“And it doesn’t, like, send you into a frenzy?”
Gabriel stopped walking and turned to face me with a scowl,shifting the bear’s weight on his shoulder as he did. “Do you always ask such invasive and ridiculous questions? No, I do not go into a frenzy. My kind is taught from birth to control our urges so that we’re prepared when we ascend.” He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer. “You should learn to watch what you say before you end up in more trouble than you can handle.”
“Hey, I can handle myself just fine, asshole.” I huffed.
Gabriel tilted his head back and laughed. “Right, and that pathetic display on the training pitch was just to get Esmara to let her guard down. You’d have totally had her if Kiri didn’t have shit aim.”
My face flushed with embarrassment at his sarcastic words. “It’s not my fault the professor paired me up with a freaking bear. Who stands a chance against that?”
“Everyone except you, clearly.” Gabriel chuckled. “It didn’t slip my notice that you didn’t use your ability to protect yourself. That tells me two things, Ms. Knight”—his tone grew menacing, and he crowded into my space—“you’re a dud, and you’re the weakest supernatural currently at the Academy. How the Academy’s magic made the mistake of enrolling someone like you is beyond me, because it’s only a matter of time before you get yourself killed. You’d do well to remember that the next time you think of challenging me.”
Gabriel stepped back and turned around, stalking off in the direction we were headed. I sucked in a relieved breath, my hands shaking. Gabriel Dreadgrave’s behavior may have screamedbully, but he was right. I needed to be more careful, at least until I could defend myself. Keeping a few yards between us, I followed him quietly the rest of the way to the infirmary. I didn’t relax again until he’d finished telling the healers what happened with the bear and left.
“Selir’s sake, what is Rumlock thinking pairing a First Year mage with a Second Year shifter, and on the first day of class, too?” tutted the gray-haired, matronly woman inspecting my shoulder.
Her fingers prodded the gaping wounds, and I winced just before soft green light glowed in her palms.
“Will she be alright?” I asked, curious about the condition of my sparring partner.
“She’ll be fine. Nothing a few days here won’t cure. The spell around the training pitch prevented serious internal damage. Just some bad burns to salve and heal, don’t you worry,” the healer replied as she continued to work.
The skin at the edges of my shoulder wound began to itch furiously, and the matron slapped my other hand away as I tried to scratch. I could almost swear I felt my flesh knitting itself back together, but aside from the itching, there wasn’t any pain. After a few more minutes of her green glowing palms and feeling like a colony of ants lived under my skin, the sensations stopped.
“There you are, dear. Good as new.” She smiled, patting my now unblemished shoulder. “Don’t fret about combat training either, dear. I’ll be having a word with Dean Femirea about Rumlock’s extreme pairings. Won’t be having my infirmary full up from his sessions again this year.”
Though it was clear the woman meant to comfort me, her words caused me to pale. I couldn’t help wondering how many students Professor Rumlock’s teaching methods sent to the infirmary, for her to find it problematic. Before I could ask, she shooed me off the exam table and motioned for me to be on my way, handing me my uniform and messenger bag. I had no idea how either arrived at the infirmary, since I hadn’t brought them with me or seen anyone else enter after I had, but I was relieved I didn’t have to trek back across campus to retrieve them.
My stomach growled loudly as I made my way from the building. A quick glance at the sky was enough to tell me it was close to dinner time. It didn’t take mastering telling time by the stars to know that the sun being close to the horizon meant it was well into the evening. Digging my campus map out of my bag, I studied it for a second to get my bearings and thenheaded toward the dining hall. I was halfway there, according to the magical dotted path that appeared, when a surly voice boomed across the open quad.
“Ms. Knight, you wouldn’t be trying to skip our meeting now, would you?” Professor Thrackborne scowled, his arms crossed as he stared me down.
Chapter Eleven
Caulder
Bechora turned toward me slowly, her lips pressed together in displeasure. Dropping my arms to my side, I stalked toward her. She stood her ground, glaring at me as I closed the distance. My mate's lack of fear in the face of an angry dragon pleased me. The pride I felt in my little mate was quickly replaced by boiling rage. She reeked of blood. It blended into the black of her training uniform, but the jagged tears in the top were enough to tell me it was hers.
“You’re injured,” I growled, smoke billowing out of my mouth with the words. “Who?”
“What? No, I’m fine. It was just a training accident,” she said, scrunching her face.
“Who?” I demanded again, clenching my hands into fists to combat the urge to grab her and steal her away somewhere safe.
“Dude, what is your damage? I told you I’m fine.”
“You are not fine. Your shirt is shredded, and you’re soaked in your own blood.” I snarled, reaching out and tugging at the rip near her shoulder.
She jerked out of my grasp and scowled at me. “Hands off. Whateverthis”—she waved a finger in some semblance of a circle in my direction—“is, I’m not with it. I wasn’t trying to skip the meeting, I just forgot. I imagine being mauled by a god damned bear would cause anyone to forget. You don’t get to manhandle me over it.”
She was yelling by the time she finished speaking, and all I could do was blink at her in stunned silence. Crossing her armsin front of her chest in a mirror of my own stance moments before, she tapped her foot on the pavement.
“Look, if we’re done here… I’m starving. I’d like to get something to eat from the dining hall and then shower off this awful day before I crash.”
“We’re not done here.” I scoffed. “We had a meeting scheduled. We will have it. Follow me to my office, Ms. Knight.” I turned back toward the admin building, listening for the sound of her footsteps behind me. When I didn’t hear them, I paused. “Ms. Knight, unless you would like a detention, you will follow me to my office for our meeting.”
She let out a huff, but I could hear her moving toward me. I continued my way toward the lone black tower that held the administration offices before heading inside and climbing the winding staircase to the fifth floor. Bechora wisely followed behind me in silence. While I was pleased that she didn’t cow before me as my mate, her desire to verbally spar with me made it difficult to maintain the boundaries between us.
When we finally entered my office, I moved behind my desk and motioned for her to take one of the empty high-backed chairs on the other side. Her eyes flitted around the small space, taking in the dark decor and massive bookshelves behind her. Smiling to myself, I stooped down and pulled a Tupperware container with homemade stir fry from the bottom drawer of my desk. Wrapping my hands around the container, I muttered the words to release the cooling spell and called forth the heat of my dragon. Once I was sure it was adequately warmed, I strolled back around my desk and handed it to Bechora.
