by Lucia Ashta
I grinned to myself, leaning into his hand, which remained at the small of my back.
When we rounded the corner of the hall to enter the large, grand foyer, my smile shattered—before I scrambled to yank it back in place.
Barreling toward us, at full speed, doors still swinging shut behind them, was the entire bunny mafia gang, with Roberta at the helm.
13
“We came ta see what the alarm was all about,” Roberta hollered ahead of herself as she, Raker, Rammer, and Raider sprinted across the foyer to meet our group, big ears flopping with each bound.
Roberta Raindown’s dark, pupil-less eyes homed in on me while her chest fluttered with rapid breaths. “Jas, were ya wrapped up in the middle of whatever’s goin’ on?”
I looked from her to her three intimidating sons, who’d flanked out around her as if they were her personal guards. As if Roberta needed help scaring the shit out of anyone.
“Yeah, pretty much,” I admitted.
“See!” she whooped, rounding on her sons. “I told y’all I knew my bestie. I just knew it was her in the middle of all this.” She turned back around to face our crew. “So what is it ‘xactly you’re in the middle of?”
I swallowed the ginormous sigh that wanted to slip out. “I honestly don’t know what’s happening. We’re actually on our way to consult with one of the professors to see if she can help.”
“I see. Then maybe we should go too. Or at least me. Ya might need your bestie for support n’ protection.”
When Adalia cleared her throat behind me, I didn’t bother to stop a massive eye roll.
“Remember that I told you I had another best friend already?” I asked of Roberta, feeling like a kindergartener, and wishing life was as simple as it’d been back then.
So long as I got to keep the fun stuff of adulthood. Like sex.
“Are ya telling me this is her?” Roberta leaned to the side to single out Adalia, running her crisp gaze up and down my obligatory first bestie.
“Yup. That’s her. Adalia,” I said.
“Hmm, I see.”
What the hell the crazed bunny saw, I had no clue. I also didn’t particularly care just then.
“Well, thanks for coming to check on me, but as you can see, I’m fine. And we have to be on our way ... to talk with this professor.” I was trying to make things as clear as possible to bunny momma, but she was staring at me like she was looking right through me. Like she wasn’t registering much of what I was saying.
“Right.” She nodded, big ears flopping everywhere. “Raker, Raider, Rammer, ya head back now to guard the gate. I’m gonna escort Jas n’ her followers to figure this puzzle out.”
“Followers,” Dave muttered somewhere behind me, but no one else got the chance to complain before Marcy June stepped between the rabbits and our crew.
“Did you leave the gate unguarded?”
Roberta tsked and narrowed her eyes up at Marcy June. “As if I’d do somethin’ like that. Who do ya think I am, Marcy June? A bumblin’ idgit? ‘Course there’s someone guardin’ the gate. A few of my daughters were here visitin’. When we got called away to a matter of such great urgency, they offered to woman the post. No one’ll be gettin’ by with them there.”
“You can trust her on that,” one of the rabbits, maybe Raker, added in a voice like gravel. “Our sisters are meaner than spit.”
I had no idea how spit could be mean, but I was plenty happy to take their word for the level of unpleasantness of the females of the murderous bunny clan. I hoped I never met them.
“Good,” Marcy June was saying. “Until we figure out what’s going on with Jas, and why she’s been disappearing and appearing all across the school, we need to make sure our security is as tight as a dolphin’s behind.”
Roberta pursed her lips and twitched her pink nose. “Are ya tellin’ me that Jas portaled on school grounds?”
“No, she didn’t portal,” Marcy June said, lips also pursed.
“She just vanished,” Leo said.
“Just vanished?” Roberta repeated.
All of us nodded.
“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” the bunny matriarch said. “Not good at all.”
A few moments passed in silence during which we all appeared to ponder how bad it was that I could up and disappear without notice, before Roberta started nodding her head with conviction. Again, she turned to face her sons, giving us ample time to examine her outfit. She was dressed remarkably similar to how I was the last time she’d seen me. Sporting a jean mini-skirt and a bright red tank top that matched her fire-engine red nail—uh, claw—polish, she was revealing entirely too much fur.
“Boys, tell your sisters I say they need ta stay ta help ya guard the gate. My bestie needs me. I’m gonna shadow her everywhere ta make sure she doesn’t go doin’ no more of that disappearin’.”
I swallowed my protests from the shock, and it seemed that stunned silence had overcome my friends as well. Chubster was the only one to continue making his cooing sounds.
“Momma,” Rammer—maybe—spluttered. “We don’t need our sisters to help us. We’re plenty capable of guarding the gate without you.”
“I’m not so sure of that, not with my bestie in danger.”
“I’m not in danger,” I interjected.
She continued on like I hadn’t said a thing.
“If your sisters aren’t needed, then fine. But better ta have too many than discover ya had too few.”
I didn’t think there was a chance of ever thinking there were too few of the bunny mafia on campus.
Raker, I think, crossed his arms in front of his chest. His white button-down shirt was open damn near to his belly button—if magical rabbits had belly buttons—and thick gold chains draped from his neck. “We don’t want our sisters here,” he said around a toothpick. “Rasper manned the gate all on his own. Why can’t we? You didn’t send our sisters to help him.”
“Yeah, and look what happened to him.”
A heavy shroud descended on our crew as not even I could dispute that point. Maybe Rasper wouldn’t be dead if his siblings had been there to help him ward off Rage, Fury, and the other rogue shifters who’d arrived to attack the school.
“Fine,” Raker finally bit out. “But don’t expect us to like it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Roberta smiled at them in a way that chilled my blood.
“Uh, Roberta?” My voice squeaked a little, so I cleared my throat and tried again. “Thanks so much for the offer of your protection, but seriously, I really don’t need you to abandon your post to watch out for me. I’m not in any danger. I think it’s just this pendant of mine that’s acting up, taking me here and there without my control.”
Before I even finished getting the last words out, I could tell my argument had failed miserably. Roberta’s brow scrunched up, her ears twitched menacingly—even the one that usually flopped harmlessly forward.
“You’re telling me ya have a magical object doin’ whatever it wants with ya, willy-nilly?”
I gulped. “Uh, yeah?”
“Then ya need my help now more than ever.”
Shit. Did I?
Ky slid the hand at the small of my back until his arm clenched around my waist.
How much trouble was I in?
Marcy June addressed Roberta. “Do you know much about magical objects?”
“Enough ta know ta steer clear of the most powerful ones. And ta never touch somethin’ new till I know good n’ well where it come from.”
So even the loco bunny was smarter than me … fan-fucking-tastic.
“That’s good advice,” Marcy June said while taking all of us in. “Well, if you’re willing to guard Jas, I can’t see how that will hurt.”
“‘Course it won’t hurt,” Roberta snapped. “I only ever help.”
“Of course,” Marcy June said, telling me she was as smart as she looked. None of us there were about to speak our minds to Roberta. Not then, probabl
y not ever.
“I’m happy to help protect Jas too,” Ky piped up from beside me, and suddenly I was all on board with the idea of my protection.
“That sounds like a great idea.” I smiled, grateful Fianna and Nessa had popped out of sight so I didn’t have to hear about the hanky-panky yet another time.
Rina’s stare was busy searing into my back. I didn’t even have to turn around. I could feel her.
Well, tough cookies.
“Ky can stay in my room at night to make sure I don’t disappear again,” I added helpfully.
“There’s no need for that,” Roberta said. “I can stay in your room. I love sleepovers.”
“You’ve never had a sleepover,” Raider said—or at least I guessed it was Raider.
“Exactly.” Roberta rubbed her paws together, red claws flashing. “Time ta remedy that. My bestie needs me. Besides, the school won’t let a man sleep over in a female dorm.”
Scowling, I hmphed. She was right about that. Maybe I could convince Sir Lancelot I was actually in danger and needed Ky’s body to protect me at night—his very muscular, beautiful, preferably naked body.
“I sleep in the same room as Jas,” Adalia announced, her usual chipper tone lacking a bit of its chipperness. “I’ll watch over her.”
Roberta spun on Adalia with a smile that was deranged enough to make the upbeat fairy swallow loudly. “The only thing better than one best friend is two o’ them, wouldn’t ya say?” The matriarch crossed her arms over her tank top, pushing a flat, hairy chest up and out the top of it.
Adalia was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them; she nodded and forced a smile. “One can never have too many friends.” She’d thrown me to the bunnies to save her own hide.
“Great! So it’s settled.” Roberta sidled over to Adalia, placed a paw on her back since she couldn’t reach her shoulder, and pulled her to my side. Roberta draped her free arm behind my back, overlapping Ky’s.
Ky flinched, but bless him, he didn’t move.
“I’m gonna be on a permanent sleepover. Woot!” Roberta hollered, and my heart sank somewhere around my feet.
So much for fun naked time with Ky. So much for any kind of fun time with Ky. Why did the universe hate me so much?
“Aren’t ya excited, girls?” Roberta asked Adalia and me.
I swallowed a ginormous groan and hmmed noncommittally. It was the very best I could do.
“Boys, off ya go,” Roberta ordered, and her sons turned tail and shuffled toward the doors, their shoulders round and slumped. I figured they hadn’t won a single fight against their momma in their entire lives.
The moment the door slammed shut behind them, Roberta asked, “So, who’s this teacher we gotta be seein’?”
Even Marcy June seemed resigned to Roberta taking over.
“Professor Hapblomb,” I muttered, noticing that Chubster had fallen asleep in my arms once more.
“Hettie,” Roberta snarled. “I don’t know if I trust that one.”
“Why not?” Marcy June asked right away. “Do you have reason not to trust her?”
“Not specifically. Just a gut feelin’. And I always trust my gut. It’s gotten me this far. I’m not likely to start distrustin’ it now.”
“I don’t trust her either,” Rina chimed in. “There’s something off about her.”
Roberta swiveled to look at the mountain lion shifter with the long, gorgeous blond hair that perfectly matched the rest of her. My friend was beautiful.
The rabbit eyed her up and down appreciatively, like she might be considering widening her group of best friends. “That’s ‘xactly it. Ya hit it on the nose. There’s somethin’ off about her, like a bad smell.”
I chuckled before remembering my life was going to shit faster than I could keep up and there was nothing to laugh about. Still, the way Professor Hapblomb walked around like she was a nineteenth century aristocrat perfectly aligned with Roberta’s imagery. The professor usually looked like she’d just sucked on a sour lemon … or smelled something foul.
Perhaps she was the foul stench in this place.
“Professor Hapblomb is still the best bet we have until Sir Lancelot, Albacus, and Mordecai finish their secret whatever and get their asses back here,” Marcy June said.
The wizards only had half of their asses, and Sir Lancelot was an owl. Even so, I never failed to appreciate Marcy June’s flair.
“Does that mean you don’t know what they’re up to?” Boone asked, rounding our group to share a meaningful look with Leo and then Ky.
“That’s exactly what that means,” Marcy June said. “And I don’t fucking like secrets. Especially not after the year we’ve had.”
Year? More like nearly two.
“Secrets suck,” I said.
Roberta patted me on the back. “That they do, that they do. Don’t worry, there’ll be no secrets between us, bestie.”
Yeah, that’s what I was flipping afraid of.
My eyes burned.
Roberta started walking toward the doors. “Now, please tell me I don’t have ta bunk with that animal in your arms.”
Adalia gasped. “The pandacorn is the cutest thing ever!”
The rabbit shrugged. “I’ve seen cuter.”
“Again, you don’t have to bunk with us,” Adalia said, revealing a side of her I’d never witnessed. “I can watch out for Jas and help take care of the pandacorn. If you don’t like him, you don’t need to be anywhere near him.”
Ky leaned over and whispered, “Are the two of them really fighting over you?”
His breath was hot and enticing against my ear; a shiver ran through me.
While Roberta and Adalia argued, Roberta tightened her hold around my back. Once we exited the building, she didn’t release me even after she let go of Adalia.
I stared at my two best friends and nodded, wondering when my life had turned into something I barely recognized. I’d never had anyone argue over me before. Now I had two best friends and a pandacorn, none of which I’d chosen.
And a man I did want who maybe was interested in me but who wouldn’t take the plunge.
As if my thoughts spurred him on, he leaned even closer. His lips caressed my ear as he said, in a tantalizing whisper, “Too bad. I was hoping we might get some time to ourselves.”
My heart sped up and my thoughts raced with purpose: figure out how to get this pendant off and get my life back. And find the way to have alone time with Ky.
While Roberta argued, and my friends alternated between irritated grumbles, muted chuckles, and tense silence, I plotted.
The pendant was attached to my neck. I had the ultimate responsibility to figure out its secrets. I’d work on the problem day and night … until Ky was working me.
14
We arrived ten minutes before Defense and Attack Spells 201 was scheduled to begin only to discover the fastidious Professor Hettie Hapblomb absent from the classroom, where she should have been preparing for her lesson. In her place, a bold sign proclaimed the class was canceled until further notice due to the professor being called away on “important business.”
After an unsettling day, the news did nothing to allay our worries. Marcy June immediately summoned Fianna and Nessa once more, who griped that we’d interrupted them in the middle of their update. Even the mousier Nessa complained that they couldn’t be expected to properly perform their duties if we were calling on them all day long.
Despite their protests, we learned the fairies had been with Sir Lancelot at his secret meeting, the very one that now demanded Professor Hapblomb’s presence. I tried once more to extract information on this secret meeting. Once again, I failed.
An entire week passed without Defense and Attack Spells classes, and though usually I’d be the first to celebrate the unexpected time off, I needed answers more than I needed a break from Professor Hatebomb, as we’d taken to calling her. Despite the fact the pendant was never too far from my thoughts, I’d gained no additional c
larity.
On the upside, at least I hadn’t accidentally traveled anywhere either.
“That’s incredible,” Wren was saying, leaning on the table across from me. “Where does he put all of it?”
Wren wasn’t the only one who’d abandoned her food to watch the little pandacorn. Our usual crew was assembled—sans Roberta, thank goodness. Though the rabbit had insisted on beginning her sleepovers immediately, it turned out she wasn’t actually willing to shirk her duties as gate guard during the day. Despite what she’d said earlier, apparently Roberta was a micro-manager.
As long as she was micro-managing her kids and not me, I was happy to support the habit.
Dave, Rina, and Leo leaned forward alongside Wren, Ky, Boone, and Adalia, cramping me as they all stared at my tiny furry companion.
“That makes nineteen cupcakes so far,” Dave said with evident awe. “Is that safe for him? Won’t it make him sick?”
“I don’t think the little guy has a limit,” Boone commented. “He shovels it in like a champ.”
“Well, then, shouldn’t we feed him something more nutritious or something?” Dave persisted. “He’s a growing cub after all.”
“I found him in a field of sugar cane,” I said. “I think he thrives on sugar.”
“Who doesn’t?” Adalia chuckled. “I love sweets.”
The svelte fairy sure did, giving me another reason to be annoyed with her. Her diet tended to consist of pie, candy, chocolate, cake—oh, and cupcakes—and yet she was as slim as I was. Even with my shifter metabolism, I’d probably look like Chubster if I ate like her all the time.
The pandacorn grabbed another cupcake in his chubby paws, this one with bright pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles, opened his mouth and shoved it in, chewing happily. Wren had already removed all the wrappers after learning he’d eat the cupcakes paper and all if we didn’t assist.
He purred and hummed while he chewed.
“There’s no denying he loves them,” Ky said.
“Leo,” I started. “Tell me what you know about his kind.”