Cardinal

Chapter 30

"Link," Damian and I say at the same time. His eyes held me in a place like the sun's gravity holding the planets in their orbit. I was circling dizzily but his eyes grounded me. 

In my peripheral, a dark-haired boy, who stood like a tree, comes out of nowhere and slaps Damian's back as a greeting. He had an intimidating presence and smelled like burnt marshmallows. It should have smelled suffocatingly sweet but it reminded me of warm nights by the fire. I wanted to be enveloped in his smell. 

"Who's this?" his voice was deeper than I expected. For a teenage boy, he must have gone through puberty at an early age. His eyes scanned me with keen interest, leaving a trail of warmth on my skin in its path. 

"This is..." Damian starts to say. 

"Lilac Storm!" I blurt my name out and smile at him. I had this need to like me. 

"Nice to meet you. My name's Keenan," he says as he offers his hand for me to shake. I gulp and take his hand in mine and pump it a few times. He holds on to my hand longer, brushing his thumb soothingly at the base of my thumb. The sensation was...too much and too stimulating, making me retract my hand. He smirks in response and I level him a glare which only made his smirk grow wider. 

I gasp as a warm feeling radiates across my chest, making my eyes grow wide as I stared at Keenan in awe. 

"Link?" he asks, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 

"Ah," I raise my eyebrows at him. Without any warning, he wraps his arms around me in a tight hug encasing me in a bundle of warmth. I wanted to bask in all of it. Actually, I wanted to bask in both their warmth and their scents.

He lets me go and I looked into his eyes finding excitement and joy staring back right at me. I never knew what I expected about my links but I didn't know that they would be this perfect at first glance.  

An angel from heaven and his equally hot devil brother who smelled like smores. 

"How could this happen?" Damian says quietly with a shocked but delighted voice. They look at each other, communicating quietly like you do when you've been friends for years. 

"You guys know each other." I ask, though it came out more of a rhetorical statement. 

"Since birth...I have a theory..." Damian curiously looks back at the rest of the group they had there. 

There were two other boys sitting on the bench by the fountain casually chatting with other academy students. They were both as handsome as Damian and Keenan. One had the almost exact same build as Keenan, except he was maybe slightly larger, more packed with muscle. He had a smile that was infectious and everyone around him laughed in synchrony with him. The other one looked a little more perturbed around people and gave them cursory glances. He had the most shocking green eyes I've ever seen, which reminded me of the lush Washington forest. Both of them stood out. They shone brighter than anyone around them. 

Damian waves his hand around to catch both of the boys' attention and I watch them both with curiosity and interest. He motions for them to come to where we were. 

"Oh shit," the guy with the infectious laugh says as he approaches us. "You think we're links?" he asks Damian who shrugs. 

My brow furrowed in confusion, wondering how he knew what we were talking about since Damian hadn't said anything yet. Enhanced hearing? Or is he a...?

"I'm a Psyche, telepath!" he says as if answering my question. Can he read my mind? 

"No, I can't read your mind...yet! Only some people I'm familiar with but I'm working on that part of my gift..." He beams at me. "But honestly, your face says it all..."