“Evidently. I talked with Tabitha about destroying the bond, but she said it’s black magic, and she refuses to dabble in it.”
“The bond is still intact even though it was rejected?”
“Yes. It was rejected by both parties too. I’ve never heard of it, but when they’re in a certain proximity, it physically pains her.”
Closing my eyes, I felt the rumble of my dragon within my chest. My protective nature was getting riled up. “I’ll have another chat with Tabitha to see if there’s anything we can do.”
“Rowan, I feel the same way you do, but why do you care about Wren so much?”
I blinked, feeling my magic calming enough to put the ball down. Placing it on the desk, I sat back in my chair and ran a hand through my hair. “I care about all my students.”
“Not the way you do about Wren. I’ve been working with you for two years, and I’ve never seen you take an interest in any other student like this.”
“I don’t have an answer for you.” I rubbed my forehead. “But I’ve got some work to do. Can you push out an email to let students know leaving campus is dangerous? Four students were killed off campus. Let them know this is not the same threat on campus and that this threat is higher.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll let you know when I know more, but Rhett?”
“Yes?”
“Wren was there just before the attack happened.” My heart twisted in pain at the thought. If Damien hadn’t shown up when he did, she could’ve been killed too. I didn’t know why that bothered me so much. Maybe because she was the last of her kind.
“Fuck!” A bang resounded through the tablet on his end. “Where is she?”
“Damien took her back to the dorm. She’s safe.”
“Okay.” He let out a long breath. “Good. I’ll send out the email, and I’ll make a follow-up session with Wren.”
“Do that. I’ll let you know when I know more.” I hit the end button and groaned.
If the time was coming, we had a lot to prepare.
TWENTY-SIX
Thorn
Therewasaknockat the door Sunday evening. I’d spent the majority of the day in bed worried sick about Wren while Lachlan went to practice for faeball.
Damien had come this morning and told Lachlan and me what had happened at the market, but he also mentioned that he was going to spend time comforting her and would let me know when she wanted company.
I was pretty sure the scurfpea was just trying to steal her for himself, but I also didn’t want to overwhelm her. She’d been so overwhelmed with her studies and with meeting new people.
Damien mentioned that he was too hard on both Wren and Trixie for what had happened, and he said he was going to apologize. Strange enough, I could understand the overreaction on his part. If Wren was in danger, I would’ve snapped too.
Nothing came before her safety.
I’d been making contracts to keep creeps away from her left and right, but under my nose, creeps approached her anyway. It wasn’t just creeps, but women who had bad intentions. There were rumors circulating about why Wren hadn’t developed a secondary power, and it was like the student body had fallen into mob mentality.
I opened the door to reveal Wren.
My pulse raced at the sight of her. She wore the blue dress I’d made her on our first day at the academy, and she looked stunning. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a bun, and her bearberry scent was ripe, but it had a tinge of peppermint to it.
She smiled. A blinding glow surrounded her, and she waved her hand a bit. “Do you want to spend some time together?”
I miss you,she thought.
Heat crept up my neck as I nodded, dumbfounded. Wren looked so happy, and Damien had me worried sick with his words this morning.
