Chapter 40 Raven
Raven
Alaric and I landed in a heap on the sports field right before he pulled away from me.
I tried not to feel hurt by the rejection.
What he’d said about his father made sense; it was better for all of us if Daddy Vane’s attention stayed well away from me and my mates. The mage would not be happy to learn my vampire prince was still alive. Well, not alive exactly, but you get the picture.
Vampires had long memories, and they were petty. If Rasmus and his family had caused the Blood Wars over a tragic love affair, there was no telling what my mate would do if he got up close and personal with Tiberius Vane.
When I looked around, I saw most of the other students had already returned from the forest, some of them in a poor state. I spotted at least two shifters with highly suspicious burn marks on their chests. Both avoided the storm mage’s eye.
One of Demelza’s friends also looked worse for wear, with her hair frazzled and crinkly.
She glared at me as if it were my fault her stupid hair had reacted badly to the shitty weather.
I thought about suggesting she refresh her Beauty 101 magic, but Alaric’s subtle head shake silenced me as I opened my mouth.
So instead of offering haircare advice, I scanned the assembled crowd, searching for Kai and Glynda before heaving a sigh of relief when I spotted them both.
Kai had several flags sticking out from his shorts pocket, while Glynda had her pink one clutched in her hand. Phew. At least they would avoid the horror of doing circuits.
My flag was still safely tucked inside my bra. Thank the goddess Demelza hadn’t gone looking for it. I definitely would have melted her ass if she’d sexually assaulted me. Oh wait. Alaric had murdered her on my behalf.
The scent of cooked pork still lingered on the wind, or was that my guilty conscience?
Nope.
Not one iota of guilt troubled me on this not-fine day.
That bitch deserved to end up a deep-fried frankfurter.
“Where’s Demelza?” Ivy, the bitch’s bestie, chewed her lip in concern, which surprised me. I wasn’t aware anyone actually gave a shit about Demelza. Maybe she hadn’t been as awful as I thought. Even demons had some redeeming qualities.
Not that I could think of any in these challenging times.
Did thick skin count?
“Sir, Demelza isn’t back!”
Professor Lightfoot huffed and rolled his eyes. “Patience, witch. I’m sure she’ll be back anytime n—”
A puff of lilac magic heralded a new arrival. Only instead of a smoking not-hot (dead) witch, the cloud lifted to reveal a fat, very confused pig wearing a charm around its bristly neck.
“Demelza? Oh my goddess, sir! Something’s wrong with Demelza!”
The witches crowded round the pig, wringing their hands in horror while Alaric struggled to contain his mirth.
The pig oinked and squealed when Ivy tried to touch its head. It took all of two seconds before the traumatized creature bit her.
“Demelza! What the fuck? I thought we were friends!” Ivy wailed.
“Stand back, witches!” Lightfoot came storming over, flexing his pecs and thrusting his crotch forward as he posed for the shifter girls.
They all swooned. Not one of those bitches had a hair out of place.
Unlike me, who looked like someone had smashed a branch over my head. Oh wait. That had happened.
Lightfoot stared down at the upset and confused pig.
“This pig isn’t Miss Thorn. I have no idea why it’s wearing a mage charm unless she deliberately removed it and placed it on the animal.”
“But why would she do that, sir?” Ivy’s hysterical ranting triggered a new headache. I moved closer to Alaric, subconsciously seeking his healing hands on my body. Okay, so the healing bit was optional.
Did that make me a slutty witch?
Probably.
Did I care?
No.
Lightfoot stared down at the pig. His eyes glowed pure gold, a sign his wolf was trying to force a shift, and he licked his lips.
Pigs were prey animals to wolves, and I had a nasty suspicion this poor little piggy was about to end up as a side of raw bacon.
Oh my goddess, was our professor salivating?
The pig, sensing how much danger it was in, bolted between Ivy’s legs and made a bid for freedom. Two students nearby shifted into wolves and howled in excitement, unable to contain their predatory instincts.
The pig squealed in fright as its stubby little legs propelled it across the field.
I couldn’t let the pig die.
It didn’t deserve to be eaten by asshole wolf shifters.
Alaric, correctly reading my intention, tried to stop me, but I focused my magic on the wolves. It burst free from my chest, blasting the surprised shifters a hundred feet across the field.
Before anyone else could capture the pig, I ran and scooped it up in my arms. My new pet calmed down immediately, nuzzling my neck with its hairy little snout and snorting adorably.
For one horrible moment, I wondered if perhaps I’d inadvertently claimed a second familiar, but no, this one didn’t hurl abuse at me.
It was just a pig.
A cute little oinking piggy.
“Miss Blackstone! Put that feral hog down!”
How dare that sadistic wolf shifter with boundary issues insult my pig!
“It’s not feral! It’s my emotional-support pig!”
A total lie. I’d never seen this pig before in my life, but finders keepers, right?
Fur rippled over Professor Lightfoot’s chest as his wolf tried to break free.
“Pets are not allowed on campus, Miss Blackstone. Put the pig down before I am forced to remove it from you.”
“There is an exception in the rules for emotional-support pets,” Glynda yelled. Her cheeks flushed pink when everyone stared at her. My friend hated being the center of attention, which was unfortunate given how popular I was.
“Glynda’s right,” Alaric confirmed in a bored voice. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “If you’d like me to check with my father, I can do that.”
Lightfoot recoiled at the thought of drawing the unwanted attention of Vane senior. Maybe he wasn’t so dumb after all.
“Oh, my darling mate, have you made a new friend?” Zane blinked into view behind me and squeezed my butt.
“Sir, if that pig isn’t Demelza, then she has still not returned!
” A witch with blue curly hair sobbed in a totally fake way.
I’d wager my nonexistent trust fund her tears were mostly for attention-seeking purposes.
Probably to encourage Professor Lightfoot to comfort her.
In a sexual way, as he was well-known for doing. The filthy pervert.
Ivy’s wails increased, making my headache worse. Had I sustained another traumatic brain injury?
Lightfoot tore his attention away from me and the pig, swearing loudly in a way that was not becoming for a faculty member. I had half a mind to report him for unprofessional conduct in the company of impressionable students but decided it was better to quit while I was ahead.
I cuddled the pig tighter. He didn’t seem to mind. What a cute little pig. So tame. Definitely not a feral hog, as the nasty professor insinuated. More like a pet pig from a petting zoo. The pig had no ugly tusks like wild boars and showed no signs of aggression.
Despite Glynda’s assertion about emotional-support pets, which I was pretty sure she’d made up to save my pig, I would give my life to protect this little oinker. At least the pig deserved my loyalty, unlike Kenji, who’d refused to help when I was dying.
“Someone give that witch an Oscar.” I stuck my tongue out at Kenji, even though he couldn’t see me.
“Wolves assemble!” Alaric rolled his eyes and muttered something about fucking stupid wolves with superhero complexes, whatever that meant.
“Search the forest for Demelza Thorn. The rest of you, return to your dorms until Miss Thorn is found safe and well. Or if she’s not found safe and well, at least verified to be the unfortunate victim of a sad and entirely random accident,” he clarified upon reflection.
Zane snorted. “Now would be a good time to summon a storm, mage.” He winked at Alaric. “I feel like a lightning strike would be very useful if it hit the twisted pine up by the stone circle.”
Alaric’s eyebrow shot up, but he nodded discreetly.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said to Zane under his breath.
Several witches watched with barely concealed longing as the storm mage sauntered away. Damn, the mage was a tasty snack with his artfully tousled blond hair and muscular legs.
But before I could lose myself in a sexy fantasy involving me, the storm mage, and a hot shower, Glynda had teleported me and my pig back to the dorm.
She dropped us on the step outside the scuffed door to our new and aesthetically unpleasing accommodation, and I retched while the pig oinked furiously, apparently not a fan of teleporting. Yet another sign the pig and I were sisters from another mister. Or something.
Kenji popped into view and curled his lip menacingly at the pig. “It’s a boy pig, you dumb witch. It has balls.” He sounded extremely pissed I’d replaced him in my affections, but honestly, what did he expect?
Also, no wonder I had failed my Animal Biology 101 class last semester.
“The only good thing about pigs is they turn into bacon and sausages.”
“Ignore the nasty kitsune, my cute little poppet. He’s just jealous.”
My pig snuffled and then licked my face. It was all kinds of gross, but no worse than Kenji eating bacon in my bed.
“I have to go,” Glynda said while looking super shifty. “But keep me posted on the pig situation!”
Why was my friend in such a rush? I was about to invite her in for hot chocolate and gossip.
“Wait!”
Glynda vanished. Hmm. She’d been rather cagey of late. I had a sneaking suspicion my bestie was hiding something from me. But now was not the time. I had a pig to settle and an incubus to interrogate.
A crack of thunder rattled my bones before a terrifying arc of lightning cleaved open the sky above the distant ridge. I heard a volley of howls and shuddered.
Once the wolves found Demelza’s charred corpse, questions would be asked. And if any of the wolves caught a whiff of my scent on her remains, I might become a murder suspect.
Again.