“Where is she?” Ryker asked. The deadly edge in his voice lingered menacingly in the room.
Nix had never shown up for potions class, and Ryker could not scent her anywhere on the academy grounds. Ryker had never felt the desire to roast another shifter alive before, like he did when he saw the dean’s nervous and guilty eyes glance off to the side.
“I assume you are talking about Miss Oadess?”
Bael stabbed his blade into the dean’s wooden desk and carved the letter “B” while looking into the dean’s eyes. “For a second, I was worried you weren’t smart enough to be a dean.”
Dean Felling’s cheeks pinkened as he stated, “Destruction of my property—”
Bael began carving an “I” onto the desk. “Here is the thing, you can either answer us, or I make you answer us.” Bael shrugged. “Either way…”
“You answer,” Ryker grunted, finishing his friend’s sentence.
“Not that I ‘need’ to do anything,” Dean Felling replied quickly. “But Miss Oadess happens to be with her family today. She will return for the dance tonight.”
“Herfamily?” Bael sneered the word, carving another letter while keeping his gaze secured on the dean’s.
“Will you leave my office now?”
Bael tapped his chin in thought. “No.” Bael kept his blade standing straight into the desk as he shrugged off his uniform blazer. He began unbuttoning his dress shirt, and Dean Felling sputtered.
Dean Felling’s face reddened. “Are youundressingin my office?”
“I’m running out of shirts,” Bael said and tossed his shirt to the floor. His black webbed wings shot out of his back and gleamed with the sheen of hellfire.
Ryker averted his gaze and smiled to himself as Bael’s horns curled out of his head and his eyes turned to black spirals.
“Dean Felling, we’re going to play a game.”
Dean Felling blinked but fell victim to Bael’s hypnotic gaze immediately. “Mm, game,” he echoed in a weak monotone.
“Do you know about the student disappearances?”
Ryker snorted. So much for their instructions to “lay low.”
“The…”
“The students of rare species who have gone missing. What do you know?”
“They…drop out.”
“Do they?” Bael asked, challenging his words.
“Yes,” Dean Felling replied.
Ryker huffed. The dean could not lie under hypnosis.
Bael grabbed his blade and etched another letter into the desk while he mesmerized Dean Felling. “Why are you the dean here? You had no experience in education. As a student heremanyyears ago, you were below average.”
“I am favored by the council,” Dean Felling said sleepily.
“Why didyouwant to be dean?” Bael asked.
The dean’s lips curled up slightly in a gross, dreamy smile. “The perks.”
Bael stared into his eyes, and Ryker knew the incubus had just entered the man’s mind. But Ryker was shocked to see Bael shudder at what he saw in the dean’s head.
“You fucking asshole,” Bael spat out the words.
