“Hewhat?”Her voice went up an octave before crackling, and she whipped her head up to stare at me.
I chuckled lightly. “It’s fine. Like I said, it doesn’t have to hurt. It’s your magic, starlight. You can use it and bend it to your will. It’ll take some time to master it since you’ve gone your whole life without using it, but you will get this.”
“I’m scared, Hunter,” she whispered so lowly I could barely hear it with my demonic hearing. “I spent so long desperate for Mother’s approval, but I didn’t know how much I hated her until my powers spilled out. The one time I fed, I killed her. Her soul felt rotten, and I was sick for weeks. And the hatred that went through me was unreal. I don’t want to feel that again…”
“I hate her for what she did to you, but you?” I carefully placed my knuckles under her chin andguided her to look at me. “You have every right to loathe that woman, but you don’t have to feel hate to activate your powers. Your powers triggered to save your life, and you just so happened to latch on to anger and hate in the moment. Anger and hate didn’t trigger your soul eater powers. Survival did.”
She sniffed before moving closer and breathing deeper against my chest. “Thank you, Hunter.”
I wrapped my arms around her, thankful her trembling had stopped. She was exhausted. I could feel the lack of magic around her, and her neck was still healing, but it had stopped bleeding entirely now.
Her caramel scent was all over me, and I had to remind myself not to inhale it like a creep as she hugged me.
“You smell like sweet chocolate,” she murmured, inhaling quietly. “Do you like chocolate?”
“I do. Chocolate ice cream is my favorite, and I used to drink chocolate fae wine often.” A low and pleasant hum warmed my veins as I smiled.She was smelling me, too.
We didn’t say anything else for the rest of the hour, and she made no attempt to move or put distance between us, so I lapped up all of her warmth like a cold dog and held her as long as shelet me. I’d never wanted to comfort anyone as much as I did her. I had never held someone as long as I held her, and I loved it.
When she finally sat up, I helped her off my lap.
Her pretty cheeks were rosy red, and they matched her eyes. “I think I should go.”
“You don’t have to,” I mumbled before realizing how much of a clingy fucker I sounded like. “I mean, I can walk you to your room if you want.”
“That’s okay,” she murmured as she reached down and grabbed her bag from the floor where she’d fallen and puked. She put it over her shoulder and peeked inside for a moment before relaxing again. “I just want to sleep.”
I nodded, getting to my feet and walking her to the door. “You need to. I’m sure you’re exhausted, but I have to insist on walking you back after everything that just happened.”
A guarded look flashed over her expression. “I have to insist that I’ll be fine walking back on my own.” She nibbled on her bottom lip, glancing up at me through thick eyelashes. “I appreciate everything you’re doing for me—” Her voice crackled. “But if I don’t do some of this by myself, I’ll start leaning on you too much. I need to be independent.”
“Iwantyou to depend on me,” I rasped, my heart aching at how she was pushing me away.
I just wanted to behers.
I blinked away the obsessive thought as reality crashed me back to my senses. “I’m sorry, starlight. I think it’s wonderful that you want independence, but I am here if you need me. If you could send me a message when you reach your dorm, I’d feel much better.”
“I can do that.” She gave me a gentle smile that made my heart rate kick up another notch.
I opened the door for her, and she left my office with me watching her until she turned the corner and was out of sight.
A heavy breath hissed out of my lips as I used my tail to slam the door shut behind me. Fates, I hadn’t realized I’d been in my demon form still. I’d immediately transformed into it when I saw Shadowheart holding her to his chest with her panicking.
I made my way to my desk and grabbed my to-do list before sitting down and scribbling a couple of things on it.
Punish Ashenfell
Verbally beat down Shadowheartduring a session
It felt good to write down my plan, but it would feel even better after I completed the tasks. Reaching over, I grabbed my tablet and sent a message to the janitor about the vomit before calling Death.
He picked up on the first ring. “What’s wrong with Pandora?”
I winced. Fates, he really is a dad now. “She went to Practical Applications of Demonic Feeding?—”
“What the fuck did Ashenfell do?” he barked. “Is she okay? Do I need to come down there?”
“She’s okay,” I assured him. “But she did have a panic attack to the point of vomiting and then going quiet for almost an hour.”
