My heart stopped.“Hunted?”
“So I think a few private lessons would be helpful, Miss Blackstone,” Oakman was saying when I tuned back in. My fists clenched so hard I almost drew blood. How dare mages hunt my familiar and his family!
“Kenji says mages killed kitsunes, and that’s why they disappeared.” The professor blinked in surprise. Then he cleared his throat.
“That’s all in the past, Miss Blackstone. I can assure you nobody hunts kitsunes these days.” Kenji scoffed in my mind.
“Only because they can’t find us.”
“They better not or I’ll…” I clammed up because even though I was no threat to powerful mages, my bear was, but Professor Oakman didn’t know that.
“Please rest assured your kitsune is perfectly safe on campus.” I didn’t know whether I could trust the professor, but I needed his help with Kenji. “I have a book on kitsunes in my personal library, which I think you’ll find useful.” Kenji flopped down on my desk, still bedraggled, looking bored. He pretended to snooze while keeping one eye on the cat in the hope she gave him an excuse to chase her again.
“Come to my office in the morning, and I’ll let you borrow it. If your familiar agrees, I’d like to study him. Unusual familiars are a pet project of mine.”
Kenji’s snarl told me exactly what he thought about that idea, but not wanting to upset the professor, I smiled brightly.
“Um, let me talk to Kenji and get back to you on that. But the book sounds interesting!”
“Wonderful. My office is on the second floor of the main building. I’ll be there from 8 a.m. tomorrow.” The professor waved me away and moved back to his desk. His cat threw one last glare in Kenji’s direction before disappearing through a small cat flap.
I waited until we’d left Professor Oakman’s classroom before I pulled the sparkling watch from my pocket. “Care to explain where this came from?” I asked Kenji.
Ignoring my question, he grabbed it with a claw and blinked away.
Goddess forgive me for wishing harm on my familiar, but stars above, he tried my patience. From what Professor Oakman had told me, the bond with a familiar was meant to be mutually supportive. So far, all Kenji had done was be a pain in my butt.
As I walked down the corridor toward the exit, a familiar mage strode toward me, lost in thought. With his long legs, he moved at a much faster pace than I did, and before I could move out of his way, we crashed into each other.
“Fuck, I’m so—” An unexpected apology fell from his lips and then died when he realized who stood before him. “Oh, it’s you.” Disdain coated his words like poison. I hated the way he made me feel, like I’d never be good enough for him.
But I refused to let him drag me down. What did it matter if he hated me? He was just a mage, and I was just a witch. Sure, we both attended the same school, but as a second-year, he’d graduate before me.
“Yep. Just me!” I said breezily while doing my best to ignore the pain in my chest. This was the first time we’d seen each other since the confusing magic lesson. My cheeks colored at the memory of him whisperinggood girlin my ear.
It didn’t seem to matter how badly the mage treated me. My body still wanted him.
I focused on his aura. It seemed darker today, more gray than metallic, with deep purple strands woven through it. The longer we stood staring at each other, the more his aura tried to merge with mine.
It made no sense. The mage hated me. So why was his aura so desperate to be close to me?
Maverick’s aura behaved in the same way, but he was my mate, so of course it did. The incubus’s aura also reacted similarly, but since I knew nothing about incubi and their magic, I wasn’t sure why.
Researching incubi was on my to-do list. Along with interrogating my familiar about why he’d shown up with a very expensive watch.
But first…
“You’re supposed to be mentoring me,” I reminded Alar-dick. He scowled in return.
“The last lesson was a disaster, so it seems pretty pointless to me. Read a book or something.” He tried to pass me, but I blocked him.
A small smirk betrayed his amusement at my stubbornness, but to my surprise, he didn’t use his size to force me out of the way. Maybe he wasn’t such a dick after all, although I still planned to head back into the forest. It wouldn’t hurt to have some orange trumpet flower potion on hand. Just in case.
“Please.” I wasn’t above begging. The goddess knew I needed help to stop my magic from spinning out of control. “You’re the best person to help me.”
He stepped closer, forcing me back against the wall. The corridor was empty, and for a moment, a small kernel of disquiet bloomed at the idea he might hurt me, but I brushed it aside. The mage was a dick, but he’d never actually hurt me. Not physically, at least.
“Are you willing to beg, little witch?” His green eyes darkened from bright emerald to a rich forest green. I swallowed hard as he caged me in with biceps so thick they strained the seams of his uniform jacket.
