Chapter 32 #2
“My love?” His voice was gentle, not matching his murderous gaze as he knelt down in front of me, his dark eyes catching on my hand. “You’re hurt?”
“I’m fine,” I said, my eyes darting to the scene behind him.
Every person that’d been in the crowd was held by shadows, including a few errant students.
Some people struggled, but others only watched us with expressions of terror.
I’d never seen Rafe use his affinity to this extent before.
I wondered if this was something he’d always been able to do, or if it was new.
The double doors to the administration building banged open a moment later, and a pissed off Wyatt came tearing down the steps with an equally pissed off Aiden on his heels.
“Who was it?” Aiden demanded, his arms glowing against the shadows.
“Have you people no shame?!” Wyatt cried at the crowd. “This is an institution of learning!”
Rafe rolled his eyes at Wyatt, then stood, offering me his hand. He pulled me up beside him, and his arm slid around my side protectively. Possessively. My cheeks flamed. Goosebumps spread down my arms.
Rafe noticed, though he wrongly assumed I was embarrassed instead of painfully horny. His free hand rubbed up and down my shoulder comfortingly while he glared at the crowd.
“Isaiah,” Rafe said, his tone haughty and princely. “Who is this man?”
Isaiah had pulled the man from the bench, holding him up for Rafe to examine.
“He had a gun. He started the chaos,” Isaiah explained.
He’s not the one who buried me, I said with a cough.
Every one of my Links turned to me, eyes burning.
“Someone…buried you,” Rafe repeated slowly.
The ground trembled slightly as Wyatt stared into the crevice where I’d been only a few minutes before.
Rafe made a show of kissing my temple, then handing me off to Wyatt, who snatched my throbbing hand. The warmth from his healing affinity spread through my fingers, calming my own affinity and ending the pain. Aiden pressed in from my other side, his arms crackling with energy.
I’d never felt more protected.
Rafe stood between us and the man, his hands in his pockets as he stared him down.
“Who are you?” Rafe asked.
The man didn’t reply, only struggled a bit against Isaiah.
Rafe pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Why would you pull a gun so close to my Key?” he asked.
The man spat at his feet.
Someone in the crowd whimpered as more shadows began to coil along the ground.
“Tell me something, man.” Rafe groaned.
The man’s eyes darted to Aiden. “He killed my brother.”
Aiden’s eyebrows jumped to his hairline. “Uh, no I didn’t.”
“He didn’t stab himself!” The man snarled. “You turned that knife on him!”
“No I didn’t,” Aiden scoffed, seemingly ready to argue.
“Yes you did!” The man cried. “The knife, it–”
“He didn’t kill your brother. I did.”
The crowd broke into quiet gasps and murmurs. I leaned in closer to Wyatt, breathing him in to keep calm. So many eyes were on us.
The man was dumbfounded, staring up at Rafe with wide eyes. “Why?” he whispered.
“Because he tried to stab my Link-mate,” Rafe said simply. He knelt down in front of the man. “What do you think I should do to you, since you tried to bury my Key?”
He didn’t, I protested, but then Wyatt shushed me.
I stared at the side of his face in disbelief, thinking of all the ways I could make him suffer.
The man didn’t look away from Rafe, keeping his gaze on us.
Shadows began to appear, first out of thin air, then rising from the grass and seeping from the concrete. They moved toward the man, covering his body before pushing into his mouth, his nose, his eyes. Any open hole, they began to fill.
The man sputtered and coughed, gasping as he tried to fight off the attack. Wyatt turned away sharply, still holding me but unable to watch. Aiden watched with childlike fascination, his eyes wide and eyebrows high on his forehead.
I watched it all from over Wyatt’s shoulder.
I didn’t look away as the man began to cry or scream.
I didn’t look away as blood began to pour from his eyes and nose.
I didn’t look away as he choked on a mixture of shadows and his own blood.
Several people cried out in terror, but not a single camera flashed. The shadows had destroyed them.
The whole thing only lasted a few minutes, but my eyes burned as if I hadn’t blinked in hours. Rafe finally stood, taking my arm and pulling me back to his side right as Coach appeared, wiping his sweaty forehead with a look of disappointment.
That was stupid, I said to Rafe. They’ll have a field day with this.
“I hope everyone here shares what they’ve seen today,” Rafe said aloud, ignoring Coach. “Tell everyone you can – this is what happens when you mess with the Royal Key. She’s mine.”
Wyatt pulled me along like I was a rag doll as we made our way through the administration lobby. I dragged my feet as soon as we were inside the building, out of view of the press.
Don’t be like that, sweetheart, Wyatt said.
Fuck you, I muttered.
I was pissed about being shushed.
Pissed Rafe killed that guy even though he hadn’t been the one to bury me.
He didn’t bury me, I said yet again.
I know, Wyatt replied, still not caring. But he did try to shoot you, and Rafe had to make an example.
He wouldn’t have shot her, Aiden scoffed.
I grinned at him over Wyatt’s shoulder.
“Wyatt? Oh.”
Every hair on the back of my neck rose into the air.
I turned slowly, shoving at Wyatt as he tried to keep me from fully turning around.
It was the Bun Bitch.
Carissa stood in the doorway to her office, her eyes wide as she watched us.
She wore a see-through white dress shirt with the buttons undone far enough to see her lacy black bra and most of her cleavage.
She also wore a black pleather pencil skirt and strappy heels, looking anything but office-ready.
Her hair was pulled back into a tight high-ponytail, and she had some fake reading glasses perched on her nose.
Aiden scrunched up his nose at the sight of her.
Wyatt stood with his back to her, keeping me pressed against his chest.
“What is it, Ms. Flynn?” Wyatt asked, monotone.
Carissa flinched.
“I just…I wanted to make sure…Ms. Aria was okay.”
Aiden raised his eyebrows.
Wyatt clenched his jaw, then glanced at her over his shoulder, which pissed me off further.
“She’s fine,” he said slowly, adding, “Thank you.”
Carissa nodded, giving me a look of sympathy. “I’m glad you’re okay. Being buried alive sounds awful.”
I narrowed my eyes at her as Wyatt began to move us toward his office, and then Rafe’s voice cut through the silence.