Chapter 25 Raven
Raven
The cafeteria fell silent when I walked in with Zane and Kai flanking me like lethal, super-hot bodyguards.
It had taken considerable effort to persuade my merman to join me for breakfast in the cafeteria, but since Maverick’s cabin was depressingly fire-damaged and our new accommodation lacked a functional kitchen, we had no choice.
Ignoring the hushed silence as everyone stared at us, I turned to Kai and whispered, “What do you normally eat?” I hadn’t considered my mate’s dietary preferences. Whereas I would happily eat literally anything, I wasn’t so sure about him.
He shifted uncomfortably, not enjoying being the center of attention. A harsh laugh broke the silence as a familiar witch sneered at me.
“Oh my goddess, has the freak mated yet more freaks?”
Zane rested his hand on my lower back while Kai looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
“At least I have mates, Demelza,” I called. “I don’t see anyone wanting to tie themselves to you for life.”
My incubus snorted. “She’s not even a good fuck.”
I glared at him before hissing, “You better not have touched her skanky ass!”
“Of course not, my sweet pet.” I tried not to groan out loud when he kissed me way more passionately than the public setting warranted. “Only repeating what all the wolves tell me.” He said this loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“That’s defamatory!” Demelza flushed bright red as several people snickered around her.
“I’d shut up if I were you, Zane! Now that you’ve mated with an unstable whore like her, the Mage Council will probably have you arrested.
Nobody wants a repeat of what your unhinged father did to those poor people. ”
The room fell silent once again as everyone turned to see how Zane would react. He said nothing, but the tension down the bond between us told me Demelza’s not-so-subtle threat had hit home.
How did she know we were soul-bonded mates anyway?
“Probably from Alaric,” Zane said in my head. “Her family is in Tiberius Vane’s inner circle.”
Kenji blinked into view and hopped onto Demelza’s table. Before she could react, he used his tail to knock a glass of green juice all over her skirt. She shrieked in rage and cast a fire spell at him, but my wily kitsune vanished and the spell hit her friend instead.
The poor witch screamed as her hair turned into a blazing inferno.
“Demelza Thorn! My office now!” Miss Windborne swept across the room and extinguished the flames, but it was too late for Demelza’s friend. The poor witch sobbed as scorched clumps of hair fell to the floor, still smoldering.
I felt rather sorry for her, but then, she’d laughed at me too, so I smirked.
“It’s not my fault!” Demelza shrieked, but Miss Windborne took no notice.
“Your father will hear about this attack on another student, and it will be added to your permanent record, Miss Thorn. The school takes all reckless acts of magical endangerment very seriously. It might be an accident, but imagine if you’d injured a human because of your woeful inability to control your magic! ”
“But…”
“No buts, Miss Thorn. Now move!” Demelza threw me a look that promised she’d exact a horrible revenge later before stomping out of the cafeteria.
“I’m not that hungry,” Kai said as everyone started talking about what had just happened. “I think I’ll head back to the…”
“No, you’ll stay,” Zane snapped. “Our mate needs us to protect her from Demelza’s friends.”
Was he for real? An unladylike snort escaped. “I don’t need protecting. I can protect myself.”
“Really?” Alaric scoffed from behind me. “Given you burned the bear’s cabin down, I’m not so sure about that.” The bastard had the audacity to sneer at me before he sauntered past us with a steaming cup of vanilla latte in his hand.
My temper ignited, and a small flame burst from my fingertip, zapping his ass and scorching a hole in his perfectly pressed pants. Pants that hugged his butt to perfection.
Not that I was looking.
The mage yelped in surprise. Hot coffee spilled down his front, staining his pristine shirt.
“Looks like I can take care of myself just fine.” I scratched my nose with my middle finger while smirking.
Alaric cursed up a storm as Zane laughed before herding me toward the food counters.
“You deserve a reward once classes are over,” he purred in my ear. “Have a think about how many orgasms you’d like while you doze in Professor Dunton’s class.”
I decided not to take Zane’s advice because it would seriously hinder my ability to concentrate, which was already shot to pieces. Thankfully, everyone except Glynda was now giving me a wide berth.
It could have been because they were terrified Zane might hurt them, which he totally would, but the why was immaterial. Since news of my new soul-bonds had hit the gossip mill, I’d become a social pariah. Well, more than normal.
The minute I took a seat in the middle row, the wolf shifters sitting nearby moved.
“Do I smell or something?” I whispered to Glynda. A wolf sniggered before his friend elbowed him hard enough to make him yelp.
“No. It’s because Demelza’s spread the word you’ve soul-bonded Kai and Zane as well as Maverick. Witches don’t normally mate shifters or other species, and because of what happened with Zane’s father after his soul-bonded mate died, well…”
“But how did Demelza know?” We only arrived back yesterday, and I sure as hell hadn’t sought her out for a catch-up.
“I don’t know,” Glynda admitted with a shrug, “but I’ll see what I can find out.”
Professor Dunton coughed loudly before sneering at me.
“If you’ve all quite finished gossiping about things I care little about, please open your textbooks and turn to chapter six.”
I reached for the textbook that had just appeared on my desk and did as I was told, only to freeze in surprise when I realized we’d be studying the Vampire Royal Family.
My fingers brushed over the ruby at my throat. Nobody could see it thanks to the invisibility spell. Would there be pictures in the textbook of vampires wearing this exact ruby? Rasmus had hinted the necklace had been passed down through several generations of his family.
“At the end of this semester, each of you will write a ten thousand word report on a topic connected to the Vampire Royals. This report will be fifty percent of your grade for my class.” Loud groans echoed through the room.
“But what’s the point, sir?” a wolf shifter grumbled. “They’re all fucking dead.”
Dunton fixed his beady eyes on the unfortunate wolf. “They might be dead, Rufus, but we can learn from their mistakes, so unless you want me to spell your mouth shut for the rest of the year, I suggest you zip it.”
I skimmed through the chapters while students asked inane questions and Dunton got more irritated by the minute.
The book covered the origins of the vampires, the vampire courts of the Middle Ages, and then speculated on the eventual demise of the vampires.
I grinned to myself when I realized I’d have a first-hand source for my report. All I had to do was ask Rasmus to tell me everything I needed to know.
“Is something amusing, Miss Blackstone?”
“Um…no?”
A wolf shifter leered at me and licked his lips.
“One would hope not, seeing as how we will eventually discuss the extinction of an entire species.”
“Are they all dead, though?” asked a witch on the front row.
“Unless you’re hiding a vampire in your closet, then yes, they are all dead.” Half the class burst into laughter, and the witch hung her head in embarrassment.
Not me, though. No, I buried my head in my textbook and decided this class was going to be way more interesting than I thought.
Then Demelza had to open her big mouth yet again.
“But, sir, maybe Raven is hiding a vampire in her closet.”
The color leached from my cheeks. Stars, had she figured out Rasmus was alive?
Professor Dunton rolled his eyes. “I highly doubt it, Miss Thorn. If a vampire had survived the bloodborne virus, we’d have seen them by now.”
“I just think it’s strange that she and her harem of freaks have moved into the vampire dorms.” She smirked at me. Goddess save us all, was Demelza stalking me now?
It sure felt like it.
“Miss Thorn, Miss Blackstone’s living arrangements are none of your concern, so do be quiet.”
Demelza did as she was told but carried on smirking while the professor outlined the topics we’d be covering this semester. Only I didn’t hear a word he said because I was too busy panicking about what Demelza knew, and more importantly, who’d told her.
After all, the only person outside my circle of trust who knew about Rasmus was a certain storm mage.
A storm mage who had every reason to hate me.