Chapter 9 #6
But he also didn’t stop it from happening or put up one word of protest about her coming along. Instead, he glared at me, then stormed on ahead, while I walked over with Evira, following his agitated footsteps.
Ah, Winter Nox. Always struggling between doing the right thing and being the white knight versus actually doing what he wanted and fucking well needed.
I could see cracks appearing.
An adorable snort came from Evira to my left. “What?” I asked.
“Even with you being so incredibly pissed during your rant back there, you called Winter’s dick glorious.”
“I—well, do you disagree?”
A cute little smirk played on her lips. “No.”
Her gaze dipped down to my pants. “Actually, speaking of—”
“Hey,” I said, snapping my fingers. “Eyes up here, baby.”
“Just wondering how you can be rock-hard after all that?”
Because a shit-ton had been building in such a short frame of time, maybe?
But I wasn’t gonna lay all that on her right now. It was bad enough I’d just pulled her into this Winter-Zayn antagonism shitshow. I had to be careful I didn’t do that too much… didn’t scare her off.
I intentionally made my eye-fucking obvious.
Then she snapped her fingers at me this time. “They’re breasts. Walk it off.”
“Wow. It was the lace I had my gaze all over. Get over yourself, woman.”
Our gazes locked and she chuckled, which, in spite of everything, had me grinning.
As we reached the alcove, Winter was already inside, standing there with his arms folded across his chest, all un-Winter like and locked up tight.
I grimaced. I’d done this to him. And, yeah, now I was figuring my shit out, but if I’d only done it sooner, then maybe—”
“Zayn. I’m waiting.”
Ice, ice, lover.
Evira stepped into the alcove, and I went to do the same, but I pulled up short at the last second as something occurred to me. Especially when she tensed up, even when moving up against Winter, the most gentle being in existence.
Her claustrophobia.
She seemed to be doing that thing Vaxan did—pretending all was well, when they were both freaking inside. Fine, yes, I did it too. It was a maintaining-power thing.
Well, more like, clinging to it with a fucking death grip.
“You know what? I’m kind of on edge… possibly more than usual,” I spoke. “Doing this inside a closed-in space, especially one that’s part of the main building, could risk an eruption, structural damage, and even—”
“Fine,” Winter cut in. “Just… make haste.”
Make haste. I smiled inwardly. Every now and then, something came out of his mouth that was so old world and near-ancient, that you could really tell he’d grown up with one of his dads being Cassius Ashmoor.
He stepped out of the alcove and Evira beamed at me as she did the same, seeming to get why I’d done that.
I waited for a few seconds as we stood in a circle, expecting Winter to invoke his amber magic and cast an auditory reduction spell, like he normally would whenever we had a private talk. But he didn’t make a move.
Come to think of it, earlier when he’d covered up my outburst with that spell, he’d seemed… there had been something wrong, and—”
“Zayn,” he pushed.
“Fuck,” I grunted. “You being in this fucking mood isn’t really conducive to what I need to tell you.”
“You’re saying my behavior isn’t to your liking? That it’s upsetting you? Hurting you?” he shot back.
God fucking dammit.
“All right,” Evira said, holding up a hand to both of us.
She eyed me pointedly. “This will only take a few minutes, yes?” At my nod, she looked at Winter.
“Can you stand being in his presence for that long, ease down that barrier you’re erecting for a little bit?
And I get why it’s up, why you feel like you need to do it.
And so does Zayn, okay? He’s starting to understand it all now, actually, so keep that in mind. ”
Winter drew in a centering breath. “Noted.” He shifted his weight and folded his arms over his chest, then lifted his chin at me. “Go ahead.”
I threw up an auditory reduction spell myself, encompassing the three of us. “This is about you and Vaxan.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he burst out with. He went to walk away, but Evira clasped his arm.
“Zayn,” Evira spoke. “It seemed like there was an undercurrent of urgency. Clarify.”
“I didn’t mean… that… you fucking him… not any of—”
Winter growled low in his throat.
“Get there faster,” Evira urged me, releasing Winter’s arm, then stroking it.
I noted him staring down at her hand on him, clearly relishing it.
It wouldn’t be noticeable to most, but I wasn’t most when it came to Winter Nox.
I knew all of his tells, and his micro-reactions.
I’d just… distanced myself from that knowledge before when I’d been trying not to feel too much.
Well, not to acknowledge that I already felt too much where he was concerned.
“Something happened while the two of you were in class.”
They both tensed.
“He specifically told me not to drag you into it, Win. But… the way he’s hurting… I can’t just… he needs somebody. And right now, that person is you. He’s made a connection with you.”
“Hurting? What do you mean?” Win asked, dropping his arms and stepping closer to me in his worry and urgency.
I sucked in a breath, then recounted the whole thing, from the moment I’d seen Vaxan walk into the Cafeteria, to me leaving his dorm room just a few minutes ago.
And when I was done, Evira was snarling, and Winter looked sick to his stomach.
Surprisingly, the first thing out of Winter’s mouth was, “It’s my fault.”
“Your fault? What are you talking about?”
“His crown wasn’t charged because he obviously got distracted with his mission today.”
“The research he mentioned?” I asked. “That was some sort of research on your behalf?”
He merely nodded, grimacing.
“What kind of research?” I pushed.
“It doesn’t matter.” He glared. “It’s not your concern.”
His response cut like a bitch.
Then he shoved his hand through his hair and started pacing. “I’ll pretend I don’t know what happened, go to him about said research, say I’m following up. He won’t know I’m there to comfort him about this attack.”
“You don’t like lying. Well outright lying, anyway.”
Another glare.
“I’m saying, you can just tell him that I broke my agreement to him, that I told you about it. I don’t want you uncomfortable to spare me.”
He avoided my gaze as he murmured, “It sounds like you’re making a connection with him. I’m not going to impair that. It’s fine.” He went to leave, but pulled up short, and actually graced me with his eye contact. “Thanks… for telling me. And for what you did to help him.”
And with that, he turned on his heel and strode back into the main building.
“When you told us the vampires had left campus, you mentioned tagging them,” Evira said, stepping up to me.
Seemed like she was in dragon mode, ready to raze those fuckers and their clan to the ground.
Winter hadn’t mentioned the actual attackers, and I hadn’t really expected him to.
It wasn’t how he did things, how he was wired.
He was set on the victim and what they needed, not exacting punishment and vengeance.
As far as he was concerned, they’d left campus, so they weren’t currently a threat, and Vaxan’s needs took priority over that.
“Uh… what?”
She gave me a withering look. “Please. Did you really call me out here and involve me in this to play referee between the two of you?”
“I want you to be a part of things. Of everything, I guess.”
Her eyes twinkled—for a moment, before she went back to dragon mode. “And?”
“Fine. And it may have crossed my mind that you’d be a great person to talk to on how to handle those motherfuckers who did this. You’re politically astute, but you’re also about the hardline approach to threats.”
She flicked my cheek.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“No more stalkerish tendencies. Do you hear me? You want to know something, you ask me. Same goes for Vaxan and Winter. Ask, hellion.” She clasped my jaw in a death grip, using some of her sexy dragon strength, holding me captive.
Mmm. “Understood?” she rumbled, snapping my attention back to her words, and pulling me from how much this from her was turning me on.
I smirked at her. “Understood.”
“Good boy.”
Damn, that was hot spilling from her gorgeous lips.
She released me, then gave a nod. “You’re right, I do favor a hardline approach to threats of this kind.
Those that are prejudice wrapped up in the pursuit of power.
When these groups lose sight of the humanity in others in favor of a desperate attempt to forcibly claim power, things become twisted beyond repair—it’s how fanatics are born. ”
“That’s a more eloquent and nuanced version of what I basically told Vaxan.”
“I know. But Vaxan’s concerns about retaliation are also…
nuanced. He’s in a difficult and complicated position.
This attack against him can’t be known, but the attack also can’t go unanswered.
But if it’s reported, the reason for it would be noted, how he was taken down would be noted, and word would spread, further endangering him and his people.
It would also undercut the Basilisk people trying so hard to acclimate to the supernatural world.
It could even set them back, fear of more threats like this driving them underground fully again.
It could also make Vaxan look weak, and Excetra Crown as a whole.
People don’t always see the details, only that the High Lord Heir was decimated by two regular vampires—not even Ancients.
You take the context out of it, and that’s all there is.
It could even reinforce Vaxan’s feeling of being a victim, something that a proud being like him won’t handle well.
Animal-based species like us never do.” She shook her head sadly.
“His instinct will be to retaliate, like an unbearable itch under his skin. The fact he’s stopped himself… it says a lot, Zayn.”
“It says a lot of painful shit. The poor bastard is trapped.”
“Not entirely.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You just said—”
“I laid out the complications and challenges.” She grinned. “Now come the solutions.”
She just stared at me then.
“What? Aren’t you gonna offer these solutions up?”
She laid her hand on my shoulder. “You already know what to do. You brought me in for bigger picture counsel, because you’re doubting yourself, not trusting your instincts due to all these changes you’re going through. You know, not being a complete asshole anymore?”
“Wow,” I breathed, slapping my hand to my chest.
She leaned in closer and brushed her lips over my cheek. “Just so you know, my instincts want me to hunt down those vampires and rip them to shreds. You’re not alone in that. Just… sometimes things need to be done with a little more—”
“Finesse?”
“Responsibility.”
“Right. Of course. Oops.”
“You’re doing really well.”
“You see it?”
“I do. And Winter does, too. Even with those walls up. He was asking about you before the start of our class today.”
I sucked in a breath as her words hit. He’d been asking about me? “Well,” I said, playing with her soft hair. “I’m gonna be really careful not to let things get to the point of you erecting walls against me next.”
“I don’t need walls.” She thumped her fist on her chest. “This is dragon hide, darling.”
I chuckled. Not exactly what I was getting at.
But she knew that, and was kind of absolving me of my worry there in a way only she could.
Honestly, she was out there and hilarious, while having all this depth to her too, and her vulnerable curiosity when it came to the sexual side of things. She was… amazing.
Before I could get a word out, she kissed me on the cheek again, then told me, “Reach out to them—or him. Call me later.”
She teleported out in the next second.
I sucked in a breath—or several—to re-center myself.
And then I pulled out my phone and scrolled to the number that I needed.
My finger hovered over his name.
Fuck it.
I made the call.
My breath caught in my throat when I heard it connect.
“What can I do for you, Zayn?” his commanding voice rumbled.
Even in those few words, I could hear his displeasure with me.
“Sylas, I need your help.”