“Sweetling, you can have anything you like.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead and headed back into the kitchen, grateful I’d had the foresight to pick up supplies on my way here.
My witch would not be leaving this cabin without a belly full of hot food. Not on my watch.
14
Zane
Something had changed in the time I’d been away. The subtle shift in magic hit me the moment I popped back through the campus wards, still seething about my grandfather’s thinly veiled warning.
“Any more bullshit and we’re done, Zane.”
As if they, or anyone, could control me.Not fucking happening. I saw a problem, and I took care of it. Frankly, they ought to be grateful I dealt with the scum that hung around this place.
Nobody had ever accused me of being a good guy, but I did have standards. Anyone who suffered at my hands deserved their fate. Most of the time anyway.
The campus security seemed oblivious to the creatures that gravitated toward the academy, attracted by the scent of magical blood. Especially the demons.
I chuckled to myself as I thought about the former PT coach. That bastard deserved his fate. Feral shifter attack indeed. Okay, to be fair, a feral shifterhadtorn him apart, but only because I dropped the asshole in its lair like a tasty doggy chew.
His survival took me by surprise, but unfortunately, some hikers heard his pathetic screams and called 911. Luckily, he had no clue who had kidnapped him from his bed. Shapeshifting was my hidden talent. The one nobody knew about.
Thank fuck for my twisted bloodline. At least there weresomebenefits to being my father’s son.
From the hailstone drifts and deep puddles everywhere, a serious storm had passed over recently. Several trees bore scorch marks, and I spotted a few dead crows around a blackened tree stump near the running track.
I tucked my hands in my pockets and strolled toward the dorms. The school had assigned me a small apartment in the building where all the lesser magicals lived. Montgomery, the headmaster, did it deliberately to remind me our family was still under the watchful eye of the Supernatural Council after my father’s crime.
By rights, I shouldn’t be rooming with the less powerful magicals, as they were beneath me, but I wasn’t an elitist prick.
As I approached the path to my building, a tall guy came into view carrying a small female in his arms. I fell back into a pocket of shadow, curious. I didn’t recognize either of them, but from his stature, he was a larger species of shifter. Had these two transferred in?
The shifter glanced in my direction and growled. He must have caught my scent. Since he’d seen me, I changed direction and followed a path toward the library. Once I reached the portico entrance, I looked back to check on him, but he’d lost interest. As I stood behind a pillar, out of sight, the shifter waited for the female to enter her dorm and then he left.
Witches usually looked down on shifters, unless they wanted to get laid. It could have been a hookup, but the fact I didn’t recognize either of them irritated me.
I shifted into a stockier, shorter male troll and followed the tall shifter at a distance while pretending to stare at my phone. He took the path that led to a few isolated cabins where some of the faculty lived. Since I didn’t want to attract attention, I paused when he disappeared into the trees, and then I shifted back.
Why was a witch hanging out with a member of the faculty? A shifter, no less.
It made no sense.
Still, I loved a good mystery. School was boring as fuck most of the time, so solving this one would keep me entertained for a bit. And if it turned out the new faculty member was taking advantage of a student, I’d deal with the fucker.
Just like I dealt with the last one.
I wandered back over to the witch dorm. Once the coast was clear, I ducked behind a bush and shifted into a calico cat. The beauty of being a shapeshifter was I could mimic virtually any creature as long as I’d seen it once.
My cat trotted up to the entrance and waited patiently behind a potted plant until the door opened. The minute a pair of witches strolled out, far too busy complaining about the terrible weather to notice a cat, I sprinted inside.
All the dorms were warded to stop other species from entering, but some exceptionally dumb second-year witches had made the mistake of inviting me to one of their parties last year. I added extra ambiance, according to them. Which meant I ensured they got laid. The stupid bitches failed to realize inviting me in once meant I forever had access unless the headmaster updated the wards, which he rarely bothered to do unless something serious happened.
None of the witches in the common room spared me a glance. Many third-year witches had found their familiars, creatures linked tothem magically. A cat wandering around wasn’t unusual since several witches had feline familiars, and I looked almost identical to at least one of them.
I trotted upstairs, searching for the little witch. Her fiery magical signature led me to the third floor. Every door along the corridor remained closed. Once I reached the end, I sat down and debated whether I should leave before a witch tried to feed me something rank, like tuna.
A pitiful meow escaped as I remembered the last time a witch gave me cream after I’d shifted into a cat. Being lactose-intolerant sucked balls. I wondered with some amusement whether her bed had recovered from the mess.
A door opened nearby, and a soft voice cooed in delight.
