I frown. “But what if we’re actually not talking to youbecausewe’re respecting your boundaries?”
Oriel nods, watching her with glittering eyes. “It’s hard for us to bothnotbother you and alsonotdiscuss our things with one another.”
“Fuck,” she says as she scuffs her foot on the floor and moves back from Slash. Her arms wrap around herself, and Dottie scampers out of her bedroom to quickly climb up to her shoulder. “You’re right.”
Biting my lip as I put the mixing bowl down, I walk over to her, keeping the distance even with what she just gave my brother. “KK, you have changed. Not in the ‘no more pretending to be something you aren’t’ way, but in physicality, physiology, magic, and even mentally. It will take time for you to learn all the skills you need not to eavesdrop constantly or use your powers or control your shift. But you can’t just pretend you are the old Kat who didn’t have to worry about such things, simply because you’re hurting.”
“He is correct. If you are reluctant to listen to us on this subject, more discussions with the doctor are required, little demon. You have been to his office several times; has he not been educating you?”
I wouldnotwant to be Dank if the answer is ‘no’, though I don’t think Slash would actually win.
“I mean, yes. We’re talking about… things.” Kat shrugs uncomfortably as she walks around us quickly to go to the fridge. Pulling out a water bottle, she carefully adds drops of some potion to it and then heads for her seat in the living room.
“What is that?” Oriel asks as he, too, leaves the kitchen. “What are you adding to your drink?”
Kat takes a big sip, swallowing it quickly before she answers. “I suppose I should be honest.”
“For a change? I may drop dead on the spot.”
“Shut. It. Jasper.”
We all swing our gaze to Xerxes, who has slitted eyes as they glare at the prince. It’s not normal for them to have such a quick temper, nor to directly challenge our leader like that. Anton hurries over, sitting down with his mate as if the proximity will calm X down, but it doesn’t. Jasper turns a furious, equally animalistic stare on the cobra demon, but it also cannot get them to back down.
“I’m ssssseriousssss,” X hisses darkly. “Keep your bullsssshit to yoursssself or get out.”
“You can’t throw me out of someone else’s room.” He crosses his arms over his chest, smirking.
I shoot a look at Slash and Oriel, who nod, and then move to my seat. Dropping into it with a lazy grin, I smirk back at the pouting prick. “I can, and I will. No one will argue with me either, Jas. Like Kat, you cannot impose your will on us simply because you’re fucked up at the moment. While she was being nice, you’re being petty and snide. Neither behavior is going to resolve this mess, and we have more important shit to deal with. Are you here, or does Slash have to remove you so we can discuss the visitor issue?”
“Slash won’t dare?—”
“Jasper.”
Our prince’s head whips around at the simple, quiet name uttered from his best friend’s lips. He looks at the huge demon as Slash makes his way to his chair, and when the big guy sits, he stares right back. It’s clear as day that Jasper will either start a fight that might bring the entire dorm down or his ass will get thrown out of this room by our very own bouncer.
“Traitor,” Jasper spits as his tail whispers back and forth near Zav’s legs. “I’ll remember your disloyalty.”
Before he gets an answer from any of us, Dottie leaps into the middle of the space, shaking her fist and chittering at him angrily. We’re all stunned to see her suddenly get just a tiny bit bigger until she’s the size of a small dog, then runs over to kick Jasper in the shin. He blinks and flinches—something that shouldn’t be possible in the fucking slightest. Looking smug, the formerly tiny kinkajou struts back to her mistress and hops into her lap.
“What the fuck?!” Kat whisper-shouts as she looks down at the familiar. “You didn’t do that at Arces’ house! You just… took my damn bishop, and I thoughtthatwas bad. Where did that come from?”
Dottie doesn’t answer, just stays curled in her lap in the larger form with one eye closed and the other staring at Jasper intently.
“She really didn’t change at the Keeper’s?” Oriel asks in surprise. “Not even a little?”
“No,” Kat replies as her hand strokes over the soft fur. “I told you what he said, and I wasn’t lying. Just because I kept my gender a secret in this stupid, archaic all-boys fuck-boy land doesnotmean I’ve lied about anything else. I will not keep repeating that.”
X looks at her, the fond expression weird on their reptilian features. “You don’t have to tell me. I know how hard it is to be who you are in a place like this or at my previous schools. You’ll never get a judgment from me, KK, and you shouldn’t from anyone else who supported me as I figured my shit out.”
Ouch. That blow was low and vicious, just like Dottie’s kinkajou kung-fu; hopefully, our dipshit leader felt it.
Six
ARCHER
This shit is so surreal.
Growing up in a mixed shifter family, you see plenty of weird things, but not like this. Now that we’re all mated to Rogue, there’s been so much fucking magic and mayhem that I’m left gaping half the time. Right now, I’m carrying Javi in this sling thing as we head down to a creepy basement to break enchanted locks. And we’re inHell, which is so much weirder than hauling around a small shifter in a baby carrier. My mom had me doing that for my siblings by the time I was seven, so it’s nothing new.
