My cheeks reddened at the reality of the situation, and I hoped to whatever God would listen that they would remain oblivious.
“It’s fine, just... watch where the hell you’re going next time, yeah?”
I sighed as we both stood. His voice carried the edge of disdain, of annoyance.
But his eyes... his gaze had softened, but they still stared at me like I was a ghost.
Like I was something to be feared, to be avoided, at all costs.
So much for first impressions...
The reality both intrigued me and depressed me. The last thing I needed was to sink my ship at this academy before it even left the dock. Go figure the first person I meet on the premises of the academy I make an arse of myself and now they want nothing to do with me.
Not to mention, Bane’s attitude was pretty rude. Although something told me that he was not what he seemed, in the flesh or in the verbal sense. But I didn’t have time to set sail on the seas of trying to figure out someone like Bane, who was probably out of my league in all the ways that mattered. Besides, I came to Blackthorn to learn about myself, about my powers, and how to control them.
And now, after my orientation with Headmistress Blackthorn, I can add needing to learn more about where I came from to the list.
But instead of biting back like I wanted to, instead of some smart-arse comeback, I just nodded as I grabbed my duffel, clutching it to my chest again.
“Yeah, of course,” I said as Delaney shot Bane a scathing look as he passed us with a grunt.
“You okay?” she asked, looking me over like a mother hen.
“Yeah, nothing bruised but my fragile ego,” I joked. Though I’m not sure it was entirely a lie.
“Good. Don’t pay any attention to him, he’s nothing but trouble anyway.”
“Oh, I see,” I said with a nod, even though I could still feel the faint scent of vanilla and burning cedar hanging around me like a bad case of poison oak.
And as I followed Delaney into the commons area, into the crowd of students surrounding the common area before the dorms, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this...
This was only the beginning.
CHAPTER5
Bane
It tookeverything in me to walk away from Violet. Granted, Delaney was right, I should have been looking where I was going, instead of going over things in my head like I usually did... But I wasn’t going to tell her that. That woman would have grasped onto my vulnerability like Cerberus with a three-pronged bone.
Maybe then I would have seen her coming and walked around her instead of crashing into her.
Maybe then I wouldn’t have a raging goddamn hard on that was bordering painful right now.
I know it sounds cliché, but it’d been way too long since I felt any sort of sexual desire, and way too long since I’d acted on it.
I couldn’t. After everything that happened with Anne... I couldn’t bring myself to feel pleasure at all when it was my pleasure that was responsible for her death.
I’d been naive, trusting. I thought... I thought she was the one, myanam cara.
The minute I set my sights on her, I don’t know how else to explain it, but it was like the realm stopped around us. It was like I was frozen in time and space, and the only thing that existed washer.
Her cornflower blue eyes burned with a light that reminded me of pixies dancing in the dark night with the fireflies, vibrant pink hair splayed about her shoulders, falling over the front of her rather large breasts. Breasts which pulled tightly at the fabric encasing them, doing nothing to hide their size, and the thought of their weight in my hands struck me like a damn lightning bolt.
It was like wildfire after that. I took in the sight of her and her exotic features—after all, everyone here had the same tone, the same appearance when most of us were walking around in our human forms—from the bright hair on her head down to her sinful curves.
My cock rose to attention, pissing me off.
Now was certainly not the time to get excited about new pussy.
