Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Six

Hot water pattered against my back. I needed to hurry or I was going to be late... again. The formal, general meeting with the Covenant reps was in an hour and I'd just started getting ready. My last lecture had run over, then I'd had a couple appointments with some of my eighth-years about choosing internships, then Louis had been texting me all day about anything and everything.

After the soulmark exchange, the pizza guy had interrupted us while Louis was rubbing my soulmark, trying to elicit any noise he could from me. Dinner passed quietly, both of us still high on hormones and trying desperately to come back to reality, but once I got home—a whole ten feet away—I was able to think a little more clearly. While I still needed to do some research about it, I wasn't aware of how potent the soulmark hormones were, because that could easily end up being an issue if I couldn't control myself when I was out of the mask.

That night would be my first true test. Outside of meetings—be them strategy meetings or faculty meetings—Louis and I typically tried to steer clear of one another. Since we'd both be there and unmasked during that particular meeting, though, it'd be a good time to see if I were going to have any issues being around him without a mask now that we'd exchanged marks. That meeting would be a particularly good place, because even if it turned out that I didn't handle it well, there would most likely be wine and more than enough people around us for me to make an ass out of myself by inadvertently flirting with them.

I stepped out of the shower, grabbing my brush from the shelf and running it through my wet hair, then wrapping a towel around my waist as I padded into my bedroom to find my suit. With any luck, the meeting wouldn't last too long, especially if it meant that a horrendously awkward situation with Louis had the potential of coming about. Despite everything, even my attitude on the entire issue, we'd maintained near constant contact over the last few days via text message. He'd tried to convince me to come back over to his apartment, but I'd been able to put it off, because of work piling up. I had a shit ton of papers to grade, and they were second-year papers, so they would take even longer to sift through.

Besides, I didn't want to see him face to mask until I did a little more digging on the soulmarks. While I'd grown up with the stories about how special it was, I never believed it would happen to me.

As for the mark itself... I stopped, catching sight of myself in the mirror, and like I had every other time the last few days, my gaze went straight to my chest, my shoulder, and my left arm. Neither Louis nor I had anticipated how large our marks would be. I thought they would be small designs left only where the soulmate touched. Instead, it was a massive work of art that spanned my left pectoral, came up to my collarbone, wound over my left shoulder, and ran all the way down to my left wrist. On my chest was a compass with the cardinal directions labeled in thick, black letters. Black swirls resembling a winding road raced down my arm, stopping in a thick, black circle at my wrist. Louis had said that his was larger than what he'd thought too. Apparently, his ran all the way up his arm to his shoulder, just barely reaching his chest.

That was another question I had: what determined the size of soulmarks?

I turned my back to the mirror and headed to the wardrobe to dig out my suit. Once I dried off, I pulled the black button-up on with a black suit jacket and black slacks, followed by a pair of black loafers. It looked like I was going to a funeral.

Running my fingers through my hair again, I decided to skip the blow drying and went straight into decorating the underside of my clothes with weaponry. On either side of my waist set small handguns. Throwing stars dangled inside my jacket, while daggers were shoved into holsters at my ankles. Bringing out the old belt I only wore on special occasions, I carefully threaded it through the belt loops on my slacks, careful not to knock any of the filled magazines off the black leather. It was a black leather belt that looked completely ordinary until someone caught a glimpse underneath my jacket and saw that the entire back of it was made of ammunition.