Asher’s rigid features didn’t relax. “Now you do.”
Trent ran, and I smacked Asher on the arm. “I had it handled,” I told him.
Finally some of the pissed-off anger faded from his face, and he winked at me. “I know that, but it’s in my nature to protect what’s mine. I’m just one of those guys.”
He was; he protected the people he cared about with a ferocity that would scare most supes. I could never be mad about being one of those people. Plus…
“I feel the same way about you,” I admitted. “Whenever those chicks drape themselves over you, I kind of want to rip their faces off.”
It was my first experience with being possessive, and it certainly took controlling myself to a new level.
Asher’s gaze went all dark and sexy. “I fucking love that about you.”
There was this weird pause, because he’d used the love word, but then Ilia and Calen were calling us, and the moment passed. This party was in a different location to the forest one, out the back of the main classrooms, in a huge room I hadn’t seen before. It was almost set up like a ball, with polished marble floors and stadium seats right around the outside.
“This is the music and concert room,” Ilia said, leaning around Calen to speak to me. “They have huge performances in here, and it has the best acoustics.”
This was proven by the music pumping in the place, filling my blood with energy. Asher dragged me right out onto the dance floor. “We got interrupted last time,” he murmured near my ear, and I pressed myself as close as I could get.
“This time I’m dancing the night away,” I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck.
I’d clearly jinxed us though, because not two minutes later a loud siren blared through the room. It was so piercing it even cut through the loud music.
“What is that?” I asked Asher, swiveling my head to see what was happening.
“It’s the alarm on the perimeter of the Academy,” he said, going into protective mode. He kept one hand on me while he angled his body between me and the door.
The other guys found us almost immediately, surrounding me as well. “Where are Ilia and Larissa?” I asked, trying not to panic. My hands clutched at my necklace, relieved that my power was still strong and present inside of me.
“Right here,” Ilia said, dragging Larissa and depositing her into the middle of the Atlanteans, next to me. She then pulled twin daggers from thigh sheaths—because she was literally that badass—and stood next to Asher. I was distracted watching her twirl those babies in her hands, before remembering that the alarm had gone off for a reason.
Someone had breached the perimeter.
Princeps Jones dashed through the entrance. He had some of his staff with him, and they didn’t look shocked or angry by the obvious signs of a party happening. Larissa was right, he definitely already knew and just turned a blind eye. He searched around, and when he spotted us he surged forward. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this, a sense that this was something to do with either Atlantis or me.
Or both.
“Asher,” Jones said, not at all breathless. “Arterians are at the front of the school. They’re demanding that you and Maddison speak with them.”
“No!” Asher’s voice was snap of fury. “She will go nowhere near them.”
Ilia twirled her daggers again, eyes narrowed. “Let me speak with them,” she suggested, and I had to shake my head at how brave and scary she could be, if not a little reckless and stupid.
I dropped my hand on Asher’s arm and immediately got his attention.
“We should go,” I said softly. “They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have something important to say.”
Asher growled, a feral light entering his eyes. “Last time, they kidnapped you. This time, I will just kill them all before they get a chance.”
I chuckled, wrapping my arms around him. “Easy, tiger. Let’s just hear them out first, and if we don’t like it, we can discuss killing them.”
Asher’s chest rumbled under my hands, and I knew he wasn’t happy about it. I gave him another minute to think about it, not pushing when he was so close to the edge of his control.
“Okay, fine,” he snapped. “But you’ll go nowhere alone.”
I nodded, not wanting to talk to them alone. “They asked for you as well,” Princeps Jones reminded him.
Asher let out a derisive laugh, dark and without humor. “They know it’s the only way to get to Maddison.”
