“No, Mama, I can’t. There has to be another way. I’ll keep looking for a way to break Brianna’s spell.”
“It’s no use.” I hated that she’d given up, but was it any wonder when my father had stripped away her freedom, stolen her animal, and given her nothing to live for?
“I’ll find a way, Mama. I promise.”
“He always wins,” she whispered before rolling toward the wall and curling into a fetal position.
34
Raven
Iwrote the last few words on my paper about the vampire royal family for Professor Dunton, who was rapidly becoming my least favorite professor, and tossed it on the floor. Everyone else submitted their work electronically, but I refused to admit to anyone I had a technology phobia.
The professor had expressed surprise when I gave him a handwritten paper on demons, but since he hadn’t marked me down for it, I assumed it was fine to continue doing it the old-fashioned way. Besides, I much preferred writing on actual paper with an actual pen than tapping away on a keyboard.
Kenji carried on grooming himself while I lay on the floor, staring up at my ceiling. It had been a week since I rescued Kai and his friend. Both of them had avoided me ever since. They’d missed our last gym class, which had worried me, but when I asked Glynda if she’d seen them, she said yes. Naturally, this then led to an interrogation about why I cared, which had me wishing I’d perfected my poker face.
At least I could now shield my thoughts from all but the most powerful witches, thanks to my lessons with Miss Windborne. If I lost focus, my shields wobbled, but I could keep Glynda and most other people out of my head.
Not that I didn’t trust Glynda, I did; she was the sweetest person, and rapidly becoming my best friend on campus. However, I didn’t need her grilling me about all the confusing stuff going on right now.
Between Maverick, Zane, Alar-dick, Kai, and the weird dreams I’d been having most nights about a strange male in a windowless room, my head was a dumpster fire of epic proportions.
And Kenji still hadn’t told me why he kept leaving random valuables in my bed.
The longer I stared up at the ceiling listening to my thoughts, the more irritable I got.
“I can hear you spiraling,” Kenji muttered. “Please stop. You’re ruining my meditation.”
Ugh, he was so annoying. I was also sick of him shedding hair all over my bed and clothes. “Then leave?”
“Can’t. Dog’s been spotted in the area.”
I huffed loudly. “Why won’t you tell me what you’re involved in?!”
“I can’t. The mages might haul you in for questioning, and you would have no chance of resisting a truth spell.”
It was the first concrete clue he’d given me. “So it has to do with the mages?”
Flapping wings at the window distracted me. A large crow hovered outside, its beady eyes gleaming with intelligence. A sudden tug in my chest made me wince. The bird pecked at the glass and cawed loudly.
“You should let him in,” Kenji remarked. “I heard there’s a mage who has a thing about shooting crows downwith magic.”
“Oh my stars, who?” I resolved to add that mage to my hit list. A list that already had way too many names on it for a nonviolent witch like me. Not wanting anything to happen to the crow, I quickly opened my window. The bird flew straight in and shifted into Zane.
Thankfully, unlike actual shifters, he kept his clothes when he shapeshifted. Although there was a small part of me that wished otherwise. I’d seen the incubus half-naked, and he was a fine male.
“What are you doing here?”
Kenji made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“I missed you too, pet,” Zane purred. Stars above, the incubus looked good in his fitted black shirt and faded jeans that hugged his muscular legs.
“You better not be pushing lust magic at me,” I growled while trying to ignore the sudden ache between my thighs.
Zane grinned. “No need, pet. If being close to me turns you on, it’s because I’m naturally irresistible.”
“Full of bullshit, more like.”
