“I wasn’t doing that,” I muttered, taking a deep breath and calming my magical energy. “Just read my aura, and I’ll read yours.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do.” She huffed again before pressing her lips together and staring at the top of my head for a few minutes.
I picked a spot just above her head to focus on, as Alister had taught us to do, but the longer I stared, the more frustrated I got. I could feel her energy. It was chaotic. It pulsed around her. The vibrations expanded, but I couldn’t see it no matter how hard I tried.
Pushing out my own magical energy toward hers, I saw a faint fuzziness around her. As soon as I saw it, it faded—and I wasn’t able to make out any color.
“Yellow,” she said, placing her hands on her hips with a smirk. “And it looks like you didn’t even notice that our professor stepped out with the counselor.”
My brows rose, and I looked to see that she was right. Alister wasn’t in the room, but the classroom door was shut. I could make out Rhett’s cherry scent within the room, which proved he’d been here, too.
“You were so focused on reading my aura that you didn’t notice your apparent mate come in and leave with the other?” She snorted, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I’m starting to doubt that they’re your mates at all.”
I stepped back as if she’d slapped me. “The bond hasn’t snapped in place yet, but they’re mine.”
“You really chose bonds that hadn’t formed yet over a bond that was there,” she muttered bitterly.
“Grayson’s disgusting. I don’t know how you can’t see that,” I said, turning my head toward the door. Couldn’t they hurry up?
“Looks like she’s wanting hermaybemates to come rescue her.” A male chuckled, and I turned to see a couple of guys had walked up next to Mirella.
They both had twisted smirks on their lips, and alarm bells went off in my brain.
I took another step back. I didn’t recognize them.
“Hey, what’s it like being mated to the headmaster?” one asked.
“He’s a firedrake, right?” The other guy leered, running his sleazy gaze down my body. “How can a little thing like you handle him?”
“She’s handling seven,” Mirella told them, with her nose angled up in the air. “Clearly, she can take more than you’d think. That’s why Grayson didn’t want her, after all.”
The other guy shrugged. “She’s still hot, though. I mean, what’s one more?”
“Stop talking.” My voice wavered, but my veins were burning with anger.
How could they speak to anyone like this? What was wrong with them? What did I do to deserve this treatment? Surely, this wasn’t normal behavior.
“Aw, the little fox is scared,” one cooed, drawing the attention from the rest of the class.
“I’m not scared.” My bottom lip trembled in contradiction, and they noticed.
“Grayson called it.” Mirella giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand. “So weak she has to open her legs for powerful men to protect her.”
“I can protect you too, babe.” The guys snickered, and I wasn’t even sure which one had said it.
The other students had crowded us, and my body was heating quickly. I felt my ears sprout along with my tail, and my body shook.
“She can’t even keep her magical energy at bay,” someone said.
“Can you blame her?” another student whispered. “I’d be freaking out if I was getting ganged up on like that, too.”
“Stop talking about things you know nothing about!” I shouted, reaching up and holding my head.
“Everyone knows about you.” Mirella’s voice sliced through the fog. “The last arctic fox shifter. Rejected by her first mate because she was weak. Acts like a slut so she can gain favor with stronger supernaturals. Your witch bitch of a friend broke the bond with Grayson. Who’s to say she didn’t help you form the bonds with the others? Do they even actually like you?”
Embarrassment and rage speared through my chest, and my shadow struck out directly in front of me, where Mirella stood.
The black tendril sank into her stomach and out through her back, severing her spinal column with a sickening crack.
