Chapter 3 Liam
Iwas having serious regrets about not being a were corgi.
Lucian’s bat kept taking over and flying him to Sage when he was sleeping.
Khalid’s jackal was refusing to leave now that we’d walked her back to her dorm room.
If I could shift into a corgi, I could just join the puppy pile and she could scratch my fabulous bubble butt.
Alas, all I had were horns growing out of my forehead and my legs were getting hairier.
I was not getting them waxed. No thank you.
The Prince of Darkness could have all his body hair yanked out by a sadist, but I was never doing that again.
Maybe Sage would think it was sexy. I was pretty sure I could endure it again if hairy legs grossed her out.
Morgana was just watching us with her arms crossed.
I liked that girl. She was spunky and a good friend to Sage.
She also had pretty good taste in men. I could have gotten stuck rooming with complete dipshits, but Elliot and Petros were decent.
Petros kept stealing my shit, but he did it with flair and gave it back, so I never stabbed him in his sleep.
“Listen, the dorm room assignments are fluid. If we mate up, we’re allowed to sleep in our mate’s dorms. No one is going to be pissed if the three of you sleep in here and I go sleep with Elliot and Petros.
Iman comes and goes, and she hasn’t been here at night in weeks.
If she decides to return to our dorm and sees you in a compromising position, she’ll either leave or watch you like a creep.
She seems pretty taken with Ivar and the guys, so she might not come back.
She’s a cat, so she might not even be with them at night. ”
“I can hear her little cat brain,” I said. “She appreciates how Ivar, Ari, and Alexios properly worship cats like the Egyptians used to. Iman thinks the rest of us need to do better, even though most of us are also gods.”
Morgana just shrugged.
“She didn’t want to do her trials with anyone.
She said she hated group projects because she ended up doing all the work anyway, and then someone else took the credit.
She found all her crystals and was the first back, and literally none of the other students could say they saw her out there.
I only got to talk to her for a few days when we ended up roommates before she shifted for the first time and got stuck. ”
Iman wasn’t stuck like Khalid was. She could shift back at any time. She was right where she wanted to be and would turn human again when she was ready.
So, I was officially moving into Sage’s dorm room, even without the cute corgi butt.
But tonight wasn’t about getting Sage naked and worshipping those glorious legs.
She’d been through a lot tonight, and there was a time and place for that.
We needed to figure out how to get Khalid unstuck so he could speak for himself.
Mazen had loads of good tips, but Khalid either didn’t want to hear them or just couldn’t do them because his jackal wouldn’t let him leave Sage.
Khalid was going to have to understand Mazen was decent, and he was my brother now.
We were going to have some serious bonding over how to kill Lola and Apep.
We did that kind of thing separately before we were kidnapped to Ouroboros Academy. We were totally going to bond over that. It was going to be different from the bond I was making with Khalid and Lucian, but we were going to be besties over it.
“So, before anyone thinks about getting me naked, we’ve got feelings to discuss. Khalid is stuck, and Sage just met the ghost of her Da. We need to talk about that,” I announced.
“And you have to talk about what Lola tried to do to you,” Sage said.
Yeah, I was conveniently ignoring that. I wasn’t stupid. I grew up in a life where someone was always going to want to kill me. It didn’t have to be violence, either. Someone could easily poison me. If someone found me after I ran away, they could slip me something to get me back home easier.
So, I didn’t just watch for people slipping things into women’s drinks when I was out.
I made sure no one slipped them into mine.
I liked painting my nails, and I always wore that special nail polish so I could check my drink without tipping someone off that I was onto them.
I didn’t accept drinks from strangers, either.
I still hadn’t figured out how that bitch managed to drug me.
She had to have slipped it into my water bottle when my back was turned, and I was pissed I’d been vulnerable like that.
It wasn’t just the fact that she tried to sexually assault me.
I’d been in a position where I couldn’t protect myself, and I could have been shipped back to my family, or she could have just killed me.
Khalid was tuned into me since we were connected in a different way than Sage and I were. He let out a small whine and started nuzzling me with his nose. I scratched him behind his ear and sighed.
“You’re better than a were corgi, even if your arse isn’t as nice.”
Khalid nipped at my finger. Bitch.
“Are you okay, Sage?” Lucian asked, handing her a bag of gummy worms.
Should he be doing that? I wanted the satisfaction of feeding our woman, too, but I didn’t want to make her sick.
She’d tell me if she couldn’t have something, but I didn’t want to make it awkward throwing snacks at her when she couldn’t eat them.
Lucian managed not to be annoying about it.
He always produced food right when Sage seemed to need it.
It was probably some weird vampire thing where he could sniff what her pancreas was doing, and I was furious I couldn’t do that because I wanted to give her sweets when she needed it.
Maybe I should kick him in the kidneys for having that ability.
“It’s so weird. I always wished I was adopted, but thought I couldn’t be because my mother and I have the exact same shade of green for our eyes.”
Yeah, I could get lost in those eyes. They were the color of peridot, and she decided to turn them my way. And she had those really long lashes to frame them that made the green stand out even more. I should write a song about those eyes and ask Old Jingo to let me sing it at the tavern.
“If you can do what you say you can with Blue Matthews in a way that doesn’t leave my mother destitute, I’d like to reach out to her and let her know that I know the truth.
If I can get her away from his congregation, we might have some semblance of a relationship.
She tried to get away once and didn’t have much choice about coming back. ”
I didn’t know her Ma and hoped Sage had the relationship she wanted.
Mine knew who she was marrying and relished that life.
She knew I didn’t want it and didn’t want to give me much of a choice.
My Nana was the only bloody sane person in my family because she thought I should have a choice.
Other than thinking I should have a say about my future, my Nana was pretty nutty. I loved that woman.
“I can do it,” Lucian said. “I have all the information and can get it to the authorities in America anonymously.”
“I’ve still got some contacts, so he rots in the hole because he keeps getting jumped when they let him out.
Or, I would be honored to personally put Blue Matthew’s insides on the outside with Doris once I figure out portalling.
Khalid would also like to shift and maim him a bit.
Of course, we need to figure out how to make him human again. Don’t snarl at me, bitch.”
Sage patted her lap and Khalid curled up in it as if he were corgi-sized. Fuck, I was jealous because I wanted to sprawl on her lap and have her pet my head, too. Lucian could smell she needed snacks, and Khalid got head scratches. I was starting to feel like I got the shite end of it.
But yeah, whatever needed to happen to get Khalid back in his human form, because we could really use that big, beautiful brain of his right now.