“Fuck,”Igrowledasa dull ache throbbed through my bones. I squeezed my eyes shut until little dots started forming behind the lids and cracked them open.
Musky scents mixed with blood hit my nostrils, and my stomach rolled. My muscles spasmed as I tried to lift my head, and it took an increased amount of strength to do so. I pulled my arms, but they were bound behind me with something. Rattled coughs assaulted my lungs, and earthy walls and floors surrounded me. I squinted my eyes as I glanced up at the crumbling dirt falling down on me. It looked like a make-shift cave made by someone with an earth affinity.
My mouth was dry, and every bit of my magic had been zapped. My brain throbbed as I tried to remember how the fuck I got here.
Twinges of pain shot through my skull. I’d been grading papers at my desk when Eve came into the room. At least I thought that was her name. She was a student that was in class with Wren, and her birthstone was definitely an emerald. She’d asked something about the tourmalyke crystal I’d used on her for the class demonstration, and I bent down to grab it when I smelled a human.
No. There were two. One of the humans had a weird scent.
The memories flooded back to me. The normal human grabbed the student, and a human specimen attacked me. I’d been caught off guard, so it landed a few critical hits, forcing me to use my power in front of the student and the other human.
I forced his blood to leave his veins, splattering my classroom in it.
As soon as the body hit the floor, a prick in the back of my neck sent everything black. Which had meant there was another person in the room, but I couldn’t remember any of it.
I exhaled a shuddered breath. I wasn’t sure where I was, but I knew I was underground. Wren better be fucking safe. I wasn’t sure about her leaving the academy with Kian and Lachlan at first, but now I was relieved she wasn’t there.
How could a human and a human specimen get into Arcane Hall undetected?
A machine made a pumping noise from beside me, and I turned my head and noticed tubes coming from my vein to a machine. Dark crimson liquid seeped out at a steady rate. With each pull of the pump, I focused in on the blood with the intent to make it stop, but it wasn’t working. My gums flamed as I tried to extend my fangs, but they wouldn’t budge.
“Your powers won’t work.” A feminine voice cut through the fog of my brain.
I forced my eyes to sweep to my left where Fallon sat with her legs crossed in a metal chair, clad in a leather bodysuit that had a zipper up the front that was only halfway zipped, so her breasts spilled out the top.
Disgust churned my stomach.
A smirk grew on her ruby red lips. “Took you long enough to wake up.” She got to her feet and sauntered toward me, tossing her glossy black waves behind her shoulder.
“You’re working with humans,” I spat.
“It took you long enough to realize it. I’m disappointed.”
I sneered as she came closer. “Where’s the student?”
She giggled, kicking my feet apart and standing between my legs. “Come on, Alister, you’re not that dense.”
Anger snaked through me, and every nerve in my body begged to end her life. “She’s with you.”
She flashed her fangs and ran her finger down the length of one. “There’s that brain.”
“Why?” A weak growl rumbled my chest.
She turned and fell into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. “It didn’t have to be this way,” she murmured, pouting her lips.
“If your alliance lies with the humans, we were destined to be enemies,” I gritted out as my vision pulsed red with rage.
Fucking emerald birthstones.I should’ve suspected the student had bad intentions.
“You were smart to hide your power.” She trailed a fingernail down my throat as her brown eyes darkened to black. “The humans are attempting to find a way to harness the power of a supernatural by means of collecting their blood.”
I hissed as she leaned in and sank her fangs into my neck. “Vile bitch.”
Moaning, she sucked a few gulps of my blood, and pressed her ass into my crotch painfully. She licked the wound as she pulled her fangs out with another moan. “We could’ve been so good together.”
A thin rivulet ran down my neck, pooling on my collar bone from where she had bitten me. I swallowed the anger and disgust. “I’d never willingly touch you.”
“I’d been trying to get with you, Rhett, or even Rowan. Rowan would be best, but we all know how he is.” She rolled her eyes and slipped off of my lap.
