“Stay away from her,” he told Vicki and turned to me. “And she will not become a blood source.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want her as a blood source, even if her blood is as sweet as she smells.”
“She smells sour.” Vicki pouted with a dramatic huff.
“What’s the interest in her, Alister? Do you think you could be one of her mates?” Rowan asked.
“Maybe.” I shrugged, but my throat tightened at the question.
There was a pull toward the girl I hadn’t had with anyone before, but could I be one of her mates? Could I share a girl like that? I wasn’t so sure. I was a selfish man.
Vicki’s eyes widened. “But she doesn’t even have a special ability! There’s been talk all over campus about her, even among the staff. She’s weak. Blair must’ve been wrong about her.”
“The seer is never wrong,” Rowan barked. “Never address her as Blair again. Show her the respect she deserves.”
Vicki shrunk back and nodded, keeping her loud mouth shut for once.
“I’m sure Wren has a power,” I said, rubbing my chin. “The seer is never wrong. She said her power would emerge at the right time, the same way all her mates would bond with her.”
“Yeah, at the right time.” Rowan nodded. “Listen, there’s a staff meeting tonight at eight in the meeting room at Arcane Hall.”
“What for?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced around the room toward the hallway. “There’s a missing werewolf reported. We’ve actually been having a few other missing students. Those students have all emailed an eerily similar suicide note, but we haven’t found the bodies. We have a lead on that. Something about the werewolf is different. Roommates said he was just going to the bathroom and didn’t come back. Hierarchy-related bullying has been happening, but I don’t think that’s the case with the werewolf.”
“I wouldn’t put it past the students to do something stupid.” Vicki shrugged. “You know how the higher hierarchy always ends up killing the lower ones.”
“There are students of low rank who can beat high rank students. This werewolf was one of them, which is why it’s a problem. Hazing isn’t likely. I think something else is happening. Just be careful around campus and listen to the students to see if they know anything. They gossip about everything. Be sure to tell your students to never wander campus alone,” Rowan told us, and the hairs on my neck stood.
Over their heads, students began filing into my room for the Reading Auras Crash Course I taught.
Rowan gave me a nod before turning and leaving the room while Vicki huffed, following suit.
Pushing down the feeling in my gut that something bad was happening, I addressed my students. “Make your way to the row with your birthstone and start meditating immediately. You can’t read auras with shit bogging your mind down.”
If only I could take my own advice.
EIGHT
Wren
Isankintothechair beside Thorn and let out a breath of relief that it was finally lunchtime.
“Why does Ms. Fallon have it out for you?” Thorn asked, passing a plate of food over to me.
“Because she’s into Alister and she’s rude,” I muttered, chest tightening at the thought of the rude vampire.
“What does her liking Mr. Vespertine have to do with you?” Kian asked as he took a bite of an apple.
“Because the hot professor has a crush on our little Wren,” Trixie told him with a smirk.
“He does? The vampire? Well, that makes sense. Wren is really kind and pretty, and she smells like bearberry and snow.” Kian’s cheeks bloomed red as he ducked his head down. “I, uh, mean, you know, it’s just—”
“We get it, man.” Lachlan slapped him on the back, making Kian choke on the bite he was chewing before coughing it into a napkin. “Wren has an ethereal beauty to her. It’s hard not to notice.”
My cheeks burned. I’d never had so many compliments before. “Thank you,” I murmured.
“Aw, my goodness, babe,” Trixie cooed at me before taking a swig of her lemonade. “You’re adorable.”
