My body flushes with heat. “It’s not mine. I’m fine.”
A growl catches in Revyn’s throat. “His scent is all over you.”
Oh, gods.
A rare flicker of embarrassment makes me blush. “He, um—” I clear my throat. “He healed me.”
Revyn’s growl intensifies. “Hewhat?”
“Not like a mate does, like a—” I realize that this doesn’t sound any better, and I brace myself for the impact. “Like a vampire does?”
Closing his eyes, Revyn takes a deep breath. “What does that mean, fanger?”
Callum answers immediately and pulls me closer. “It means that Sienna is safe with me.”
“She’s safe with me,” Revyn snaps. The boy at his feet groans, and he picks him up by the armpits and sets him on his feet. “Marick, meetmygirlfriend Sienna, and this—” He crinkles his nose. “Fucking undead asshole.”
Marick blinks blearily. “Whassgoinon?”
“You passed out.” He smacks Marick on the back. “Vamp girl ran ahead to get our token or whatever. Merman is back there.” Revyn jabs his thumb over his shoulder to point at someone lurking behind a cluster of trees. “The gang’s aaaaall together.” He scrutinizes our group. “Where’s your fourth?”
“Dead,” Callum answers for me. “Not our fault.” He strokes a sliver of bare skin peeking out over my hip. “You should watchyourfourth before she suffers the same fate.”
The little redheaded boy stills, a thin layer of ice crackling across the skin on his neck. “D-dead?”
Panic grips my throat. I grab Revyn’s hand and pull him away from Marick before the ice can spread. “Stay the fuck back!”My heart pounds like a drum as I cling to both men and keep backing us up. “He’s cursed!”
“What?” Marick shrieks, jumping out of his skin like a snake bit him. “Gods! The mist! It got me!”
Rolling his eyes, Revyn scoffs. “No, it didn’t. Don’t scare him, Si. He’ll faint again.” Wrapping his arm around my waist, he attempts to pry Callum’s hand off my hip. “Marick’s got ice powers; though, as you can see, he’s not very good at using them.”
“Graham froze to death,” I explain quickly, “before he shattered into a million pieces. Forgive me if I don’t trust ice magic right now.” Kicking our teammate’s leg, I growl. “Get up, bitch. I’m done with your whiny ass.” Still, I don’t want to leave her behind after what happened to Graham. “Callum, could you...?” I gesture toward her.
He lingers beside me for a moment then lifts our teammate back into his arms. The barest sigh passes his lips. “Let us hurry. I tire of these games.”
You and me both.
Professor Aesir’s glinting red eyes piss me the fuck off.
“More than half of you failed,” he announces to the class at dawn, lording over us from the shadows lurking at the back of the lecture hall. “A pity. I thought some of you showed promise, but...” He clicks his tongue like a disappointed father. “Clearly I was mistaken.”
Fury roars in my ears. We walkedall nightand couldn’t find our way out of the forest until the sun broke over the horizon, and by then, even the vampires’ energy levels were wearing thin. Marick, the poor boy, is still trembling life a leaf. I lean back onthe bench to put distance between us, wary of the powder snow collecting in his lap.
“Let’s see what he has to say,” Revyn murmurs, unclenching my fist and lacing our fingers together. “Before we jump down his throat.” His hair is messier than usual on account of the lingering humidity that follows Cassian—the merfolk from his team—everywhere, including the classroom. We’re seated with our squads. Everyone is accounted for except...
I cast a brief glance around the room, estimating our numbers, but it’s Callum who confirms my theory. “We are only short one student.”
Graham.
He was an asshole, but no one deserves to die like that.
Our teammate Cara, the cougar shifter, has gone silent, but she’s giving me and Callum the coldest shoulder imaginable. I don’t blame her for shutting down. It’s easier to ignore the tension in the room than bathe in it. The other shifters from Graham’s pack keep throwing glares our direction, but they haven’t asked about his whereabouts.
I’m waiting for chaos to erupt the moment they realize he’s gone for good.
I squeeze Revyn’s hand as tightly as I can. “I’d rather shove my fist down his throat than listen to anything he has to say. There’s no excuse for knowingly putting us in danger.” Fighting against students is par for the course at Heartsflame, apparently, but waltzing onto sacred ground and unknowingly pissing off the gods is where I draw the line.
It’s going too far when our lives are already at stake every time we step into the wilds.
