I closed my eyes. “I love you, Deacon.”
“I love you, too, Emersyn.”
Sharp hot pain shot down my arm. I hissed and jumped back at the same time Deacon did. Lights flashed and sparkled from my arm…and then the black lines of our soulmate glyph grew down to my wrist.
“Deacon,” I whispered and rolled onto my back, holding my arm over my face.
“I know,” he breathed. “Look at that.”
We both held our arms straight up toward the ceiling, our soulmate glyphs on full display.
“It’s like an instant prize for good behavior.”
I snorted and grabbed his arm, then dragged him against me. His mouth crashed into mine. He licked and kissed me for a good few, far too short, moments before he pulled back.
“You sure you don’t want to—”
“I’m sure you don’t. And therefore…” He pulled back and propped up on his elbow next to my face. “I’d rather need a few cold showers a day than hate myself in the morning for giving in when I know it’s not right.”
I shook my head and smiled. “The Devil is so wise.”
Chapter Fifteen
Emersyn
There was a knock on the door and then, “You rang?”
I looked up from the stack of papers in front of me and grinned. “Cheryl!”
“Hey, you made it!” Deacon yelled with a wide smile and pushed back from the table. He stood and walked toward her. “Welcome back.”
Cheryl smirked and arched one blonde eyebrow. Her brown eyes were sharp and calculating behind her burgundy glasses. “The school is physically flawless as far as I can see, which means I am genuinely terrified of what the problem is that you’d call for me.”
Marshall spit his coffee out of his mouth and on the wooden table.
Claudia leaned back in her seat and nodded. “I like this one so much.”
“Now I wish our problem was bigger.” Sebastien took a sip of his coffee while petting a blue fluffy cat that’d been curled up in his lap for almost an hour.
Heather chuckled and shook her head. “At ease, soldier. We’re just doing a double check on things.”
Deacon gave her a quick hug then stepped away and gestured toward the table we were all seated at. “Come. Sit. Let’s chat.”
Cheryl eyed us suspiciously, but took the empty seat next to me nonetheless. “Sooo…what’s going on?”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Tennessee will be here tomorrow night.”
“Oh shit.” Cheryl pursed her lips. “And we have to make sure this school is damn near perfect so he doesn’t kill us all? Figuratively speaking, of course. I hope.”
“Pretty much.” I pulled out my scribbled notes and groaned. “Because Deacon and I had to leave to deal with Joseph, we weren’t here for the details in the setup. Now, we have faith in everyone who was involved, and we don’t anticipate any problems…but for all our sake, we’d like to just go through things to be sure.”
“Before Tennessee gets here.” Cheryl frowned and nodded. “I’m assuming Tegan will be accompanying him?”
“Yep.” Because everyone knows those two are inseparable these days.
Cheryl cursed. “Great. Which means if there’s any hint of a problem she will sniff it out.”
“I’m not so much worried about my sister. If she finds anything, she’ll probably just fix it on her own and tell us about it afterward – worst case scenario. She’s super excited about this school happening…” I bit my lip and glanced around the table. “However, like everyone else, I am worried about Tenn. This is his first big project since becoming Coven Leader. I don’t want to be the reason it fails. I want this to work for him, for us, for everyone.”
“Which is why we’ve called you in.” Deacon slid an iPad across the table to her. “We want to go through every nook and cranny of this school to make sure we’re doing the best we can for the students. One of our new shifter’s parents were rather concerned about academics and potential college scholarships. I don’t know what we have set in place as of now—”
“Tonya and I spoke about that before I left before…” Cheryl glanced over the iPad screen with sharp eyes. “But I would also love to see what the final outcome was. Honestly, I think you’re being overly cautious, but I believe that will be greatly appreciated by Tennessee.”
“All right…” I stood up and smoothed the front of my sweater. “Deacon, why don’t you take Cheryl, Marshall, and your father over to Headmaster Muller’s so y’all can handle the checkup?”
Deacon stood and saluted me. “As you wish.” He smacked my ass and winked.
I gasped and heat flooded my face. “Deacon.”
But he just chuckled and rushed into the hallway to join Marshall, Sebastien, and Cheryl. I spun back around and found Heather shaking her head.
“Nope, didn’t see that,” she said without looking at me.
“I did.” Claudia chuckled. “So, boss lady, what’s on our agenda?”
Butterflies were still dancing around in my stomach, but I pushed them down and held my chin high. “The Yule Ball.”
Heather pulled out her iPad and clicked the screen a few times. Then she nodded. “Right, so we’ve procured the location and got it to physical standards needed for safety and the sheer size of attendance.”
“We wanted to make sure it had a separate entrance so that everyone attending wouldn’t be traipsing through the school itself.” Claudia already had her iPad out and was scrolling. “The Coven handled the invitations and we’ve obtained accommodations for the evening for those seeking it. We’ve also put all the nearby hotels on tighter lockdown spells to ensure everyone’s safety.”
“We also made sure to bury this site in a mountain of protection spells, just to be on the safe side. We don’t want a repeat of the gala.” Heather shuddered.
My stomach turned. “No, we sure don’t.”
“And, so you know, I reached out to Henley and Lennox for some extra level spellwork.” Claudia looked up and grinned. “Have to say I quite enjoyed those.”
I snorted. “I bet.”
“Also, we have arranged shifts for the Knights of New York.” Heather turned her iPad toward me, showing a detailed schedule of times, names, and locations. “We don’t want anyone feeling unsafe while here, so I sat down with my Knights and we all agreed on this arrangement. They will be splitting the Ball in half. Some will partake the first portion, some will partake the second portion. They were all quite willing to serve.”
“That’s kind of them. Please make a note that we return their gesture in a way that would be appreciated.” I rubbed my hands together as my thoughts spun out of control. “I am sure that Tenn and Tegan will have their own security plans once they arrive, but I’ll let them know about your Knights and I’m positive they will want to meet with them. Tenn is all about comradery. Now, have either of you spoken to Silas?”
They both shook their heads.
Heather frowned. “We were concerned that it was…I don’t know…offensive for someone of our stature to contact him? He is the right hand to the king, so—”
“I don’t think they’re like that.” I pulled out my phone and opened my text thread with my sister. “Silas just doesn’t speak much. However, I understand your hesitation there. I’m actually gonna pull the same thing and have Tegan call them. Let me just text her now…”
I typed out a quick text to my twin. I probably should’ve sent this to the group chat with Tenn and Deacon, but I really wanted Tenn to think we were handling everything. I froze. What am I doing? I was the Empress. I’d spoken to Silas and Koth myself many times. We fought together side-by-side. If I wanted Tenn to think we could handle this then I needed to handle this.
I opened up a new text thread with both Koth and Silas, then prayed I wasn’t overstepping. Good morning, gentlemen. This is Emersyn Bishop. I wanted to reach out to you and let you know that we are looking great for the Yule Ball on Saturday, however, I wanted to check a
nd see if y’all need anything particular. Anything at all. We want our fire-breathing friends to be as comfortable here as we are. Thanks!!
I let out the breath I’d been holding while typing. “Okay, I texted Koth and Silas instead.”
“You go girl,” Claudia said with a chuckle.
“Thanks.” I pushed my hair back off my shoulders. “All right, so it seems like you’ve got the background logistics stuff handled, right?”
Heather nodded. “As far as we know, yes.”
“But our plan for today was to start the decorations and actual party planning.”
“Right, the fun stuff.” I forced a grin I wasn’t feeling. “Okay, let’s go over to the location and get to work. Oh, can you call for Caroline and Noah to join us? They’re our Majors, so I’d like them to be involved.”
Claudia beamed with pride. “I’ll text them now.”
“Awesome. Let’s go.” I turned and marched out of my temporary office at the school.
“Caroline and Noah will meet us there,” Claudia said from behind me.
As we went down the stairs it made me think of another little helper. I smiled. “Heather, why don’t you text Amelia and tell her to meet us. And to bring Landy with her. I’d like their input as well.”
“Avengers, assemble.”
I froze, then glanced over my shoulder. “Who said that?”
Heather grimaced and held one finger in the air. “’Twas I.”
I chuckled and started walking again. “There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye — wait a second.” I stopped again.
“We can’t call in Tony Stark, trust me, I’ve tried.” Claudia grinned.
Heather shrugged one shoulder. “Deacon might have more luck with his…tricks.”
Part of me was absolutely dying inside that these two grown-ass women were talking about the Avengers, but the other part of me was too busy realizing just how right they were. We needed a team that represented a bit of everything. We needed some shifters, not terrified little Landy. I only invited her in hopes of getting her out of her shell.
While Heather and Claudia discussed the men of the Marvel cinematic universe, I led us into the shifter wing on a very particular mission. “I’m just going to make a little pit stop.”
When I got into the shifter wing, I paused in the hallway. Marcy would’ve been an ideal candidate, but I wasn’t sure which class she was in and I didn’t want to disturb all of them just to find her. So, instead, I went straight for Pat McCallis’s room. He was nice, but more importantly, we’d already met. And I’d helped him with his class. I’d just go inside and ask for a few volunteers and take whoever stepped up.
With that in mind, I pulled the door open and stepped inside.
Everyone froze and turned to me.
But I kept my eyes on McCallis. “Hello again.”
He grinned and strolled over to me, looking every bit the wild jungle cat with his prowl. “Miss Emersyn, pleasure to see you again. What can I help you with?”
“Actually, I’m looking for a few volunteers to help me out for the Yule Ball this weekend.” Then I turned to the class and my breath left me in a rush.
Chris – Christian – sat at the front of the classroom. He wore only jeans and a white t-shirt, his standard outfit of choice since we were kids. In truth, he looked the same way he always did…right down to the way he seemed to drink me in with thirsty eyes.
But that was his problem, not mine. I’d made it clear that I was with Deacon now.
Permanently.
He grinned and raised his hand. “I’d love to help. I was on student council back in my human school, so I’ve planned a few dances before.”
I forced a smile and nodded. “Excellent, thank you, Christian.”
“Me too,” a girl said from the back as she pushed her way up to the front. When she got up near Chris, I realized it was Marcy. The very shifter I’d wanted to find. She gave me two thumbs-up. “I’d love to.”
“Awesome. Come with me then.” I stepped to the side and gestured for them to head out into the hall. I waited until they were through the door, then turned to McCallis. “Thanks, and sorry for the interruption.”
“Not a problem at all, Miss Emersyn.” He smiled and waved. “Good luck!”
I waved back, then slipped out into the hall with the others. All four of them looked to me expectantly and it made my pulse skyrocket. Which was silly. Chris and Marcy were just regular teenage students. Nothing to be nervous about. Heather and Claudia were alpha women who’d already handled the hardest parts of this task. All we had left were the fun parts. It can’t be that bad, right? Right.
I cleared my throat and gestured toward the stairs. “Let’s go plan a ball, shall we?”
Chapter Sixteen
Deacon
Turned out we had nothing to worry about.
Which I knew was the case.
There was a reason I’d brought in Cheryl in the first place. The girl was headed to MIT herself on a scholarship program from Edenburg. I knew she would make sure our students were helped in every way possible. Plus my mother was damn good at her job.
Parenting at the same time? Not so much.
But running a city? Definitely.
Although, thanks to Emersyn’s arrival, mom had done a one-eighty on the invisible parent thing. Like I needed more reasons to love my soulmate. Speaking of, where is she? I slipped out of the room where my father, Marshall, and Cheryl were going over some last details and walked down the hall on a mission to find her.
Emersyn was extremely worried about Tennessee’s arrival tomorrow. This was no little task. This school had been her idea to begin with and then Tenn put her in charge of it. I wasn’t delusional enough to think I carried equal weight here and I was okay with that. I didn’t need to be top dog, I just wanted to help. I loved being a part of something this special. Emersyn, on the other hand, felt immense pressure to succeed.
Or at least to not fail epically.
Which was why I wanted to let her know how well this check through had gone.
I walked through the empty hallways, passed closed classroom doors and the hushed sounds of voices through the walls. As the Devil Card, I was able feel people’s desires, and what I felt inside this school was breathtaking. The excitement and eagerness to learn was incredible. I closed my eyes and soaked in the energy around me as I strolled through.
My father told me I’d find her in the ballroom where the Ball would be held at the backside of the main building, so I pushed through the double doors and hurried down the grand staircase. Halfway down the stairs my chest exploded with heat.
Emersyn.
I grinned and turned the corner — then slid to a stop.
She stood about twenty feet away, right in the middle of the grand glass double doors that led to the ballroom.
With Christian. Her ex.
Directly under a mistletoe.
My stomach tightened. Easy, Devil boy. Don’t get carried away. She’s yours and you know it. Deep breath. She looked so adorable today, too. It was freezing cold outside, a whopping four degrees, so she’d ditched the high fashion nonsense and gone for warmth in knee-high Ugg boots, black fleece leggings, and an oversized gray sweater that fell to mid-thigh. The little black beanie was a cute touch.
Chris was saying something to her, but I couldn’t hear his words over his longing for her. I’d felt it the moment he first saw her yesterday. Whatever happened between them back in North Carolina, he wasn’t over it. Not that I blamed him, she was amazing, but I knew from talking to her that she hadn’t had feelings for him – at least not the way he did.
She smiled and rubbed her chest. Then she gasped and stood up straight. Her golden gaze scanned the hall until it spotted me at the bottom of the stairs. Her face split into a wide grin that took my breath away. Her whole face lit up and her eyes sparkled like Christmas lights.
Relief washed through me, followed by annoyance. It bothered me that her reaction
had such a strong effect. Like I doubted her feelings for me. Really it was just paranoia and human nature. Jealousy was a bitch.
I plastered a smile on my face and shoved my hands into my jean pockets, then strolled over to them. She reached out and dragged my mouth down to hers. Our lips crashed together, and I let myself melt into her kiss. I felt Christian’s desire change from lust and longing to disgust and the intense need to flee.
Just as my chest grew tight from lack of oxygen, she pulled away.
“Well, hello to you, too,” I said, though my voice was super rough and scratchy.
She chuckled deep in her throat. “Hi.”
Christian cleared his throat.
Emersyn’s cheeks turned bright red. She grimaced and turned to him. “Oops, sorry. Um, why don’t you go back inside and see if Landy is okay?”
He glanced to me then nodded. “Okay. See ya later.” Then he turned and slipped back through the doors.
Emersyn sighed and I felt relief wash through her.
I frowned and tapped under her chin. “Hey, you okay?”
Her brows scrunched down low over her eyes but then she nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay. It’s just weird for us both right now. Like I’ve known him practically my whole life…and yet, neither of us were simply human. It’s weird.”
“Understandable.” I tucked a loose golden strand of hair behind her ear. “But is that it? I mean, I know where your heart lies but what about his?”
Her face fell. “You do?”
I smiled and shook my head. “Of course I do, Butterberry. Even without that purple crystal on our chests or my gifts, I know where we stand. I’m not worried you’ll stray.”
She sighed so hard she wobbled and crashed into my chest. Then she groaned. “I hate that you felt the need to even say that. It means I’m messing this up and —”
“Hey.” I pushed her upright, then slid my shirt sleeve up to my elbow to reveal the black swirling vine-like lines that now went all the way to my wrist. “This is proof that we are only getting stronger. If we were messing up, our glyph wouldn’t still be growing.”
School of Magical Arts - New York City Campus Box Set Page 18