Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
The rest of the Elite hangers-on gradually made their way over in our direction because Ice Man and Man Bun were the sun around which they all orbited.
The Alphawhore brigade wisely stuck to giving me shitty looks without engaging since now they knew better.
Nikka had been mostly absent from the group, instead spending time with her football player date near their jock circle, and I was certainly happier for it.
But there were still the humans of the group who didn’t know better. So, just in time to sour my mood, Claudia, Pink Bra, and Pink Bra’s dumb friend from Stats slid right up next to Knox and looked down their noses at me.
"I thought you had a serious boyfriend, Mave," Pink Bra snarked at me while she not-so-subtly brushed up against Knox. "Why don’t you keep your whore-y hands off of Knox? I doubt he wants whatever diseases you white trash Utah rejects carry."
I shot a look at Knox that invited him to prove the strength of our newly established friendship, but he just smirked at me, clearly just enjoying the entertainment.
Dick.
I caught Blake’s watchful eyes from where he lingered with our group a few tables away. He’d been extremely patient and understanding about my having a serious conversation with Knox, but he’d about had it with the mean girls. I knew he was itching to light some skirts on fire.
I gave him a subtle shake of my head. I had to handle this one on my own, too. But damn, I was getting tired of this shit.
Taking up my usual unaffected mien, I quirked an eyebrow at Pink Bra.
"Did I black out and miss something over here, ladies? Did you observe something more than Ice Man and me having a serious conversation for ten minutes? Did I trip and fall onto his dick without somehow noticing?"
"Uh, you were holding his hand!" Claudia huffed, gesturing between us.
"Whew," I wiped some pretend sweat off my brow, then I looked at Knox. "I mean, I wouldn’t have been proud of it, but if I’d spent time on your dick without knowing it, I’d have been just a little disappointed to have missed it entirely."
He chuckled. "You wouldn’t have forgotten it, trust me."
Ah, never change Ice Man.
"Anything else we can do for you girls, then?" I scanned the three of them, bored.
"Oh… I dunno," Pink Bra drawled, then she took a step in my direction. She flung her hands out at me suddenly, as if she’d tripped, spilling the red punch she was holding down the front of my beautiful white lace dress.
"Oops," she snickered, smiling at her buddies like she’d won something.
Too bad all she’d won was a date with my fist.
I clenched my hands at my sides, trying to rein in at least some of my rage before I unleashed an actual wolf in the gymnasium.
I could feel the warm, sticky liquid as it dripped between my breasts and soaked into the corset top, which was growing damp against my stomach.
The white lace was now streaked with an ugly shade of pink.
"Mave…," Mason warned in a low voice from behind me. "I know that look. Think about this."
"Butt out, Man Bun," I said calmly.
"Knox, stop her."
"No way, man. You stop her."
Ignoring the peanut gallery, I sighed and cracked my neck, then I looked straight into Pink Bra’s eyes. She was still smirking triumphantly at me, but I caught the slight waver in her smile as she realized I wasn’t about to run off crying.
I stepped closer to her. "That feel good?" I whispered, still holding eye contact. "Got it all out of your system now?"
She seethed. "Back up, bitch."
She went to shove me out of her space, but before she could lay another hand on me, I punched her right in her tiny, perfect nose. I felt the satisfying crunch of it breaking under my fist, and I basked in the squeals of agony that followed.
"You fucking crazy bitch!" Claudia shouted, then Mason dragged her away before she could also meet my fist.
Pink Bra’s other friend rushed her out of the gym before she could bleed all over the place.
I felt a comforting arm wrap around my shoulders.
"That was hot, Wolf Girl," Blake murmured in my ear. "But let’s head to the locker rooms and clean you up before one of the teachers decides to investigate."
"Ryan saw it but he won’t say anything," Knox chimed in from nearby.
Blake narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at him. "Control your flock, dude. This is the second nose she’s had to break because your fangirls can’t play nice."
He scoffed and rolled his eyes but didn’t argue as Blake lead me out of the gym, past the smattering of students lingering in the hallway, and into the girls’ locker room.
"Hold still, baby," he said as he sat me down on one of the benches.
He stood over me, then waved his right hand across my body, and I felt the sticky wetness of the red liquid evaporate right off of my skin. My dress felt dry again, and I no longer had punch pooling in the bra cups of my corset. I looked down at the dress, which was bright white once again.
"Did you… magic me?" I whispered excitedly.
"I did," he replied, grinning. "Water isn’t my best element but removing it from a spill like that is pretty basic magic."
"Do some more?" I asked, giving him my best pleading, wide eyes.
"Can’t say no to you, Wolf Girl."
He waved his hand again, and hundreds of tiny glittering orbs of orange, white, and purple fire appeared over our heads like twinkling fairy lights, creating our own little romantic locker room oasis.
He sat down next to me, and I snuggled into his side while we both stared up at the lights, mesmerized.
"That’s amazing, Blake," I said, peering up at him and watching the soft colorful dots of light dance across his face.
"I’ll tell Ian you said so," he replied. "I’ve always been good about controlling fire when it’s touching my body, but throwing it or having it hover like this has taken some practice."
"Is Ian going to be with us tomorrow night?" I asked, suddenly reminded that we had very big plans in about twenty-four hours.
"He offered, but he thinks I’m strong enough to cast the spell on my own," Blake answered me, turning to press a soft kiss to my temple. "He also thought we might want some privacy. It’s kind of an intimate thing, I guess?"
"Maybe," I said. "But I wouldn’t mind if he wanted to come watch. Trying to break a fated mate bond is kind of huge once-in-a-lifetime event for a mage, I would imagine?"
"I’ll make sure to tell him he’s invited," he replied, then he tugged me up to standing. "Let’s get the fuck out of here so I can make good on all my promises from earlier. Then I can have another awkward breakfast with your dad in the morning."
I laughed at that, then a shot of arousal lit me up from within as I remembered all of his dirty words from earlier that night.
"Alright then, take me to bed, Mr. Blaze," I purred in his ear.
And he did.
If only we hadn’t been so caught up in ourselves, and the moment, and the magic, we might’ve noticed the lurking presence or scent of someone tucked away unnoticed in a bathroom stall on the other side of the locker room, listening to everything we said.