Chapter 16
Icouldn’t push the thought away. The thought that my friendship with Slade hadn’t started with the best of intentions knocked the breath out of me, and I stopped in my tracks. My blood fizzed.
“Babe?” Raffe asked with concern. “What’s wrong? Is it your …” He scanned the area.
Why he’d stopped talking wasn’t hard to figure out. He wanted to ask if it was my magic, but there were humans and other supernaturals close by. I inhaled shakily and focused on Slade as he turned around, realizing we weren’t beside him.
I asked, “Is that why you were nice to me on that first day of class?”
Slade’s eyes bulged, and he winced as if he were in pain.
I swallowed the question of whether he was okay, not wanting him to use his discomfort as a way of avoiding this conversation.
Huffing, Raffe took my hand, and our intense buzz eased my blood. Losing control here, in front of humans, would be asking for trouble.
“We should go inside.” Slade clutched his ribs. “Mom’s waiting for us.”
“Answer her question.” Raffe lowered his voice, the sound more menacing. “Or we’re not going anywhere.”
Taking a cue from my mate, I leaned into Raffe’s side. Slade needed to know that we weren’t bluffing and that we were united.
A group of girls walked out of the building, heading toward us.
Slade’s eyes flicked toward them. “This isn’t the place …”
“Cut the bullshit.” That presence in my chest swirled. “You can answer without giving anything away. It’s a simple yes or no question. Did you know?”
From his reaction, I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear him say something before walking in. I didn’t trust Supreme Priestess Olwyn, and I feared I was about to put Slade alongside her.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I did, but I wanted to meet you. I was sincere.”
I snorted, the harshness raking my throat. “Oh, I bet.” I held Raffe’s hand tighter and marched past Slade toward the apartment entrance.
Fortunately, Raffe didn’t miss a beat and remained at my side.
A pained grunt came from behind us. “Sky, wait. Let me explain.”
“Nope.” I didn’t pause, and Raffe opened the door for me to enter the building. I retorted, “This isn’t the place,” lobbing the words back at him because I was petty. Not only that, but the discussion shouldn’t happen with prying ears nearby.
The corners of Raffe’s mouth twitched upward, but he mashed his lips together.
“Ugh,” Slade groaned as he continued to fall farther behind.
He could wait for the elevators because I needed a few minutes away from him. I needed time to process that our friendship had been built on a lie.
I hurried to the elevator, and by the time Raffe and I entered it, Slade was coming through the door. Sweat dotted his forehead as he tried to reach us.
“Want me to shut the door?” Raffe smirked and reached for the close-door button.
Even though I wanted to say yes, watching Slade rushing to catch up had my heart aching. I caught Raffe’s hand and cut my eyes at him while saying, “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“I’m not enjoying that he’s hurt, but it’s about damn time this came out.” He moved his hand to the button to keep the door open. “And yeah, Slade always played the good guy. I won’t lie. It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one being a complete idiot.”
I arched a brow. “Even if it’s something you have in common with a coven member?”
He grimaced hard and shivered.
I laughed at his exaggerated reaction. The noise caught me by surprise. Raffe had a way of making me smile when no one else could.
“You’re right.” He gasped, placing a hand on his chest. “Don’t ever repeat that.”
Slade caught up and slid into the elevator. “Thanks for waiting on me,” he panted, his face twisting with each breath. “I thought you might not.”
“I didn’t want to.” I leaned my head on Raffe’s shoulder, refusing to look at Slade. “But you did save me from the underground bunker.” Even if our friendship had changed, I still owed him. He wasn’t like his mother, who only gave me her time when it suited her. Slade had befriended and helped me when I had no one else.
“Sky, I swear, I genuinely like you. I chose to hang out with you when I didn’t have to.” He shuffled, no doubt turning to me. “We share a love of science and nature. The way we got along had nothing to do with me knowing you were different from everyone else.”
Some of my anger chipped away. He was right. We’d spent hours in the woods together, and because our majors were so similar, we had all our classes together. “Still, our friendship started under false pretenses.”
“When—” he started, but the doors opened to the fifth floor.
Wanting to address the supreme priestess’s part in the situation, I stalked toward my apartment with Raffe at my side and found her waiting at the apartment door. Seeing her standing there lifted some of the worry from my shoulders. I suspected she would’ve let herself into my room and searched through all my things if she could. Lucy must have left the apartment before she arrived. Knowing Keith and Adam had informed Lucy of what was going on so she wouldn’t get caught in this mess put me more at ease, and I could only hope Cat-Keith was in Lucy’s room so the supreme priestess didn’t see her.
Raffe tilted his head. “Waiting outside? I’m surprised. I figured you would’ve gotten her code from Lafayette.”
Lafayette handled student housing. He would have the code.
“I didn’t want to invade Skylar’s privacy.” Supreme Priestess Olwyn smiled sadly and glanced at the light-gray carpet. “This is her home after all.”
I quickly entered the apartment code into the keypad, pretending to press buttons in between in case Slade was more focused than before from his spot halfway between the elevator and my room.
Even though I was learning about supernaturals and their abilities, I still wasn’t sure how good each species’ vision and hearing were.
When the door clicked, I pushed it open and entered the apartment first.
Whew. Lucy’s door was shut. Cat-Keith had to be in there, especially since she wasn’t growling at Raffe to warn him he’d be attacked upon entering the room.
I went to stand by the two couches but didn’t sit down. Raffe was on my heels, followed by Supreme Priestess Olwyn and Slade. The two of them sat on the couch against the wall between my room and Lucy’s.
Raffe stood next to me, and we faced the two witches. Raffe took my hand and looped it through his arm so that our sides were touching. The thrum from our connection eased the energy that made me want to climb the walls. I felt vulnerable having the supreme priestess in my apartment, and with what I’d learned, I wondered if she’d asked to speak here on purpose.
A stray piece of hair fell into her face, and she pushed it behind her ear. “Uh … I thought all apartments came with a coffee table.”
This was how she wanted to start the conversation? Really? “My power broke it.” It happened the night I’d come home to find Keith, Adam, Raffe, and Josie on our couch. Raffe had been sitting next to Josie with his arm over her shoulders. I hadn’t known they were only pretending to date, but even if I had, it probably wouldn’t have helped.
“Are you ready to address the problem, or are you going to ask how her family is doing and if her classes are going well?” Raffe waved a hand at me. “Oh, wait. You don’t need to ask because you’ve been spying on her, and Slade is in all her classes, which I’m sure is a mere coincidence.”
That felt like a punch to the gut. Even though Slade and I had similar majors, I’d thought it was odd that we were taking the same electives at the exact same time. I’d known this situation was too good to be true. The scholarship they’d offered me was the opportunity of a lifetime and one that guaranteed me a competitive edge once vet school came around.
My face heated. I’d been such a fool. How had I missed all these signs? “Am I some sort of experiment? Watch her in unnatural surroundings to see how long it takes her to implode?”
“What?” Slade’s voice rose as he shook his head. “How could you even think that?”
“Son.” Olwyn put a hand on his arm.
My blood increased to a fizz. “Don’t sit there and act like you’re insulted by my questions.” He didn’t get to play the victim here. “You all invited me here, knowing I was different, then planted someone in all my classes so he could observe me.” I gritted my teeth. “Did you already know what I was? Was the research you supposedly did a lie?” Slade had acted like he’d figured out I was arcane-born after my arrival, but I didn’t know what to trust anymore.
Slade opened his mouth, but his mother glared at him. She answered with a clear, steady voice, “No, we weren’t sure what you were. I’ll be honest that I suspected you could potentially be—” She cut herself off, glancing at Raffe.
Pursing his lips, Raffe maintained an indifferent expression, not ratting me out that I’d told him everything.
I wanted to kiss him, but this wasn’t the time.
It was time for all of us to come clean. “He knows I’m arcane-born and that you have the Books of Twilight in a hidden library under one of the residence halls.” The wolf shifters had forbidden the witches to keep the books, wanting to cut off their link to ancient spells and their history. The books were supposed to have been destroyed, but the witches had hidden them in the secret library, which only witches could access. I’d been down there once when Slade had invited me, and I’d learned about my heritage from Supreme Priestess Olwyn, two other priestesses, and a priest.
“We trusted you with that information,” Olwyn snapped, her calm demeanor slipping. “And you told him? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? I bet King Jovian is on his way now with his man-beast cavalry.”
A growl ripped from my chest. I didn’t like the way she was talking about wolf shifters, especially since Raffe was one of them.
Raffe chuckled, unfazed by the insult. “I haven’t informed my father. But keep on trying to control and manipulate my mate, and I won’t hesitate to do so.”
She placed a hand on her throat and leaned back. “You haven’t told him?”
“There’s no way.” Slade snorted. “He would’ve told his father the moment he learned. They’re playing a game with us, and I don’t like it.” He focused on me. “How could you do that to us?”
“After you tried to pressure me into kissing you, I needed someone to talk to.” Though I’d done what I needed to do at that moment, I couldn’t help but feel guilty. They had trusted me with sensitive information. “Before I told him, I made him promise that he wouldn’t share the information with his dad.”
Slade blinked. “That was before I took you to the library.”
“I know, and his dad never came, so that should tell you everything.”
Supreme Priestess Olwyn crossed her arms. “Well, he can’t hold knowing that over us. Even if the wolf shifters storm the campus, they won’t be able to find their way inside the library.”
“Unlike your coven members, I didn’t withhold the information from my dad to get something from you.” Raffe rolled his eyes.
She tilted her head. “Then why didn’t you tell him?”
He turned, kissed the top of my head, and answered, “Because Skylar needs answers, and that’s the best place for her to find them. I would never risk having anyone, including my own species, destroy something that could give her knowledge about how to control her magic and not die. That’s the most important thing to me even though you’ve broken the law.”
My heart felt so full I feared it might implode.
“No way.” Slade shook his head. “I’m not buying it. You bit her for a reason. It wasn’t for love—it was so you could track her wherever she goes. Either you’re using her to rebel against King Jovian, or you need her for something else. You’ve been an entitled, self-absorbed asshole the entire time you’ve been at EEU. Do you expect me to buy that you suddenly had this drastic change of heart because of her? A human? I call bullshit.”
The rage that slammed through Raffe caught me off guard, and my knees shook. Raffe tried to charge Slade, but I held his hand firmly.
“Don’t,” I murmured, knowing everyone could hear me. “He’s not worth it.”
The muscles in Raffe’s jaw twitched, and his teeth ground together hard enough that I could hear the creak.
“You two need to leave.” I understood the irony of me asking the head board member of EEU to leave my apartment, but we weren’t accomplishing anything. I hadn’t even been free for twenty-four hours yet. Raffe and I had had little sleep. Raffe had had a huge fight with his father and might have to leave his pack. And now this. We needed to rest so we could start thinking levelheadedly, and that included Slade. “It’s been a rough day. We should regroup later in the week.”
Standing, Supreme Priestess Olwyn smoothed her skirt. “You’re right. Between your abduction, Slade’s disappearance and one of my most trusted priestesses’ involvement in this secret group, everyone is on edge. Let’s take some time to get life back to normal, and I’d love for us to meet and talk again.” She bit her bottom lip, not appearing like the strong woman she portrayed to the world. “I want you to know I’m truly sorry for hurting you. That was never our intention. We only wanted to help you find your place, put you at ease, and surround you with people similar to you. You’re in this delicate place between the human and supernatural world. With your magic, you understand the struggles of our world, and I thought it might feel inviting for you. Hurting you was never our goal.”
Raffe sniffed, and I knew why. He was trying to smell if she was lying.
Slade moaned as he awkwardly climbed to his feet. His face paled.
He probably shouldn’t have sat down.
Despite her son’s struggle, Supreme Priestess Olwyn headed to the door and waited for him impatiently. She didn’t hesitate, and I wondered if the thought of helping him had even crossed her mind. What sort of mother was she? Mom would’ve been at my side, pestering me about breathing too deeply.
Speaking of which, I needed to call her.
Finally, Slade was on his feet. “Sky, I’m sorry, too.”
He didn’t add a list of excuses, thawing my anger toward him. “Just get some rest.”
Raffe’s hand tightened on mine, and we watched them walk out the door.
When we were finally alone, I sat on the couch and patted the spot next to me, then winced. “I should call home.” I hadn’t gotten around to doing that.
“Did you leave your phone in the car?” Raffe edged toward the door. “I can get it.”
“Lucy never gave it to me this morning.” I yawned, not wanting to get up from my spot on the couch.
Raffe winked. “I’ll get it. I know where it is.”
I smiled sweetly, batting my eyelashes. “You’re the best boyfriend ever.”
He pretended to scowl. “That’s mate. Get it straight.” He leaned over and brushed his lips across mine. “Find us something to watch on TV. I’ll be right back.” He strolled into the hallway and added, “But none of that Criminal Minds shit.”
I laughed. “Never. That’s my show with Lucy.” I swiped the remote from the cushion on the other couch. When I turned on the TV, I heard a bedroom door open, followed by a hiss and a loud, “Holy shit!”