He dropped behind the desk as he panted, his hand rubbing his throat. “I could have you executed for attacking me.”
“And what would you tell them was the reason?” I gave him a vicious grin. “Jealousy?”
Fawley scoffed, adjusting his glasses on his face. “I had no reason to be jealous of a bloodsucker like you. Any time she spends with you is just a flight of fancy. She will be where she rightly belongs soon enough and then you’ll see.”
He pulled his chair back out and sat down. “Now, if that’s all, I have work to do.”
He dismissed me as if I were nothing more than a gnat buzzing around his head. Yet I couldn’t deny that he had me.
I’d been rash. Reckless. I’d let his words get to me, and I’d lashed out. I should have left it alone and let Jack handle it. Except here I was, acting as the protector when I didn’t even know if she wanted me to.
If he hadn’t been a hunter prepared to fight me off, then I could have killed him, a professor, right here on the college grounds. If that didn’t get me executed, it would get me expelled at the very least.
Then the professor said something so quiet that I almost missed it. “I’m trying to protect her like you.”
Shoving out of the office, I stalked away, my shadows pouring out onto the ground like ink with each step to echo this dark feeling inside of me.
What was this woman doing to me?
Chapter twenty-five
Tate
Arumblinggrowlrippedfrom Kyren as he laid splayed across my bed, his head in my lap. “They made another amendment.”
“Oh, no. Not another one,” I murmured, not looking up from my phone, my words dripping with sarcasm. I was used to his random tirades. I let my fingers trail through his hair, hoping to calm him.
“I’m serious, Tate.” Kyren shoved my hand away from his head. “This cannot keep going. At this rate, the Durands will have us being nothing more than humans with special dietary requirements.”
“I thought you didn’t care about what they did.” I sighed, flicking my finger across the screen of my phone. “Plus that’d never happen. You’re still faster and stronger than a human. Then there’s the whole sensitivity to the sun thing.”
Kyren ignored my logic and continued. “The problem with the Durands isn’t that they run most of the supernatural council,which already should be against the law. The problem is that some of the most powerful vampires of our region are being led around by the fangs by some humanputa.”
“Hey, that’s not very nice.” I finally glanced away from my phone. “You’ve never met her, so you don’t know if she’s a bitch or not. And besides, not all humans are bad. I’m human… at least half the time.” I pouted, pulling my lip ring between my teeth.
“Not you,mi lobo.” Kyren grabbed me by the back of the neck and drew his head down to mine. “I never mean you.” He captured my lower lip between his, pulling my lip ring between his teeth and giving it a little tug. “I would rip the throats out of anyone who dared ever cross you. Destroy their families and every descendant until there was nothing left of them but ash. Not even the memory of them would exist for daring to touch what’s mine.”
I rolled my eyes, drawing away with an exaggerated sigh. “So dramatic. You can just say I love you like everyone else, you know?”
He dragged my face back to his, waiting until my gaze locked with his. “I love you, Tate,” he murmured. “From the first day, I have loved no one else more in my hundred and fifty-four years than you.”
“Such a romantic.” My lips quirked up. “Fine. I get it. Not all humans. Just the ones with the last name Durand. However…” My tongue dragged against his lips as I grabbed at his clothes, a familiar taste on his lips.
Kyren pulled back. “What?”
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
For the first time in five years, Kyren looked bashful.
Unable to hold back from teasing him, I leaned forward, tracing my fingers along his lips. “Did you finally kiss Jack?”
Kyren tried to turn his head to avoid my gaze.
“Now, now, don’t be shy.” I chuckled, tugging at his hair. “How did she react?”
“We were talking about the Durands, not Jack.”
Eyes crinkling at the edges, I let him change the topic but didn’t let up the teasing. My fingers pulled down the fly of his black slacks as my lips twitched with amusement.
