by Cece Rose
“I better get ready for class,” I reply nervously, jumping down off the chest of drawers.
“Yeah, because you showing up late for a class is completely unheard of. Wouldn’t want to ruin your stellar reputation as a star pupil now, would you?” he says teasingly. And just like that, the tension is broken. I laugh.
“Hey! I’m not late to all my classes,” I grumble.
“Really?” he asks.
“Yeah, I show up to Mr. Daniel’s classes on time. I can’t really make up excuses for being late when I live in the cabin with him,” I reply jokingly, grabbing the fresh set of clothes I’d dropped to change into. “What’s the time, anyway?” I ask as I walk towards the door to head to the bathroom for a quick shower.
“Well, you’re already thirty minutes late to fire class,” he says.
“Wait, already thirty minutes late?” I ask, groaning. Just great.
“Luckily, it’s your favourite teacher, Kenz,” he replies sarcastically, as I exit the room.
Shit. Miss Tinder is going to kill me.
Chapter 32
Kenzie
“Mr. Daniels, I’m sure Miss Crowe will be here any moment,” I hear Miss Tinder say as I walk into fire class. The whole class is sitting, talking or playing on their phones, when I walk in. They all stop to look at me with surprise. Hey, it’s not like I don’t turn up to my classes, I’m just usually late. I glance at the clock on the wall. Maybe not this late though.
“Miss Crowe, this is completely unacceptable. You are forty-five minutes late, and I don’t know why I’m not surprised when I should be. Honestly, it’s like you believe your twelve marks make you impervious to the rules of this academy,” she turns to me as she speaks, but my eyes are locked on Mr. Daniels who shakes his head as he looks me over. He looks stressed, today, with his brown hair messy and looks like he has run his fingers through it a few times and his clothes are wrinkled which is unlike him. He’s also missing his glasses, which are normally only off during our training.
“Sorry I’m late,” Enzo says walking into the room after me and not even looking at Mr. Daniels or Miss Tinder as he takes his seat. Miss Tinder doesn’t even look his way, or care that he is late. Just me.
“Outside, now, Miss Crowe,” Mr. Daniels says, just as I go to sit down.
I turn to see him walking out of the classroom and look over at Miss Tinder.
“Go, and don’t be long,” she tells me. I nod and walk out of the classroom, pulling the door closed behind me. I turn to see Mr. Daniels standing in the middle of the empty corridor with his arms crossed and an expression that makes me want to hide. Shit.
“So . . .,” I ask, wondering why he dragged me out here and is giving me this look.
“Miss Crowe . . . I just don’t even know where to start with you,” he says and runs a hand through his hair as he watches me.
“Erm quietly? My head is banging,” I sigh, placing my hand against my head and knowing I should have grabbed some food or something earlier. I didn’t stop when I jumped into the shower and then ran to class. I haven’t had time to even think about everything that happened with Kelly and Ryan. I try to nip that thought in the bud. I can’t even think about it at the moment, as all I want to do is find Kelly and talk to her.
As I watch Mr. Daniels walking over to me, I get what Kelly was talking about when she said you don’t choose who you fall for. You really don’t. Mr. Daniels stops in front of me, placing his hand on my head, and I feel him healing me before stepping away.
“Why did you heal me?” I ask him, relief spreading over me now that my head doesn’t hurt anymore.
“So that I can shout at you for getting drunk with your friends last night in my house,” he says, and I mentally cringe. Shit, he must have come back at some point. When I don’t say anything, he continues. “I came back from the meeting I told you about, to find you dancing on the coffee table,” he tells me. A flashback of last night runs through my mind.
“At least, I had my clothes on, or from what I can remember,” I say, making him groan and look at me closely as I smile at him. We both start laughing after an awkward silence, and he shakes his head.
“What am I going to do with you, Miss Crowe?” he asks, stepping closer to me and placing his hand on my arm.
“What do you want to do, Mr. Daniels?” I ask, not able to stop the tempting words leaving my lips.
“You don’t want to know,” he whispers, his face inches away from mine. I can smell the body wash he uses, the same stuff I used quickly in the shower this morning.
“What’s your first name?” I ask him, not moving as we stand close to each other, our lips inches apart, and my hand moves to rest on his chest without me thinking about it. It just feels natural.
“It’s—” he starts to say, and then he suddenly jumps away when the door is opened behind me.
“I need to start my lesson, Mr. Daniels,” Miss Tinder’s voice says behind me, her voice chipped and annoyed as I turn to see her looking between us.
“We will finish speaking about this later, Miss Crowe,” he says, his tone back to the cold and emotionless tone that I’m used to. I nod, walking back into the classroom and taking the empty seat next to Enzo as he smirks at me.
“What did Mr. Dead Serious want this morning?” Enzo asks me.
“He came back at some point last night and saw me dancing on the table,” I tell him, and he laughs, making several people turn to look at us. Miss Tinder slams the door shut after she walks into the room, and everyone goes quiet. I glance behind me when I hear someone cough and see Stella sitting with her feet on the table at the back of class and glaring at me. Just great, why is she here?
“So, class, now that the disruptions are out of the way, we shall begin. We have been studying how to control your fire mark. It’s very easy to make a large fire and much harder to make only a small amount, like lighting a candle without melting the entire thing,” Miss Tinder says after clapping her hands. I look down at the three candles in holders on the table in front of me, and it makes sense what we are going to be doing now.
“Please spend the next hour lighting the candles. There are spares at the front if you melt yours. Once you are done, you may leave and have a study period,” she tells the class. That’s all the encouragement they need as some start trying to light the candles straight away, and I watch them melt them, the clumsy rush doing them no good. I look over as Enzo wipes a hand across the tips of the candles in front of him, lighting them all perfectly before leaning back in his seat and shrugging.
“Come on, you can do this. Then we can go and get food,” he says, waiting for me, and it’s kind of sweet from the bad boy who pretends to be asshole-like. I call my fire mark and concentrate on lighting just the candles. I open my eyes to see nothing has happened. Maybe I was thinking too small?
“Mackenzie, focus on the tips of the candles and just lighting those. The idea isn’t to just think fire, it’s to focus on what you want the fire to do. Fire can be controlled with your mind before you let it out with your mark,” Enzo whispers gently, and I give him a thankful look. I hover my hand over the first candle and imagine the wick catching fire as I call my mark. When I open my eyes, the candle is lit, and I quickly do the others.
“Thank you,” I say as Enzo stands up and smirks down at me.
“It was nothing, I just want food and not to be sitting here all day, or to have to stop you from setting the room on fire, again,” he says and walks out. I laugh and follow him out, seeing Miss Tinder nod at me as she looks at my candles.
“Impressive, Miss Crowe,” she comments and then looks back at the paperwork in front of her. When I walk out of the classroom, I see Stella talking to Enzo. They are standing closely together, and I watch in disgust when she places both her perfectly manicured hands on his chest. I want to snap the purple-tipped nails straight off her. Enzo steps back, but unfortunately for him, there’s a wall behind his back, and she boxes him in as she moves close
r again. They are arguing, and I don’t think as I walk over, stepping next to Enzo and reaching a hand to the side of his head and pulling him to look at me.
“Hey, baby,” I say and then kiss him.
“What the hell?” I hear Stella say, but everything else is a blur as Enzo’s hand slides into my hair as he twists us around and presses me into the wall with his body as he kisses me harder. His lips devour my own as I slide my hands into his hair, and he groans.
“Miss Crowe?” I hear my name being shouted from down the corridor.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Enzo mutters against my lips. He pulls away, and we turn to face Mr. Daniels.
“Seeing as you’ve finished so early, we can squeeze in another training session. Training room, fifteen minutes,” he says, and then turns to head back down the corridor. My stomach growls as if in protest. Fuck’s sake.
“Come on, let’s quickly grab you a sandwich or something before he throws you on your ass,” Enzo offers, tugging me along the corridor in the opposite direction, without waiting for my answer. I turn back and see a calculating look on Stella’s face as she looks between Mr. Daniels, Enzo, and me. I shudder, feeling a chill roll through my body. I turn back and walk with Enzo. Time to eat as much food as humanly possible in ten minutes, I suppose.
Chapter 33
Kenzie
The dim lighting in the room does nothing to hide the predatory look on his face as he stalks around me, moving in a circle. I keep trying to move with him, to keep my eyes on him and my back away, but he’s just too quick. He shoots flames to my left, and I jump to my right, narrowly avoiding the hit.
I try to counter with air, calling on my mark. I aim low, hoping to strike him off balance. He blocks my attack with a simple swipe of his hand. A cool jet of water flows from his right hand, he doesn’t aim it at me, but at the floor. I stare at him in confusion, when suddenly the water begins to cool and freeze over. I struggle not to slide across it. I lift my left hand and command fire, using fire’s heat to melt the ice. The steam creates a wall between us. I try to use it as a screen to attack, but he simply uses his air ability to clear his vision again. I back up a few steps to keep out of reach, but he pounces, crossing the space between us. Within seconds I’m pinned down onto the blue mat by his weight. I struggle to get loose, completely forgetting to use my magic in order to assist me.
“Miss Crowe,” he whispers in my ear softly, his deep voice sending shivers right through me.
“Kenzie,” I mumble.
“What?” he asks.
“Please call me Kenzie,” I whisper.
“Miss Kenzie Crowe,” he utters softly, his cool breath against my neck making me shiver.
“Yes?” I whisper, looking up, I catch the heated look in his green eyes.
“You would be dead six times over if I was really trying.”
I laugh, but it’s a somewhat strangled sound. I look away from his heated stare, cutting off the temptation, at least, as much as possible while he’s all over me. My thoughts about Mr. Daniels are going to kill me.
I wriggle slightly, trying to see if there is any chance of getting him off me without the use of magic. No dice. I think about his advice. Don’t use magic the way they expect you to. Surprising them is half the battle, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that’s pretty exact I’m sure. The ‘blah blahs’ is definitely how his speech ended.
A stroke of genius hits me, and a smile takes over my face.
“What are you thinking, Miss Crowe?” he asks softly.
“Nothing,” the word flies out of my mouth, and I’m sure I look guilty. I concentrate, while attempting to look like I am not concentrating, which is apparently ridiculously hard to pull off, as I feel his body vibrating with laughter above me. I call on my technomancy mark.
The lights start to flicker above us.
“Flickering lights, really?” he questions, the amusement thick in his voice.
I cut the lights off completely and scream, as I use my transmutation to change my eyes into a wolf’s eyes. Night vision, I impress myself sometimes.
“Shit, was that not you?” he asks. I use the moment of concern against him, and twist out from underneath him, blasting him with air to help me with just the lift needed to escape.
In the darkness, I have the upper hand.
I use my water ability to use his own tricks against him, covering the whole floor in ice. I kick my shoes off, and heat my feet with my fire, so I can move effectively around without slipping.
I stalk around him in a circle, now he is the prey, and I’m the predator. I launch at him, feeling the animal-like dexterity in me aid my attack. He dodges at the last possible moment, and jabs a fist into my side. Fuck!
I back up a few paces and circle him again. Shit, how did he know I was there?
“Move lighter on your feet, Miss Crowe,” he says softly. Is he a freaking mind reader? Is it a secret bonus ability or something? I try to move quieter. “Better,” he says.
He lashes out and grabs hold of me, pulling me to him, before spinning us around and planting me against the wall. “But, not good enough,” he murmurs into my ear. The tone in his voice is so seductive, I swear it has to be on purpose.
I lick my lips, seeing as they feel so suddenly dry. I’m so freaking stupid, he’s so unbelievably perfect, and here I am just fawning over him. Idiot.
“Excuse me, Miss Crowe?”
“Did I say that out loud? Wait how much of that did I just say out loud?”
“Just the word ‘idiot’. Why, what else were you thinking?” his body seems to move even closer up to mine. Fuck.
“N-nothing,” I stumble the word out.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing. You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you, Kenzie?” the way he says my first name, as if on an exhale of breath. Shit, bad thoughts; bad, bad thoughts. “Kenzie?” he repeats, softly.
I tilt my head up, seeing him perfectly in the dark thanks to my wolf eyesight. I focus and bring my eyes back to normal. If I see him, I won’t be able to do this. With my eyes back to normal, I can’t see him at all, but I know exactly where he is. I lean up, closing the gap between us, and press my lips against his.
At first, nothing. He seems too stunned to react, I’m about to pull back and apologise for completely misreading the situation, when he returns the kiss, a satisfied groan coming from him when I push myself up closer against him. His hand snakes into my hair, pulling it from the ponytail and letting it down. I move my hands up his shirt, feeling across the hard planes of his chest. He bites my bottom lip, and I moan softly, opening my mouth and deepening the kiss. He seems to come undone, tugging at my shirt, it comes off, his follows straight after it. It seems like a desperate rush on both our parts. The tension of the past few weeks finally getting to us. It can’t be ignored anymore. I need this, right now.
I go for his jogging bottoms, sliding them down his toned legs. He lifts me up, and pins me against the wall. I wrap my legs around him, feeling him pressed right up against me. He presses a kiss against my neck, before biting down. Fuck I need out of my leggings, right now. I reach a hand down to start to pull them off, when light shines into the room from the door. The now open door. Fuck.
He springs back from me, and we stare at the light from the door like deer in headlights. The collision tumbling closer and closer, but we can’t look away as we’re frozen in place. I can’t see the face of the person, but I’d know that body anywhere.
“East, it’s not—”
“What it looks like? I think it’s exactly what it looks like!” he snaps, cutting my words off. He turns back away from the room.
“Easton!” I call after him. I grab my shirt, pulling it over my head as I race after him. He shuts the door after him.
I pull it open, and dart out into the hall, I look around, but he has already darted away. Fuck. Without a backwards glance at Mr. Daniels, I run off in what I hope is the direction East left in, knowing I can’t let him run off
after seeing that. Especially not after our conversation this morning damn it! I spot him sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, with people walking past him as they rush to their classes. He looks up at me as I walk over, stopping in front of him.
“East–” I start to say, but stop, not knowing what to say. I’m not sorry for what happened between me and Mr. Daniels, but I’m sorry I didn’t tell East how I was feeling about him.
“I don’t care that you like him, Kenz, I care that you didn’t tell me. I thought . . . well, I thought you would tell me first before you sleep with someone else,” he says gently. I expected him to be angry at me, not this, this is worse because I feel guilty.
“I haven’t slept with him, and that just happened,” I explained and he nods, standing up and coming over to me.
“I mean, after this morning I just . . . I guess I just need some time to think, Kenz,” he replies and walks around me. Turning around as I follow him with my eyes, watching him walk down the corridor, feeling like my heart is hurting more with every step he takes away from me.
Chapter 34
Kenzie
“Stupid, damn phone,” I mutter as I try to turn the thing on as I walk through the woods and back to the cabin after my lessons. It’s getting darker every day, and I can barely see where I’m going. I groan and slide it into my back pocket, knowing I’m more frustrated about everything else in my life than my phone. Enzo is avoiding me since the kiss in the hallway. I haven’t seen Mr. Daniels since we got hot and heavy in training, yesterday. East is still mad at me. Ryan is an accomplice in a murder, and I won’t speak to Kelly until she apologises for lying to me. The twins are the only ones who aren’t annoyed at me, but I haven’t seen them much since what happened yesterday with Mr. Daniels. I have the feeling East told them, by the awkward looks I got over the breakfast table this morning.