Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~ Shade ~
“Before you get all angry, it was Bonfang’s idea,” I blurt, freaking out because Knox isn’t just glowering at me, the man looks livid to see me. His gaze slides to Bonfang, and there’s a hint of betrayal in his features. Oh, crap.
Bonfang bares his teeth at me, and I give him a sheepish smile.
“Sorry! Sorry!” I rush out, lifting my hands in a placating gesture and drawing Knox’s attention back to me.
“No, it wasn’t Bonfang’s idea at all. It was mine.
Completely. Bonfang was simply kind enough to stop me from getting eaten.
Or lost in the forest. Well…more lost. He’s a good wolf.
” I stare back at Bonfang. “Such a good wolfie.”
If wolves could roll their eyes, I could swear that’s what Bonfang does.
Then, like he’s tired of being there, he slinks into the darkness of the trees and out of sight, leaving me to face the furious professor alone.
Which I guess is fair, seeing as it was my dumb idea to come here.
It was one thing to decide to confront the shadow daddy, but now that I’m here, Knox’s power pulses around me, and my bravery from earlier fizzles away.
“Why are you in my dell, human?” Knox snarls, looking like I’ve invaded his inner sanctum.
Which I obviously have. It was different coming here with Thane.
Thane had been the one to bring me, and even then, I’d felt unwelcome.
Now, the sense that I shouldn’t be here is even stronger.
Oops. On the bright side, I doubt Knox would hurt me considering he knows his friends wouldn’t like that, but it doesn’t stop me from eyeing him warily.
“Whaaat? Is this your dell? I had no idea,” I pretend, not at all sounding convincing.
“Yes, it is,” he grinds out, then he adds, “And stop babying my animali. He thinks you’re as insufferable as I do.”
I narrow my eyes at my reluctant fourth mate, refusing to believe him. Bonfang loves me in his own way. I’m sure of it. Seriously, Lady Fate misjudged when she picked this arrogant professor as one of my mates. Of course, I don’t say that to him.
Folding my hands behind my back I say instead, “Sooo, I thought you’d be with Thane and the others visiting the queen.”
Knox doesn’t reply, and he simply goes back to his favorite past time, staring at the dark water.
I watch him silently for a moment, feeling even more awkward.
I wonder if his friends know he has a problem, I muse to myself, because I’m not sure how long one has to spend staring at a pool of water before an intervention is needed.
“Or are they back already?” I persist, staring around me, though I already know if they were, Raith, Galen, and Thane would have found me by now.
“It was in the queen’s best interest that I remained here while they attended the audience,” Knox finally replies, his voice ice cold.
The queen’s best interest? What the hell does that mean? “You sure? Because I bet the queen is missing having you there. I bet you really lighten every conversation,” I say sarcastically, not sure why I keep blurting things that will likely get me into trouble.
Thankfully, Knox doesn’t seem offended, but he keeps staring at that water like it holds the answers to all his problems. More time passes, and I decide to give myself a mental pep talk.
Sucking in a calming breath, I remind myself why I’m here.
Answers. I’m here to finally get some answers about the missing students.
Putting on my big girl pants, I cross my arms and jut out my hip. “I’m not leaving here until you tell me where they are, Knox. Whatever you’re doing, it’s wrong. The students aren’t your playthings. I mean, can’t you take your anger out in a healthier way?”
When he turns to me again, it’s like he’s looking right through me, and there’s something sad in his eyes that I haven’t seen before. Sorrow, maybe? “My anger?” he asks, frowning like he has no idea what I’m talking about.
“Yeah,” I say, forging onward. “Obviously you have pent up anger for some reason, and you’re taking it out on some of the students. Making them disappear. It’s either anger, or you’re simply a sadist. Either way, it needs to stop.”
He blinks slowly at me for a long moment as my words seem to finally register, and understanding washes the sorrow from his expression as his cold, hard mask slides back into place. “You’re here because of the missing students?” he says, his voice disinterested again.
“Well yeah,” I reply. “I know you’re behind the disappearances.
Are you keeping them in the cells like you did with Satine?
” I make a face. “Please tell me you’re not torturing them.
” I hadn’t seen any other students when I was down in the dungeons, but it sounds like the academy has a whole number of hidden rooms, so he could be keeping them anywhere.
“And why would I waste my time abducting and torturing students?” he says indignantly.
“That’s a great question,” I reply. “Why would you do that?”
Realizing I’m not going to let this go, he sighs heavily. “Some of the students say the words that result in their enrollment being terminated, and they’re sent back to the human realm. Others are murdered by their classmates or perish during their training.”
“And others are being abducted,” I add on, circling my hand in a gesture that shows I’m trying to get him to continue.
“If they are, then they wouldn’t have been strong enough to survive being a shadow warrior, in any case,” he says. “And they’re not my concern right now.”
I gape at him, though I don’t know why I’m surprised by what I’m hearing. Knox has always been cold and detached, and I should have expected this. “What do you mean ‘if’? You’re telling me you didn’t notice the missing students?”
“There was a time when I would track each missing student down, but it usually resulted in me finding their remains beyond the walls of Shadowbone and the relative safety of this academy. If the students wish to end their lives trying to flee this place, and they ignore our warnings, there’s not much I can do. ”
“No,” I say in denial, shaking my head. “I saw Satine in that cell. I saw what you did to her.”
“That was different,” he replies.
“You took her,” I say. “Because for some reason, you enjoy inflicting pain and—”
“I took her because she dared to touch you!” he snaps, whirring on me.
My mouth falls open. I’d known Knox was the one to take Satine after she’d tried to kill me, but I hadn’t put too much thought into why he’d done it.
If anything, I’d thought he’d done it because he didn’t like seeing Thane get hurt, and he knew Thane had accepted me as his mate.
I hadn’t really thought that maybe Knox had taken her because he wanted to for himself.
I’m too late to react when Knox’s shadows shoot out, spearing across the clearing.
They wind around my neck, and the instant they touch me, the sensation of ice and fire rushes along my skin.
Horrifying images enter my mind. Flashes of bloodied fingers and cracked stone.
A scream sounds in my ears, and I gasp as fear slams into me, though I don’t know why I’m afraid.
Knox’s shadows release me a moment later, and the instant they do, the images disappear as if they’d never been there. I bend over, heaving as I suck air into my lungs. “What was that?” I rasp, not sure why those images had seemed so familiar.
“How did you—?” he starts, then amends, “That wasn’t me.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t you?” My eyes widen, but Knox’s cold mask is back in place.
“When you enter the games, the queen will try to prevent my power from touching you,” he tells me. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to enter your dreams. You may have to deal with your nightmares on your own.”
My nightmares? “What are you talking about? Are you saying those images were flashes from my nightmares? But I haven’t had nightmares for weeks,” I say.
“In fact, I think being at Shadowbone is the best I’ve slept in—” My words die in my throat as it dawns on me.
This whole time I’d thought that I’d been sleeping well because I’d been spending my nights with Thane, Galen, and Raith.
I’d never contemplated that Knox was the one shielding me from my nightmares.
My heart pangs as I stare at my mate, but he only sneers at me like he hates my look of appreciation.
Asshole. Fear enters me then, because if those flashes had been from my nightmares… I shudder.
“And I’d never waste my time abducting students,” he says coldly. “It’s bad enough that I have to teach them to stop them from being so pathetic.”
I was so sure that Knox had something to do with the disappearances.
It made sense. He’d taken Satine to the cells, and he’d tortured her.
But…had he done it for me? The idea should make me sick to my stomach, and I do feel horrible, but there’s also a part of me that’s completely caught off guard.
Why would he do that to Satine just because she’d tried to kill me?
I’d thought Knox wanted me dead, anyway?
Hell, the man often acts like he’s the one trying to murder me.
Before I can ask more, he tilts his head to the side. “They’re almost back,” he mutters. With a wave of his hand, shadows pool beside him forming a shadow pathway. “Let’s go,” he says, gesturing to the portal. When I don’t immediately move, he adds, “Unless you’d rather find your own way back?”
And that has my feet moving. Over the past weeks, I’ve gotten better at creating my own pathways, but it seems my bad navigational skills also affects my ability to form shadow pathways that actually lead where I want them to.
Unless I’m creating a pathway that leads directly to one of my guys, I often end up in places where I don’t intend.
For example, the other day I’d hoped the pathway would take me to the dining hall, but somehow, I ended up in the washroom instead, materializing in front of a very surprised, and completely naked, poor student who squealed, clutching at his manhood when he saw me. Oops.
Glaring at Knox, I stride to the portal and step inside. I should have known better than to think I would get any answers out of him.