“I’m not mad.” I smile back at her. I look up at the stage just as Parker walks out. He shows the professor his palm, and the professor loudly claims Parker has bonded to twin snake shifters. Just like my foster parents. My shoulders drop in relief. He made it, and he doesn’t look too injured for his time in the forest. I glance at my own clothes and the lack of anything butash and soot on my cloak to show for my forest run. I should have rolled on the ground or something.
“What has been done cannot be changed, as the goddess states,” Fasrah states. Liar. I nod instead of calling her out on it and watch as she runs her eyes over my bonded, who are glaring at us all. Well, not at me, but mostly at Lock. I get it, I hate him too. “Welcome all new bonded shifters to my family members or soon-to-be.” She looks right at Aster. “You did do as I suggested, but not with the right daughter. I wanted you to be bound to my daughter-in-law.”
I clench my teeth. I am not her daughter-in-law, and I will never say any vows of commitment to Lock. Aster stutters. “There was an accident in the f-forest. I am dreadfully sorry. Please don’t punish?—”
“It was my fault.” I cut him off and casually move an inch closer to Aster. “He called for me and tried to protect me, and I just ran. I was just so scared. He won’t be punished for my mistake, will he?”
“Seems like the goddess has her path set for you either way,” she whispers to herself and blinks away whatever she was scheming. “I will convene with the other members of the Umbral Authority to decide the punishment for the dragons’ escape and bonding with you. They also murdered some of our best witches?—”
“Accidentally.” Kane steps to my side, his voice smooth. “Our dragons do not like to be caged, and one of us lost control. The witches were in the wrong place.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t punish my bonded. I want to pass my classes at the top level, and”—I push the words out, even with Kane’s eyes drilling into the side of my head—“I wish to be a deserving fiancée for your son. You wouldn’t want me to accidentally get killed for being at the bottom of the board?”
“No, of course not,” she snaps at me and relaxes her face almost immediately, her tone changing. “I feel like it’s been a long day for us all. Perhaps we should retire. I will check in on your progress soon. All of you.”
“Bye, Mother.” Winifred kisses her cheek, and she kisses her cheek back.
Lock nods his head at his mother in a much more formal way before she walks away.
“Darling fiancée, a word,” Lock bites, holding a hand out for me. “Outside, away from everyone.” He purposely looks at Kane.
Kane leans down, his lips inches from my ear, and his voice is near silent. Only for me. “Get rid of him fast. We need to talk about this asshole before I burn him to ash for the fun of it.”
“Fine,” I answer them both, but I don’t take Lock’s hand. I walk ahead of him, straight out of the room into one of the dark corridors. The second we are alone, he punches the wall right next to my head, and I jump. “Calm down?—”
“Do you know how much fucking trouble we’re going to get in? You hadonetask. Bond with one stupid fucking wolf. How did you get it so wrong?” he rants, screaming into my face. “I know it was an accident, or whatever the fuck happened, but you?—”
“Is there a problem?” Black drawls, his voice sounding like pure venom as he walks out of the shadows with his hood up. He looks like a god of shadows and fire as he treads closer. “Did your mother never teach you about raising your voice at women and punching walls? You shouldn’t do either.”
“Fuck off,” Lock snaps at him, and Black closes the space between us all in seconds. Lock jumps away, scared Black might remove his thick gloves and touch him. “This is nothing that my fiancée and I can’t talk about in private. Considering that you have bonded, we will need to have many discussions as a groupand set boundaries. I do not like anyone playing with what ismine.”
“Does she know she is yours?” Black counters, and he laughs long before Lock can even answer.
“Yes,” Lock bites out and looks right at me. “Don’t you?”
I shrug a shoulder and don’t answer. It only makes him angrier, and he looks like he might turn into a tomato with how red he is becoming. “Don’t be stubborn andstupid, Juniper?—”
“Call her those names again, and the last thing you will see is my hand in your chest, gripping your still-beating heart and burning it to ash as my curse drains your life.” Black’s warning seems to still the very air around us, and I suck in a deep breath. Carefully, without Lock seeing, I run my hand down his back softly to comfort him. To tell him I’m okay. Black’s shoulders lower an inch.
Lock gulps and the idiot tries to take control of the situation even now. “Our discussions will start with the fact that she shares a room withme, not with you four. I’d expect you to not get in the way of anything to do with our relationship.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you think you’re her fiancée. There’s no ring on her finger, but my mark is on her hand, in her soul.” Black stares him down. “She belongs to me, and I belong to her. I will protect her.”
“I’m having a ring made,” he grits out. “Nothing but the best for my fiancée.”
“We need to have a bonded talk about training and what we plan to do next.” Maz comes up to us, his cheerful voice trying to cut through the tension. I sense Kane and Vale close, and I know they have all been listening to this mess. I wonder if they would have stopped Black from killing Lock or joined him? What would I have done? “If we’re not sharing a room, we won’t have any time to do that. We need a game plan for class. I’ll walk Juniper back to your room when we are done.”
“No, she’s going to come toourroom and be at my side, aren’t you?” Lock takes a step closer to me, but Black doesn’t move. He gives Lock a look that dares him to try to move him out of the way and see what happens.
“Maz has a point. I don’t want to fail my tests and my lessons,” I answer Lock. “You said you weren’t feeling well earlier. Perhaps you should go and get some rest, sleep it off. Or speak to your bonded about your classes.”
“Don’t be more than ten minutes, or I’ll come and find you myself,” Lock warns before storming away.
I breathe out a sigh of relief once he’s gone. I don’t get a moment before Black turns on me. “Why the fuck are you still engaged to him?” Black asks coldly, quietly, wrapping his arm around me. “Especially when you responded when I kissed you. You want me. Not him. Does he know about that? Does he know that you like to kiss your bonded? You’d like to dofarmore too. I can smell your desire, Juni, and it drives me crazy.”
He runs his finger across my bottom lip, the shadows of the corridor blocking us from view as my body heats. My other bonded watch. Ilikethem watching. “I don’t have a choice. Like I said, they changed things this year, Black. They may have made him my fiancée last year, but this year they seem serious about me marrying him and making sure we’re close. But don’t worry, he can’t touch me. Not without having problems of his own.”
“What does that—” Black asks, but he has to step back as several witches walk past us and down the corridor. “This way.” Black leads us to a classroom, slamming the door shut behind him, and Vale casts a spell to keep the room soundproof.
