Chapter 11 Zayn #3
And Evira was hanging with her friend, Octana. Usually they sparred together in Combat Conclave, but she’d said they were going out to Vantiqe instead this time so they could just talk.
So, here I was right now in my old family home. It was a narrow stone rowhouse on a quiet street.
There were no kitchens in the dorms at Loxley Academy, not even in the larger suites, so I’d needed a place that could fit the bill for this cooking extravaganza. This place had a big enough kitchen for all four of us to move around and have some cooking fun.
I was just putting the final touches on the setup when my phone buzzed in the back pocket of my glittering jeans—the awesome ones that had one leg that was a sleek black, the other an eye-catching gold.
I pulled my phone free. As soon as I took in the notification that had come in, I tugged at my distressed white tee.
It was him.
I swallowed hard, then opened the message he’d sent.
Sylas Morgrave: Three-pronged operation coming up. Want you there from prep to execution if your interest still remains.
My heart leapt into my throat. Seriously? It was actually happening?
Zayn: Definitely still interested.
Sylas Morgrave: Charles Petrone will be contacting you later today. You met him five years ago.
Zayn: I remember. He’s a nice guy.
Sylas Morgrave: And an enthusiastic and patient teacher.
Zayn: You’re handing me off to him?
Sylas Morgrave: Temporarily as I get Winter started with his next-level Necromancy training. I don’t want you waiting in the wings any longer due to that, so this is the solution in the meantime. All operations go through me before execution, so I’ll be present at the tail end anyway.
I smiled to myself. He knew I liked his way of mentoring, that I’d taken well to it that night. And, yeah, he obviously also knew about my abandonment issues, so being handed off to somebody else didn’t exactly go down well with me.
But he’d said he’d still be around at some point and everything, so I’d be okay with that.
Also, Charles had a positive and easygoing energy about him and we’d gotten along well before. And that had been back when I’d been way more wild, reckless, and chaotic—the height of my tumultuous teen years, basically. He’d been one of the few people who hadn’t been fazed by it or put off.
Zayn: Sounds good. I’m in.
Sylas Morgrave: I’ll sort it, then. Enjoy your night. Give my love to Win.
Zayn: Will do.
Zayn: And thanks, Sylas. For all of this.
Sylas Morgrave: No thanks needed. After our Clan Krevorn takedown, it became clear you’ll thrive at this sort of thing. Well done.
I beamed down at his message.
Wow. We’d certainly come a long way from him thinking I’d been using his son “like a fleshlight” and was only bad for Win, a chaotic menace of epic proportions, basically. I grimaced even recalling those words of his—and that regrettable night.
It was in the past now, long gone. Things were so different now. All around, actually. Definitely within me as well. And this conversation with him highlighted yet another facet of that, just like my performance earlier in class had.
Hold up. Asking me to give his love to Win… why would he… were the two of them not talking? Exchanging heartfelt messages like that was kind of their thing, it always had been between Win and his parents.
A knock at the kitchen back door sounded, jolting me from my thoughts.
I pocketed my phone, then walked over and opened it.
There Win was smiling brightly at me.
With a sly glint in his eye.
It took me barely a second to register why.
He was wearing that tight-as-sin cobalt-blue tee that… did things to me. And this time he had a pair of sleek black jeans on, not the usual gray. They made the tee pop even more.
His gaze raked over my outfit. “Mmm. Loving that. Those pants are new.”
“Yeah. Conjured them last night.”
“Specially for this cooking date?”
“No. Just because I felt like mixing it up.” Which was kinda my thing when it came to my outfit choices. “Seems really clear you wore this specially for tonight, though.”
“Vax said something about teasing your biceps fetish that he’s noticed becoming more of a thing lately.”
That sexy, scheming, motherfucking beautiful bastard—he was totally awesome. He’d obviously noticed my distress with a bunch of things during class, and this had been his way of helping to take my mind off it. In the most amusing way imaginable.
“That shirt is definitely doing the job. Looks like it’s freaking painted onto your skin, babe.” I snatched his forearm, then tugged him to me and gnawed at his bicep, earning a chuckle from him. “That’s what you get for teasing me.”
He wiped his bicep of my saliva, then snatched my shoulder to hold me steady, while he spread it over my lips. “And that’s what you get.”
“Hot damn,” I said, making a show of licking my lips back at him. “I’m down with that.”
Heat flared in his eyes.
Our gazes locked.
But then he blinked and shook his head to himself. “Stop,” he said, laughing. “We’re here to do the foodie thing, right?”
“Foodie thing? You’re adorable,” I crooned, tickling under his chin.
“Z!” he cried, batting my hand away.
I laughed and stepped aside, so he could come on in to the kitchen.
As he walked in and I closed the door behind him, I asked, “Do you need to get a quick feed in before Evira and Vax get here?”
“Huh?” he responded, distractedly, as he took in everything.
I’d set up three different stations around the room on the stone counters.
I didn’t really like the design of the place—it was deeply plain, especially for somebody like me.
Beige walls, off-white linoleum floors, the cabinets taupe with pale-yellow knobs.
Yeesh. But it had the space needed for this sort of thing.
And it was also a kitchen I had access to myself without needing to call in any favors or jump through any hoops.
Well, maybe except for the emotional ones… of being back in this abandoned family home of mine.
Nah, even then, the kitchen aspect was still worth it.
It was about tonight, what the four of us were gonna do together, nothing else, and definitely not…
that. Besides, I hadn’t ventured into any other rooms of the house, just the kitchen.
I’d pulled the dusty sheets off, cleaned off the counters and freshened up the place, before setting up the groceries and the three stations.
One station was set up to help Vax find fun and pleasure in food despite his really strict Basilisk diet. I’d gone with a Venom-Stable Feast Plate that I was gonna teach him how to make.
The second station to the right of that was for Evira and Winter but could also be eaten by Vax.
It was gonna be for making Savory Hand Pies.
The steps were similar to what Evira was used to with her quiche-making, but also different enough to be considered branching out.
They had a spiciness to them that Winter would get a kick out of too.
The third station was for dessert-making. I had two we were gonna make. Cheesecake slices with smoked honey drizzle and blackcurrant truffles.
“This is incredible,” Winter commented. “You put so much effort into it all.”
“Thanks. It’s gonna be fun, right?”
He turned back to me. “Of course. What did you ask me a second ago, before I got distracted by the cooking stations you prepared?”
“Do you need to feed before we start all of this?”
He frowned. “Why are you asking? You usually just go with it, wait for me to call or show up at your dorm room.”
Shit. “Just… felt like asking, I guess. So you didn’t have to this time.”
That frown deepened, accompanied by a whole lot of suspicion. “You think I have a problem with it.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you meant.”
“Win, listen—”
“I’m fine, Zayn. I’m just… needing it a little more than usual.
I acknowledge that, so if that’s what you’re worried about, don’t.
I’ve already clocked it. I’m self-monitoring the situation.
A lot has happened. There’s stress bearing down on me, and feeding…
helps. But if you’re finding it too much on your end, please just let me know and I’ll figure something else out. ”
“Figure something else out? Like what? Get a hall pass from me, Evira, and Vax to go feed from some randos again?”
“If it’s a problem to you now, what else would you have me do?”
I held up my hands. “All right, let’s just… take it down a notch. Or several.”
He sucked in a breath. “No feed tonight. Or tomorrow.”
“What?”
“You’re clearly concerned and I don’t want it becoming an issue. So I’ll hold off for a couple of days, calm things down there. Okay?”
“Well, is it actually going to be okay? Don’t you need it… much more than ever before?”
“No. I mean… it feels good, no doubt.”
“It does for me, too. Don’t get me wrong there.”
A slight smile played on his lips, and I saw how grateful he was for me lightening things a little.
Fuck. This was brutal. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up at all?
“That said, needing it is a whole other matter… in a way beyond the once-in-a-while I used to indulge in. So, we’ll ease off for a while. I’ll be fine.”
“Win, if you’re sure, yeah, we’ll do that.
Just… I get why you don’t want to tell your family about the feeding aspect, but with your training coming up with Sylas, it would actually be the perfect time.
You’ll be learning, touching new territory…
you could merge it in with all that if you don’t want it to come off like a big deal, or some massive reveal. ”
“No,” he ground out.
“But—”
“No. It can’t be known. Especially not now with the Ruxnoth situation in play.
You think my dad would agree to this training if he knew about some unstable fuckery I had going on—the feeding?
Absolutely not. And if this doesn’t go ahead, we’re all in trouble.
Everyone needs me at full power, in complete command, and able to operate at high-level necromantic capability. ”