So, I was officially moving into Sage’s dorm room, even without the cute corgi butt. But tonight wasn’t about getting Sage naked and worshipping those glorious legs. She’d beenthrough a lot tonight, and there was a time and place for that. We needed to figure out how to get Khalid unstuck so he could speak for himself.
Mazen had loads of good tips, but Khalid either didn’t want to hear them or just couldn’t do them because his jackal wouldn’t let him leave Sage. Khalid was going to have to understand Mazen was decent, and he was my brother now. We were going to have some serious bonding over how to kill Lola and Apep.
We did that kind of thing separately before we were kidnapped to Ouroboros Academy. We weretotallygoing to bond over that. It was going to be different from the bond I was making with Khalid and Lucian, but we were going to be besties over it.
“So, before anyone thinks about getting me naked, we’ve got feelings to discuss. Khalid is stuck, and Sage just met the ghost of her Da. We need to talk about that,” I announced.
“And you have to talk about what Lola tried to do to you,” Sage said.
Yeah, I was conveniently ignoring that. I wasn’t stupid. I grew up in a life where someone was always going to want to kill me. It didn’t have to be violence, either. Someone could easily poison me. If someone found me after I ran away, they could slip me something to get me back home easier.
So, I didn’t just watch for people slipping things into women’s drinks when I was out. I made sure no one slipped them into mine. I liked painting my nails, and I always wore that special nail polish so I could check my drink without tipping someone off that I was onto them. I didn’t accept drinks from strangers, either.
I still hadn’t figured out how that bitch managed to drug me. She had to have slipped it into my water bottle when my back was turned, and I waspissedI’d been vulnerable like that. Itwasn’t just the fact that she tried to sexually assault me. I’d been in a position where I couldn’t protect myself, and Icouldhave been shipped back to my family, or she could have just killed me.
Khalid was tuned into me since we were connected in a different way than Sage and I were. He let out a small whine and started nuzzling me with his nose. I scratched him behind his ear and sighed.
“You’re better than a were corgi, even if your arse isn’t as nice.”
Khalid nipped at my finger. Bitch.
“Are you okay, Sage?” Lucian asked, handing her a bag of gummy worms.
Should he be doing that? I wanted the satisfaction of feeding our woman, too, but I didn’t want to make her sick. She’d tell me if she couldn’t have something, but I didn’t want to make it awkward throwing snacks at her when she couldn’t eat them. Lucian managed not to be annoying about it. He always produced food right when Sage seemed to need it.
It was probably some weird vampire thing where he could sniff what her pancreas was doing, and I was furious I couldn’t do that because I wanted to give her sweets when she needed it.
Maybe I should kick him in the kidneys for having that ability.
“It’s so weird. I always wished I was adopted, but thought I couldn’t be because my mother and I have the exact same shade of green for our eyes.”
Yeah, I could get lost in those eyes. They were the color of peridot, and she decided to turn them my way. And she had those really long lashes to frame them that made the green stand out even more. I should write a song about those eyes and ask Old Jingo to let me sing it at the tavern.
“If you can do what you say you can with Blue Matthews in a way that doesn’t leave my mother destitute, I’d like to reach outto her and let her know that Iknowthe truth. If I can get her away from his congregation, we might have some semblance of a relationship. She tried to get away once and didn’t have much choice about coming back.”
I didn’t know her Ma and hoped Sage had the relationship she wanted. Mine knew who she was marrying and relished that life. She knewIdidn’t want it and didn’t want to give me much of a choice. My Nana was the only bloody sane person in my family because she thought I should have a choice. Other than thinking I should have a say about my future, my Nana was pretty nutty. I loved that woman.
“I can do it,” Lucian said. “I have all the information and can get it to the authorities in America anonymously.”
“I’ve still got some contacts, so he rots in the hole because he keeps getting jumped when they let him out. Or, I would be honored to personally put Blue Matthew’s insides on the outside with Doris once I figure out portalling. Khalid would also like to shift and maim him a bit. Of course, we need to figure out how to make him human again. Don’t snarl at me, bitch.”
Sage patted her lap and Khalid curled up in it as if he were corgi-sized. Fuck, I was jealous because I wanted to sprawl on her lap and have her pet my head, too. Lucian could smell she needed snacks, and Khalid got head scratches. I was starting to feel like I got the shite end of it.
But yeah, whatever needed to happen to get Khalid back in his human form, because we could really use that big, beautiful brain of his right now.
It felt like my heart had been racing and my fight-or-flight instincts were running on overdrive ever since I shifted on accident. I guess I expected the first time to happen once I’d figured out all the mechanics and had total control over it.
Stupid me. As soon as Mazen shifted and I thought he was going to attack Sage for beating the shit out of Lola, it just happened. I didn’t even get to enjoy it or figure out how I did it so I could repeat it. And I certainly didn’t know how to turn it off so I could communicate.
I needed to talk to Mazen. I mostly needed to apologize because I could admit when I was wrong. He hadn’t been going for Sage when he shifted. He jumped on the bed and triedto protect Liam. Mazen didn’t even ask his girlfriend for an explanation. It was pretty self-explanatory what she was doing and she would have just lied.
He jumped straight in with our lot and decided he didn’t want her version of what happened. And he’d been trying to help me shift back. I hadn’t been trying to be a dick about it and refuse to listen. Deep down in some part of my brain, I knew Ishouldlisten to him, but I also got irrationally angry at the suggestion to leave Sage with the danger out there.
And then Sage’s baba showed up and said we were dealing with Apep. Everything I was feeling just intensified. It felt impossible to ever shift back. I needed to be in the library. I knew what human books said about Apep. I wanted to see what a supernatural library had on him.
“Maybe Khalid should try the zoomies in here and see if it burns off some of his adrenaline,” Liam said.
I bared my teeth at him. I wasn’t a dog. I was a jackal. Jackals weren’t domesticated, and I hadn’t done a ton of study on them, but I was fairly certain we didn’tzoomiein a dorm room. It was uncivilized.
