Chapter 16
Sixteen
Avery
Scalding water washed over her skin. She almost liked the way it burned, the way it prickled. It was her place to go when the world became too much, letting the water drum against her skin, its droplets the only sound allowed through her mind.
The metal squealed as she shut off the water, taking her time to step out of the bath. It wasn’t funny how many times she had eaten shit stepping out of it.
Using the towel, she dried off her body and looked around the bathroom for her clothes.
Fuck.
Her clothes were out there. With him.
She sighed, wiping a hand at the fog on the mirror. She would have to go out there.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. At least she would be covered in a towel.
With false confidence, she wrenched open the door and strode past the elephant in the room. Well, cat.
She didn’t even need to look at him. Instantly, she felt his eyes on her, his intense gaze driving into her. She didn’t dare look. Making her way to the dresser, she started to rifle through her clothes, grabbing anything she could that would cover her body.
Her spine straightened on instinct. She hadn’t heard him move.
Heat rolled off her back, evaporating the tiny droplets into a fine mist. He was right behind her.
She went as still as a rabbit looking down a hunter’s gun.
He didn’t touch her, but his hands gripped the dresser in front of her, caging her in between him.
His hands were abnormally large and were white-knuckling the dresser.
The wood groaned underneath the strength of it.
Veins strained underneath his skin, almost as if they were ready to pop.
“What are you doing, witch?” His breath fanned her back as he spoke, sending a shiver down her spine.
She gulped. “Trying to find some clothes.”
“That much is obvious.” His voice was lower, filled with gravel, as if it was strained. Was she affecting him this much? “You just conveniently forgot your clothes?”
She nodded, lost for words.
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
“No.” That was the last thing she was trying to do.
Against her will, dampness pooled in her core.
Her body reacted to a man being so close.
Not a man, a shifter. A monster. Her breath came in short pants.
He took a deep inhale through his nose, almost as if he were sniffing her, sniffing the air. Oh goddess, could he?
A muttered fuck came through him, the wood groaning even harder underneath his fingers.
A swell of emotions rose through her. Against all better judgment, she spoke. “Is it working?” Her own voice was strained. Dumb, stupid brain! Something flushed up and down her body. The feeling wasn’t new, but the intensity dialed up immensely from what she’d ever felt before.
His body slammed into hers, pinning her against the dresser.
She felt the hard length of him against her—two little pieces of material separating them.
She let go of the towel, the top folds of it coming away, exposing her breasts to the cold air.
Her nipples hardened, the feeling of the wood enough to cause a small moan to escape.
His nails lengthened into black points, impossibly sharp claws sinking into the dresser, splintering the wood as he pulled against it.
Her breath caught, the sight slicing through the haze of lust. This was Felix, a shifter.
Was he doing this to her? Was this some kind of shifter spell he had put her under? She needed to get away from him.
He shifted slightly beneath her, his hard length creating a delicious friction that made her grind back into him, clouding any thoughts she had before. The bond flourished in her chest, the feeling almost a purr.
“Little witch, what would your precious university say about you grinding into a shifter?” He chuckled as he spoke, the vibration sending another jolt straight to her core.
The sudden thump of something hitting the window caused him to jump back. Her body instantly missed his presence. The cold seeped in quickly, shaking her out of the trance of lust she had found herself in.
What the fuck was I doing?
Using the distraction, she quickly gathered her clothes and darted into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Whatever that noise was, she didn’t care right now.
Shame burned her cheeks. Her breath came in rushed and ragged.
The fresh memory caused a stir of emotions to rip through her.
Her eyes darted around the room. She was alone.
She put a palm against her heart, willing it to slow. Intrusive memories came back from mere minutes ago, but she swatted them away like they were a pesky fly. She refused to believe she had submitted to a shifter like that. A moment of weakness, that was all it was. It would never happen again.
Dressing herself in her pajamas, she realized in her rush that she hadn’t picked up any underwear. She slapped a hand against her forehead. Why was she like this?
She willed herself to pull herself together before stepping out into the room again, facing the very thing that had just unraveled her.
Their eyes instantly met across the room.
His head cocked, and his eyes narrowed, looking her up and down before quickly looking away.
That one look was enough to send a flare of heat through her once again. Fuck.
Felix cleared his throat. “A letter came for you.”
The thump must have been a pigeon hitting the window, a white feather lay at the bottom of the sill as evidence.
She walked over to him. The closer she got, the more the bond hummed in her chest, wanting her closer. She ignored it and held out her hand.
“You didn’t read it, did you?” she asked.
“Why would I do that?”
“Seems like something you would do.”
“You wound me.” He faked a broken heart. “I’m being nice, remember?”
She rolled her eyes and opened the letter, unraveling the ribbon just as she had become unraveled mere moments ago.
Her mind wandered for a moment. Did he feel what she did?
Lose control like she did? Or was it some deluded game?
That was the most likely answer. He was a shifter after all.
She wouldn’t let him get to her again. Her eyes flicked up to him.
He stood looking out the window, his tail swishing in long sweeps, almost as if he was annoyed. He was as lost in thought as she was.
She peeled her eyes away from him and read the letter.
Dinner at the tower tomorrow, 6 p.m.
The bottom of the page had her mother’s councilor stamp, as cold and impersonal as she was. Why she still sent pigeons when there were phones, or even her sister and that dragon, was beyond her. A simple text would have sufficed.
But where would that have gone if that bird hadn’t startled them?
She sighed and chucked the letter on top of the desk.
Her mother had definitely heard about her getting a familiar, and she had yet to present him to her.
It had been something she had been actively avoiding.
Something in her told her that her mother would know immediately that Felix was a shifter.
Avery was a terrible liar. She rubbed her hand against her head, the cool of her fingers a slight respite to the giant headache that was forming.
The headache spoke. “Where are you sleeping tonight, witch?”
Her face fell flat, any remaining warmth flapping, just like that pigeon off, into the aether.
Fluttering her eyes shut, she prayed to the goddess for a modicum of strength to get through this hell she had found herself in.
She just wanted to graduate. She just wanted to be normal.
Why had she been handed this difficult life?
“On my bed, shifter. Where are you sleeping?” she said.
“On your bed.”
The audacity of males. Of any species, apparently.
“We’re not sleeping together.”
His fangs showed through when he smiled. “Yet.”
Another flood of heat went through her. Absolutely the fuck not. Over her dead body would she share a bed with a shifter. Especially after that little moment they had.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she hissed, the pink of her cheeks a dead giveaway.
“But you thought of it, didn’t you?” He took a step toward her, somehow making the small room around them even smaller. “Now, and before.”
“That will never happen again, shifter.”
“We will see, little witch. We will see.”
He clucked his tongue. He was still on the bed and had no intention of moving anywhere. Asshole. And unfortunately for her, he had decided that the most appropriate clothing for the occasion was a pair of boxers.
“You’re not just wearing that, are you?” she said, gesturing to the boxers that moved like the shadow fabric he often tended to wear.
“Why, don’t like what you see?” A lazy grin stretched across his face.
“No.”
“Liar.” His grin never faltered. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to see me in these much longer—I sleep naked.”
Avery closed her eyes and swallowed, trying to fight the rising desire threatening to take her over. Again. She hadn’t been this horny and repressed since, well, ever. And as much as the man was the most handsome thing she had ever seen, she did not trust herself to sleep next to him naked.
“We can share the bed—if you stay a cat.”
“Deal.” His smile was diabolical.
She waited for him to shift, and to his credit, he did. She crawled into bed, as he sat at the foot of it, curled up in a ball, looking like a peaceful statue; the only sign he was still alive was the gentle rise and fall of his chest and the slight jingle of a collar.
“Goodnight.”
For the first time in a while, she felt peaceful, too, as she drifted asleep.