Chapter 21 #2
A bear shifter loomed over her, easily twice her size, his massive frame blocking her escape.
Emmy’s super-human hearing let her hear them despite being fifty yards away, and the two speaking in low voices.
“If I don’t get help, I’m going to fail, and if I fail, I will consider it your fault,” he told her, his voice an intimidating growl. “It’s really simple, you just write two essays, and give one to me. Something that’ll get me a low B, nothing terribly involved, right?”
“That’s cheating! And I’m not the person to write a B paper. I’d unintentionally throw in words you’d never use, and then we’ll both be in trouble!”
“Are you calling me stupid!” he growled, his voice low and scary.
She cowered even more. “No! Not at all, but my vocabulary is different, that’s all!”
Emmy strode to them, a fast walk without breaking into a jog, and as she neared, she spoke in a voice she knew the bear would hear, “You will back away from her this instant.”
The bear shifter turned, his eyes narrowing when he saw her. He breathed in, and his brow furrowed. He knew she was a shifter but had no idea what she was.
It would work better for her if he did, but she’d work with it.
“This doesn’t concern you,” he said.
“The hell it doesn’t.”
Emmy got a whiff of Lila and didn’t smell Zander on her. Fuck . Why didn’t she smell of the blood oath?
“Okay,” she told the bear. “You get a pass, since she doesn’t smell of the Master Vampire, but she is under his protection, so you need to back the fuck off and never approach her, for any reason except to offer your own help, again.”
“It’s a family thing,” Lila said. “The scent of a blood oath never sticks for long. It’s a problem.”
The bear shifter straightened to his full height, using every inch of his size advantage. “Nice try, but just because you kind of smell of the Master — doesn’t mean I have to believe you. This is between me and her. Get lost before I forget I can scent him on you.”
Emmy saw Delaney, still twenty yards away, watching. She knew Emmy could handle a single bear, and she was supposed to stay out of individual conflicts unless Emmy was in specific danger.
The bear took a step toward her, lifting his hand as if to grab her, and she pulled on Zander’s power — cool and unfathomable, the primordial magic that defeated the grave, but also of every vampire oathed to him. She breathed it in, and then let it out, so it surrounded her.
The bastard froze in mid-step, his eyes went wide, and she could see the goosebumps on his flesh. His face quickly showed that he realized he’d majorly fucked up.
“Lila is very much my concern. You will apologize to her, and you will mean every word.”
His aggressive posture collapsed into something closer to submission, and he took a step back from both Emmy and Lila, then another.
“I—” His voice broke. “I understand. I apologize.” He turned to Lila, who still stood against the wall, keeping herself as motionless as possible. “I apologize. I won’t bother you again.”
“Oh, that’s pathetic,” Emmy told him. “Have you never apologized before? You have to tell her what you did that you are apologizing for, and then you have to fucking grovel , so you can show you genuinely wish you had never dared to speak to her, and that you understand just how badly you fucked up by trying to bully her.”
She met his gaze. “I speak for Zander, but I don’t need to threaten you with him.
If I’m not happy with your apology, you will find yourself in a dungeon, and I can guarantee you that I will enjoy every moment I torture you.
” She gave him an insouciant shrug and added, “But the fact is, if he doesn’t think I made enough of a point, he’ll step in and make it. ”
He swallowed hard, and then turned to Lila, “I’m so sorry.
Asking you to … Demanding you write a paper for me was wrong, and I’m a horrible person.
I can’t undo what I’ve done, but if I see you in trouble, I will do my best to help you.
” He looked at Emmy, “And I’m sorry to you as well, for scaring someone who belongs to you and your Master, someone under your protection. ”
She turned to Lila, who was staring at her with wide eyes.
“Are you okay?” Emmy asked.
Lila nodded, shaky, and Emmy punctured the side of her pinky, and held it up for Lila to lick.
She grasped Lila’s hand, poked a small hole in the side of her pinky, and waited for the blood to well into a sizeable drop.
“Think the oath, or as close as you can come,” she told her, and then Emmy licked the blood.
She felt the blood transfer do its magic with a little click , and then scented Zander on the deer.
“I … wow,” Lila said. “I didn’t know you could do that, too.”
She glanced at the bear and back to Lila. “He won’t bother you again, but we need to figure out how long the scent lasts, so Spence can get you on the calendar for refreshes.”
Lila nodded, and Emmy told her, “Go to your class, and if anyone bothers you again, you have to tell Spence, or me, or someone.”
Lila nodded and left, and Emmy turned to the bear.
“Fuck, I really am sorry. Can I … may I be excused? I need to get to class, too.”
She got his name and his cellphone number, and then excused him — and he practically fled toward the Social Sciences building.
Emmy walked toward Delaney, who told her, “Well done. God, you’re such a badass.”
“Yeah well, they have you guarding the badass, so what does that say about you?”
Delaney chuckled. “I can’t pull on Master Zander’s power. You told me from the beginning that you thought you mostly needed me to help you be aware of a threat, but I’m not sure that’s absolutely true. You’re better than most civilians at picking them up at a distance.”
Emmy shrugged. “You were trained by my father’s people, but I was trained by my father to be aware of my surroundings since I was young.”
Her phone buzzed, and she saw a text from Zander. “Let me know what happened when you have opportunity. I sense that you’re okay, so it can wait, if you’re in class.”
“Heading into class. Someone was bullying Lila. I handled it. I’ll tell you more later.”
She got a thumbs-up from Spence, and muted her phone as she walked into class.