Her voice trails off, and her sweet scent shifts to a fragrance I don’t recognize.
“Iris…” I begin, not really sure where I’m going.
I know why I never told her. It’s the same reason I don’t want to now.
Iris has never let my clan dictate her opinion of me. From the very first time I saw her, to about twenty minutes ago, she’s always looked at me with understanding. Now, she is looking at me, like I’m a rabid animal. Like the rest of them do.
“I didn’t think it mattered,” I say. “We’re just?—”
“Just friends?”
She finishes for me, but it feels like damning myself if I confirm it.
“If we’re friends, why didn’t you tell me you were enrolled as a night student?” I ask.
She flinches, taking a step away from me.
“That wasn’t by choice, Elliot. All succubi are classified under the dark arts.”
Is she serious? What a dumb fucking rule.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I groan as I fish it out to see the words ‘Vanessa Cross’ scrolling across the screen.
Fuck, her timing is astounding.
“Go ahead,” Iris says, reading the screen as I do. “I’m going home.”
“Oh, come on, you can’t walk home.”
“Yes, I can!” she hisses. “And I am. Have a nice night, Elliot.”
Her long hair sweeps over her shoulder as she turns her back on me, and the dampener scrapes against my Adam’s apple as I watch her stalk off into the dark.
With a groan, I hit answer.
“What?” I bark into the speaker.
“Mom wants you home by ten,” Vanessa answers.
“Why?”
“Stop asking me stupid questions.”
The line goes dead before I can reply, and I wait a few moments until Iris is just out of sight before trailing after her.
I keep a wide distance so as not to disturb her, but I still follow all the way back to White Hall and wait until she is safely inside before tracking back to the Inquisition Office for the bike.
Mother is on a tirade when I set foot in the Manor. Her voice is already ringing through the house at a pitch not even wolves can hear. Banshees maybe. But I’m not entirely sure what it is she’s upset about. Nor do I care.
I bypass the usual feast in the kitchen and head straight to my room, shutting the door until Jeffery knocks.
He follows me down to the basement, even though I stopped needing an escort when I was thirteen. Took me a while to realize that it didn’t matter. Mother would have her way. And no matter how I screamed, Jeffery would always turn his back on us.
He does so now as he turns the key in the old iron lock, sealing my fate for the evening.
My wolf is eager to be free after the stress of the day, and the change comes faster than usual. It is still agonizingly slow, but the pain is only skin deep tonight.
The pack and their harmonies have strengthened the bonds, but more than just the pack, they’ve been strengthened by Iris, because she sang for me.
