Madly and Wolfhardt by M. Leighton

like you have been,” a low silky voice suggested from behind me.  A ripple of pleasure made its way between my shoulder blades and down my back. “We’ll be watching you very closely in the meantime.”
    While I was having a very physical reaction to Jackson, Kellina was still digesting.
    “Watching me?  Who will be watching?”
    “Sentinels.”
    “What are Sentinels?”
    “They’re sort of like soldiers.  Mer soldiers.  I have several assigned to you.”
    “Already?  You’ve got people watching me already?”
    “Yes.”
    I could tell that Kellina wanted to put up a bit of a fuss, but she thought better of it.  Wise girl.
    Kellina looked casually behind her and then asked, “Where are they?”
    “They’re around.”
    “I didn’t even know.”
    Jackson’s lips pulled up at the corners in the hint of a grin.  He was proud of his stealthy band of not-so-merry Mer.
    “And you won’t.”
    Kellina’s brow wrinkled a tiny bit, but she said nothing else.  No one liked being watched, especially when they couldn’t see who was doing the watching.
    At Jackson’s urging, we made our way back through town toward campus.  Jackson, Jersey, and I went one way, leaving Aidan and Kellina to say their goodbyes and make plans to meet later. 
    In our room, Jersey chattered about her bell and the duck.  Her rhetorical musings allowed my mind to wander off, toward thoughts of Jackson, as usual.
    I wanted to thank him for saving me, for risking his safety for mine, but I knew what he’d say.  He would assure me that it was his job—nothing more, nothing less—and that would make me feel…depressed.  Disgruntled.  So, I kept my gratitude to myself, along with all the other myriad Jackson-related feelings that secretly tortured me.
    “Madly!”
    Jersey was calling my name, quite loudly I might add.
    “What?”
    “Were you even listening to me?”
    “Sorry, I must have missed that last part.  What were you saying?”
    “Coffee.  Berlin and Aken.  You’re still going, right?”
    Crap! I’d forgotten all about our agreement to meet for coffee today. 
    “Of course.”
    “Well, since you took a swim, don’t you think you need a shower before we go?”
    As I looked down at my still-damp clothes, stringy strands of blonde hair fell forward as if to illustrate Jersey’s point.
    “I suppose I do.  What time did you say we’re supposed to meet?”
    Jersey’s lips thinned as her frustration increased.  She punctuated each word with an angry ring of her bell.
    “I.  Told.  You.  Six.  O. Clock.”   Bling.  Bling.  Bling.  Bling.  Bling.  Bling.
    “Am I going to have to take that bell and beat you to death  in your sleep with it?” I forced through gritted teeth.
    Jersey pulled the bell back out of my reach.
    “Don’t you touch my bell.”
    “Ring it again and I’m chewing off a finger.”
    She humphed and turned toward the closet, flipping idly through clothes, the bell clasped securely but silently in her hand.
    “You should wear this,” she said, pulling out a deep blue-green tank with sequins at the top.  “It brings out the aqua in your eyes.”
    “We’re going to the coffee shop, not the red carpet.”
    Jersey made a face at me.
    “Grumpy,” she said under her breath as she turned back to the closet.  “Go shower.  I’ll find you something else.”
    Biting my tongue, I grabbed the necessities and headed for the shower.  I silently fussed about Jersey as I deposited my things on the bench in the bathroom and turned on the water. 
    My irritation with her didn’t last long, though.  The instant I stepped beneath the warm spray of the shower, I felt my ire melt away as if it had never been.
    I was lathering my hair when I felt a shift in the air around me.  It was like a subtle cooling of the ambient temperature.
    Cautiously, uneasily, I parted the shower curtain and looked around the bathroom.  It was still as empty as it had been when I’d arrived only a few