SIX
Wren
“WelcometoCrystology,”Alister...er, Mr. Vespertine... purred at us as we walked in.
“Good morning, Mr. Vespertine,” Trixie chirped with a bright smile.
“Good morning.” I offered him a small smile as I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder. The spicy scent of blood and cinnamon wafted off him and clogged my throat, making it difficult to breathe.
“If it isn’t the sweet ruby and charismatic pink tourmaline.” His gaze lingered on my neck. “Please, take your seats in the row with your birthstone.”
Trixie nudged my arm, and I swallowed hard, forcing my feet to move away from the handsome vampire.
The classroom was smaller than I’d imagined, but there were rows of black benches and desks stretching from wall to wall. Each table had gems adorning the dark stone, and the brighter red stone was my birthstone, ruby. The ruby row was at the front of the classroom.
A few students had already taken their seats. I could sense Alister’s gaze still on me and heat waves crashed into me the longer he stared.
Once we made it to my row, I slipped into the farthest seat to the left so I could avoid being blocked in by anyone.
I glanced back to see Trixie slide into the row behind me with a wink. Her birthstone was a twinkling pink color, and I let out a breath of relief that she snagged the seat right behind mine.
“That vampire is so hot!” she gushed, grabbing the back of my bench as she leaned in. “Weird obsession with birthstones, but my fucking Kalista is he hot.”
I kept my head down as I played with my skirt. “I don’t think his obsession with birthstones is weird. Quirky, sure, but also endearing. I wonder how he knows what our birthstones are,” I mumbled.
Her lips pursed. “You didn’t say he wasn’t hot.”
“I think he’s handsome,” I admitted, leaving my skirt alone and grabbing my tablet from my purse. “Who wouldn’t?”
I chose that moment to glance up, and when I did, I locked eyes with the man himself.
Alister’s lip was curved into an inviting smile, and his arms were crossed over his chest. The fabric of his shirt clung to his biceps, and his tie hung loosely around his neck.
He winked at me, and I tilted my head. It was clear he was eavesdropping on our conversation, but I wasn’t bothered by it. If anything, I wanted to know what he found so interesting. He was a vampire. Surely he had more interesting things to do.
A painful pull tugged at my heart, and I went rigid as the all too familiar scent of eucalyptus invaded my senses.
Lances of sharp pain shot through my chest. I didn’t have to look to know who it was from, but I did anyway.
Grayson strolled into the class with a gorgeous blonde hooked to his side. Alister’s bitter voice didn’t penetrate my mind as he spat directions at Grayson and the blonde.
They walked to the back of the room and sat down next to each other in the same row.
I stifled a gasp at the onslaught of the rejected bond and clutched my chest with both hands. There was no way he couldn’t feel it. The bond we shared was nothing but a nightmare.
Grayson’s stare seared the back of my head once he was settled, and I didn’t dare turn around.
“Wren, babe, are you okay?” Trixie asked, and I nodded once, my grip on my tablet turning my knuckles white.
A high-pitched laugh carried down to me and my skin crawled as Grayson joined in with his deep, throaty laugh.
“Yeah right, Mirella,” Grayson said as he chuckled, “Humans aren’t just hanging out around the outskirts of the academy. Fate Hollow may be for equality among supernaturals but not humans.”
Humans?
Faces of those who looked like us but carried black hearts flashed into my mind, and cold terror gripped my chest as a memory swelled.
We’d run through the bottom half of Briesia to trade with the cheetah shifters, where the climate was warmer. It slowed us down, and the poachers caught up to us quickly.
