Rani’s look turned shrewd. “Have you ever fed on me?”
“No!” I shouted. “I swear. Usually, it's on the night janitor in the library. He sleeps on the job a lot.”
Her nose wrinkled as she envisioned the balding man.
“And those two are witches.” She pointed at the boys hovering nearby. Ezra waved. “Which is a completely different type of…supernatural.”
“It’s a lot to take in, I know,” I babbled. “But I swear you’re safe. It’s me they’re after and—ouch!”
Rani smacked my arm and held her finger up threateningly. “You’ve been in danger the entire time I’ve known you.”
“Not thewholetime.” She bared her teeth, and my shoulders slumped. “Yes.”
“And that time I thought you had food poisoning—it was real poisoning?”
“She was also stabbed!” Ezra called over, and Kaiden smacked him on the back of the head. “What? She still has the stitches.”
I thought Rani would explode. Her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair.
“I promise you weren’t in any real danger with me around.” My babbling was back. “The hunters were never interested in you, and they don’t see humans as more than an inconvenience at the best of times.”
“I’m more upset that my best friend almost diedmore than once, and I never knew about it!”
My eyes welled. “I’m still your best friend?Ouch! Stop hitting me!”
“I don’t care if your skin turns pink and you have to dance naked under the full moon every month. I just want to know what’s going on with you.”
I didn’t know any humans who were aware of our world. With no evidence to base it off, I thought she’d run screaming at the idea of other beings out there. I should have given Rani more credit.
“You really don’t care?”
The smile she gave me was warm and true. “Bitch, I’d dance naked right beside you.” That smile slipped into a snarl as she glared at Ezra. “Not a fuckingwordabout seeing me naked or I’ll castrate you faster than you can saywitch trials.”
Ezra pouted but wisely kept his mouth shut for once. I offered to walk Rani back to the dorm and still have our sleepover, but she shooed me away.
“Now that I know how dangerous it is, I won’t bother you as much about shacking up with yourbond.”
She wiggled her eyebrows, and I scrunched my face in a mock frown. There was still a lot to explain to her about that, about everything, but it didn’t have to be right now. Right now, I was content to know she wasn’t going anywhere. Thank the gods for best friends.
twenty-five
Eryn
Kaiden and I had the place to ourselves when we returned. Ezra volunteered—demanded really—to be left behind to keep watch over Rani. With me not there, she was in no danger, but he couldn’t be swayed. As long as he kept out of sight, it wouldn’t hurt. The last thing we needed was for him to freak her out more than she already was.
She hid it well, and I didn’t think she lied about still being best friends, butanyonewould need time to process all she’d seen and learned tonight. Space. I promised myself I’d give her space, even when she hadn’t explicitly asked for it.
“Okay, take off your pants. I’ll be right back with the supplies.”
“What?”
Kaiden’s demand pulled me away from everything. I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly.
“Did you just tell me to take off my pants?”
He huffed a laugh. “Don’t act so affronted, princess.You love what I do to you when you’re”—His gaze branded me as he scanned down to my toes— “half naked. You should see what I can do with absolutely nothing in my way.”
My mind blanked. I literally forgot how to speak for a moment because he was, in fact, extremely talented with his hands—and mouth—as I’d already learned.
