47. Thea #2
“You’re really cute when you pretend you’ve won.” His breath brushes my face as he leans in. “But you’re just running away from what’s real. You and me? We were never done. I’m still the one who can give you what you need.”
The bile rises in my throat, but it’s not his words. It’s the feeling that won’t leave me, that strange, wrong sensation that makes my skin crawl. The pull of my magic grows, but I shove it down, trying to stay calm, trying to breathe through it.
I need to get away.
“Is there a problem here, Ethan?”
Zair’s voice slices through the tension like a cool blade. He leans against the doorway, arms crossed, expression unreadable. He’s not charging in. He’s watching, letting me stand my ground but ready to tip the balance if needed.
Ethan startles, caught offguard. His hold on the moment faltering, his eyes flicking toward Zair with a flash of irritation.
“What are you doing here, Zair?” Ethan sneers, trying to recover his composure. “Everyone knows you don’t sleep with witches. Leave us.”
Zair raises an eyebrow, calm and unbothered. “I have to be giving her orgasms to care?” He glances at me, the faintest twitch of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Seems like you did neither.”
Ethan’s face twists, and he lashes out, magic snapping through the air like a whip.
A gust of wind surges from Zair with a flick of his hand, neutralizing the attack in a rush of air that ruffles the curtains behind him.
“You should walk away,” Zair says. His tone is smooth, polite even, but there’s steel in it. The kind that says ‘this is your only warning.’ Ethan stands frozen, his jaw tight, his eyes burning with that familiar mix of frustration and something darker. Desperation, maybe, or obsession.
“You’ll come crawling back,” he says, low and bitter. “You can lie to everyone else, but not to me. You’re mine.”
Zair waits until the sound of his footsteps fades before stepping inside. He doesn’t crowd me, his presence steady, grounding. He opens one arm just slightly. Not a demand, not a question. An unspoken offer.
If you need it.
I need it. I wrap my arms around him and let myself be comforted.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I mutter to Zair, but the gratitude in my tone betrays my words.
His arms around me tighten and the tension in my chest loosens a little. I feel… safe. Safe in a way I didn’t even realize I needed.
“Maybe not,” he says. “But we couldn’t have you turning him back into a rat, we’d never find him in that hole he crawled out of.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly before reluctantly breaking the hug.
“Want to head to the diner?”
I raise an eyebrow. “What about your party?”
“I came, I saw a grown man lose his pants and his pride,” he jokes. “Everything from here on out will be a letdown.”
I can’t help but laugh, the tension from the encounter with Ethan slowly fading.
“Lead the way,” I reply, smiling, feeling lighter than I have all night.
We step into the cool night air. The relief I’d been clinging to starts to unravel.
The quiet doesn’t calm me, it only makes the tension inside louder.
That pressure, that simmering, electric storm still coils in my chest, wound tight since Marco’s hands touched me.
It’s all still there. Waiting to explode.
I stop walking.
Zair glances over his shoulder, his steps pausing. “You okay?”
I nod instinctively, then shake my head. “I don’t think I should be around people right now,” I say quietly. My voice sounds too even for how tightly I’m holding myself together. “My magic’s not… stable.”
He watches me for a second, really watches me, and then, without a ghost of judgment, nods.
“Pizza and a movie?” he offers.
The words catch me before I fall.
“Yeah,” I breathe. “That sounds perfect.”
We walk in silence, heading up the steps in his dorm when we pass some frat boys, one dressed as a police officer.
“Shit! We left Benson!”
“I already texted him, he’s on his way.” He smiles and opens the door to his dorm.
As soon as we step inside, the atmosphere shifts.
He tosses me a pair of sweats and a school T-shirt without making a thing of it, already pulling out his phone to order food.
I murmur a quick thanks and slip into the bathroom.
The fluorescent light is too bright after everything. I splash cool water on my face, scrubbing away streaks of fake blood and smudged makeup. But it’s not enough. There’s makeup everywhere, layered thick from the costume.
“Zair, can I take a quick shower?” I call through the door.
“Go ahead,” he answers.
So I do. It feels good to rinse it all off. To shed the night like old skin. But once the fake injuries are gone, I remember the real one on my thigh. I dry off and wrap myself in a towel, then I crack open the door.
His eyes find me instantly. I lift the towel slightly, revealing the claw marks. “A little help?”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his eyes travel down my body.
Then he stands, walks over, and kneels in front of me.
His hand comes to rest gently on my thigh, his other hand snaking around to hold the back of it.
The warmth of it. The focus. It’s more than just healing. It feels very intimate.
No, it is intimate.
“All good.” His voice is tight with control.
I turn and slip back into the bathroom to get dressed. His clothes are soft and oversized, carrying his scent, and with it, a strange, unexpected calm. I know this is all it can ever be between us. But that touch… I don’t remember ever being touched like that.
When I return, the lights are dimmed and the TV hums with the opening credits of some old fantasy movie. Benson and him are already sitting on the bed, and I crawl in between them. We all lean against the wall, sharing pizza and silence. With every bite, every breath, the noise of the world fades.
Someone shakes my shoulder.
I feel Zair close behind me, his arm draped lazily over me. His warm scent pulling me back under. Benson on my other side, my hand resting on his bicep.
“Thea,” Benson says, and I peek my eyes open, his face inches from mine.
“Hi,” I whisper.
“It’s late, do you want me to walk you home?”
I yawn, then shake my head, snuggling between them.
“It’s alright, go back to sleep.”
He swallows as my eyes fall closed. His fingers tuck my hair behind my ear.
“Alright, goodnight.”