Wanted Bonds (Their Fated Mate Book 1) [Reverse Harem]

Chapter 15

Aurora

When Joel's car parked opposite Crawford University's wrought-iron gates, I sat in the car for a few minutes staring at the gates that were open to welcome the throngs of students visiting the campus on this beautiful Saturday to complete their Crawford University yearly registrations in-person.

Inside the gate was the sprawling campus of Crawford University, which was a sight to behold, with its magnificent gothic architecture towering over the bustling students below. The brick buildings, adorned with intricate carvings, as well as the sculptures of human or werewolf figures that littered the campus, exuded an air of elegance, magic, and mystery.

Although I had been thrilled to look at the school from inside the car, getting out of the car into the throng of bustling students was no easy feat for me, but I still got out of the car. And with a forced smile, I waved at Joel as he drove away.

Once he drove out of sight, though, my forced smile disappeared as my anxiety at having to move around the crowd of students bubbled up again. I took in a deep, cleansing breath, pulled my gloves tighter, and looked down at my outfit.

Although today wasn't the official start of my studies at Crawford, today's registration activities were compulsory for all students. I didn't want to look too much like a weirdo, so I tried to dress as normally as possible without making people realize that I was trying to prevent any skin-to-skin contact.

I paired my favorite leather jacket with a t-shirt, because I figured wearing a turtleneck in the summer would make me look strange. To go with my top, I also wore shorts with tights. I wanted to wear a scarf to protect my neck from accidental touch but decided against it after assessing the total look in the mirror. My gloves already made me stand out. Tying a scarf around my neck would make me look like a verified weirdo.

At first, I was doing a good job blending in with the students, completing my exchange student registrations at the booths handled by both University staff and students while trying to avoid the clubs that were trying to get new students or exchange students to sign up as members.

Inevitably, I hit someone's chest with my head and another person's hand touched my neck while they were passing by, but their fantasies were harmless as the first person was fantasizing about eating the chips and coke she had been craving since the night before and the other person wanted to go home to play games.

My day was going great until I tried to walk around a crowded spot while texting Aiden my location. Around the bend, I stumbled upon a small crowd of people coming my way. It was too late to leave the path, so I just braced myself for impact, hoping that I would only see a simple or innocent memory or fantasy.

However, luck was not on my side as I fell to my knees, losing myself in a pervasive and obsessive fantasy/memory for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes.

My instinctual magic was different from Daddy Keane's. While he only had an idea of what people were thinking when he focused on them, I lived through memories, thoughts, obsessions, and fantasies that people were thinking about when I touched them. And I lived through everything as them.

So a simple fantasy of the girl who wanted to eat chips and coke left me craving chips and coke all afternoon while the gamer's fantasy made my fingers twitch for a few minutes.

Despite various tests, my family and I couldn't figure out what made some people's memories and fantasies have a powerful effect on me, while other people's obsessions and fantasies had minimal, time-limited effects on me. Of course, there was baby Cabe, Aunt Ciara's son, whose thoughts or memories were vague to me and I didn't need to live through them.