Chapter 4
Despite the warmth from Raffe’s body, my blood turned cool and jolted, and my wolf stirred. My breath caught. Is he dead? As much as I wished I was concerned because he was a person, it wasn’t only that. He had answers that could get us closer to whoever had made him act for the Veiled Circle, the secret society that had kidnapped me.
He’s not dead, but he’s in a panic, demanding to talk to you, Adam replied.
Raffe’s arms tightened, and his wariness swirled between us as he linked, Then she’s not fucking coming. He doesn’t get to make demands.
I turned to him, lifting a brow. Not wanting Adam to overhear, I spoke out loud. “You actually think I’m not going?” There was no way in hell I was letting him exclude me. “I was the one he drugged, and I want to hear his explanation.”
He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t done. “And I’m not asking for permission. You’re my mate, not my boss. Be careful what your next words are.”
Raffe? Adam asked. Are you on your way?
A chuckle vibrated through the pack link, and Keith interjected, I bet Skylar is scolding him right now and informing his sorry ass that she will, in fact, be coming. Raffe’s preoccupied and not in the way he likes when it comes to her.
My face burned, and I was thankful none of them could see my reaction. I wasn’t ashamed of enjoying sex with Raffe, but there was something mortifying about getting called out on it.
Raffe scowled. Shut the fuck up. You’re making her uncomfortable.
As much as I understand where you’re coming from, Skylar should come. He’s refusing to talk to anyone but her. Adam sounded resigned. He said it’s something we should all know, and if Supreme Priestess Olwyn gets here before he can explain himself to Skylar, he’ll never be able to.
My heart dropped into my stomach. I didn’t like the sound of that. “Raffe.”
“Yeah, okay. I won’t argue with you.” Raffe jumped out of bed. “Let’s get over there.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or frustrated about what had made him change his mind. I’d save further argument for another time when he got all protective and growly.
I snagged my darker-purple jacket and slid it on as we hurried out of my room. Putting on the jacket was quicker than fully dressing in a bra and a new shirt.
Lucy, get up, Raffe linked as we hurried into the living room. I need you to keep an eye on Octavia while we’re gone.
She blinked and sat up on the couch directly across from us, where she had a view of the hallway. What time is it?
Six, Raffeanswered as he reached the door and opened it. Dave is awake and wants to talk to us before Supreme Priestess Olwyn gets there. Whatever it is must be important if he wants to discuss it at this hour when he knows how much I despise him.
I stayed on his heels, knowing Lucy would pull through for us. She always did.
Or gloat. Lucy sighed. And yeah, I’ll get up and see if I can get Josie to eat and drink a little more.
That wasn’t a bad idea. Let me know if you need anything or if Octavia does anything suspicious.
I will. I don’t want to be the only one handling any of that.
That was fair. I wouldn’t want to be either.
Raffe took my hand, still inching in the lead because of his longer legs. Damn sexy, tall man who towered over me. Despite all that, he didn’t drag me like I knew he could.
Soon, we were exiting through the front double doors, racing toward the men’s apartment building. That was when it struck me. I’d never been to Raffe’s place. That couldn’t be normal … surely.
The cold, dark October morning air blanketed me. The faint drizzle had returned. The normal weather conditions comforted me. At least I could rely on one thing, even if it was the shitty weather.
The men’s building looked identical to the women’s, right down to the paint. We hurried inside and took the elevator to the sixth floor. Their building had one more floor than the women’s.
The hallway also looked identical, but there were two fewer apartments on either side of the hallway. That made sense, given that the guys had three people in each apartment instead of two.
Why do they have more students per place than the women do? I linked as he turned right and raced down the hallway.
Floors one through five are just like yours. The football team is assigned to this floor, and they wanted to put more of us in a space together for camaraderie or some shit like that.
I didn’t need to see his face to know he was rolling his eyes; I could feel his slight annoyance in my chest.
Their apartment was the last one on the right, and before he could type in the code, the door opened, revealing Keith. His hair was messy for him, and he was rubbing his temples like he had a headache. He won’t shut up. He keeps talking about Skylar and freaking out. He’s petrified of something, but he won’t tell us what.
“I only hope she understands,” Dave said loudly. “And Raffe gives me a chance to explain before he kills me. After everything they’ve done, I’d rather he do it than them, anyway.”
“Man, they’re here. Okay.” Adam sounded tired. “You’ll get to tell her. Give her a minute.”
The only thing different about this apartment was that there was a room to the right behind their couches since their layout was the opposite of ours. I didn’t know why I’d expected their space to be different, especially since the buildings appeared to have been built at the same time.
Voices were coming from the room on the right, so we shot past Keith and through the living room. Inside the bedroom, Raffe’s scent was mixed with copper and a faintly sweet smell.
Adam towered over Dave in the queen-size bed. The vampire had an evergreen comforter over his body, which shook with cold, nerves or a combination of the two.
I took in a picture of Raffe’s motorcycle stuck into the mirror of his dresser. I wasn’t surprised to count ten trophies on top of the dresser, but I blinked when I noticed one was of a guy holding a bowling ball. What the hell?
Before I could ask, Dave’s hazel eyes focused on me, some of the golden flecks showing now, further proof he was healing.
The betrayal by this guy, whom I’d thought of as a friend, hit me. My blood fizzed, and a lump formed in my throat.
He tried to sit up but groaned and fell back. “Sky.” His voice cracked. “I’m so damn sorry. But you’re already smelling more alluring now.”
The fizz allowed me to read his remorse and sincerity. That was the only benefit of my emotions stirring my blood, but if I didn’t calm my blood, he could lose control and try to attack me again.
“Don’t fucking look at her,” Raffe growled, edging in front of me. His protectiveness and concern made my heart race faster.
Babe, he feels bad, and he wants to explain what happened. I pushed calm toward Raffe, but his back tensed more. I wanted to touch him and calm him down, but I also wanted my blood to remain at a fizz so I could read Dave’s emotions. Give him a chance.
Asking me not to protect you is like asking me not to breathe. I need to do both to survive.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. Even though I knew how much I meant to him, hearing him admit it so openly made me swoony. Let him give you a reason to get that way in this meeting before you do. Otherwise, be nice.
He glanced over his shoulder at me and pouted.
Stepping next to Raffe, I cleared my throat to get Dave to focus on me. “Raffe just needed to make sure you understand that if you try something against me, he’ll hurt you.”
“I’m aware.” Dave shivered and flinched from what had to be the pain from his chest wound.
“What’s so urgent?” I wanted to get straight to the point because I didn’t want to be here when Supreme Priestess Olwyn arrived.
He nodded and swallowed. “First, I need to explain why I did what I did.”
“I’d love to hear this explanation as well,” Raffe rasped, making sure Dave didn’t forget he was there. Not that he could anyway.
Dave licked his lips. “I did something that would make the wolf shifters want me dead.” He stopped, his hands clenching at his sides.
I tried to be patient, but if he didn’t continue, I might scream.
“I … I lost control and drank from someone.” He cut his eyes at the wall between Adam and me. “Another supernatural.”
Adam scratched the back of his neck. “Drinking from another vampire isn’t forbidden. Most mated couples do that from time to time.”
“It wasn’t another vampire.” He blinked and cracked his neck. “It was a wolf shifter.”
I shook my head. “I thought wolf shifter blood was toxic to vampires, and now you’re telling me you drank from two wolves and survived?”
“It wasn’t two wolves.” He stared at the smooth white ceiling. “It was the same wolf shifter both times. Josie.”
“Josie?” Keith stormed into the room and stopped between Adam and me. “No way. Not possible. She’d have told us.”
“She didn’t because she let me do it, and then she freaked out.” Dave placed a hand over his mouth. “I realized if you all found out what she let me do and that I lost control, we’d both be punished, so I asked Slade for help.”
I tensed. “When was this?” Even as I asked, I suspected it had something to do with Dave drugging me so that the Veiled Circle could kidnap me.
“At the beginning of the school year. He and Supreme Priestess Olwyn showed up along with Lafayette.” He sighed.
Every time I heard Lafayette’s name, it took me back to the night he tried to make me forget about the vampire attack, which had revealed that the stronger the power coursing through my blood was, the more appealing I smelled to vampires, causing them to lose their rational mind and become desperate to drink from me. Lafayette was the vampire people called to handle such things, and I wondered if that was part of his job description as the head of housing here at the university. He was responsible for keeping supernaturals and humans separated, which would involve altering human memories when needed.
“Why?” Adam’s brows pinched together. “Lafayette can’t do anything with a supernatural’s memory. And why wouldn’t Josie tell us?”
An unreadable feeling passed from Raffe to me.
“Lafayette came because they thought I drank from a human, but when Slade and Olwyn realized it was a wolf shifter, they went to the—” He cut himself off.
I suspected I knew where this was heading. “They know about the Books of Twilight and the hidden library. But the coven isn’t aware that Raffe knows.”
Dave’s jaw dropped. “Oh.”
“Wait.” Keith lifted a hand. “You’re telling me the books that were supposed to be destroyed centuries ago are in a fucking hidden library somewhere, and we haven’t done a damn thing about it?”
My head spun. I hadn’t thought about how Adam and Keith would react to that news, but I didn’t want Dave to hold back information.
Raffe growled. “I didn’t tell anyone because Slade was using the books to find answers about Sky’s heritage and how her power works. I didn’t want the books destroyed until Skylar learned everything we could to help her control her magic so she didn’t fucking implode. I also wanted to protect you all from my dad’s wrath.” He lifted his chin, staring at his friends.
“I asked him not to.” I wouldn’t let Raffe take the blame for all that. “So if you’re going to be upset with anyone, it should be me. I’m his mate, and I asked him to keep that a secret.” What I said wasn’t technically a lie. I’d been his fated mate even before we completed our bond, but I tried to imply that I’d asked him after the bond completion, giving my claim more power.
“As much as I hate to interrupt to tell on myself some more, this needs to come out. Supreme Priestess Olwyn won’t hesitate to come here and finish me.”
My head jerked back. “Finish you?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” Dave moaned as he sat upright, his face flushing. When he got situated, he exhaled noisily. “Slade and Olwyn found a memory-wiping spell in one of the books, and Slade waited for Josie to return from a run in the woods after our connect—er, my need to feed from her snapped. They were able to erase her memory and ease whatever might have happened when I fed from her.”
I swallowed. He’d almost said connection. Were they fated mates? “What does any of this have to do with you drugging me?” Slade was friends with Dave, and when he learned Dave was here, he’d cared enough to ask about him.
“Supreme Priestess Olwyn told me I had to drug you.” He winced. “And Slade came to get you after I told them you were unconscious. It was the only way they wouldn’t rat me out to the wolf shifters.”
I shook my head. This couldn’t be true … but my blood was at a steady fizz, and I could read it was all truth.
“Are you saying Supreme Priestess Olwyn and Slade handed her over to the secret society?” Raffe whispered scarily.
“No.” He steepled his hands. “I’m telling you, they’re part of the secret society and planned it all, including knocking me out when they came to get Skylar.”
My blood neared a hum, and I touched Raffe to ground myself. “But Slade was kidnapped.” My voice rose so high it was almost inaudible. “He saved me.”
“I don’t know anything about that. I was locked up. But I know for a fact that Slade has been testing you the entire time you’ve been here.” Dave held out his hands, palms up. “He told me he found you the first night you were here and watched you in the woods. He saw a deer walk right up to you.”
Acid churned in my stomach and inched up my throat. Dave hadn’t known about that.
“Fuck, man.” Keith fisted both hands. “I smelled him in the woods that night, but I thought he was out there practicing magic.”
“That’s not all.” Dave sighed. “That day at the bookstore when the books fell, when I returned to the stand, I glimpsed Slade outside, watching you.”
My eyes burned, and my heart felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly. “By making the books fall like that when my blood wasn’t humming, he had me thinking I was going crazy.” Between that and feeling like someone was stalking me, I’d been anxiety-ridden, making my emotions more volatile. Worse, my blood was still fizzing, and I knew Dave wasn’t lying.
Boy, how I wished he was.
Slade had pretended to be my friend while manipulating me the entire time, even pretending to be kidnapped to make me think he’d saved me.
To get me to trust him again.
I placed a hand on my chest and pressed. The pain was so intense that I wouldn’t be surprised if my heart ripped right out of it. The first person I’d trusted here, the one who’d made me feel as if I’d finally found a friend, had been behind my captivity.
My blood hummed, and I stepped into Raffe.
Dave rasped, “I was supposed to die in the woods. I should have. Lafayette was upset because he was the one who carried me to the spot. Skylar, you need to leave. This university isn’t safe for you. It never was.”
Raffe’s protective instincts flared, and he looked at me, his eyes glowing. “We’ve got to go.”
“If we disappear, they’ll know, and our friends will be at risk.” There was only one clear answer—we all had to leave. Everyone who was tied to us, including two people Raffe would object to.
“Fuck, she’s right, man. We gotta figure this out.” Adam sighed, glanced out the window across from him … and froze. “And we don’t have long.”