Chapter 12
The hard pounding on my door should have alerted me that shit was about to go sideways, but in truth, I was too surprised to appreciate the warning. Ziv looms in the corridor when I open the door, seething by the looks of it.
Then I remember I’m pissed too. He told me he wouldn’t cut me out, but that’s exactly what he did today when he took Briar into the smaller field. “What?” I lean my shoulder against the doorframe in a clear sign I’m not inviting him into my space.
“We need to talk.”
“I remember saying the same thing to you yesterday,” I muse. “Didn’t do me much fucking good.”
“I don’t have time to hold your fucking hand, demon. We need to talk.” He pushes into the room, and I slide back with his approach, pushed by an unseen wind. Fucking fallen. They have more power than anyone should wield.
“Where’s Briar?” I don’t like that she’s unattended, so this better be important.
“In her room.”
“She shouldn’t be there alone. You know what this place is like.” I shouldn’t have to tell him this again.
“Of course I know what it’s like, I’ve been here longer than you’ve been alive!” he bellows, and the walls shake, but I’m not easily intimidated.
“Then you should know leaving her alone isn’t smart.”
“I instructed her to lock the door and not allow anyone in.”
I snort at his precaution. “That’s not enough to keep anyone out.”
“Then shut the fuck up so I can tell you what I need to, and you can go to her.” My bed slides across the room and slams into the wall. The frame cracks, leaving the mattress to drop to the floor on one side.
I lift an eyebrow, questioning why he’s so pissed, but I don’t think Ziv even notices. Why the hell I have to share a mate—a mate I can’t even fucking touch—with this asshole is beyond me. It’s like putting salt in a festering wound.
“Good thing I wasn’t planning on using that,” I mutter.
“I’m leaving,” he states. That brightens my mood. “Don’t celebrate too much. It’s not forever.” He narrows his eyes on me like he knows exactly what I was thinking. I never cared to wonder before, but now I’m curious what kind of power he truly possesses.
“Then why leave at all? I thought you were going to train her.” Maybe I was too hasty in resenting that he is her mate. I can’t give her the hands-on knowledge he can in combat.
“I’m going to find her father.” His teeth are clenched so hard, it’s almost difficult to understand him.
“For what?” I’ve been planning on killing the bastard myself. He better not even think about bringing him here, or Ziv will have a body to deal with.
“So I can kill him slowly, one fucking cell at a time, over and over again, until he’s nothing but rotting flesh.”
Impressive imagery,is my first thought, followed quickly by the knowledge that I want to be the one to kill him, but then the bigger question dominates my thoughts. “Why? What has he done?” The ever present shadows in my room shift with my darkening mood.
“He’s breathing,” Ziv sneers, not giving me any details.
“Tell me, fallen, or I will follow you when you leave to find him.”
The massive male takes a single step forward, unworried about my ability to end him with a single touch, and threatens, “And leave her alone? I would kill you myself for endangering her. You should be elated that I’m trusting her to your care.”
He has me there. I wouldn’t leave her alone, not here, where everyone is hungry for power, and she must have some to be enrolled in Ivy. “I want to know. I deserve to know just as much as you do.”
Ziv averts his eyes from me. “He deserves to die. You already know as much.”
“I do, but you clearly know more. Tell me,” I insist, though I have little means to compel him.
His jaw tics once, twice, and a third time before he finally says, “He sullied her.”
“Sullied her?” I exclaim, rebuking his choice of words. “There’s nothing he could have done to her that tainted her. What the fuck do you mean?” My mind is already sorting out possibilities, and I don’t like what it’s coming up with.
Ziv jerks his chin once in confirmation, as if reading my thoughts again, but says, “She isn’t tainted or sullied, I just…don’t have the words.” He looks away from me again, clearly bothered by what he said and how he said it.
“Don’t ever say that again. If he… If he hurt her, then that’s what you say, she’s not…”
He nods several times, and that’s when I notice how rough he looks. His eyes are nearly as wild as his silver hair, which is sticking up.
“I’ll keep her safe, but I need your word that you won’t kill him yet. A quick death is too easy for him.”
“The tale of his death will be passed down for generations to instill fear into hearts and minds. He will know suffering the likes of which don’t yet exist.” I could mistake the male before me for a true god in the moment, but the darkness of his words proves what he really is instead—one of the most dangerous beings to walk among us.
“I will make sure she is safe,” I concede, but he already knew I would anyway.
“See that you do, demon, or I will hunt you down next.” He strides toward the door but stops before reaching for the handle. “You should know, she bit me during training.”
His threat goes ignored, but it would be impossible not to acknowledge what he just said. “You bonded?” I accuse, wondering how the hell I could have missed that.
“Not fully, she wasn’t…” He shakes his head, and I watch his hands ball into tight fists. “Neither of us will be able to hold off much longer though. The pull to be near her is already unbearable.”
“I will always protect her, even from you.”
Ziv lets out a relieved breath, conveying I said what he needed to hear. We understand each other. There may come a time when he needs to protect my creature from me. “When I return, there are things we must discuss.”
“Yes, there are. I need to know more about her ability and why Syrinx is so interested in her.”
He glances over his shoulder to deliver a hard glare in my direction. “Do not let her out of your sight. I’ll be back in two days, sooner if possible.” Ziv departs just as abruptly as he arrived.
I look around the room I’ve been living in for the past two years for anything I might need before heading to Briar’s dorm for the foreseeable future, and then I realize just how empty it feels. There is nothing here I need other than clothing, and even that is easily expendable.
I don’t bother closing the door when I exit. The room I once thought sacred for offering me solitude is useless to me now, because there’s only one place I want to be—with my creature.
A gust of warm wind stirs the curtains, drawing my attention to the fluttering fabric. The room has darkened, yet the sun is still high in the sky. I rise from the bed, and a groan flies from my lips. I’m sore from the training I did with Ziv. The moment I allow myself to think of him, his image fills my head. Gods, the way his lips felt on my neck… I never imagined something could feel so good. What would his mouth feel like in other places?
I cover my face with my hands to hide from the things I’m thinking and feeling, but nothing works. I can’t get him out of my head. I need a distraction.
Torn, I glance at the window, then back at the door. One of these options will surely work better than the other. I’m several floors up, which means I can only look out on the grounds unless I want to risk breaking my neck by trying to get out through the window, and that’s not the distraction I’m looking for, but leaving my room is risky too. Ziv warned me not to, but I could really use a bath, and no one else seems to be sequestered to their rooms. The halls are always occupied with other novices—that’s what he calls them. I tend to think we’re all sacrifices, especially now, knowing what the true meaning of this place is.
It’s strange that no one ever told me as much or of the Undertaking. In the off chance Ivy Institute was brought up, it was in whispers, as if even acknowledging the place could somehow put you on their radar. The people here, though, or at least the ones I’ve seen, don’t seem to be frightened or unhappy. Ziv made it seem like it was a privilege to attend, so maybe my father and brothers were wrong. I snort at the thought. Of course they were wrong. They were wrong about everything, I just never had a reason to question their opinions.
That doesn’t mean I trust this place or anyone here, except maybe Ziv, not that I should trust him. He’s abrupt and too strong for his own good, and he knows it. Plus, he smells like he just walked out of heaven, and that’s not fair. It should be funny that he, a male his size, smells of cherries and almonds, like a sweet tart I’ve only gotten whiffs of from the bakery, but it’s not at all funny. In fact, I can’t think of anything that would be more appealing to me than food. It’s as if he was designed to drive me insane, and that might be true, if I can believe what he said about me being his… I can’t even think the word. It feels wrong, like I’m besmirching him with just the idea of Ziv being tied to me.
I make a break for the door. I have to get out of this room and get him out of my head, or I’m going to lose it. I disengage the lock, but my hand is frozen on the knob. He’ll probably be mad if he finds out I left my room. I start to release the metal—there’s something very distasteful about the thought of displeasing Ziv—but before my fingers slide off the knob, I wrench the door open.
The hall is empty and quiet, just like all the other times I’ve been out of my room, but I can hear the chatter of other voices farther down the corridor. I look left then right before taking the first step into the hall. When Ziv doesn’t magically appear, tempting me to bite him, I let the door close quietly behind me and head toward the bathing room. It’s a valid reason to be out of my room… I think.
It’s not until I’m pushing into the bathing chamber that I realize I have nothing with me—not even a clean pair of underclothes. Committed to at least check it out, I peer into the room, finding it occupied. A yelp leaves my lips before I slam my eyes shut and spin around. Unable to see, I feel for the door handle like I’m fucking blind.
“No need to rush away, newbie,” a male voice calls. If I’m not mistaken, it sounds like there’s a grin on his lips. Panic starts to set in, and I open my eyes wide to find the exit. His dark laugh follows me out the door. I wish I could get the sight of his naked body out of my head. I’m embarrassed to say I don’t even know what his face looks like, but I could probably pick his dick out of a lineup, and it makes me want to puke.
I almost run back to my room, and when I slam my back to the door, I realize much too late I should have checked before entering…again. The skin on the back of my neck tingles, and for a moment, I think it’s Ziv, but I know that’s not correct.
I scan the space, fully expecting to see someone, but there’s no one—no one I can see anyway. “Hello?” I bend down to peer under the bed, but it’s too shadowy to really see anything. Hesitantly, I step forward, still bent over to get a closer look. My heart is beating a mile a minute, but I’m more afraid not to look. I can feel someone watching me.
Still far enough from the bed that I can make an escape if I need to, I crouch down and peer into the shadows. It takes a blink or two for my eyes to adjust, but I find nothing except empty space. It seems a little darker than it should be, considering the light in the room coming from the window, but there’s no one waiting to break my neck. Still, the feeling of being watched doesn’t dissipate. In fact, I would swear there is, or maybe was, someone here. There’s a scent in the air I don’t recognize. It’s woodsy, like the forest after it rains. I back up slowly, still not convinced I’m alone, and do another visual check of the room, even going so far as to check the drawers to make sure the clothing Ziv got me didn’t get taken or ruined.
Once I’ve slinked around and checked every crevice and found nothing out of place, I force myself to sit down and relax. Getting out of the room was a bust. All it did was allow someone else time to infiltrate my space, and for me to see someone else in the bath. I groan with embarrassment. Clearly he knew me, even though I have no idea who he was. Hopefully, he’ll be too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened, but I doubt it. He didn’t have anything to be ashamed of—my face flames thinking about seeing him naked again—and it almost seemed like he wanted me to stick around.
Instead of looking for a distraction, I decide going to bed will be much better. One, it’s not going to get me in trouble, and two, I don’t have to think about anything—not Ziv, not some creep’s nakedness, and certainly not why it still feels like someone is in my room.