“That would be me,” Trixie interjected with a grin. “I destroyed it so she didn’t have to deal with you anymore.”
He growled, and Trixie stuck her tongue out at him.
Damien stepped out of the shadows beside him and growled. “You’re old news, mutt.”
Grayson sneered back at him. “So are you. She’s mated to a goddamn firedrake. What use will she have for a shadow demon?” He glared at Alister. “Or a vampire?”
I gasped as Damien’s shadows wrapped around him and squeezed, but Grayson just stood there with anger on his face, not even trying to get out of Damien’s hold.
Damien jerked his chin to the left, and Grayson’s index finger snapped at the knuckle. “My little bird has use for all of her potential mates.”
Grayson didn’t even flinch. His eyes cut to me, and he smiled with evil intent. “Aren’t you going to ask me how Alice is?”
“Damien, let him go,” I told him, my voice cracking.
“What? Why?” He turned toward me with confused eyes.
“Please,” I urged, and he listened. Damien’s shadows moved back around his body, leaving Grayson. “Please don’t hurt her.”
“Too late for that.” Grayson snapped his finger back into place. “You should’ve known better than to let your demon take my pinky bone. You keep it in your bag, right?”
I clutched my bag with trembling hands as Grayson stepped forward again. Alister didn’t move from in front of me as Grayson growled at him.
“What did you do?” I struggled to suck in a breath. “Grayson, she isn’t associated with me anymore.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong.” He dug into his front pocket and tossed me something, but Alister grabbed it from the air before I could catch it.
Whatever it was, it had Alice’s scent on it.
“Why do you have this?” Alister asked.
“Why do you think? Wren needed to be punished for defying her Alpha. This was the best way.” Grayson shrugged.
Damien’s shadows wrapped around him again, closing around his throat, but Grayson’s cold eyes didn’t leave mine.
The threat was clear as day.
If Grayson dies or gets hurt again, so does Alice.
I didn’t have to see what Alister had to know what it was, and a sob caught in my throat. “Stop.”
“No.”
“Damien, stop.”
“He dies, and it’s over.” Damien’s shadows were whipping wildly around the classroom as screams started echoing through the room. “I wouldn’t have let him live so long, but—”
Tears dripped down my cheeks as I shook my head, and Trixie wrapped her arms around me. My body trembled, and Alister took one glance back at me before he blurred toward Damien.
“Damien, stop. Look at Wren. You’re scaring her,” he said.
Damien’s shadows halted before sinking back into him, and he slowly turned to look at me as Grayson glared at him. “I scared you?”
I shook my head. “You didn’t scare me, but the consequences of what happens to Grayson does.”
“Smart girl,” Grayson said with a glint in his eye.
“What’s going on here?” Rowan’s deep voice rolled through the room, and I broke from Trixie to run into his arms.
