“I have no doubt you could have directed them in an efficient search had you tried.” A stiff pause. “Regardless, the alpha wolf will have to wait until Saturday. There will be no time to search tomorrow.”
“My morning is free to—”
“You’re meeting with the Olympus guild master at ten. He’s flown in specially to see you, and I will not permit you to insult yet another valued colleague with your truancy.”
I gritted my teeth at Tobias’s stern tone. Footsteps and rustling clothes moved across the room, and when I dared to look, both the headmaster and his son had left.
“So,” I drawled, “tomorrow is the party.”
“The party,” Ezra echoed, his expression disconcertingly grave. “If we survive it, then we’re home free.”
“Survive?” Sin sounded alarmed. “What does that mean?”
He fixed his poker stare on her. “You’ve clearly never been to a party like this before.”
“Like what?”
Leaning close, he whispered in a grim monotone, “A staff Christmas party.”
I snorted in amusement. Ezra’s deadpan humor aside, I suspected he wasn’t joking that survival would be our goal tomorrow evening. From everything I’d seen of Sinclair Academy so far, a gathering of its most elite members and all their extra-elite friends would be anything but fun.
* * *
The sound of my bedroom door opening woke me in an instant.
I went rigid under the blankets, ears straining. The door snicked shut, the noise muffled. Adrenaline flooded my bloodstream and I reached for the leather cord hanging around my neck. I slid my fingers down to the crystal resting on my tank top.
Eterran, the demonic scum, couldn’t keep his promise for one night. Had he changed his mind about our “deal”? Was he here to kill me before I could reveal his new trick to Ezra?
Gripping the fall-spell artifact in one hand, I drew in a silent, steadying breath. The element of surprise was my only chance. I threw my blankets aside and lunged off the bed, the incantation’s first syllable already on my lips.
My room was empty.
I paused, confused, then rushed barefoot to the door. Cracking it open, I peered into the hall, expecting to see Ezra/Eterran sneaking back to his room. Maybe Eterran hadn’t come to kill me? He could have been checking that I was asleep before taking Ezra’s body for a joyride around the manor.
The hall was empty too, but Ezra’s room was right next to mine. Had he ducked back inside? If the demon had broken his promise, I needed to know. Heedless of the chill air on my bare arms and legs, I darted to Ezra’s door, but building terror froze my hand on the knob. Eterran could be right on the other side, his powerful fists and even more powerful magic able to silence me in an instant.
Shoving down my fear, I pushed the door open with more force than intended.
The hall light flooded the room, revealing a complete lack of demons standing inside. From the bed, Ezra raised his head off his pillow and squinted blearily at me. Confused. Half asleep. No sign of glowing crimson eyes.
Uh. Oops.
I cringed. If Eterran hadn’t been sneaking around, then I’d barged into Ezra’s room for no reason.
“Tori?” His drowsy stare drifted down my torso to my legs. “What …”
When his gaze didn’t immediately return to my face, I realized why he was staring. I’d barged into his room for no reason in my underwear.
“Uh …” I stammered. “I, um …”
Refocusing on my face, he pushed himself up on one elbow. “What’s wrong?”
“I—I thought I heard a noise. I was just checking on you. Sorry to wake you up.” I forced a laugh but it came out too high-pitched. “Maybe there was no noise. I probably dreamed it. Nightmare or something. No big deal.”
Shit, was I babbling?
He sat up, the blankets sliding down his torso. The hall light cut across his bare chest, the warm glow illuminating the dips and planes of his muscles. My mouth went dry.
“Tori?”
I zoned back in and jerked my eyes to his face. If he’d noticed me checking him out … well, he’d checked me out first. Unless he’d merely been assessing me for injuries or something. That was a possibility.
Had he asked me something? Crap. “Um … what?”
“I asked what kind of noise you heard?”
“Just … a noise. I don’t know.” My voice had gone high-pitched again. “Sorry I bothered you. I’m going back to bed.”
His eyebrows pinched together. “Wait—”
I swung his door firmly closed, then looked down at myself and gulped. My thin white tank top hugged my chest like a second skin, and it had ridden up to reveal my black, low-rider panties and their lace waistband.
Face flushing, I cursed my impulsiveness. What had I been thinking, charging into his room? I shouldn’t have assumed the person sneaking around was Eterran.
Then again, if it hadn’t been Eterran … who had opened my door?
I peered up and down the dimly lit hallway, then strode away from Ezra’s room, determined to get my dumb ass back into bed. Maybe I had dreamed the sound. I reached for my door handle.
A clammy hand covered my mouth.
My assailant dragged me into the window well where he’d been hiding and shoved me face first against the wall. His arm was clamped tight around me, pinning my arms to my side. He pressed his chest into my back.
“Hello there, pretty thing,” his hoarse voice rasped in my ear, steamy breath washing over my cheek.
A couple of weeks ago, Aaron had devoted an entire lesson to headbutting. My head, he’d promised, was plenty hard enough to use as a weapon. I just needed to commit to the strike—something I’d struggled with. Protecting your head was instinctive, you know?
Tonight, however, I had no trouble swinging my head back and bashing my skull into the unknown man’s nose.
He gasped, his arms loosening. That gave me enough room to punch him in the balls. He lurched away from the blow, lifting me off the floor. I hooked my foot around the back of his knee, buckling his leg and throwing him off balance. Then I headbutted him again.
He bit back a yelp, squeezing me even harder. My bones creaked, pain burning through my crushed arms.
“Knew you were feisty,” my attacker rasped, shoving me into the wall again. His fingers, still holding my mouth, dug into my face and he pinned me with his body. “Knew as soon as I saw you.”
Panic fizzled through my brain and I tried for another headbutt, but he was holding my jaw so tightly I couldn’t move my head. The rest of my body was ruthlessly pinned against the wall, rendering all the fun tricks Aaron had taught me useless. I wasn’t breaking free until he shifted his grip, so I went limp, hoping he’d loosen his hold.
He laughed quietly as he rammed me even harder into the wall, the decorative wainscoting bruising my cheek. His panting breath hit my bare shoulder, then a hot, slobbering mouth latched onto my skin.
I couldn’t help it—I abandoned my surrender ploy and writhed frantically, his hand muffling my horrified squeal.
“I’m not here for you,” he growled against my skin. “But I can’t resist a little taste.”
He bit the top of my shoulder, pinching skin, just shy of breaking it. I tried to jerk away but he was so damn strong—stronger than Aaron by a landslide. He bit harder, and pain flared. With my face squashed into the wall, all I could see was the empty, shadow-laden hallway.
So I had a perfect sight line when Ezra stepped into view, fist drawn back.
With the crack of knuckles hitting bone, he punched the guy right off me and into the window. Glass shattered. Ezra grabbed my hand and hauled me away—but the man seized my other wrist. He wrenched me so hard that my arms pulled taut, shoulders threatening to dislocate.
Ezra let go before my arms popped out. I smacked into the guy, managing to punch him in the gut. He grunted, then swept me into him and jumped backward—onto the windowsill.
“Aaron!
” Ezra yelled. “Kai!”
Holding me against him with painful force, the man sprang off the sill in a shower of dislodged glass. I screamed as he slammed down on a second-floor balcony. He launched over the parapet and dropped another level to a stone terrace. Throwing me over his shoulder, the man raced for the railing.
Wind blasted. Ezra landed on the terrace in a whirl of blowing dust. My captor leaped over the railing, landed ten feet below on the back lawn, and charged toward the trees.
Now that I was no longer in danger of splatting on any stone surfaces, I grasped the fall-spell crystal swinging from my neck, pressed it against the man’s back, and yelled, “Ori decidas!”
The artifact glimmered and the men’s legs went out from under him. He crashed to the ground and I was thrown away, the crystal flying with me. I tumbled across the grass, then rolled to my feet.
My attacker was already up, but the delay had given Ezra time to reach us.
The stranger—a tall man around thirty with a mop of ragged black hair and the bulging muscles of a steroid addict—spun to meet Ezra’s charge. Like me, Ezra wasn’t dressed for a life and death battle. He wore a pair of cotton sweatpants and nothing else.
He swung at the man, but the stranger darted out of the way.
“You can’t beat me,” he mocked. “Can’t you tell?”
Catching Ezra’s next swing, he pushed into the aeromage with a triumphant grin. Ezra took one surprised step back, then braced his feet. The muscles in his arm bunched—and the cocky black-haired bastard bent under Ezra’s demonic strength.
“What?” the stranger gasped.
Baring his teeth, the man shoved into Ezra. Breaking his opponent’s hold, Ezra landed a crushing blow to the man’s jaw. His head snapped back, but he recovered instantly and threw his own punch.
The two inhumanly strong men fought with lightning-fast blows. My eyes went wider as I nervously withdrew a few yards. Ezra rarely let his real speed and strength show—most opponents didn’t require it—but now he was a blur of powerful strikes. And so was the other man.
Ezra added his aero magic to the fight. A blast of wind, a boom of air pressure, and the man flew backward and hit the ground with a crunch. Snarling, he scrabbled at the grass as he clambered up.
He leered at Ezra, his hands balled into tight fists. “Whatever you are, tomorrow I’ll be stronger. You’ll feel my real strength on the full moon.”
Arm whipping out, he hurled a small object into Ezra’s face.
Ezra lurched away, arms shielding his head, and with his stolen moment, the stranger pivoted on one foot and sprinted for the trees. Ezra lowered his hands but didn’t give chase. The man had too much of a head start, and following him into the dark woods alone was an ambush waiting to happen.
“Are you h-h-hurt?” I asked as I rushed to his side, the question distorted by a sudden onset of teeth chattering. Holy hell, it was way too cold to be standing outside in my underwear. An icy wind swept over us, damp and bone-chilling.
“Just a scratch.” He held up his bare forearm, displaying a shallow cut, inflicted by the rock our mysterious attacker had thrown. “What about you?”
“F-f-fine.”
He scanned me from head to toe, then gently touched my chin to tilt my head. I was probably already developing some nifty bruises from that asshole’s crushing grip. Ezra angled my head the other way and his fingers tightened on my chin. A sound rolled from him—not really a growl, but a deep, husky exclamation from the back of his throat.
“He bit you.”
Okay, that was a growl.
“Is it bleeding?” I asked.
“Not bleeding.”
“I’m g-g-good, then,” I chattered.
He stared down at me, his chocolate-brown eye almost black in the darkness, his other eye eerily pale. Then he swept his arms around me and pulled me tight to his chest—his bare, sculpted, mouthwatering chest. I gasped, then shamelessly plastered myself against his warmth, my hands gripping his shoulders. I buried my face in the base of his throat, inhaled his heavenly scent, and acknowledged how terrifying that struggle had been.
When I started to shiver, he drew me even closer, and I closed my eyes. Thank you, nasty intruder dude, for the small things—like a half-naked hug from Ezra in a dark, wintry garden beneath the castle’s glowing windows.
Chapter Eighteen
The black alpha wolf. Yesterday morning, he’d waltzed onto the academy’s back lawn and challenged Aaron to a battle. Then last night, in human form, he’d broken into the manor and almost turned me into a wolfy chew toy.
I hadn’t made the connection during the fight—too focused on not dying—but his identity had been easy to piece together. The bulging muscles, preternatural speed, and inhuman strength. His comment about knowing I was feisty “as soon as I saw you.” And, the dead giveaway, his promise to show us his real strength on the full moon … which was only a few hours from now.
Between the shifter’s threat and Sin’s exorcism, midnight promised to be all kinds of fun—but I had other worries on my mind.
“I should’ve gotten the green dress,” I moaned, fighting hysteria. “What was I thinking?”
Sin looked away from the bathroom mirror, a tube of her homemade, alchemic, never-smear-or-fade lipstick in her hand. “You look amazing.”
I shook my head, almost dislodging the fancy twist she’d spent thirty minutes taming my curls into. A few loose tendrils swayed around my face. “Noooo. I should’ve gone with the frumpy dress. This is a dignified party full of prudish zillionaires.”
She dabbed pale pink lipstick over her lower lip, capped the tube, then planted her hands on her waist and surveyed me from head to toe. I gave her the same assessment.
Her dress matched her teal hair perfectly. The strapless bodice’s crisscrossing fabric wrapped her bust, while layers of soft chiffon draped down to the floor. Her hair hung in magazine-perfect waves over her shoulders, subtle makeup enhanced her dark-lashed eyes, and a pearl necklace finished off her outfit. Lovely and elegant, classy but fun.
Gulping, I faced the mirror and nearly buckled under a million doubts. My dress’s V-neck offered only a hint of cleavage. That part was modest, but the rest …
Embroidered black roses ran up and down the curves of the tight mermaid cut. Where roses didn’t cover me, the sheer black lace revealed tantalizing glimpses of the nude-tone silk beneath, giving the impression that under the embroidery, my naked skin was barely hidden by semitransparent fabric. The black lace flared out at mid-thigh and swished around my legs as I turned to look over my shoulder. The front’s modest cut belied the completely missing back, the straps sweeping straight down to my waist.
“What was I thinking?” I whispered, horrified by my lack of foresight.
Sin stepped in front of me and gripped my shoulders. “You look amazing, Tori. Sexy sophistication. You’re a bombshell and every woman here will be jealous.”
I gulped. “Right. Okay.”
She handed me a tube of blood-red lipstick. I swiftly applied it, then gave my appearance one final check. Thanks to some healing magic and alchemic salves, a faint red mark on my shoulder was all that remained of my injuries from last night. Good thing, because bloody bite wounds were, like, so last season.
As ready as we would get, Sin and I boldly swept out of the bathroom.
We’d spent so long getting ready that the guys had given up waiting and gone down to the party. Sin and I took the spiral stairs to the gallery that overlooked the entrance hall. A few people—men in suits and women in long dresses—milled in front of the fireplace and Christmas trees.
Vaguely disappointed that I wouldn’t get a movie moment where I slowly descended the grand staircase while the guys stood at the bottom, amazed by my transformation, I lifted my skirt off the floor and hastened down to the main level. Since it was a floor-length dress and I loathed high heels for the torture devices they were, I’d opted for a pair of black ballet flats.
&nb
sp; Low voices in dignified conversation rolled out of the drawing room. Sucking in a breath to calm my nerves, I ventured through the door.
Over a hundred people mingled in the expansive room atop a deep red carpet. Crystal chandeliers cast soft light over green garlands looped along the walls, and twelve-foot Christmas trees filled the corners, adding their own golden glow to the lighting. Two beautiful stone fireplaces faced each other across the length of the room, and the outer wall featured a bank of windows that looked out onto the stone terrace.
Waiters in black suits, bow ties, and white gloves, with one hand tucked primly behind their backs, carried trays of champagne flutes among the guests. A long table draped in shimmering gold cloth boasted silver platters of delicacies, finger foods, and desserts. An ice sculpture of two stylized reindeer formed the centerpiece, a pale blue light illuminating the melting ice lit from beneath. Everywhere I looked, the room shimmered and sparkled like magic.
Actually, there might be some genuine magic involved.
Sin hovered beside me, all shyness, so I raised my chin and led the way. Eyes turned to us, but I paid them no attention. The only people whose opinions I cared about were my three mages.
I found them in the corner by the terrace door, opened a crack to let a chill breeze into the stuffy room. Ten paces away, I had to stop and take in the sight of them all fancied up in formal tuxes.
Kai, in typical Kai fashion, had gone for all black—and he pulled it off beautifully. Black jacket over black vest over black shirt, with a black tie neatly knotted and tucked into his vest. Dashing and mysterious, with a hint of danger. He could’ve stepped off the set of a James Bond movie—the beguiling villain rather than the hero.
Aaron’s jacket was the darkest of blues, and the color made his vibrant eyes pop so brightly he could’ve passed for a fae. His black bow tie sat on a crisp white shirt, and the jacket’s cut showcased his broad shoulders and tapered waist, the sleeves falling exactly so, a white square of silk peeking out of his breast pocket.
Ezra’s tux was charcoal gray, layered over a white shirt and medium-gray tie. As a concession to formality, he’d combed his tousled curls back from his face, and without the tangle of dark hair across his forehead and curling over his ears, his cheekbones had taken on new life, with subtle shadows revealed along his clean-shaven cheeks and jaw.
The Alchemist and an Amaretto: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Five Page 15