“So you came here?” I question as Lock fills my glass with wine. I pick it up and take a long drink, ignoring Kane’s worried eyes lingering on my face.
“I did. So did my wife. We met at a ball though, our shared stories of this place linking us together forever. A love story like yours and Lock’s. I have hopes Winifred will meet a young witch here and fall in love.” Wini chokes on her drink, and her dad doesn’t seem to notice. “It is so important we have another generation soon. Witch lives are special.”
“We all agree.” Fasrah smiles at her husband. The evening continues with small talk as food is served, and I finish my wine for some courage. Lock talks about himself, about some heirs to the business within the witches’ ranks here at the academy. I feel Wini’s father’s eyes on me repeatedly throughout the meal as they serve food. Melody chatters on about how proud she is of me, and Kane is silent. He picks at his food and doesn’t touch the wine given to him. I try to engage in their conversations, but after a while, I zone out until dessert is served. It’s an apple crumble, and I just mess with it.
I look at Melody. “I’ve heard that Rue has gone off to the war. Isn’t that a bit early for her?”
“Sometimes we do pull people out early to start the war. It’s what is best for them,” Fasrah answers. “With how smart you are, you might be next. I know how desperate you are to make a difference in this war.”
“It’s what I studied for. I’ve always pushed myself for the greater good,” I answer truthfully. I turn back to Melody. “Do you have an address where I could write to her? I know people write to family in the war.”
“Yes, of course. I have an address,” Melody answers tightly. Something flashes in her eyes for a second and I don’t knowwhat it is. “Come with me. We can get it now and spend some time together before I return home.”
“Sure.” I push down the doubt in my voice and stand. Lock’s hand grips mine and he yanks me down, slamming his lips against mine. I’m in shock for a moment, unable to move.
“Don’t be long,” he breathes against my lips as I pull back.
I push down the sickness in my throat and go after Melody, unable to look at Kane. I need to apologize to him, explain that was Lock putting on a show. All I want to do is scrub my lips raw the moment I am alone.
Melody takes me through a small corridor and out into another cozy room. Small dark wooden tables are dotted around with plush chairs pushed up against them. The walls are thick with empty bookcases and odd ornaments inside on the shelves. There’s another door and I expect her to lead me through it, but she doesn’t. She shuts the door behind us and whispers one of her silence spells.
My stomach drops. I can’t fight back here, not without revealing the truth. “Where is?—”
Melody grabs me by the throat, and she slams me into the wall. I gasp, too shocked to use a spell to protect myself as my head thumps. “Rue’s busy fighting in a war; she doesn’t need to hear from you. Listen to me, you’re being awfully rude. First of all, you didn’t bond with who they told you to. Lock told his mother that you’re being strange and not sleeping with him. Men have needs and you are his fiancée. Do you understand? You need to fucking stop whatever you are doing, or I will come back again to punish you. And I am going to show you what happens when you?—”
She pauses. I barely even hear the door open, but I see Kane, like an angry storm, slipping into the room. He grabs her hand just as she goes to slap me, and snaps it.
Her scream ricochets around the room, but Melody’s silence spell makes the sound never leave. No one is coming to help her and it’s her own fault. Kane slides in between me and Melody, looking down at her, his back to me. I look around his arm and see the fear in her eyes as she looks between us. Whatever she sees on Kane’s face terrifies her as she tries to pull her broken wrist from Kane’s tight grip. “No one touches my bonded.” Kane slams his hand over her mouth, and I watch in horror as she screams. Flames burn down her throat, through her body, and explode out of her eyes and ears, out of every vein in her body until there’s nothing but ash falling to the floor and a horrid smell of death in the air.
Kane turns back to me, his eyes burning like red flames as he wipes her ashes on his suit jacket.
I breathlessly stare up at him. “What did you do?”
“No one will know she’s missing straight away, and we’ll claim ignorance if they do. I promised you that no one would ever touch you. That what she did was abuse. I remembered that moment between us.” He touches the back of my head, where she slammed me into the wall. “You were so broken in my arms and telling me what she did because you were out of it. I felt furious and helpless to fix it, to fix you. All I could do was make a binding promise.” He leans into me, pressing me against the wall as my heart beats faster. “I remembered what I promised. I will never let her hurt you again. When you said it was character building and I said it was abuse, I vowed to the goddess that she would die for touching you.”
I should have feelings about her death. She did take me in as a child when no one else seemed to want the job. But I feel nothing now that she’s dead. Except for relief. “You’re right. She can never hurt me again.”
“No one is going to hurt you again.” He slides his hand into my hair. “Not when you’re mine. And you are, Juniper Daygan.I might not remember, but I feel this between us, and the longer I push away these feelings, the more they demand to be heard. I can’t keep away from you. I can’t breathe when I’m this close to you, Juni.”
“Kane…it’s the same for me. But not just for you, but my other bonded too. I don’t want to cheat or?—”
He kisses me, soft and urgent, cutting me off. “They are my brothers, the only men I trust in this world, and it is not cheating as long as it is only them too. The five of us, no one else.” I nod, my cheeks burning. “Come with me.” He takes my hand, leads me through the other door, which leads us out to a corridor. He touches a wall, and another door appears. Sooner than even physically possible, we’re at the bottom of the stairs and walking up to the rooms. He opens the door to the room I share with Lock, and we go in together.
“Why not your room?” I question as he shrugs off his jacket and throws it on the sofa. The material of his soft black shirt pulls and bunches around his chest and arms, and I have to tug my eyes up as my mouth waters. “Lock could come back at any moment.”
“Good, I want an excuse to kill him.” Kane closes the space between us. “Because that fucking bastard kissed you today, and you didn’t want it.”
“No, I didn’t,” I whisper.
“You look so good in that dress, Juni. I want to see you come undone in that dress.” He runs his fingers up my chest, up the dress. My breath catches as he gets to bare skin between my breasts and strokes his fingers up and up, to my neck and into my hair. “And I’m going to make sure that his kiss is not the thing you’re going to remember about tonight.”
He slams his lips onto mine.
Chapter 8
KANE
Juniper kisses me back, and fucking hell, I lose it at the first taste of her. All semblance of control went flying out the window the moment I saw her in this red dress, my favorite color, and the way that the soft material clung to every inch of her curves? I was rock hard long before she even spoke a word.
