Chapter 11
Kai
Istood against the wall, watching as the bear grunted into his phone. We’d found the device in the club, lying under a broken table. The local human cops had placed crime scene tape across all the entrances, but Zane teleported us inside, right under their noses.
From the many bloodstains, the demon attack had been a massacre. I silently wondered how long it would take Tiberius Vane to discover the additional carnage back at his estate.
The others had killed most of the guards, but I’d slain three.
Killing demons was one thing, but ending the lives of other magicals didn’t sit well with me. Acts of violence were not in my nature. It was partly why my mother and I never truly bonded. She relished a fight, whereas I hated them.
I tried not to think about the dead mages. About whether they had families. Time was running out, slipping away like sand in an hourglass.
Tiberius had taken Raven for a reason. The why remained unclear, but I suspected he wanted to harvest her demonic power.
“Thanks, Boon. I owe you one.” Maverick ended his call and sat in silence, his attention focused inward.
“Do you know where he’s taken her?” the incubus demanded, losing patience after two seconds. Ever since we’d blinked back onto campus, he’d stalked around the living room like a caged panther. Unwilling or unable to sit still.
I was expecting the headmaster to beat a path to our door after we triggered the wards, but so far, no guards had shown up.
Zane’s manic behavior concerned me. He, more than the rest of us, needed Raven. She was the only person who could calm him down.
Discomfort crawled across my skin. The heat from the fireplace burned my lungs, and the air was too dry. The siren call of the ocean whispered in my ear, and the harder I tried to ignore it, the louder it became.
I craved the cool embrace of water, any water, but leaving right now was not an option. The others might disappear on a mission to find our mate while I was in my underwater cave, and without Zane’s teleportation magic, I’d end up stuck here on campus.
Alone.
Maybe that was for the best?
No, I couldn’t abandon my mate again.
She needed me.
Maverick stood, rolling his shoulders with a grimace.
“Have you found out what this MageLab is?” Zane asked, bouncing up and down, his hair stuck up in bloody spikes where he’d raked it with his fingers.
“No, but I have an address for Adam. He might know what it is and how to find Raven.”
“Then we go there now,” the vampire said in his raspy voice. His red eyes flickered over me and then back to the bear. “I need to feed soon to maintain my strength. Care to volunteer, my furry friend?”
“I’ll be your source!” Zane grinned, perking up.
“The bear is a better choice. Losing a pint of blood will affect him less.”
That made sense. Maverick was the biggest shifter I’d ever met.
Maverick recoiled at the thought of acting as the vampire’s juice box. “You have synthetic blood; you don’t need me.”
“I bet it tastes like ass,” Zane said. “Bear blood is far tastier, am I right?” He winked at the vampire.
“There’s no more synthetic blood left, bear. So if you want me at full power, let me feed.” The vamp’s fangs dropped in anticipation. He licked his lips as the bear huffed out an annoyed sigh and extended a muscular arm.
“You can drink from my wrist. Nowhere else.”
“I hear the groin is very pleasurable.” Zane shamelessly adjusted himself as Rasmus grasped Maverick’s wrist and sank his fangs deep.
The bear’s expression remained blank. Did it hurt?
Raven seemed to enjoy it, so I knew there was a sexual element to a vampire’s feeding.
Not that I had any interest in exploring her bond with the vampire.
I preferred one-on-one time with my mate.
Sharing her with one or more of the others made me uncomfortable, and I mostly steered clear of group activities.
Merfolk were famous for loving orgies, but I’d always been different. More inhibited. Probably because my mother had pushed me to join the court orgies the minute I came of age.
Unpleasant memories of those early years in the mercourt hit hard and fast as the incubus groaned shamelessly, so I left the room. The others probably assumed my inherent shyness was to blame, but they were wrong.
I stared, unseeing, into the open refrigerator, letting the frigid air cool my skin. The days of allowing other magicals to use me were long gone. I’d cut ties with my mother and her mates. She no longer held power over me. Not anymore.
“You okay, fish boy?” When I turned, the incubus stood watching me from the doorway.
“Yes. Are we ready to leave?” I forced the memories of my mother’s cursed orgies down and focused on the task ahead. The pig trotted in, making a beeline for the refrigerator, having smelled food, so I slammed it shut.
“Yeah, fangs has had his fill.”
Fig sniffed and oinked enthusiastically when he found a scrap of hamburger Zane must have dropped for him.
“We can’t leave the pig alone for too long,” I pointed out. “He’ll need food and outdoor time.” Raven would never forgive us if anything happened to Fig.
The kitsune appeared on the table and shook himself furiously, sending gray fur flying everywhere. He growled menacingly at the pig, which I took as a sign he didn’t much care about Fig’s fate.
“Can you take us to Raven?” Zane asked Kenji. The kitsune shook its head and hopped down to stalk the pig. My shoulders sank. I had hoped Raven’s familiar would lead us right to her, but if he couldn’t, she must be trapped behind powerful wards.
“Let’s hope we get some answers from Raven’s guardian, or I’ll have to start kidnapping Mage Council members.” Something told me the incubus wasn’t joking.
“Hope you don’t mind the heat, fish boy. Adam lives in Texas.”
“My name’s Kai,” I muttered as I picked up my backpack.
Texas, from what I knew, was hot and dry. The sort of environment I hated with a passion.
But I’d go there if it meant finding my goddess-blessed mate.
For her, I could endure anything. Even the fiery pits of the demon realm.