Chapter 21 Jack
Chapter twenty-one
Jack
A piercing squeal rang in my ears as the dorm room door opened, revealing Xinyi standing in Iris’ disaster of a room.
“Oh, my god, Jack!” Xinyi clapped her hands and dragged me into the room. “When you texted me about your date tonight, I thought maybe you were kidding, but here you are.” She left me in the middle of the room, picking up random clothing as she spoke.
“Now the witches’ party is a big deal. It’s always out in the woods. There’s a big barn fire and, of course, lots of witch’s brew.” Xinyi wagged her brows.
“Right.” I nodded, barely keeping up with her tirade, before chewing on my lip. “Look, this is my first real date, and normally I’d ask my mom what to do but…”
“I got it.” Xinyi nodded primly as she exchanged a look with an amused Iris, who sat on the bed. “Best to keep the humans out of supernatural business, even personal stuff. It just gets too complicated. All the lies.”
My phone dinged.
Tate: Can’t wait for tonight, princess. ??
I smiled down at my phone, typing a response back.
Me: Pick me up from Iris’ room.
“Aww, you’re so smitten, it’s so cute. I remember when we first met.
” Xinyi skipped over to Iris, stroking her face.
“The gondola on the canals? The stars and that funny Italian man who wouldn’t stop trying to speak Japanese to me.
” She giggled as Iris stared at her lovingly.
“I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was Chinese. ”
Xinyi popped back up and picked up a crimson-colored garment. “Anyway, I know it’s not really cold out yet, but a bonfire calls for certain clothing, and we want to make sure you look your best.”
“Can we skip the skimpy dresses this time?” I winced at the strappy fabric she held up next.
Xinyi blinked at me. “Of course, the party in the commons was a completely different vibe than the woods. You’ll want to be covered, but…” She held up a jean skirt and tights with a sly grin. “Accessible.”
I huffed and prepared to be their dress-up doll again. At least, this time it seemed most of me would be covered.
Twenty minutes and some negotiating later, I convinced Xinyi that I could wear my white V-neck shirt over her black spaghetti strap shirt and it would match perfectly with the jean skirt and thick black tights she had offered to me.
Xinyi had even let me keep my boots and leather jacket, which made me feel a bit more like myself.
“Hmmm.” Xinyi circled me, tapping her chin. “Are you sure you don’t want a push-up bra? Give the girls that extra bit of umph?”
I smiled and shook my head. “I’m good.”
Before Xinyi could argue further into, God help me, lingerie, a knock sounded on the door.
Iris opened the door to reveal Tate. He wore dark wash jeans and a long-sleeved grey Henley shirt, making him look every bit as yummy as earlier today. Desire warmed and settled low between my thighs.
Tate’s chin dipped, his eyes locking with mine as his nostrils flared.
“Do we need to have the talk?” Iris teased as she glanced between the two of us. “No orgies on the first date. No joining the Wild Hunt. No—”
I strode around the room with a laugh. “Got it. No life-altering decisions. Bye, Iris, Xinyi.”
“See you there!” Xinyi called out, but my eyes were all for the werewolf standing before me.
My hand slid into Tate’s, our gaze focused on each other as we walked through the vampire’s dorms. Tate held the door open for me, letting me walk in front of him up the stairs and into the commons.
Several students were getting ready to go to the woods, and the air buzzed with excitement and anticipation.
“So… a first date.” I dropped my eyes to where our hands were linked. “I can’t say I know what to expect.”
Tate didn’t say anything for a moment. “Is this your first date… ever?”
“Yeah.” I blushed and nodded. “Another first. Last night.”
“Ah, yes.” Tate chuckled a dark masculine sound that made things low tighten. “Kyren will be happy to hear that.”
My face heated more at the mention of Kyren.
“Now, you have to tell me, how does someone like you, looking like you do,” Tate gestured at me with a lopsided grin, “go twenty-five years without a date?”
I opened my mouth to answer and then clamped it shut. How did I answer this without giving away who I was? It wasn’t like I didn’t want to date — it was just… difficult.
“Overprotective parents.” I left it at that.
We walked out of the vampire crypt and followed the other students through the campus and out a side gate that lead into the woods surrounding the school.
“What about you?” I asked, our feet crunching on the ground. “Why’d you run off with a vampire instead of being… you know, part of a pack?”
Tate wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and he sighed.
“My pack live back in Utah. My mom and dad were typical parents. They prepped me to take over the pack. Every day was about how best to be of service to them. My little brother, Dion, never could see why I didn’t want it.
The power. The respect of our pack mates. ”
“The responsibility,” I added on, understanding where he was coming from.
“Right.” Tate paused next to where they were handing out drinks. The bonfire crackled and burned nearby, warming the side of my body. He held out a drink to me and then pulled it back when I reached for it. “Don’t drink too much, I have plans for you.”
“Alright.” I fluttered my lashes, a small smile playing on my lips as I accepted the drink.
The warm smile spread across his face as he led me to one side of the party, offering me a seat on a stump. I cuddled up next to him, even though it wasn’t cold out.
“My parents meant well,” Tate continued his story. “But they were all work and no play. I felt stifled, forced to be something I wasn’t. Then…” He paused, his eyes staring off into the distance as a small smile played on his lips. “Kyren showed up.”
“How’d that happen?” I sipped from my cup, watching the side of his face as he talked about Kyren.
“He was drunk off his ass, wondering the forest, muttering about —” Tate’s hand moved up and down my arm, his voice soft, almost full of awe as he talked about his master and lover.
I frowned when he cut himself off.
“Anyway,” Tate sighed, “enough about me. What about you? Alora just happened, so you had to have been doing something before now.”
I let out a hard laugh. “Not a whole lot, actually. I was homeschooled. My parents were… overprotective.”
“You said that, but you’re an adult. Why didn’t you just go out and… live?” He gestured emphatically.
“I did, sort of.” I stared down at the ground, scuffing my boot on the ground. “Then I started hanging out with this group of people, and they introduced me to Alora. And then… here.” I swallowed a mouthful of the witch’s brew, using it to keep myself from telling too much.
“That was… enlightening.” Tate chuckled. “How did —?”
“Look who it is,” a low gruff voice taunted. “The traitor and his girlfriend.” The werewolf from the cafeteria stood over us as a couple of his friends egged him on. “Does your master know you’re cheating on him?”
“Back off, Jed,” Tate growled, his hand tightening on my shoulder.
“Or what?” Jed gnashed his teeth at us, his eyes flashing yellow. “You gonna sic your vampire boyfriend on us?”
“It’s a party, just go enjoy yourselves.” Tate grinned at them. “Why bother with us?”
“Why?” Jed laughed and glanced at his friends. “Because you’re a filthy traitor. Letting that vamp bind you to him. It’s unnatural, and frankly, it’s sick.”
Tate tensed beside me, a low growl vibrating against my side.
“We didn’t ask your opinion.” My fingers slipped into my pocket, fingers curling around the silver pair of brass knuckles concealed there.
Jed’s eyes finally landed on me. “And we didn’t ask you to breathe, vamp whor—”
My knuckles slammed into his chin in an uppercut. Jed fell back into his friends with a howl, grabbing his chin as the burn mark spreading across his skin.
“You bitch!” Jed choked on the word as something black and slithery wrapped around his throat, lifting him off the ground.
The werewolf’s hands grappled at his neck his fingers going through the shadows.
That’s when Kyren stepped out of the darkness.
Tate’s hand slid into mine, pulling me away from the choking werewolf and over to Kyren’s side. “Kyren, you can let him go. We don’t want to have to explain any deaths on campus.”
Kyren’s gaze stayed locked on the werewolf.
Honestly, I’d killed a werewolf for lesser things than calling me a bitch. Simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time while I was in a pissy mood would make me blow a silver-bullet-sized hole through their chest.
Except Tate was right. If Kyren killed someone on campus, then my parents would be alerted. They’d come to campus, and I didn’t doubt for one second that they’d go all protective mode and blow my cover.
Slipping the knuckles back into my pocket, I stepped away from Tate, over to Kyren’s side. I reached out, my eyes sliding over the shadows swirling along his arms before I pressed my hand to his arm.
The shadows didn’t feel like anything. They didn’t even touch me as my hand found his skin underneath. Kyren flinched at my touch. His eyes flickered away from Jed until his eyes locked on mine.
“Kyren. Let him go.”
Tate appeared on his other side, hand on his arm like mine. “He’s just some jackass. Not worth killing him.”
Those dark eyes flicked up to Tate, and the tension in Kyren’s arm eased. As he lowered his arm, the shadows around Jed’s neck disappeared.
Jed collapsed, and his buddies grabbed hold of him. Their eyes were wide with fear as they dragged him away.
Everyone at the party stared at us. The crackling of the fire was the only sound above their racing heart beats.
Tate laughed, startling several of the students nearby. “What’s a party without some bloodshed, huh?”
A few nervous chuckles answered him. Then everyone turned back to the party as if nothing had happened.
“Tate?” Kyren’s eyes swept over the werewolf.