“Valen,” Lila started. “You don’t have to be like that?—”
“Shut up, Lila,” I snapped, my voice almost a hiss. “Practice is over. Both of you go back to your dorms.”
Then, without bothering to clean up, I stormed out of the fencing salle, my face burning with more embarrassment than I’d felt in my entire three centuries of existence.
Chapter 8
Archer
What just happened?
I stood in the middle of the fencing salle, heart pounding, as I tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. Valen, my hook-up from Saturday night, the guy who’d fucked me against a brick wall in some back alley in Pigeon Forge several times, was my fencing coach. And Professor Crowe, a vampire teacher I’d heard of in the history department, but had never taken a class with. The same Professor Crowe who’d just stormed out of here like his ass was on fire after telling me to pretend nothing had ever happened between us.
I sank down onto one of the benches, still clutching my sabre, and tried to process this information. The man I’d spent the weekend fantasizing about, the one whose hands I could still feel on my skin when I closed my eyes, was a professor at my school. The one who was now supposed to be coaching me for the next year.
“Well,” came an amused voice from across the room, “that was quite the dramatic exit.”
I looked up to see Lila still perched on her bench, watching me with those unsettling purple eyes that seemed to see rightthrough me. There was something predatory about her that made my skin crawl, but also something almost... mischievous.
“You’re his sister?” I asked, though even as I said it, something felt off about that. They looked nothing alike, for one thing. Valen was all sharp angles and amber eyes, while she had this ethereal, almost otherworldly beauty that seemed to shift in the light. Shelookedlike a vampire to me. But he was just… a person.
“Something like that,” she said with a cryptic smile. “We’re... family. Have been for a very long time.” She stood up and moved toward me with fluid grace that reminded me of Valen’s movements. “I saw you, in Pigeon Forge,” she continued. “I encouraged him to go after you. But I didn’t realize you were a student.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know he was a professor. He looks way too young for that,” I grumbled.
“Perks of immortality.” She hopped down from her seat. “Now, the real question is what are you going to do about all this?”
“Me?” I scoffed. “What can I do?”
“You could report him to the Dean and try to get him removed from the academy,” she offered. “But I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Believe me,” I replied. “I don’t want anyone to know what happened either. If my parents found out I slept with a vampire they’d?—”
“Explode? Spontaneously combust?”
“Or worse.”
Lila’s brows knit together as she cocked her head to the side. “Are your parents part of the Purity Front then?”
For a moment I wanted to be offended. But then I remembered the new rule for this year after everything with Theodore Voss went down. No monsters. Not as friends,teachers, or companions. And preferably, witch-only classes. My father had been very clear about that.
“I’m not,” I said at last. “And neither is my sister. But my parents don’t hold brunches for groups on the bad side of the Elder Council if that’s what you’re asking. They’re not…thatbad.”
“Hmm.” It was easy to tell she didn’t believe me. “Well, either way, don’t go getting my brother in trouble. You’re both consenting adults and neither of you knew. Best to just let it be.”
“I’ll take that secret to my grave, don’t worry.”
“Good,” she nodded approvingly. “Now I have to go after him, so maybe you should be a good team captain and put away the supplies and get out of here.”
Before I could reply, she was gone and I was left standing in the fencing salle by myself, alone with my racing thoughts. I mechanically began collecting the equipment scattered around the salle, my hands moving on autopilot while my mind raced. The familiar weight of the sabres felt strange now, like everything had shifted and I couldn’t quite find my footing again.
Valen was a vampire. That explained a lot, actually. The otherworldly beauty, the way he moved with predatory grace, how his skin had felt cool against mine even in the heat of the moment. The amber eyes that seemed to glow in dim lighting. Christ, how had I missed it? Could I really have been so horny that I’d ignore all the warning signs?
But more importantly, he was Professor Crowe. The same Professor Crowe who had a reputation for being brilliant but intimidating, who taught courses on monster history because he’d lived through a lot of it. The professor whose students whispered about him in hushed, respectful tones.
And I’d had his cock in my ass less than three days ago. A couple of times.
I dropped a sabre with a loud clatter that echoed through the empty salle, the sound making me jump. My hands were shaking, I realized. Whether from shock, embarrassment, or the lingering adrenaline from our bout, I couldn’t tell.
