“You finally decided to chase me,” he said, mockery curling through every word as I stomped toward him. “Careful, little mage. I’m not sure you could handle playing that particular game.”
I closed the distance between us; my fist balled at my side. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demanded, stopping within arm’s reach.
Gabriel cocked his head in a predatory tilt. “Wrong with me?”
“Yes, asshole.” I seethed, jabbing my finger into his chest. “You’re a complete jerk to me one minute, then standing up for me the next to fucking Dante. Not to mention the fucking mating mark you put on my neck that you blamed me for. And the dreams, for fuck’s sake, those damned dreams. You know those aren’t because of something I did. God, it’s like you enjoy flip-flopping how you treat me! I refuse to stand for it. I demand to know what the fuck you’re playing at, and I want it to fucking stop!” my voice rising with each word.
Gabriel moved, grabbing my arms and pressing my back against the side of the stadium so fast I didn’t have time to react. “What am I playing at?” he growled. “You have no fucking clue, not a one. You have no idea what it means to be chained to me, and yet the fates have made you mine.”
“I. Am. Not. Yours.” I bit the words out, but even as I spoke them, some part of me knew they were a lie.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “That mark on your neck wouldn’t be there if you weren’t. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t want it, that you’re fucking dangerous. If I letmyself have this, Selir knows what terrible things will happen, but the gods don’t care!”
“What the hell are you even talking about?” I demanded.
“Did you know I have a sister?” Gabriel asked, his voice softening. “My obedience is the only thing that keeps her safe from my father, and yet you’ve shown up and torn away my common sense. I tried to find a way to undo this, but I can’t— it doesn’t fucking exist.”
My body swayed as my mind worked overtime to make sense of his words. As if pulled by the same force that drew me toward him, Gabriel leaned down, his lips a breath away from my own. Realizing what was happening, he slammed his fist into the stone wall of the stadium with a snarl and jerked away from me, his chest heaving.
“Stay away from me, Bechora. I mean it,” he snapped before turning on his heel and speeding away.
My body slumped against the stone, and my hand flew up to press against my racing heart. I stayed like that for several minutes, working to steady myself as my mind spun with everything Gabriel had said. With a final heavy breath, I shoved away from the cold stone and trudged toward the dining hall, still unsure what to make of the exchange between the vampire and me.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Bechora
After another evening of fruitless searching through the books the librarian had found, I returned to my dorm with Shadrie. Part of me wanted to tell her what happened with Gabriel after combat class, but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I said goodnight and made my way to my room.
The days became routine as they slipped into weeks that slipped into months. The pull I felt toward the four males who weren’t my mates only seemed to grow stronger and more insistent as time went by. I did my best to ignore it, going through the motions of attending class, completing assignments, dodging the snide remarks of Daena and her crew of mean girls, and working with my friends to find answers about my abilities.
There was something odd in the behavior of those same four males. I’d spotted the scowling dragon professor a few times around campus, but he seemed to avoid me, not even bothering to resume our sessions. For his part, Gabriel had initially left me to my assigned sparring partners before slowly demanding their spot the way he’d done with Kiri. He seemed intent on giving me emotional whiplash with the way he so easily alternated between cruelty and kindness.
Dante continued to ignore me or encourage Daena’s taunts, only to corner me in private with innuendo-laced words. Vallynn’s behavior was the strangest of them all. He generally seemed content to pretend I didn’t exist, but I’d noticed him watching me when he thought I wasn’t looking. On morethan one occasion, he’d moved toward me, his body taut with intent, only to catch himself before he stalked away. I didn’t know what to make of any of their strange behavior, but it soon became clear it hadn’t gone unnoticed by the pack of rabid mean girls.
I should have trusted the prickle on the back of my neck when I left the library to head to my next class, but exhaustion had dulled my instincts. I moved onto the empty path between buildings, too focused on making it to class on time to notice the faint shimmer that clung in the air like a spider web.
“Going somewhere, trash?” Daena’s syrupy voice cut through the silence.
I froze mid-step. She and her flock of harpies — as Shadrie referred to them — fanned out across the entrance to the walking path. Glancing over my shoulder, I noted the fae females were blocking both ends, effectively cutting off my escape. The smirk curling Daena's lips told me she’d been waiting, silently gathering intel on my routine, all for this moment.
“I’m not in the mood, Daena,” I snapped, trying to edge past her most loyal sycophant, Maera.
“Oh?” She smiled, tilting her head slightly. “Things not going well for you with the demon you conned into taking you as a mate? I’d say that’s a shame, but we’ve all seen how you lust after the powerful males in this school — following them around panting and begging for any scrap of their attention.”
Daena snapped her fingers, and two females emerged from thin air. I recognized one of them as the succubus I’d collided with on my way to the first group meeting in Vallynn’s dorm. Zypher hadn’t responded very well to her insinuation that I’d used magic to trick him. She’d seemed contrite in the moment, but the look on her face now was anything but. I was staring into the face of a female out for blood — mine, specifically. The air thrummed with unnatural weight, and I reached for my magic. It skittered away like water off oiled glass, causing panic to claw at my chest.
Daena’s smirk widened as if she could taste my fear. “Feel that? I paid quite a bit for this. This little pathway belongs to me now. No one will hear you. No one will save you. And best of all, your pathetic little magic tricks are useless.” She snapped her fingers, and the air pulsed with an ominous shimmer.
Cruel laughter ripped through her friends as they moved to circle me. Their eyes shone with anticipation, a frantic sort of energy building around them and threatening to suffocate me as they moved closer. Daena nodded at the demon female I didn’t recognize.
“Just the bond with Zypher,” Daena instructed. “Leave the thrall bond alone so Gabriel can enjoy her suffering. Who knows, maybe he’ll even join us to help put the little bitch in her place.”
The female’s face split into a vicious grin as she nodded. The air around her seemed to contract, drawing inward around her body as she gave me her complete focus. The demon raised her hand, and heat slammed into my chest like a battering ram. Pain exploded through my ribs, hurling me backward into the shimmering barrier of the spell Daena had cast around the pathway.
My knees buckled as the nearly invisible tether that always hummed in my chest went silent. My breath hitched, a strangled sound scraping out of my throat. It wasn’t gone — it was still there, faint and muffled like a candle snuffed beneath glass — but muted. I couldn’t feel Zypher, couldn’t lean into that thrum of strength, and worse… I knew he couldn’t feel me.
“Do you feel it?” Daena crooned, stepping closer, her eyes gleaming with vicious delight. “The demon prince can’t feel or sense you anymore. Whatever little spell you cast on him is broken now. Snuffed out just like that.” She snapped her fingers to illustrate her meaning. “You’re alone, just as you should be.”
