Shielded: A Valkyrie Saga Book 1

Fighting off the Anger - Chapter 16

Watching Ray pretend that she cared about mani-pedis and school dances was fucking hilarious. I kept waiting for her to snap at Maddison and put the ridiculous human in her place, but it never happened. She just sat there and patently tried to follow the constant stream of nonsense that was coming out of Maddison's mouth. Valkyries have our own communication system that includes an encrypted news app that allows us to keep up to date with what the various royal lines are doing throughout the world. My entire life I have watched Kings and Queens through different political dealings and scandals. 

My overall feelings towards our females has never been high and even those opinions dropped after my fling with Regina. But Ray was different. She didn't act like the entire world was here to service her every whim. For fucks sake, she was bending over backwards to be patient with a silly human girl. Maybe if Ray aligned herself with the right royal family, she could actually do some good in our world.

--Connor

Maybe I wasn't cut out for my birthright, because being the center of attention was nerve wracking and I kinda hated it. As I sat down at the new table at the open seat between Jack and Blake, I cloaked myself further. I looked around at the dozen people that were gathered around the table and felt my stomach sink. Was this really the life that I was destined for? Fake platitudes and being mobbed by people I barely even knew.

I was so distracted by all the people that it took me a while to remember that I forgot to go get a school lunch. I was about to get up and stand in line when a brown paper bag materialized in front of me. I looked up to see Max sitting directly across from me.

"Elijah packed you a lunch," Max explained and then started pulling food out of an identical brown paper bag. Actually the twins had matching brown bag lunches too. The simple idea that I had been included in such a ritual as packed lunches made my heart sing. Maybe I could suffer through popularity if I got to have actual friends. I looked in the lunch bag to find a feta and chicken salad with a little bottle of Greek dressing. There was also a bag of chips, a yogurt, and an apple. If Elijah kept this up, my diet was going to get a whole hell of a lot healthier.

I decided that I had earned a break after not snapping at Maddison, so I cloaked myself a little more and settled in to enjoy my lunch in peace. The people watching was very entertaining as the students around us started to focus on the Three Musketeers. I silently took note of how each of them handled the extra attention. 

Connor just ignored everyone until he wanted something from someone. Then he would use his allure like a finely tuned weapon. Blake soaked up the attention and seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. With his easy going attitude, everyone around him just smiled and laughed along with him. Max fit somewhere in between the twins. He didn't necessarily encourage the people around him like Blake did, but he also didn't fully ignore people either.

What really surprised me was how much people were talking to and engaging with Jack. When I first saw Jack at the beginning of the year, he was the underfed, dirty, street kid that the jocks stuffed into the lockers. The first time I ever even talked to Jack was after I had stopped a bunch of kids from the hockey team that were gathered around him in a circle and pushing him from kid to kid. But today, some of the most popular kids in school were asking him about his part time job in the scrap yard and his autoshop project. 

The best part was that Jack looked to be enjoying all of the extra attention. Unlike me, he wasn't awkward or self conscious. His amazing personality was shining through and people were finally taking notice.

The rest of the day passed in a daze and I kept myself cloaked while thinking through the implication of having such a strong allure. I wasn't positive I could adapt as well as Jack was. Maybe I wasn't meant for the spotlight. Maybe that was why I was given my Cloaking Gift. Because I was destined to stay to the shadows.