Chapter 32
Sienna
The woods are endless. It turns out that even when no one is fucking with your sense of direction, getting lost is still easy as shit.
Callum and I follow our teammate long enough that her tears run dry, and she stifles her sobs.
I half expected her to shift back into her animal form, but after what happened to Graham, I don’t blame her.
If I watched my boyfriend get struck by lightning, shit, I wouldn’t shift, either.
“What do you think Aesir’s game is?” Now that I’ve had time to calm down, I can’t stop thinking about the purpose of tonight’s exercise. To bring students together? To test our abilities even more than the Winter Mating Games? Or to throw our failures in our face just like last time?
Getting Graham killed—although not my fault!—is surely a top failure of the year.
And I didn’t even like the guy.
“I do not know,” Callum murmurs, easily keeping pace with me. “His intentions are as unclear to me as they are to you.”
“Well that’s just great.” I walk faster, eager to get this night over with. “Our only hope of graduating from this damn academy is at the hands of a sadist.”
“Vampires do not kill without reason, and if we are being technical, he did not . . . kill Graham.” Brushing his hand across mine, Callum loops our fingers together. “I do not believe that was his intention.”
“But he still allowed it to happen.” I drop Callum’s hand as we reach our teammate, then grab her arm to pull her to a stop. “Hey. We’re getting out of here.”
She snarls at me as she turns around. “Fuck you. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Goddammit. Clenching my jaw, I twist her arm behind her back until it nearly breaks. We both hiss in each other’s faces. “Yeah, you fucking are. Don’t make me knock you out.”
With a heavy sigh, Callum snaps his fingers and our teammate drops. Before she hits the ground, he sweeps her into his arms and grimaces. “She smells deplorable.”
“Give her a break. She’s been through a lot.”
“She is not nearly as capable as you,” he grumbles, holding her as loosely as he can without dropping her. “We should leave her behind.”
“We are not leaving our teammates.” I hold my hand out and grimace. “Graham excluded. He couldn’t be helped.”
“Sienna—”
A voice echoes through the forest, interrupting Callum. “Sienna!”
I spin around just as a dark shape rushes past me, damn near knocking me over.
I stumble for a split second before Callum steadies me, abandoning our teammate to wrap an arm around my waist. She falls to the ground like dead weight, but as soon as Revyn emerges from the shadows, he skids to a halt and does the exact same to a redheaded boy slung under his arm.
They both crash to the forest floor, neither of them making a sound.
“Get your hands off her!” Revyn bares his teeth and his eyes flash silver. “You’re bleeding.” His gaze roams my body and snags on the bloodstains on my clothes, remnants of my kiss with Callum.
My body flushes with heat. “It’s not mine. I’m fine.”
A growl catches in Revyn’s throat. “His scent is all over you.”
Oh, gods.
A rare flicker of embarrassment makes me blush. “He, um—” I clear my throat. “He healed me.”
Revyn’s growl intensifies. “He what?”
“Not like a mate does, like a—” I realize that this doesn’t sound any better, and I brace myself for the impact. “Like a vampire does?”
Closing his eyes, Revyn takes a deep breath. “What does that mean, fanger?”
Callum answers immediately and pulls me closer. “It means that Sienna is safe with me.”
“She’s safe with me,” Revyn snaps. The boy at his feet groans, and he picks him up by the armpits and sets him on his feet. “Marick, meet my girlfriend Sienna, and this—” He crinkles his nose. “Fucking undead asshole.”
Marick blinks blearily. “Whassgoinon?”
“You passed out.” He smacks Marick on the back. “Vamp girl ran ahead to get our token or whatever. Merman is back there.” Revyn jabs his thumb over his shoulder to point at someone lurking behind a cluster of trees. “The gang’s aaaaall together.” He scrutinizes our group. “Where’s your fourth?”
“Dead,” Callum answers for me. “Not our fault.” He strokes a sliver of bare skin peeking out over my hip. “You should watch your fourth before she suffers the same fate.”
The little redheaded boy stills, a thin layer of ice crackling across the skin on his neck. “D-dead?”
Panic grips my throat. I grab Revyn’s hand and pull him away from Marick before the ice can spread. “Stay the fuck back!” My heart pounds like a drum as I cling to both men and keep backing us up. “He’s cursed!”
“What?” Marick shrieks, jumping out of his skin like a snake bit him. “Gods! The mist! It got me!”
Rolling his eyes, Revyn scoffs. “No, it didn’t. Don’t scare him, Si. He’ll faint again.” Wrapping his arm around my waist, he attempts to pry Callum’s hand off my hip. “Marick’s got ice powers; though, as you can see, he’s not very good at using them.”
“Graham froze to death,” I explain quickly, “before he shattered into a million pieces. Forgive me if I don’t trust ice magic right now.
” Kicking our teammate’s leg, I growl. “Get up, bitch. I’m done with your whiny ass.
” Still, I don’t want to leave her behind after what happened to Graham.
“Callum, could you . . . ?” I gesture toward her.
He lingers beside me for a moment then lifts our teammate back into his arms. The barest sigh passes his lips. “Let us hurry. I tire of these games.”
You and me both.
Professor Aesir’s glinting red eyes piss me the fuck off.
“More than half of you failed,” he announces to the class at dawn, lording over us from the shadows lurking at the back of the lecture hall. “A pity. I thought some of you showed promise, but . . .” He clicks his tongue like a disappointed father. “Clearly I was mistaken.”
Fury roars in my ears. We walked all night and couldn’t find our way out of the forest until the sun broke over the horizon, and by then, even the vampires’ energy levels were wearing thin.
Marick, the poor boy, is still trembling life a leaf.
I lean back on the bench to put distance between us, wary of the powder snow collecting in his lap.
“Let’s see what he has to say,” Revyn murmurs, unclenching my fist and lacing our fingers together.
“Before we jump down his throat.” His hair is messier than usual on account of the lingering humidity that follows Cassian—the merfolk from his team—everywhere, including the classroom.
We’re seated with our squads. Everyone is accounted for except . . .
I cast a brief glance around the room, estimating our numbers, but it’s Callum who confirms my theory. “We are only short one student.”
Graham.
He was an asshole, but no one deserves to die like that.
Our teammate Cara, the cougar shifter, has gone silent, but she’s giving me and Callum the coldest shoulder imaginable.
I don’t blame her for shutting down. It’s easier to ignore the tension in the room than bathe in it.
The other shifters from Graham’s pack keep throwing glares our direction, but they haven’t asked about his whereabouts.
I’m waiting for chaos to erupt the moment they realize he’s gone for good.
I squeeze Revyn’s hand as tightly as I can.
“I’d rather shove my fist down his throat than listen to anything he has to say.
There’s no excuse for knowingly putting us in danger.
” Fighting against students is par for the course at Heartsflame, apparently, but waltzing onto sacred ground and unknowingly pissing off the gods is where I draw the line.
It’s going too far when our lives are already at stake every time we step into the wilds.
A smile graces Revyn’s lips. “I love it when you’re angry, baby.”
I’m not just angry. I’m pissed off, and he knows it.
Callum leans close, his scent mixing with mine in a heady concoction that makes my heart pound. “I recommend caution, Wildflower. Even among our kind, Aesir is considered . . .” He inhales as he toys with the ends of my hair. “Unreasonable.”
“Who is he?” I ask, leaning closer to Callum.
My gaze lingers on his rosy lips far longer than necessary, and the tiniest smirk appears.
Damn him for tricking me into drinking his blood.
But fuck was it a rush. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
My mind has been a constant loop of anger, adrenaline, and pent-up sexual frustration.
I feel like I’m about to explode.
“Are you feeling alright?” Callum whispers, sweeping strands of hair from my eyes and feeling my forehead. “Your temperature is elevated.”
I’m definitely not alright, but just like how Revyn knows how pissed off I am, Callum definitely knows that his blood is still in my system.
There’s no mistaking the mischievous ruby glimmer in his eyes or the pillow of his very kissable lips or the hum of magic pulsing beneath my skin wherever he touches.
If I wasn’t paying attention to the predatory allure of vampires before, I definitely am now.
I breathe in his scent and feel unmistakable desire blossom between my thighs. Revyn’s hand clenches around mine as he scents me, but Callum’s the one whose voice wraps around me in a velvet caress. “Careful, Wildflower, or I may lose my restraint.”
Entranced, I linger where I shouldn’t—close enough for him to bite wherever he chooses. My guard is down and my libido is up. “I haven’t done anything.”
“Your heartbeat,” he murmurs, sliding his fingertips along the delicate skin of my inner wrist, “is the sweetest song I’ve ever heard.”