Tate barked out a laugh. “Oh, I bet. Thankfully, Kyren was here, right?”
My gaze settled on the vampire in question who simply stared at me. “I’m not going to say thank you.”
Kyren sniffed. “Didn’t think you would.”
“If I wasn’t worried about leaving Jack with you two idiots, I would’ve rather died.”
Tate snickered. “Sure. Whatever you say.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Glad to have you back, teach.”
I rolled my eyes at the wolf, who dragged Kyren away with him. Sighing, I turned back to Jack.
“This doesn’t mean I’m bonded to him, am I?”
“Why?” Jack shifted closer to me with a sneaky grin. “Why? Do you want to be?”
I gaped at her. “No way in hell. I’d rather get shot again.
Giggling, Jack cupped my face with her hands. “Then nothing to worry about. You only drank his blood, he didn’t drink yours.”
“Thank God,” I muttered.
She pressed her lips to mine in a chaste kiss before standing. “Come on, the medics are being lazy asses over there. Let’s get you checked out, so we can get you home.”
I winced and gasped as she helped me to my feet. My eyes ate up the scene around us. The blood and carnage on the ground, the bodies, and the hunters in black guarding the few supernaturals who didn’t end up dead by their hands.
Just another normal day in the life of a hunter.
Then I noticed something… odd. My feet paused, forcing Jack to stop in her tracks.
“Where’s Iris?”
Chapter twenty-seven
Jack
“Idon’tlikeyougoing in on your own,” Julian announced from the driver’s seat where we idled outside the school.
“I won’t be.” I squeezed his hand. “Tate is just down the hall in Kyren’s room, and Kyren is likely lurking about as usual. But I can’t bring you in with me. I have to do this part on my own.”
“But we don’t know for sure that Xinyi didn’t have anything to do with it,” Julian countered, trying to make me see reason. “And for all we know, Iris is hiding out here with her. No one found her body.
My lips pressed into a thin line.
I understood Julian’s concern. I really did. He’d almost lost me… again. I’d almost lost him, for real. Everything since the bust had been going great. Why did I want to rock the boat?
But this was Xinyi. She was my friend. I needed to know if she was alive. That would tell us Iris survived, at least. And if she was, then I could ask her about Iris and her part in all this.
Whether or not Xinyi betrayed me too, I just… I had to know.
“Just… wait here.” I patted his hand. “You’re not a professor anymore. It’d be weird if you were loitering around campus.”
Julian grabbed my hand, pulling me back into the car. His hand cupped my chin when I got near. “I can just say I’m visiting my girlfriend.”
His lips pressed against mine, and I was tempted to let him deepen the kiss, but I knew he was only trying to delay me.
Pushing back, I shook my head with a silly happy grin. “Stop trying to distract me. The sooner this is done, the sooner this is all over.”
“Fine,” Julian sighed, placing his hands on the steering wheel, his fingers flexing against the leather. “But you better not die on me.”
