by Lexi C. Foss
“I know you care,” I informed him softly, my lips whispering against his as I pressed a palm to his heart. “I feel it here.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’ll deny it if you tell anyone.”
I smiled against his mouth. “Don’t worry, mate. Your secrets are safe with me.”
He returned my grin and deepened our kiss. Then I felt the trickle of smoke surrounding us, the only indication he gave me of his power enveloping me to return us to the Academy. I almost protested, but his tongue silenced my ability, his grip tightening as he whisked us away in his trademark cloud.
And then I felt the familiarity of my sheets hitting my back, my room materializing around us. I giggled in amusement, and Shade nibbled my lower lip. “We can go back anytime,” he whispered.
“Promise?”
“Promise,” he vowed. “I made it for you, Aflora. Only you.”
“For us,” I corrected. “Our own little—”
A banging against my door made me jump. “Aflora! Open this door right fucking now!”
I blinked. “Zeph?”
“Told you they would be worried,” Shade drawled, rolling off of me.
“Don’t you dare go anywhere,” I told him as I scooted off the bed to find something to throw on. I’d left everything at the cabin, including my boots after Shade finally let me take them off. Apparently, he had a thing for heels.
I grabbed a plain white shirt from my closet, as well as a pair of sleep shorts, and pulled them on while Shade made himself comfortable in my bed. “You could magic yourself some clothes,” I suggested, then frowned. “Wait, what about—”
Our wands appeared on my nightstand while I spoke, Shade following my train of thought before I could speak. From what I understood about our new bond, we literally could communicate via telepathy but hadn’t yet.
Can you hear me? I asked him.
His lips twitched. Yes.
Good to know.
He winked. Answer the door before Zeph has an aneurysm.
Right. I cleared my throat and twisted the knob. Kols and Zeph stood on the other side wearing matching expressions of annoyance. “Well, at least I know the lock works,” I offered.
“Cute,” Kols drawled, looking over my shoulder at the male in my bed. Because of course Shade hadn’t accepted my suggestion to put on some clothes. Instead, he sat up with his back against my headboard, the sheets pooling in his lap in a very inviting manner.
He seriously looked like he belonged in my bed.
Which, yeah, as my mate, he sort of did.
Are we going to give them a show, little rose? he taunted. Because I’m game.
Stop.
I’m not doing anything.
You’re… you’re…
“Aflora?” Kols cut into our mental conversation, drawing my gaze back to the hallway. “Can we come into your room?”
I wasn’t sure what shocked me more—that he actually asked for permission or that he seemed uncertain of my answer. We’d shared a bed together every day this week. Why would that suddenly change? Although, it was his bed we’d slept in, but the principle still applied.
Clearing my throat, I stepped aside. “Yeah, please.”
Zeph’s jaw ticked, but he entered.
Kols followed.
Then Shade narrowed his gaze. “What happened?” he asked, suddenly serious and very alert.
I shut my door and leaned back against it, nervous.
“There’s been another attack,” Zeph said, his tone flat. “And it has Kols’s essence all over it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Zeph
“Why wasn’t I alerted?” Shade asked, his presence irking me immensely. Mostly because I’d been worried sick about Aflora for the last several hours, just to find out he’d been playing with her somewhere out of reach.
When we were done discussing this incident, we’d be having another conversation about not stealing our mate away without any sort of notification.
Wherever he’d taken her, we couldn’t sense her at all. Or him. Which had me wondering what realm he’d taken her to, because it definitely wasn’t a Midnight Fae location.
“The Council is meeting right now,” Kols replied. “Without Seconds or heirs apparent. I suspect the Elders have been called in.”
“Great,” Shade drawled. “It’s always a pleasure to hear from Constantine Nacht.”
Kols bristled but didn’t take the bait.
“Now isn’t the time to provoke each other,” I interjected. “We have a serious problem.”
“There’s more.” Kols cleared his throat, his intense gold eyes landing on Shade. “The attack was in the village near AcaWard at the tavern Tray took Aflora and Ella to the other week. Ajax’s parents were injured.”
Shade’s taunting aura disappeared in a breath. “Are they all right?”
“We don’t know yet,” Kols admitted. “My father tried to wake them, but they appear to be in a magically induced coma. Ajax is with them now.”
“And no doubt blaming you for it,” Shade added, running his fingers through his dark hair.
“He’s not my biggest fan,” Kols agreed solemnly. “But I didn’t do it.”
“I know you didn’t,” Shade replied, surprising me.
“How do you know that?” I wondered out loud, suspicious. “Where were you and Aflora?”
He arched a brow. “Are you asking if we did it?”
“No, I’m asking how you know Kols didn’t do it and also where you took Aflora.”
“Sounds like an inquiry underlined in an accusation,” Shade drawled. “What do you think we were doing, Zeph?” He glanced down pointedly at his bare abdomen. “Frolicking around the village?”
“He’s just surprised that you’d so readily believe my innocence,” Kols said, folding his arms. “And frankly, so am I.”
Aflora pushed off the door, drawing Shade’s focus to her. She arched her brows at him, her eyes intense, but didn’t say anything. He gave her a similar look, then cocked his head to the side as if he were indulging her.
Several beats passed, the intensity between them mounting by the second.
My lips parted as understanding sliced a hole through my chest. “You finished the mating.”
Kols jolted as if he’d been shot, his eyes widening. “You bit her again?”
Shade grunted, then twisted to show the opposite side of his neck and the healing mark on his throat. “She bit me first.”
Aflora’s cheeks reddened as Kols and I turned to gape at her. “You bit Shade?” I asked, the question stabbing me in the gut.
She chose him.
She chose him and not me.
My abdomen clenched with the realization. It was one thing to watch her with Kols, but to know she enjoyed Shade, too… I wasn’t sure how to accept that.
“I… yes,” she whispered, her tongue snaking out to dampen her lips. “He pulled me out of the spell, and, um, things got heated.”
Shade smirked at her description, while Kols narrowed his gaze. “What spell?”
Yeah, I was still on the realization that Aflora fucking bit Shade.
And not me.
Or Kols.
After a week of playing.
She still doesn’t trust me, I realized. Not that I could blame her, but the knowledge of it hurt a bit. Even if I did deserve it.
“Headmaster Irwin had us practice psychometry in class today. Aflora’s object took her on a ride through the past, and not one she was particularly prepared for.” He gazed at our mate, his blue eyes flickering with comments unspoken.
Because they could communicate telepathically now.
Because they were fully mated.
I palmed the back of my neck. Get a grip, I told myself. This isn’t the end of the world. She’s still mine.
But somehow she didn’t feel very connected to me. If anything, I felt… removed. I frowned, not liking this sensation at all. It made me
want to grab her and bite her again, to stake my claim and ensure she still felt me inside her.
Since when did I feel possessive over women?
Since this one stepped into my life, I thought sourly, annoyed.
“You’re right,” Aflora said, breaking the silence.
“I know,” Shade replied.
“So modest.” She rolled her eyes, but I sensed her humor. They were teasing each other, their relationship having moved to a level of intimacy that was much deeper than the one I shared with her.
I glanced at Kols to see if this bothered him as much as it did me, but he seemed more intent on whatever our mate intended to say. Was he not even the slightest bit jealous? Or was he hiding it better?
Oh, but wait, he had his elemental bond to her as well.
Because she’d chosen him as her mate.
Which meant he had nothing to fear, because she wanted him, just like she wanted Shade.
So where did that leave me? And why the hell was I spending all this time pondering such trivial bullshit? Emotions weren’t my thing. I preferred actions.
Except that was precisely the problem—Aflora’s actions proved her desires for Shade and Kols, while I remained third. The male who had bitten and claimed her without her reciprocation, all to save her from imploding.
It’d been a required reaction to her situation.
Perhaps that was all it meant to her.
No.
She at least desired me a little, because our passion was off-the-charts hot. That couldn’t be faked. I read women well. I knew their tells. And everything Aflora’s body said during our sexual interludes confirmed she wanted me.
Maybe her mind just hadn’t realized it yet.
I nodded to myself. All right. A challenge. I liked challenges. If she needed me to prove myself to her, then I would.
Although, I was doing one hell of a job of that right now because she’d been talking for the last few minutes and I didn’t have a fucking clue what she’d just said.
This woman is destroying me, I thought, irritated.
I wasn’t a man who held conversations in my head or thought about how to woo a female. I fucked them. End of discussion.
Yet Aflora was different.
I actually cared about what she thought of me, and I didn’t quite enjoy that revelation. Not giving a damn was far easier.
And utterly impossible where she was concerned.
“Shit,” Kols said, drawing me out of my head.
Because yeah, I’d missed whatever Aflora had just said since I was too lost in my feelings. Who the fuck is this jealous fool in my head, and how the hell do I get rid of him?
“So whoever enchanted the rock wanted you to find it,” Kols continued, palming the back of his neck.
“And somehow convinced Headmaster Irwin to do a psychometry lesson,” Shade added.
Okay, clearly I’d missed something important. If I kept listening, maybe I’d figure it out.
“While ensuring Aflora picked it from the items,” Kols muttered, then whistled. “That’s…”
“Unnerving,” Aflora whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “But that’s not all.”
“I’m afraid to ask,” Kols said.
Aflora looked at Shade for a moment, the two of them sharing some hidden message. “I recognized the magic during the attack,” she whispered as if uttering the secret out loud.
Shade didn’t look surprised, which meant he already knew this or had suspected it.
Which was big fucking news to me because I had no idea, nor had I come close to sensing Aflora’s connection to it. And given that I’d been the one spending time with her after the incident, I should have at least had an inkling about it.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded, angry more at myself than at her. However, my tone came out scolding, causing her to flinch. Yet I couldn’t apologize, because she should have said something.
“I… I wasn’t sure if I should mention it,” she admitted softly. “I wasn’t even sure what I felt.”
“A simple comment stating you recognized the magic would have sufficed,” I chastised her.
“And when should I have told you?” she countered. “When the Warrior Bloods were searching the suite?”
“Oh, the two-hour wait before that would have been just fine. Or, I don’t know, before you sucked my cock. That would have worked, too.”
She bristled. “What? Do you think I hid it because I’m guilty?”
“I’m honestly not sure what to think, Aflora.”
“This isn’t helping,” Kols cut in, stepping forward as if to get between us. Only then did I realize I was pretty much squaring off with Aflora in the middle of her room.
Great, Zeph. Really taking that whole “wooing the female” thing to the next level, I thought sourly.
I backed off, my hand scrubbing over my face as I forced myself to cool down. My annoyance wasn’t with her but with myself. Taking it out on her wouldn’t fix the situation. “You should have told us,” I said, my voice softer now. Well, softer than before. It still came out sounding gruff and displeased.
“I told you now,” she replied, fire flashing in her eyes. “But your reaction makes me wish I hadn’t.”
Ouch.
And also deserved.
“I’m glad you did,” Kols interjected, stepping in front of her and forcing her to look at him and not me.
Always the hero.
He was a prince, after all.
I just served him and his entire family.
And now Aflora.
“When you say ‘familiar,’ do you mean it was elemental in nature?” Kols asked her. “Or maybe it felt similar to your Midnight Fae abilities?”
I couldn’t see her face, but I imagined she had a contemplative gleam in her gaze—the one that always conveyed her intelligence and ability to strategize. That look always intrigued me. But as much as I wanted to see it now, I stared at the back of Kols’s head instead.
He often grounded me.
Which I unfortunately needed at the moment.
“It reminded me of my Quandary magic,” she finally replied. “And I sensed it before the chaos began, almost like the being had warned me of his presence before attacking.”
My brow furrowed. “How do you know it was a male?”
“Did you miss the part about her journey in his body through the Death Blood Education Building?” Shade asked, arching a brow. “She heard his voice.”
Right. That’d been when I wasn’t paying attention. Now I really regretted the trip through my head. “She heard him?”
“She was him,” Shade corrected, his icy gaze turning glacial. “He imprinted the memory on the rock for her to find, even left her a message. And I’m guessing it wasn’t a coincidence that today, of all days, he attacked the village. Because he set it up for her to travel back in time with that rock just before making another statement. Oh, and I’m also going to venture a guess to say the tavern was done on purpose.”
“Why don’t I believe those are guesses?” I countered, narrowing my eyes. He spoke with confidence, telling me he knew a lot more than he was letting on. “There’s something you’re not telling us.”
“There’s a hell of a lot I’m not telling you,” he retorted. “And I can’t. That’s not how the future works.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, not this shit again about the future.” I wanted to beat some sense into his cryptic ass, and probably would have if Aflora hadn’t stepped out from behind Kols and directly into my path.
Her palm found my abdomen as she ensured that I didn’t step any closer to the bed, her gaze burning into mine. “Zeph.”
My inner turmoil ceased in the space of a breath, my hands grasping her hips to pull her closer as if I craved her comfort. And maybe I did. “Aflora,” I murmured, utterly lost to her.
Surprise flickered through her features as if she expected more of a fight. But I didn’t want to argue with her or upset her. I
merely needed to protect her.
“I wish you would have told me,” I admitted, my voice far less combative than earlier. Hell, I sounded downright contrite. And the shock rolling off Kols told me just how out of character this was for me, but I couldn’t seem to help it. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on, pixie flower.”
Her features softened considerably, her irises flaring with emotion. “I should have told you.”
I nodded in agreement. “But at least you did now,” I conceded.
She lifted up onto her toes to brush a kiss against my jaw. “I’m not used to relying on others,” she whispered.
“I know,” I replied just as quietly.
“Well, I think it’s pretty clear what our next steps are,” Shade drawled from her bed.
“Yeah? Please share because I have no idea what the hell is going on,” Kols said.
Shade grinned, the cocky bastard enjoying our torment just a smidge too much. “We need to take Aflora to the village and see if she senses the same energy signature. If she does, it’ll prove it’s the same person who attacked the school.”
“The Council is already sure of that,” Kols pointed out.
“Maybe, but they also think you’re responsible. So if we’re going on what they believe, then…” Shade let that insinuation hang in the air.
“He’s right,” I said, hating that I agreed with the Death Blood but also respecting the hell out of his reasoning skills. “We need to see if Aflora can sense anything at the attack site. She might be able to give us a hint about who it is, or maybe see something the Council hasn’t.”
Shade nodded. “Exactly.”
Aflora glanced over her shoulder at the male on her bed, and they engaged in another of those secret conversations that ended with the Death Blood smirking. She shook her head in response, clearly exasperated.
“What are we missing?” Kols asked.
“He’s leading us,” Aflora said in a tone that sounded both amused and irritated at the same time. “He can’t tell us what he actually knows, so he’s ensuring we wander down the right path instead.”
Shade dipped his chin in acknowledgment, causing me to frown. “Why don’t you cut the cryptic bullshit and just tell us what you actually know?” I suggested, irritated with this game.