The door flew open again before I could reach it. A small class of sixteenish-year-olds spilled out, chatting exuberantly, even though they looked wrecked with exhaustion. They barely glanced at me as they went by, the main topic of conversation revolving around lunch.
I slipped past them, reached the door, and cautiously glanced inside.
It was a small arena with a huge black circle painted on the gray floor. The three mages stood off to one side as the final students exited, leaving only a tall, middle-aged instructor.
“Shall I stay to supervise?” he asked dryly.
“Not necessary,” Ezra replied, all pleasantness and good cheer. “We’re fine.”
The man didn’t look convinced, but he walked out after his students. I had no time to hide, so I just went with it. Leaning against the doorjamb, I projected “casual” as hard as I could. Acting skills for the win.
The instructor glanced at me, eyebrows arching, and swung the door most of the way closed. Saying nothing, he kept walking. I peeked through the door’s narrow window.
Aaron had his arms folded as he glared. “What are you two—”
Ezra turned to Kai. “Do you want to do this, or shall I?”
My eyes popped wide. Gone was the pleasant tone. Ezra sounded … cold. Hard. Angry.
“I’ll do it,” Kai said. “You’ll probably break his bones.”
“Fine,” Ezra agreed, stepping back.
Kai gave Aaron a single sweeping assessment, then barked, “In the circle, Aaron.”
“What?”
Kai seized his arm and hauled him to the black ring on the floor. “Get in the circle so I can kick your ass.”
Aaron ripped himself free with a curse. “Like you can. You—”
Kai’s hand snapped out. A bolt of electricity leaped from his palm and hit Aaron in the chest, throwing him backward. He staggered for balance, his feet crossing the black line.
“We’re done with your bullshit.” Kai’s quiet voice echoed through the concrete arena. “So, as your best friend, I’m going to beat some sense back into your thick head. Be glad it’s me and not Ezra.”
Ezra folded his arms, waiting impassively by the wall like a silently fuming referee.
“What’s your problem?” Aaron backed up two steps. “This is idiotic.”
“Before we review that statement, the rules: You can’t turn this entire ring into an inferno, and I can’t draw electricity from the power lines.”
“Fine,” Aaron snapped. “But I’m not holding back.”
“Neither am I.” With that, Kai drew the shorter of his two swords.
My body went cold.
Aaron drew Sharpie, its long blade still smeared with shifter blood. “All right. What’s your issue, then? Spit it out.”
They circled each other, feet silent, steps crisscrossing with mirrored grace.
“Where should I start?” Kai asked coolly. “How about your shit attitude?”
“My—”
Kai snapped his sword sideways. Lightning sprang from the blade but Aaron darted aside. He cast out a hand and fire blazed toward Kai. The electramage dropped into a roll and was back on his feet in an instant.
“I won’t give you hell for the mistake you made yesterday by taking that class into the woods,” Kai said as he slid bladed stars out of a pocket. “It was a mistake, but you deserve hell for everything today.”
“Everything like what?”
Kai whipped two stars into the air. They flew wide on either side of Aaron—then Kai twisted his switch. Electricity erupted from both spinning stars and the two arcs snapped toward each other, catching Aaron in the middle.
He bellowed in pain and dropped to his knees, his clothes smoking.
“Like rushing out there to hunt those shifters without a plan!” Kai yelled, his fury breaking free. “Like refusing to wait for backup! Like ignoring Ezra’s strategy and rushing in alone! Like putting all our lives at risk to compensate for your screwup!”
Aaron shouted a wordless response and hurled a wave of fire at Kai. The electramage dove forward, arms shielding his head, and rolled through the cooler base of the flames. Springing up, he hurled a snaking white bolt.
Aaron swung Sharpie across the lightning’s path. The electricity caught the steel blade and crackled down into the floor. The hilt must be insulated.
“It went just fine,” Aaron snarled. “We were all fine, so what’s the pr—”
“It was dangerous!” Kai advanced on Aaron. “It was needlessly risky—just like taking a class of kids into the grounds was risky. It could’ve all gone wrong as easily as it went right.”
“You’ve always been an overly cautious cowar—”
“Aaron!” Ezra shouted from the sidelines. “Don’t you dare!”
Aaron’s gaze snapped to Ezra, then back to Kai, and the stiffness in his shoulders faltered. “I—”
“Go ahead, Aaron,” Kai growled. “Call me a coward. I dare you.”
Aaron stepped back, his sword lowering. “You’re not a coward. Not at all.”
“I’m not,” Kai agreed quietly. “But you are. Today you are.”
Eyes bulging with fury, Aaron ripped his baldric off his shoulder, shoved Sharpie into its sheath, and slid it out of the ring. Kai sheathed his katana, the hilt slamming home—then he leaped.
The two mages slammed together, and it was like their basement sparring sessions—except this was true violence. They weren’t pulling their punches. They were trying to hurt each other. The sound of their knuckles striking their bodies, even with their combat gear to protect them, was too much to bear. I clutched the doorframe, frozen with horror.
Kai rammed Aaron into the floor and bent his arm behind him. “I know being here screws with your head! But you have to get over it and stop acting like an elitist prick.”
Aaron snapped his hand open and fire erupted in Kai’s face. Gasping in pain, Kai lurched backward. With a sideways heave of his torso, Aaron threw Kai off and tackled him around the middle. They crashed to the floor again.
“I’m doing my goddamn best here!” Aaron shouted. “I’m trying to fix this!”
“You’re trying to save face, not fix it,” Kai wheezed, pinned under his larger friend. The fluorescent lights flickered—a charge building in the air—then electricity erupted across Kai’s body. Aaron crumpled, limbs twitching, and Kai broke free.
“I was almost bitten in that fight,” Kai panted. “Tori had to fight two shifters by herself. Ezra had to step in to save our asses, even though it’s the last thing he should be doing.”
“I—” Aaron gulped for air. “I didn’t …”
“You didn’t think. You haven’t been thinking since you took those kids into the woods.”
Aaron shoved to his feet with an incoherent roar. “I’m doing my best!”
“Do better!” Kai yelled back, thrusting his hands forward. Lightning arced between his palms, then a twisting bolt slammed Aaron off his feet. He hit the floor with a yelp.
Kai lowered his arms, breathing hard. “Every time I think you’ve outgrown the person this place made you, we come back and you’re that guy again.”
Aaron rolled over and pushed onto his hands and knees, his movements slow and pained. “What guy?”
“The conceited asshole who sneered at Tori because her opponents weren’t as dangerous as ours.”
Aaron’s head jerked up. “What?”
“You didn’t even realize what you were doing, did you? Right back into old habits.”
“I …” He started to rise but fell back onto his ass. “Oh … oh hell.”
“You spat all over her first real fight since we started training her. She had every right to be proud, especially since she was supposed to be backing us up, not fighting alone. She didn’t even have a real weapon!”
Aaron’s face had paled, his anger gone.
“Get your shit together,” Kai warned vehemently. “And get it together fast. This isn’t who you are. You’re
smarter than this. Kinder than this. Better than this.”
Shoulders slumping, Aaron stared miserably at the floor. “Damn it.”
Kai surged forward with quick, aggressive steps and I sucked in a frightened breath. The electramage’s hand flashed out—and he offered it to his friend.
Aaron reached up, and Kai pulled him to his feet.
“You know I always have your back, Aaron, but you need to watch our backs too.”
Aaron nodded mutely.
Ezra finally moved. Unfolding his arms, he crossed to the other two and gripped Aaron’s shoulder. His murmur drifted through the room, words too quiet for me to make out.
Hands shaking, I backed away from the door, then stole down the hallway. The wing was deserted—all the students had gone to lunch. Lost in disturbing memories of Aaron and Kai pounding on each other, I found myself standing on the front steps, a light rain misting the sidewalk beyond the overhang.
I sat on the top step, staring at nothing. On the ferry, Ezra had warned me that the academy alumni were self-important, judgmental jerks, and I’d been relieved Aaron wasn’t like them. He was considerate, charming, funny, a natural leader, and openly appreciative of his guildmates’ skills … but prone to arrogance.
It seemed that streak of arrogance went much deeper than I’d realized. It wasn’t an amusing excess of confidence but a deep-running fault—something he’d worked to overcome. A weakness Kai and Ezra had helped him defeat.
But we could never escape our upbringings entirely. I knew that all too well.
The door behind me swung open. Twisting, I looked up into Ezra’s mismatched eyes.
He sank down beside me. “Followed us, did you?”
I cringed guiltily.
“I’m sorry you saw that.”
Releasing a long breath, I shook my head. “I think I needed to see it. Where are the other two?”
“Infirmary. They need treatment for their bruises and burns, plus a healthy dose of painkillers. They’re hurting pretty bad.”
I scrunched my nose. “Was it really necessary to beat each other up, or is this a guy thing I’ll never understand?”
Ezra laughed and the sound dove through my center, awakening a swarm of butterflies. “In this case, drastic action was required to shock Aaron out of his backslide.”
I lifted my hand to chew on a fingernail, then noticed its disgusting state. I needed a shower. “How did Aaron and Kai end up as friends? If Aaron was that bad, I can’t imagine what Kai saw in him.”
“From the stories they tell, they were bitter enemies during their first couple years as academy students.” He propped his chin on his palm. “But they have more in common than they do differences. According to Aaron—and Tobias, too—Kai was no angel either.”
Somehow, that didn’t surprise me. “I’m glad they grew out of their punk teenager phases.”
“It’s not something they talk about much, but I think Kai finding the courage to walk away from his family is what made Aaron realize he could do the same. Or maybe that he needed to do it.”
I was tempted to ask more about Aaron and Kai’s history, but I was distracted by the way the light cast deep shadows over Ezra’s face, highlighting the sharpness of his cheekbones; he’d lost weight over the past few weeks. Yet, despite his exhaustion, he hadn’t hesitated to search endless woods in a freezing storm.
I hopped down two steps and into the rain, then held out my hand to him. “Let’s get some lunch, and after that, you should lie down.”
“Aaron and Kai may be planning to resume the hunt. The black wolf is still out there, and if you’re right that it’s the pack alpha, we can’t ignore it.”
I’d described my encounter with the black wolf on our way out of the woods. Not only had it appeared to command the other werewolves, but it was also the largest and most powerful. Though it had lacked the strange wounds and eerie miasma, its eyes had been milky, suggesting it had been altered too.
Whatever was up with the black wolf, we needed to deal with it—but not this moment.
“There’s an entire guild’s worth of alumni dying to show off how awesome they are. Let them do some work. You, Aaron, and Kai have earned a break.” I captured Ezra’s hands and drew him to his feet. “We can relax together. I’ll read and you can close your eyes for a bit.”
His tired smile was so grateful that my chest tightened painfully. “All right.”
I knew better than to do it, but I entwined our fingers. His palm was warm, his grip strong, and he didn’t recoil at my gross, muddy skin. Friends didn’t hold hands, but screw it. I was holding his hand anyway.
As we walked away from the academy, his fingers tightened around mine. Friends didn’t hold hands … but he didn’t seem to care about that rule either.
Chapter Fourteen
I could get used to this.
Curled up on the luxurious sofa, I had a new thriller from my favorite author propped on the armrest. I was four chapters in but my focus kept drifting to Ezra.
He was stretched across the sofa beside me, his head cushioned on a thick pillow propped against my thigh. His arms were folded over his chest, face turned away from the light—and he was out cold, his breathing slow and deep.
My gaze lingered on his tousled curls, nearly tucked under my arm, then slid across his soft, long-sleeved shirt that gave all kinds of hints about the defined muscles hiding beneath. Not that I didn’t have a very good idea about Ezra’s musculature, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t keep on appreciating it.
I returned my attention to my book, but a page later, I was staring down at him again. My heart felt strangely tight in my chest. After so many bad nights and long days, seeing him sleep—really, deeply sleep—was such a relief. I had no idea if my presence helped, but I’d sit here all day just in case.
A frown tweaked my lips. Now that I thought about it, Ezra seemed to sleep just fine when he was around me, Aaron, or Kai. He napped all over the place when we were with him, and I’d never seen him jolt awake like he’d described. We kept waking him up ourselves, usually to send him to his room, assuming he’d sleep better in a bed.
Either way, things were looking up. Ezra was finally sleeping, the transmutation genius was working on Sin’s cure, and we’d defeated most of the mutant werewolves. All that remained was the black wolf leader—and possibly a few more shifters—but the alumni were out searching. Nice that they were finally making themselves useful.
Relaxing into the plush sofa, I resumed reading, checking that Ezra was still deeply asleep after every page or two. The afternoon slipped away, interrupted only by the maid, who kept bringing me glasses of fruit juice despite my embarrassed protests that I didn’t need pampering.
Daylight gave way to the warm glow of the lamps, and I finally had to move. Too many drinks. My bladder was about to burst. I carefully slipped out from under Ezra’s pillow, tiptoed into the hallway, and speed-walked to the bathroom.
When I returned, Ezra was sitting up on the sofa, blinking sleepily at me. I dropped down beside him.
“How’re you feeling?” I asked, regretting that I’d woken him.
“Better.” He rested his head on the cushions, his smile so drowsy my heart melted on the spot. “That’s the longest I’ve slept in … I don’t know.”
Why did the urge to burrow into his chest have to hit me now? I wanted to curl up in his lap and inhale his amazing scent and—
Stomping those thoughts down into a dark corner of my brain, I forced a smile. “I’m glad. It’s about an hour until dinner, I think. Want to catch a few more zees before then?”
He yawned, lazily covering his mouth. “I think I’ll head upstairs. See if I can get back to sleep in bed. If not, I’ll come down for food in an hour.”
“Okay,” I said, hiding my disappointment. “I’ll pop over to the infirmary to visit Sin and check if Aaron and Kai are still there.”
“Probably not. They weren’t badly hurt.” He stood and stretched his arms ov
er his head. His shirt rose a few inches, revealing a strip of bronze skin, taut abs, and the white scars that cut diagonally across his stomach. “I feel better than I have in weeks.”
“Hmm?” I mumbled distractedly, ogling his torso.
His sudden touch on my hair made me twitch. He tugged a tangled curl loose and settled it along the side of my face, where it belonged. His thumb brushed my cheek as he withdrew his hand.
“Thanks for keeping me company, Tori,” he murmured, a corner of his mouth lifting.
Cheek tingling and pulse jumping, I could only sit there like a brain-fried dummy as he crossed the room and disappeared into the hall. I blew out a long breath.
Stacking my things neatly on a corner of the sofa, I headed for the entrance hall. Brett had finished his shift, so it was Dominic who handed me my jacket. One of the two of them had cleaned it since this morning’s forest romp, and I thanked him profusely.
Shadows clung to the grounds as I entered the academy. I was getting pretty good at navigating the premises and found the infirmary after only one wrong turn.
“Hi,” Sin said unceremoniously as I plunked down beside her. “Can you please convince the healer I don’t need to be chained to this bed?”
“Doesn’t she want to keep you under supervision for twenty-four hours?” As Sin sighed in defeat, I glanced around, confirming it was just the two of us. “How are you doing? For real?”
Her gaze dropped to her lap and she twisted a handful of blankets. “Honestly? I’m terrified. There’s so little time.”
“Kelvin the Genius is the best, though,” I reminded her.
“Yeah.” She strangled the cotton fabric. “I’m scared, but I also feel … contaminated. I don’t really remember what happened after they dragged me away …”
Her voice trembled and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“I …” Her throat moved in a swallow. “I can feel the wolf spirit.”
An icy prickle rushed down my spine. “You can?”
“I couldn’t at first, but the feeling is getting stronger. It’s this pressure in my chest, like something’s fighting to get out … something violent and hungry.” She shuddered, then turned her desperate, tear-filmed eyes to mine. “You and Aaron were both bitten and didn’t get infected.”
The Alchemist and an Amaretto: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Five Page 12