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There was a creak.

My head snapped around.

The door at the end of the seemingly endless corridor opened, and I automatically retreated into the shadow of a pillar.

That was Harlow's office. But it wasn't Harlow I saw when I peeked around the stone pillar. It was Julie Blair.

A strange mixture of curiosity and mistrust arose in me as someone hastily closed the door behind Julie, causing her to flinch.

She seemed paralyzed, paler than usual, staring into the void.

Eventually, she adjusted the straps of her light gray leather backpack, took a deep breath, shook her head, and disappeared into the west wing.

I pressed my lips together.

What was this girl doing in the co-director's office? Obviously, she had been with Harlow, one of them.

That annoying woman had already been looking for her yesterday, and I had wanted to hide Julie from her without further ado because I had assumed she had seen us together, which could have seemed anything but unsuspicious to a member of the Councils.

Somehow, we had ended up in a bush, and I had barely managed to catch her.

Memories treacherously ambushed me. Of her lying on top of me, her lips pressed against the palm of my hand so she wouldn't make a sound...

Something in my pants took on a life of its own.

Fuck.

I pressed myself against the cold wall behind me, trying to get the images of her flushed cheeks out of my head, but even older memories came rushing back.

In the lab, when she had demanded that blood oath. I had healed her wound, and it had worked. Flawlessly. Even though I’d had damn fish scales on my arms for the rest of the day.

Julie had sat there and stared at me, as she always did. Far too innocent... I hadn't been able to help it, had had to stare back. She had bitten her goddamn lower lip. And my cock had seen that as a challenge.

J. Something like that can only happen to me with J.

Feelings of guilt welled up inside me, trying to overwhelm me.

Every time I thought I could get her out of my memory, Julie Blair came into my life and reminded me that J still existed, brought back how important she was to me and that I missed everything about this woman.

Footsteps snapped me out of my trance.

Someone was coming up the stairs.

I didn't hesitate for long and hurried down the hallway toward Harlow's office, where I disappeared around the corner into the west wing, where all the professors' offices were located.

Just around the corner, I paused when I spotted Julie, who was still walking down the hallway as if she were mentally somewhere else entirely.

Damn it. I had to make sure she kept our work to herself and wasn't actually an informant for the Councils.

For a moment I hesitated because I didn't want her to do something to me again that could throw me off balance.

Pull yourself together, Quentin. Just because you miss J's body doesn't mean you have to try to compensate for those feelings. You belong to J. No one else.

I forced myself to follow her, to catch up with her after two colleagues from the archaeology department and a group of students had passed us.

When I appeared beside her, her head turned around, and her eyes widened as if she hadn't expected to see me here.

“Quentin?” she whispered.