“Get out,” I snarl, glaring at Revyn.
The one man that’s supposed to be on my side.
Regret finally softens his features. “Sienna?—”
“Youliedto me. Again.” A bitter laugh cracks inside my chest. Gods, I’m so stupid. “I don’t know what about, but I sure as hell won’t get the truth from you. Get the fuck out, Revyn, and don’t you dare come back.” My eyes shift, and I finally see him for what he is.
The biggest mistake of my life.
After a long, painful moment of silence, he climbs off the bed and walks over to me. The sliver of panic in his eyes almost makes me back down, but I hold fast and throw his boots into the hallway. Once he’s grabbed his clothes, I take a step back to give him room to pass through the doorway without touching me.
I can tell that he wants to.
Swallowing hard, he stares at my face.
I refuse to stare back.
“You will never touch me again,” I vow, every beat of my heart cracking the wounds I desperately tried to heal while we were apart. Closing the door, I seal the latch and slide to the floor as my legs give out. A sob catches in my throat, and I go back to the mantra I’ve been trying to convince myself is true.
Tonight, it finally feels like it is.
I deserve more than what he’s willing to give me.
And it breaks my heart to believe it.
Chapter 12
Callum
A smile gracesmy lips as I watch the drama among shifters unfold, my intended mate and one of her lovers causing pure anguish inside the Dire wolf’s heart. He paces the balcony in a flurry of jerky movements, his hands in his hair more often than not. Every time his gaze lingers on the window, his entire body tenses like he’s on the brink of enteringfight or flight.
If it were my mate in bed with another, I would have killed them both by now.
The fact that this one—an alpha, if the rumors circulating the castle are true—doesn’t break through the door and tear out their throats is...
Fascinating.
From this distance, I can’t tell what ails him. A broken heart, a twisted mind, a soul unwillingly ensnared with another’s?
Then again, I don’t possess a gift of Knowing. Even if I were standing beside the anguished alpha, I’d be no closer to the truth than I am now. All I have are my illusions, and they don’t pull truths from others.
That being said, I wouldn’t mind trying new things if the right opportunities present themselves. Isn’t that the purpose of Heartsflame Academy? Learning new magics, testing socialboundaries, and tasting each other’s flesh in an endless rhythm of primality?
Those two writhing on top of each other seem to understand the purpose of being here.
The Dire boy does not.
I smell the wild woman’s blood the same moment that the alpha on the balcony tears at his clothes, shifting in the span of a heartbeat and keening like a wounded animal. He jumps the ledge and descends to the earth, breaking into a run as soon as his feet touch ground. As he disappears into the shadows, I glance up at the mountain with distaste on my tongue.
The sun will be rising soon, and although I can withstand its heat, I do not enjoy it any more than I did as a fledgling. It is with regret that I retreat back to the castle, but not before glimpsing a blushing wildflower in her bedroom.
I hover on her balcony in the same exact place the alpha shifter stood, mirroring his movements as I stare through the glass at the woman who has intrigued us both. Rather than tear my hair out like a fool, I study her features in the firelight as she tosses a log onto the coals.
Slamsis a more apt description as the log ricochets off the bricks, and the coals splinter and burst into the air, falling like tainted snow onto the gray tiles. She growls in frustration and kicks the smoldering wood into the wall, then turns on her heel and begins to pace just like the alpha had.
Back and forth across the stones, gathering her hair into a knot at the base of her neck, ignoring the seeping wound staining her skin crimson. Blood drips slowly over her collarbone, skirting around her breast and smearing across her arm as she crosses them over her chest. It’s as though the wound doesn’t pain her, andthatcatches my interest.
I’m unfamiliar with shifter mating customs, butvampireones...
