Page 20 of Plug and Claim

It was not a topic Kira wanted to know more about, but she had to ask… “Does he do that often? The headmaster? Take students and…have sex with them?” The words were coming out weirdly, making the situation even more awkward, but Susie listened earnestly.

“I’m the only one he does that with,” Susie giggled. “He singled me out, a long time ago.”

“As in…you had no choice?”

“Well, it’s complicated. Things were different back when I first started. I’m a third year now, but when I was in first year, vampires had free rein of the academy. And Arken was accustomed to having his pick of the students to feed on.”

“And he chose you?”

“Well, sort of. But we’re together now, and it’s all consensual.”

Kira frowned as she tried to untangle Susie’s seemingly contradictory statements. The wolf was beaming at her expectantly, so she said, “I’m, err, happy for you, if you’re happy.”

“Thank you. I am. Now, I’m supposed to give you a tour, but classes are starting soon. Do you mind if we just get your breakfast and uniform sorted? We can meet up again at lunch to do the tour. There’re always three classes in the morning, an hour-long lunch break, and then three more classes in the afternoon. Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” she said, repeating Susie’s own words back to her. Mirroring was a manipulation tactic Byron had taught her. It involved copying the gestures, speech and opinions of another person. Susie was an easy target, bubbly and accepting, but it was a habit Kira needed to start practising, especially after her dismal efforts with the vampire, who’d pissed her off too much for her to even try manipulating him. She hadn’t even adhered to her plan of appearing docile and weak—it was something else she would have to work on.

“Fantastic! Ready to go?” Susie peered past Kira’s shoulder and frowned. “Hold on. Where are your things?”

“I don’t have any.”

“Why not? Did you leave them at home?” Susie asked, trying to shuffle past Kira into her room.

“It’s complicated,” Kira deflected, using Susie’s own words against her. There was nothing in the room that was hers, but even so, she valued her privacy and didn’t want anyone snooping around. She stepped into the corridor and locked the door. “Is there a place where I could buy a few things?”

Susie’s face brightened. “Sure. We can go shopping after school!”

Wherever Susie planned to take her, Kira feared from her excited reaction that it was a little more than the small general store in Nordokk that she’d frequented with Byron and Mary.

“By the way,” Susie said, her brow furrowed in concentration as she leant into Kira’s personal space, “how’s your neck? Nathaniel didn’t bite you, did he?”

“Err…”

“Because we’ve asked the vampires to stop preying on first years before they’ve even had a chance to join a pack. It’s been disrupting pack dynamics. Although, there’s not much we can do if students ask to be bitten, but I mean, come on, at least let them settle in at the academy and have a chance, you know what I mean?”

Kira felt uncomfortable as Susie examined her neck for bite marks. “My neck is fine.”

“And he didn’t hurt you?”

Yes, he hurt me.

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated to say them. Nathaniel had made the trip to the academy needlessly unpleasant. Had he angered her? Humiliated her? Signed his own death warrant? ‘Yes’ to all those things—but he had not hurt her. She shook her head.

Susie exhaled in relief. “Good. It’s best you stay away from him.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s dangerous.”

Kira had already gathered as much. “How dangerous, exactly?”

Susie offered her a too-cheerful smile and gestured at her wolf tail. “You’re probably wondering why I have a wolf tail.”

Kira blinked at the abrupt change in subject. “Actually, I was wondering that.”

“I was born like this,” Susie said simply. “I can’t morph at all.”

“Oh.” Kira struggled to think of what to say. Wolf shifters were capable of half-morphing, but she’d never met or heard of one who was stuck between human and wolf form. “I’m so sorry.”