Chapter Four #2
I TRAILED ASH THROUGH the halls, trying not to shout and barely succeeding. “Why didn’t you tell me you were letting Orion back into the school? How did you let him back in?!”
“Oh, it was a curious thing,” she mused, her kitten heels click-clacking on the tile as she casually led me through the halls of the old alpha wing. “The gates responded to his touch immediately, so you weren’t needed to open them.”
My heart shotgunned into my throat.
“Do they recognize all of your fates?” she asked. “Or just him?”
“That—that doesn’t matter,” I rasped. “You should have told me about Orion. You said you and I were working together, but that was a lie. What else did I expect from a council stooge who cares more about licking their boots than obeying Luame.”
She whirled on me, pulling me up short. “How dare you. I haven’t betrayed our partnership, or Luame, in the slightest. I will not have your slanderous tongue say otherwise!”
“Orion—”
“—is under my sole purview,” she barked. “Which is what you agreed. He is your classmate and your classmate alone. As for the secret police, you were the one who announced to a crowd of people that they were welcome back any time to investigate in the fullest. Was that a lie?”
“No, but—”
“There is no but,” she sliced in, “and no more to discuss. Good evening, High Priestess.” With that, she strode off to her chambers, leaving me wrestling with the urge to bite off her head.
Fuming, I stormed back through the halls. Bursting through the entryway doors, I spilled out in the grand hall, and came face to face with him .
Orion leaned against a statue of Sir Issac Woolfe, wrapped head to toe in scuffed boots, ripped jeans, a beat-up baggy leather jacket, and no shirt. Every hard, sculpted, tattooed inch of his rippling chest showed on full display, and it revved my wolf up like a Formula One race car. Even with the extreme and mutual hatred festering between us, she wanted to slip-n-slide down his pecs till she was forced off the ride.
My nose wrinkled, lips curling at his cigarette. “Put that out.”
“Make me, Headmistress.” Orion sucked in a long drag. “Punish me. Put me in detention.” He smirked. “Go on.”
I stiffened, growls bleeding from my teeth. I didn’t need to ask. The shameless glee on his face said it all. Ash helpfully informed him that I had no power over him at all.
“What do you want?” I asked, voice flat. “Don’t tell me, you’ve got a few more irreplaceable tokens of my late mother you’d like to burn in front of me?”
“If only.” Orion flicked his cigarette somewhere over his shoulder. The jerk didn’t bother to put it out. “No, I’m here to ask you if you’ll be able to restrain yourself from framing me for more of your murders? I may look like a rebel loner bad boy, but I didn’t quite take to prison.” He shrugged. “A man likes to pee in privacy.”
“If I come across a man, I’ll ask if that’s true,” I replied, skirting around his question. Edric taught me my lesson. I wasn’t confessing to anything when anyone anywhere could be listening or recording. Wind wolves had the right idea—be careful with the spoken word. “As for you, dainty princess, you shouldn’t try so hard to stay out of prison. I’m sure all those inmates got a good laugh out of watching you bawl your eyes out while your lily-white ass hovered over the seat. It’s important to keep their spirits up.”
It was Orion who laughed. Throwing his head back, he howled—making those slip-n-slide pecs shake. I literally slapped my hand away when it tried to touch.
“You are funny. People don’t give you enough credit for that.”
“What do you want, Orion?”
“Want to know why I’m here, Volana? I’ll tell you.” Orion closed the distance between us. Leaning over me, his lips hovered barely a centimeter above mine—tickling my mouth with his warm, exhaled breath.
Heat rose beneath my skin. Goose bumps prickled at the nape of my neck, and my wolf stretched and howled within my chest, calling for her mate. But despite that, I sensed her weakness. She was hot off finally completing a strong soul bond between her and her mate, Edric. She should’ve been shredding through my hatred and tackling him like a Christmas ham, but this was all she could manage.
As much as I wanted to live in denial, Nyx hadn’t lied to me. The medicine was only masking the pain, it wasn’t saving her life. Our life.
I gazed into Orion’s hate-filled orbs. Now was not a good time to be too weak to fight my enemies.
“All of this ‘bringing Wolf Nation into an era of peace and equality’ bullshit is just that,” he growled. “You don’t care about omegas, you don’t care about putting alphas in their place, and, if we’re being real, you don’t give a fuck about being queen of the world either.”
“Then what do I care about?” I asked, a bland smile plastered on my face.
“Hmm. I don’t know yet,” he admitted, circling me. “But I promise you this, Volana, until I figure it out, I’m going to ruin everything you do here. I don’t care if you institute Ice Cream Party Fridays. I’ll unplug the fucking fridge and dump that ice cream in the lake.
“I’ll destroy everything you touch. I’ll do the opposite of everything you say. I’ll bring this tiny, pathetic little kingdom you’ve created crashing down around you.” He grinned, backing away. “We’ll see who the dainty bawling princess is then.”
I let him get as far as the door.
“Odin Hayes.”
Orion pulled up so fast, his boots cut an ear-piercing squeak off the floor.
“I knew the name, but since I was cut off from the outside world for most of my life, I couldn’t make the connection until I looked him up,” I said lightly. “Would it surprise you to hear, Orion, that your father came into my temple... and confessed?”
He stood rigid—his back to me. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not. It was rare for someone to pull back my curtain and confront me directly, so of course I remember the faces of the people who did, and your father’s face, it’s not one I would ever forget. How could a ten-year-old forget the man who got in her face and threatened her, demanding to know what would happen if I ever repeated his confession, and promising he’d do even worse if I did.” I closed the distance, circling him just like he did me. Orion tracked me like the moving eyes from behind a painting. “If you were wondering too, I’ll tell you. Luame would strike me down dead if I ever betrayed the trust between her and her people.
“No, I can’t repeat confessions, but”—I smiled—“I can use them to my advantage. Turns out she’s absolutely fine with that loophole.”
He snarled. “If you’ve got a fucking point—”
“You never did find out what happened to your mom, did you?”
That silenced Orion quicker than a sneeze.
I tsked. “Daddy Odin really was a cruel bastard, forcing you to live in uncertainty instead of telling you the truth about her. As it happens,” I sang, trailing my fingers across his shoulders as I passed around. “He told me the truth about your mother, Orion, and if you want to know it too, you’ll behave yourself. Maybe do a little bit of that groveling I hear so much about.
“I’d cream my panties to see you on your knees, and no, that is not my wolf talking.”
Orion breathed hard, nostrils flaring. Every muscle in his body was wound tighter than a bowstring. “Your blackmail game is weakening, Volana. If you wanted this to work, you shouldn’t have just fucking admitted that you can’t tell me the truth.”
“Oh, no,” I cried. “That wasn’t for you. That was for her.” I pointed up. “I’m just reassuring her that I remember and respect the rules so that she doesn’t turn me into a human torch. No, Hayes, I’m not going to come right out and tell you, but you’re a smart guy. You should know that words aren’t the only way to communicate.
“I mean, it’s not like your precious daddy had to go around telling everyone he was a serial killer. They got the hint real fucking quick when they found all those severed body parts in his basement deep freeze.”
He growled—wolf eyes lighting and claws lengthening.
My smile went nowhere. “I can give you a few hints about Mommy too, but not if you piss me off. Because here’s the thing, soulmate”—I dropped my voice, whispering in his ear—“this is my kingdom, and I always have the power. Remember that the next time a middle-aged vice principal drops bullshit in your ear.”
I sidestepped him, heading for the door. I couldn’t resist one last look at his long, stricken face. “Aww, I know,” I moaned, pushing my lips up. “It sucks when a ruthless wolf uses your own mom against you. Seriously,” I said, glaring right back into his red, glittering eyes. “What kind of a person does that?”
I slammed the door in his face before I punched it.
“Harsh.”
“Ahh!” Jerking, I whirled around—coming face to face with Nyx. “What the fucking hell! Is this some kind of hot-guy kink? You all get off on lurking behind doors, scaring the crap out of people!”
He laughed. “You’re yelling at me, but you’re also complimenting me. So I’m going to take that as a good sign.”
Rolling my eyes, I made to get around him.
“I heard what you said to Orion.”
That stopped me dead in my tracks.
Nyx moved in front of me, his long hair tickling my shoulder as he passed, and sharing its peppery vanilla sweetness. “It’s interesting learning all these little things about you, fated mate. Like how much you love revenge and retribution.”
“I don’t love it, Nyx,” I snapped. “Trust me, I’d much rather people didn’t betray or hurt me in the first place.”
He tipped his head. “Fair point.”
“Just because I don’t take it lying down, doesn’t mean I loved it when that bastard destroyed my mom’s letters—forcing me to strike back. Or that I loved showing the world that the man Luame chose as my soulmate is a fucking gay basher!”
Nyx winced. “Daze, easy, I wasn’t criticizing. Although, you make another fair point,” he mumbled. “I actually... like that about you. You don’t back down. You never stop swinging. Of course a shameful coward like me admires you.”
“Really? Oh.” My anger drained out of me, leaving me standing there feeling silly. “Sorry about the gay-basher thing,” I mumbled back. “I know you regret what you did.”
“I do,” Nyx said softly. “I’ve tried calling, texting, emailing, and messaging Patrick to apologize, but he’s blocked me on everything—which was the reasonable response, so I can’t blame him. That’s uh— That’s actually why I sniffed you out and came looking for you. It wasn’t to satisfy my hot-guy kink of scaring the mess out of you.”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s because I need to go, Daze. I’ve got a lot of groveling and forgiveness to beg for, and that has to start with Patrick.” Seriousness like I’d never heard from him before laced his tone. The vain clown I once knew was gone. “Face to face, I need to tell him how sorry I am.” Nyx laced his fingers through mine. “Will you be okay while I’m gone?”
Heat filled my face. “I—”
“ Of course you freaking will, ” Edric snapped. “ Tell that asshole to fuck off and get lost on the way back. He can get his hands off you too while he’s doing it! ”
“ Stay out of my head! ”
“Daze?”
I tossed my head, pulling out of the argument. “Huh? Oh, yes, I’ll be fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” I flushed harder at my high-pitched voice. I was blaming my wolf for that, and no one could stop me.
Nyx smiled knowingly. “I want to say I won’t be gone long, but if I’ve learned anything from you, it’s that I don’t get to decide when I’m forgiven. I’ll stay in Pinewoods as long as it takes to make things right with him.”
“But what if he never forgives you? What if he refuses to let you make amends?”
“There’s that chance,” he admitted, tipping his chin, “but I know another ruthless, vengeful person who swore they’d have nothing to do with me, and I thawed them out big-time—”
If I thought my face was on fire before, it practically melted at his wink.
“—so, I think I’ve got a chance.”
“Do you have to go now?” I glanced back at the double doors. For all I knew, Orion was still on the other side of it—waiting. “Things are getting weird here.”
“I’ll stay if you need me to, but I think we both know what’s really standing in the way of us mating,” he said. “It’s not because you don’t like assholes, or you wouldn’t be with Edric.”
“ Fuck you! ” Edric snapped in my head.
“It’s because as long as you look at me and see a fucking gay basher, I’ll never be attractive to you.”
My lips parted to deny it... then closed.
Nyx gave me a crooked smile. “My stuff is all packed. Would you mind letting me out, Headmistress?”
“Oh, uh—” I hesitated, but only for a second. Pretty much everyone else knew. No point hiding it from him. “You actually don’t need me to let you out. Turns out the gates also obey my fated mates.”
His brows popped. “Really? Wow. How come no one ever knew?”
“I think it’s because most of the headmasters and headmistresses of the past weren’t mated. Having to live here year-round is a big-time relationship killer.”
“Huh. But that would explain why they did bend the magic to allow fates in,” he mused. “So that Headmaster Dirty could get a little nighttime hot-n-heavy action in the woods.” Nyx suddenly cringed. “Who do you think Dagem’s undercover side-piece was?”
“Satan,” I dropped without hesitation. “Couldn’t be anyone else. He’s one hundred percent her type. Actually, he was her bitch. If anyone dominated that relationship, it was Dagem.”
We looked at each other, and busted up laughing.
“ Get rid of him already. ”
I cut off my laugh, sending pissed-off thoughts at the invader in my head.
Nyx’s laugh trickled off too. “Anyway, I’d still like you to walk me out, if that’s okay.”
I looked away, nodding at the far wall. “I can do that.”
We were an awkward, silent duo heading through the halls and out onto the lawn. As promised, Nyx’s bags were placed in front of the gates—waiting for their departure. He touched the lock and it gave way, obeying its new commander.
“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” he said as the gates swung closed, parting us with deceptively weak-looking bars. “When I do and you’re hot for me again, I’m going to shower you in so much of that seduction-shit, we’ll lock ourselves in my dorm for a twenty-four-hour sex marathon.”
My lower belly tightened like a pinched-off water hose. Okay, so, not all of me was turned off by him.
“ Wonder how much you’ll enjoy that marathon when I’m blowing the windows off, ripping the sheets off the bed, and dumping you both off the mattress. ”
“ You are a real serious mood killer, do you know that? ”
I could feel Edric’s smirk. “ That’s the idea, baby. ”
Heaving a sigh, I pushed both of their nonsense aside for the moment. “Good luck, Nyx. I truly hope you and Patrick are able to move forward. More for his sake, but also for yours. There’s no such thing as a good person who never says sorry.”
Nyx looked toward the two-mile-long path that led to the road, but he didn’t move. “Any chance of a kiss to send me off?”
“Absolutely none.”
He laughed. “That’s alright. I’ll still give you my parting gift.”
I had no idea what he was talking about until he reached into his pocket and handed me a folded-up slip of paper.
“What’s this?”
“Daze.” Humor draining away, he lingered before pulling away—his fingers dancing across my knuckles. “It’s the shadow.”
Face freezing, I unfolded the sheet—gazing down at a hand-drawn face.
My first thought—silly as it was—was that Nyx was a surprisingly good artist. He captured the swoop of the man’s curved upper lip. His defined cheekbones. The kink to his curls, and the dull blankness in his eyes. Looking at that face, I felt the terror of a small child whose life was about to be changed forever. And when I glanced up...
Nyx was gone.
***
“...T HESE CHANGES...”
I gripped Nyx’s parting gift tight, mind spinning.
The dull roar of the early morning mess hall washed over me. A million conversations going at once, but none of them penetrating.
All I could think about was what I had been thinking about for eight hours straight. Thanks to Nyx, I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night before. And by that, I meant I needed to truly thank him. After almost two years of hating and fearing this man, I now knew he was a man and what he looked like. The biggest question mark hanging over me, and Nyx put a period on it with one drawing.
But how do I find him?
One look confirmed I’d never met this person before. When you lived a life as isolated as mine, it wasn’t surprising that I didn’t know many people, but still, I’d always known the members of the alpha council and all the important people among the clans. To be near Luame’s chosen is a blessing, and all the rich, powerful, and famous wolves of Wolf Nation were eager to be blessed, even if it meant treating me like an object.
All that said, I knew the alpha council, their families, their friends, and I’ve known them my whole life, so who was this person? How had they gotten so close to the council, they convinced them to sell their literal souls and become devils incarnate? How have they managed to twist and weave Wolf Nation’s future around their finger, and the only person who knew the truth of their evil was a scared little boy who went into the forest one day to play with his twin.
“—worried? Daze? Daze, are you listening to me?” Nia tapped my shoulder, snapping me back to reality. “I asked you if you were worried about all of these changes?” Nia clutched the pamphlet Ash handed out after the assembly the day before.
Yes, the woman was all ready with a laminated, color-printed pamphlet detailing all the new changes coming to Corvin Academy. No one would ever call her unprepared.
I glanced around. The cafeteria staff took to Ash’s changes with enthusiasm. The breakfast buffet was set up and set out by the time I walked in that morning, and going by my heightened hearing, the staff were all in the kitchen—cleaning up before their early break and moaning about their sudden pay cuts.
“The better question is are you cool with them?” I asked her. “What do the omegas think of her plans?”
“Honestly...” Her eyes darted around like this was privileged information. “We love them.”
My brows popped. “Wow, really?”
“Yeah, really. Almost everything she changed were changes we wanted anyway,” she whispered. “No one wanted to admit it, but a lot of us were struggling in the alpha classes. It’s like everyone was talking Greek, but we were the rude foreigners who didn’t bother to learn the language, so they weren’t going to translate for us.
“And the honor board,” she gushed. “Do you think I could get on it? When is she giving out the applications?”
“Tonight,” I blurted, making up my mind on the spot. “At the open forum.”
“Perfect.” Nia sat back, looking pleased with all the world. “I just can’t believe all of this is happening. When you said the council was sending a new vice and we couldn’t trust them, I figured she’d blow in and undermine everything we’ve been trying to do. Instead, Vice Ash is actually improving academy life for us. The council is taking us seriously, Daze”—she threw her arms around me, hugging my shocked self tight—“and it’s all because of you.
“Luame was right. You do bring about a new and better age for wolves.”
I smiled—the first time I did in twenty-four hours. All I felt was tense and worried with all these enemies running around right under my nose. I was glad at least one person felt hope.
The doors opened, flicking my attention away from Nia. Speaking of enemies...
Orion strode in looking gorgeous as fucking usual. He had on new, thick-framed glasses that worked too well with his bare, tattooed chest, and leather jacket. The guy looked like a hot biker nerd. He could both drill me over the seat of his motorcycle, and recite all the numbers in pi while doing it.
Orion joined the buffet line, loaded his tray with sweet potato and bacon breakfast burritos, asked the serving staff for a beer, was told Ash banned alcohol for all meals except for dinner, asked for an orange juice instead, and then took his burritos and juice to a table... directly across from me.
Our eyes locked in heated glares as he sat down and began eating—not looking away from me for a second.
I couldn’t be sure, but I had an inkling Orion was giving me an answer to my ultimatum, and it was a big, fat fuck-you.
A figure moved on my right.
Crash!
I jumped, ripping away from Orion as Paxton nose-dived on my table, splaying flat out to open and raucous laughs.
“S-sorry,” he rasped, straining to put himself back on his feet. He managed to get half his body on the floor, and gave up. “At least I didn’t spill milady’s breakfast.” Paxton pushed the tray of breakfast burritos over to me. Resting next to it was a carton of banana milk.
“Oh my gods, banana milk?” I snatched it up, sniffing it to confirm my eyes weren’t lying. “Where did you get this? How did you get this? Why did you get me this?”
“Answering... in order,” he grunted to the table. “I got it from the... secret store. I paid for it with money. And I got it for you because... I heard you mumble once that you’d... kill for some banana milk.”
My face split, my smile beaming wide. I lived on banana milk when I was pregnant. It was one of the few things Hope would let me keep down. But sadly for me, banana milk wasn’t a thing in Wolf Nation. It was a gift the mundanes gave to the world, proving their species wasn’t entirely pointless.
Not only did Paxton care enough to remember a throwaway comment I made weeks ago, but he crossed dominions to get me something that’d make me smile.
“That reply actually spawned a whole lot more questions, including how long you’ve been stalking me, creep boy, but...” I gently lifted his head, smiling into his eyes. “I’ll start with a thank-you. You should’ve told me wooing me came with presents.”
“Well, you’re... in luck. I’ve got more.” Paxton spread his legs and pushed up on his palms, holding himself up like a tripod.
Nia took one look and hissed, cringing hard.
I couldn’t blame her. The man looked terrible. His normally coiffed, luscious head of hair hung in greasy lanks. A sickly pallor shone underneath the beads of sweat covering his forehead, and his shirt was nowhere to be found. Not uncommon for male werewolves, but going by the fact his fly hung open and his belt was missing three loops, I guessed he was shirtless because he gave up in the middle of dressing.
“This...” Paxton reached into the backpack he dragged behind him. “...is for me.”
Taking so much time and effort even I was cringing by the end, Paxton pulled out a black t-shirt and tugged it over his head.
“ Them Bitches? ” I read off the front. “Is that a band or something?”
He held up a finger. “Now for your... present.” Paxton tugged out a purple tee, and handed it to me. I took one look, and almost fell out of my chair laughing.
Splashed across the front in big, block letters was— I Conquer Them Bitches.
“You’re not the bitch, I am.” He looked deep in my eyes. “I’m your bitch.”
I snorted, almost bringing up my banana milk—I was howling so hard. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. You can’t actually think I’m going to wear this?”
“The point wasn’t to make you wear it,” he rasped. “It’s to make you just a little bit wetter for me.” The man was at death’s door and still flashed me a roguish smirk. “And it worked.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop giggling. I would never say it out loud, but the shirts were cute. “Why are perverts so confident these days? I miss the days when you guys did all your jerking off in the bushes out of everyone’s way.”
A weak chuckle was all I got in response.
Paxton’s head dipped, slow-falling right back on the table. As pathetic as he looked, I was impressed with him. I knew how much pain he was in. The fact that he wasn’t on his knees begging me for the medicine was restraint I couldn’t comprehend. I cursed everyone and their mother if I even stubbed my toe.
“I don’t know about being wet for you, but you did earn some points today for making me laugh.” Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the vials. I unstopped mine and slid over his. “Here. Tonight’s the open forum anyway, and you have a right to partici—”
He pounced, moving a million times faster than he did with those shirts. Snatching the bottle, his fangs and claws erupted as his dying wolf burst free—downing the meds to mask his pain. He devoured the contents as I tipped mine down my throat—gagging on the awful taste.
I will never get used to—
“More!” Eyes yellowing, Paxton leaped across the table and tackled me. His lips were on mine before we hit the floor.
“ Hmmphff! ”
Cradling my head, Paxton tipped me back and ravished me.
I wish I had another word for it, but there was no other way to describe the ravenous plundering that began when he broke through the weak barrier of my lips.
Nipping, licking, tongue twisting and battling with mine, Paxton trapped me under one hundred and forty pounds of hot, muscled, hungry wolf, and for the first time ever, the tough she-wolf that always knew what to do... was drawing a fucking blank.
I shouted into the kiss—eyes bugging, feet pounding his ass, hands slapping his shoulders. The man was sucking all the medicine out of me like jelly out of a donut, and why couldn’t I stop him!
My slaps were weak. My kicks wouldn’t hurt a butterfly. My shouts were quickly dissolving into moans.
What are you doing!? You don’t like Paxton. The guy’s a rich-dick asshole. He pretended to like you to steal Mom’s letters. He called you a bitch in front of everyone, and he’s only all over you now because he wants something again. Push him off, Volana.
Push him off!
Paxton caught my flailing ankle and hooked my leg around his waist. He lifted me up, pressed his middle to mine, and ground his parts in deep—shooting my eyebrows off my forehead and out the window.
I was gone.
Throwing my arms around his neck, I gave in to the sloppiest, weirdest, hottest kiss anyone on the planet had ever given the girl they were clumsily seducing. We rolled across the floor with Paxton growling and biting me like he was truly trying to eat me up.
I might’ve been more worried about that if the shockingly impressive ridge between his legs wasn’t grinding up on a particularly interesting spot.
The bond was truly broken between us, because if it wasn’t, he’d have already ripped off my clothes and taken me right there on the mess hall floor, and I would’ve let him.
“What on earth is going on here!”
Strong hands peeled me off of him. Ash and Orion held tight to Paxton’s arms and shoulders, holding him back as he fought and strained to get back on me.
“ Enough! ”
The alpha command rocked Paxton to the core, chasing his wolf back down from where he came. His yellowed eyes and claws vanished as he bolted upright—still and blank like a mannequin.
Ash spun on me. “What do you think you’re doing? Is it too much to ask for a shred of decorum from the woman who purports herself to be the headmistress of this school!”
I hastily straightened myself up, face on fire. Nia just sat there watching me with huge eyes. Everyone sat there staring at me. First to watch me get off with the guy I publicly dumped, and now to watch me get told off by my employee like I was a naughty little schoolchild.
And if the entire school looking at me wasn’t enough, my embarrassment was compounded by the no less than ten secret police officers filing into the room—clearly on Ash’s trail.
Do something, I shouted at myself. Get control of the situation.
I cleared my throat, putting on as serious a face as I could when my lips were swollen and my shirt was ripped. “Excuse me, everyone, I didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast, but this does bring up a good question for us all to discuss tonight at the open forum. Early Morning Mess Hall Sex Shows: Yay or Nay?”
Everyone cracked up, popping the tension like a balloon. A balloon as red as Ash’s darkening face.
“That is not funny,” she shrieked. “We will not be discussing any such thing and—and what are you talking about? What open forum?”
“Why don’t we talk about that in my office?” I offered—nothing but calm against her irate. “After you release Paxton. You must not have heard, but alpha commands are forbidden in this school. No one has the right to control someone else, even if they have the power.”
Ash sniffed, lifting her chin. “I was only preventing Mr. Clarke from doing himself an injury, but of course, he is free to go ,” she said, snapping Paxton out of it. “I suggest you get yourself cleaned up and off to class. The demerit system is back and fully enforced. I would hate for tardiness to put another black mark in your book.”
“Another?” Paxton repeated, rubbing his head. He’d looked both hungover and drunk at the same time.
“You may count this display as your first.”
She spoke to him, but looked at me. I didn’t have to wonder what she was doing. I made her look silly by pretending our make-out session was nothing, so she pulled a power play by reinstituting the demerits and giving Paxton one.
“He won’t need another, Vice Headmistress.” Orion grabbed Paxton’s shoulder, turning him away. “I’ll help him, and make sure nothing like this happens again.”
Again, Orion spoke to one person, but looked at me.
I watched stiffly as he led a stumbly Paxton away, whispering in his ear.