I sank back down in my seat and waited for him to explain. This was an age-old argument, one that had only gotten more heated every time we had it. If Antoine had a way to let me hunt and keep mom off my back, then I was all ears.
Antoine pulled out a file and pushed it across the desk. “There have been reports, whispers, of a growing unrest among the supernaturals. Those who don’t like how the different councils are joining together to change the way we handle the supernatural communities. Many who want to go back to the old ways, where humans are nothing more than food or worse.”
I leaned forward, all my attention on him.
“We need someone to go undercover and look into these rumors. See if there is any legitimacy to them, identify those involved, then report back with that intel.”
He didn’t have to continue; Antoine already knew he had me hooked.
“And you want me to do this?” I asked, wariness in my voice. There had to be a catch. This sounded like exactly the type of thing I wanted to do. Something that made a difference. That proved I wasn’t just a liability to them.
My mom sniffed, rubbing her nose before turning her gaze back on me. “I’ve already discussed it with Tristen and Mizuki. They have agreed to let you handle this for us.”
“But you won’t be going in alone,” Antoine added with a firm look. “They will assign a hunter to help you. They’ll pose as a professor, and you’ll be assigned to them for your course mentor.”
“Wait a second.” I blinked at them. “A professor?” I glanced between the four of them. “Don’t tell me this mission is at the academy?”
“Exactly.” Antoine smirked as his hands laced in front of him. “You will go undercover at Durand Supernatural Academy and discover these rebels for us. It’s precisely what you asked for,isn’t it? To hunt down rogue supernaturals? Now, you have the chance to do so while also experiencing life outside of being a hunter.”
“Two birds, one stone,” my mom quipped with a gleeful grin.
They had me. I couldn’t even find a reason not to do as they asked. I should have known better than to think they would just drop it, eventually. While my mom was barely over fifty, my dads had centuries on me.
It had hardly been a fair fight at all.
Chapter four
Kyren
Thefadingsuncoveredthe quad in a faint orange glow. If I’d been a younger vampire, the very presence of the sun would have set my skin ablaze. However, my hundred and fifty-four years made the touch of the sinking sun barely a tickle on my flesh.
Footsteps thundered, and the mingled scents of blood, fur, and potion smoke assaulted my nose. Another year, another set of fools pretending we can all get along.
“Ah, nothing beats the first day of the semester,” the cheerful growl came from my long time human servant, Tate. His large frame left me staring at his shoulder. His defined muscles flexed as he laced his fingers behind the dark braids in his hair making my mouth water. Fifty years, and I still wanted nothing more than to sink myself inside of him at every turn.
“Keep looking at me like that, and we won’t make it to the registration hall to see the new meat,” Tate flirted, pulling his lip piercing between pouting lips. His dark gaze slid over meas desire flashed down our bond adding to my own. My cock became a steel rod in my slacks.
“Unlike some,” I gave his cheeky grin a pointed look, “I have self-control. I can wait until we have privacy.”
Tate’s eyes crinkled. “Sometimes I forget how old you are. Fucking where you can get caught is the best part. The tension, the danger, the gasps of surprise when someone stumbles across you.” He inched me against a column, one dark-skinned arm over my head as he traced his thumb across my lower lip. His voice grew low and husky, “Showing them exactly who you belong to. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
My shadows twisted and latched onto his wrists, twisting us around until I had him pressed against the column, a hand around his throat, making him laugh. “Fuck your side pieces for all to see, what do I care? But show anyone what’s mine, and I’ll have to remind you who you belong to.”
“Oh, daddy, do that again,” Tate teased, cupping the wrist of the hand at his throat. “You know it gets me hard when you get all possessive and growly.”
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at his theatrics, I released him and continued the trek toward the front of the campus. As we circled around to the entrance, my eyes lingered on where the sunlight glinted off the crest of the college, a crow surrounded by Latin words.
Sanguinem meum in saecula, loosely translated to ‘blood of my blood now and forever.’ The same motto of the House of Durand and their not-too-subtle way of letting those who came here who owned this campus.
Durand Supernatural Academy.
The first ever supernatural college that brought all three species together — four, if you counted the human servants who resided alongside the vampires. It was a delicate balance that was on the cusp of breaking at any moment.
The werewolves kept to their side of the campus, the witches lifted their noses, while the vampires waited in shadow for everyone else to fade.
I would give one credit to the Durands, they knew where to push and where to leave things be. If they had forced the species to live together, I doubted there would have been any of us left to even attend the college. Of course, that was one of the few things the Durands had done right since they’d come into power.
“You’re glaring again,” Tate murmured, soothing waves of calm pushed through the bond as he tried to ease my rising ire.
