for the last several hours.

All Jamie could think about though, was Akiko. Fleeting images of her sitting on her desk looking up at him as his eyes traced the lines of the tattoos covering her body, her n*****s trying to break free from her shirt, and her green eyes piercing him to his core continued replaying in his mind while he tried to explain to Leif what happened.

Jamie’s phone lit up catching his eye. He saw Akiko typing, then stopping. Typing, then stopping. It looked like she was having as much trouble as he was trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. His heart raced as it felt like it dropped into his stomach.

“What if she tells me yesterday was a mistake? I’m her mate, but it doesn’t mean she can’t try to run now,” he thought, doubt creeping into his mind about her feelings for the first time.

He knew that this would be a problem for the Lycans, but he hadn’t considered that after the unexpectedly passionate experience they’d had yesterday that she might try to back out of things. Since they’d already bonded, her rejecting him would be potentially fatal for both of them, but he didn’t care about that. The thought of losing her before they’d even really begun was like a dagger between his ribs. He wasn’t prepared for the intensity of his feelings, because no one can really explain or understand the depth of what bonding feels like until it happens. It always just sounded like a sappy love story to him growing up, and he thought nothing of it. He fully expected to be pushed into a forced bond, which is a different thing altogether.

AKIKO

| You’ve been my every thought since you left…

Jamie’s heart jumped out of his stomach and felt like it would burst through his chest. His fears somewhat dispelled, his thoughts again turned towards their future and finding out more about her and the other kitsune.

ME

| Are you ok

| I know yesterday was a lot

AKIKO

| Yea

| Yuri kind of freaked out, but he promised to keep us a secret for now.

| He’s scared though…

ME

| I told Leif

| He’s just been beating a training dummy for hours now like it’ll unbond us lol

AKIKO

| He doesn’t have an off button, does he?

Jamie laughed aloud, looking back towards the partially closed-door Leif was behind. They continued talking and flirting for the next hour until Jamie, having finally calmed down enough to feel it, lost his battle with exhaustion. When he finally opened his eyes, the sun had long gone down. Jamie was greeted by Leif’s soft snoring from his bed. It looked like he’d sat down on his bed after the long hours of brooding and training and passed out in his clothes from earlier. He realized that he’d left Akiko on read for most of the day now, and he quickly sat up franticly searching for his phone.

AKIKO

| Jamie?

| You fall asleep on me?

| …

The last message was at 8pm and looking at his phone it was already 10:30. He felt terrible, so he quietly got up and left the room, careful not to wake up Leif as he closed the door behind him. He impatiently waited for the elevator to arrive on his floor. Soon he was downstairs and walking out the large double doors of his dorm building.

Jamie looked down at his phone, thinking it may be a good idea to send Akiko a picture jokingly as proof of life.

“Should I go see her,” he thought, “No, it’s too late, and I’ll look desperate.”

Jamie felt a sudden impact, knocking his phone out of his hands. Looking up, it was Akiko falling away from him as she bounced off of him. He reached for her, but she deftly rolled backward as she hit the ground and popped back up to her feet as if it was something she was planning.

Mouth agape at her sudden appearance as well as her acrobatics, he couldn’t find the words to say anything immediately. Her face reddening as she looked up at Jamie, she brushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

“Uh, I’m sorry to just show up like this,” Akiko said while averting her eyes, clearly embarrassed now at running into Jamie like this. “When you disappeared, I got a little worried that someone found out,” she continued.

“Oh,” Jamie said still surprised, “I felt terrible I left you on read, but I passed out while we were talking. I didn’t go to sleep last night, so I was exhausted. I think talking to you helped me calm down enough to finally fall asleep.”

Looking back at Jamie, her eyes clear and inviting, “Well, I’m here. Do you want to take a walk?”

Jamie looked up at the moon lighting up the night sky, closing his eyes to take in her scent. It was so calming having her near him, and the night called to him.

Opening his eyes again, he smiled looking at Akiko once more, “I’d love to. Where do you want to go?”

Akiko thought to herself for a moment, looking up as she tried to remember a good place. Jamie thought her expression was adorable, and she was having trouble thinking about where she wanted to go when she was distracted by his scent and how close he was to her.

“We could walk the nature trail on the other side of campus. It’s a pretty night,” she offered.

“That sounds great, let’s go,” Jamie replied.

Akiko turned around and walked down the stairs, and Jamie followed her. Jamie stayed by her side but allowed Akiko to take the lead since he wasn’t entirely sure where the trail was. The campus still had a few people walking around, but it was mostly empty now. It felt like they were in their own little world together, and he couldn’t believe he’d gotten to be alone with her again so soon. He’d been mulling over how to ask her on a first date, but here they were. The universe apparently wanted it badly enough to do it for him.

Akiko was very aware of Jamie’s movement behind her, and she too was thanking whatever cosmic trick of fate had led them to run into each other tonight and skip the awkwardness of trying to plan a first date.

About half a mile passed slowly as they walked in silence, each quietly trying to figure out what to say in their heads. Soon, they were at the entrance of the school’s nature trail. It was a neatly manicured trail cutting through a wooded area in the middle of the school’s grounds. Jamie looked down at Akiko as they paused a moment in front of the trail. He thought about how quickly things had happened yesterday.

“She might think that’s all I want from her,” Jamie thought to himself as he looked at her.

He admired her hair trailing down her back and the tattoos peeking out of her sleeveless shirt. They reminded him of the Yakuza tattoos he’d always seen in movies about the Japanese underworld. Hers were more beautiful though. They didn’t look masculine like he would think of that kind of ink. Her artwork gently caressed the curvature of the muscles in her back, shoulders, and the nape of her neck. He couldn’t quite see all of it, but the tails of what looked like a kitsune wrapped out and over her right shoulder blade around to her chest. Weaved into the design, he could see pink cherry blossom flowers surrounding the kitsune with swirls of color tying it all together. He could spend all night exploring the artwork all over her body, and he hoped that one day he could. They’d paused a little bit too long, and she seemed ready to move on to the trail.

Not assuming that because of their bond he was allowed to touch her now, Jamie stepped forward reaching out, “Can I hold your hand?”