Coffee
SLADE
T he feelings rushing over me as Morgana protects me are immense, and I have to get a firm grip on them so I don’t overflow in front of this mean woman.
My instincts were to step in, both professionally and personally, but I’m not aggressive enough to fend off someone like this without tapping into the magic I don’t use for this kind of situation.
I could definitely hum or sing and control her until she leaves, but that’s what my parents do—manipulate everyone instead of trying to use diplomacy.
I hate it because their children have never been an exception and having free will constantly taken from you sucks.
Morgana looked like she was going to lose her mind at the idiotic retort, so I try my way again. “She’s asking if you understand the words coming out of her mouth. Do you?”
“Not Italian!”
“For fuck’s sake, he loved them too dim to live,” my mate mutters under her breath. “No wonder he never visited or had me come anywhere near him for so long. I don’t have the IQ of a sea anemone.”
Stifling a chuckle, I cough and ask again, “Fine. Except for the Italian, do you get it? Because if you don’t, I’m pretty sure you’re getting dragged out by your hair before security gets here.”
“Fine. Yes, I get it.” The woman crosses her arms over her chest and pops her hips, giving attitude with her body if not her words.
That’s a… choice when faced with an angry mythical, I guess.
“See, I don’t think you do,” Morgana drawls. “Because you’re the bitch who confronted me in the mega-store a few weeks ago, and it seems you didn’t learn your lesson.”
Turning to her, I frown. “When was this?”
My new mate waves her hand, signaling that she doesn’t want to discuss this here, and I nod.
Her gaze narrows on our rowdy customer, as she seems to get even taller.
“What was the name… oh, for the love of Nemesis, it was something tropical sounding. You were on all the damn trips with Magnus, and I was going to make sure you’re banned from off-campus travel attendance for every department because of your poor reflection on the school. ”
Her monologue answers my question—mostly.
There’s still something she’s holding back, but I will not push it.
Instead, I check the front of the coffee shop, hoping the shitty security team gets here before this escalates further.
“As manager on duty, I’m going to ask one more time for you to return to your own table, or leave the premises.
If you and Dean LeCiel have professional or personal differences, they need to be settled in the appropriate forum.
The Beanery is not that location, ma’am. ”
Calling her ‘ma’am’ is a tremendous insult in this part of the country—at least, women seem to think it is.
“How dare you?—”
The door tinkles with magic as it opens and I let out a slow, thankful breath when the useless canine idiots from security finally arrive. The bigger one sighs and rolls his eyes to the ceiling before he barks, “You again?! I thought this shit would stop when the dragon was murdered.”
“No shit, Sully,” his partner grumbles as they make their way over. “Miss Bergstrom, you gotta stop making a scene everywhere you go. It only worked before because of your… connections,. see? That’s not how it works anymore.”
Morgana’s eyes narrow as she whips around to pin the guards with them. “This woman… has a reputation for pulling this kind of stunt? One solid enough that you know that much about her?”
The one called Sully sighs, shrugging as he reaches for the woman’s arm. “Leilani Bergstrom. Antiquities. Lives off campus now. Used to live in one of the houses in the row… unofficially . She was ousted after your… uh, after the trial and sentencing, along with a bunch of others.”
He looks away and so does his partner as people around us begin to snicker and point.
I shake my head, then glare at them. “If you are lucky enough to not have a stalker who is threatening you in public, I hope you consider what it would be like for them to air all your private business for their own amusement.”
Okay, I put a little lilt into that statement, but the expression on my mate’s face is making my heart hurt.
“It’s fucking peachy,” Morgana says to no one in particular. “I love being infamous without the paycheck to put up with it.”
I cover my mouth as I laugh, admiring her indefatigable spirit.
No matter how badly she’s humiliated, Morgana LeCiel is a master of not letting them see her sweat.
It’s really impressive and I sure as hell wish I had that talent.
“Yes, well… I think our security officers should take Miss Bergstrom out of here and deal with her so everyone else can unclench while they have their coffee.”
“Definitely,” my mate mutters. “Or before I make good on my promises and we have asstons of paperwork to do.”
The canines wince, and Sully shakes his head. “Nope. Paperwork is the worst and this will cause enough as it is. Let’s go, crazy. Back to the office again.”
His partner takes Leilani’s arm, gripping it firmly as he leads her out with the other canine following behind.
I notice Morgana watching them, her eyes assessing as she taps a finger on her lips.
She’d mentioned revamping security after the cops snatched Lucas, but she was going to simply ditch them all because of their ties to Magnus.
I wonder if she’s changed her mind?
After the disturbance, I let Morgana and the rest of the shop settle themselves.
It was obvious by the vibe in the room that everyone was on edge, and as much as I wanted to help lull them into a nicer mood, I resisted.
It’s hard sometimes, when I know my heart’s in the right place, but I still need to allow people to wrangle their own emotions.
Emergencies are one thing, but this was only a daily annoyance; it doesn’t justify doing my thing to give them a processing shortcut.
So I went back behind the counter and got busy with the tasks left for me by the opener while my customers settled down on their own, even my mate.
“Slade?”
I look up, pushing my glasses up at the voice I’m coming to know so well.
“Hello,” I murmur as I look at her shyly.
I’m careful not to use overly familiar terms or seem too interested; I know we’re keeping mating under wraps as much as possible on campus, until we feel like it’s less likely to cause a splash we don’t need. “Can I refill your espresso?”
Her lips press together as she looks around, then says, “I’m sorry there was a scene at your work. I needed to get out of the office for a while, and I ended up here after Phaedra tossed me out on my ass.”
Laughing softly, I arch a brow. “What on earth did you do to make her throw you out? She’s one of the good ones, you know.”
Morgana wrinkles her nose and shrugs. “If it helps, she threw Kaspar out before me. Not because we were fighting, but because she wanted to talk with me.”
“And then she kicked you out?” I ask suspiciously. “That seems… like it’s not the entire story.”
“It’s not, but I assure you, I did nothing to get on her bad side. She just… was done with me, I think?” My mate shrugs, looking unsure, which is odd for her. “People with her gifts are hard to read; I could be mistaken, but I doubt it.”
I continue cleaning the mugs, pretending not to be engrossed in her tale. “What was the dragon doing there?”
“I have no fucking clue. Probably nosing around like Li told him to. He takes orders seriously unless it’s related to me.
” her lips twist into a rueful smirk, and I bite back a laugh.
Their insane push-pull is going to lead to something pretty spectacular eventually, but for now, we just have to keep them from killing one another.
Well, the Prince does. I’m not taking responsibility for his cranky ass.
“What else do you have on your plate today?”
She sighs, looking at her phone. “Meetings. I have to meet with the four department heads of the education department. Anything I should know about them? Do you know them at all?”
Grinning, I nod. “They meet here once a week to coordinate and discuss the various things that touch all their focus areas. I’ve been listening to them chat for years.”
Her eyes light up, and my stomach flutters with happiness that I get to be useful to her. “Well, fuck, tell me!”
“The head of primary education is a tanuki shifter named Shiori Akaihime. She’s really cheery and happy, but she’ll fight fiercely for her people.
The doctoral spots in the program are highly coveted and all the heads decide who gets them for every level together.
” I wait as she thinks that over, loving how she listens closely and digests the information for later.
Morgana is sharp as fuck, and the jerks here who think they’re going to outsmart her are woefully misinformed.
“Go on.”
I take her cup to make her another double while I continue.
“Beatriz Farbrand runs the secondary ed department. She’s a panther shifter and you need to be careful with her.
She’s not bad, just very smooth, and she will trip you up with her intellect.
Bea speaks eight modern languages and a slew of ancient ones, but she demanded the secondary position rather than a college or graduate head position.
She actually likes students in that age range. ”
My mate snorts, shaking her head. “How, I can’t imagine. Middle and high schoolers are the bane of everyone’s existence. Why anyone would demand to work with them is beyond me, especially with that credentialing. She could have had her pick of damn near anything at any school.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have the scoop on that.
But her two final colleagues are just as bizarre.
” I finish her espresso, pushing it to her with a rueful grin.
“Post-secondary is run by a basilisk named Vasielios Sanune who is insufferably attached to human mythology, and Graduate/Doctoral is run by a hippogriff named Maxime Mistcrest. Max is pretty cool, though he can rub people the wrong way because of his snootiness. But he’s extremely good at wrangling all of them, especially when they disagree. ”
“I guess I’ll have to see if he can do that when they’re trying to get me to keep all their funding,” she murmurs.
“Honestly, I believe in teachers—my adoptive parents raised me like that—so I want to increase my support for them, eventually. But I can’t do that until I locate all the fat and bloat in Magnus’s stupid labyrinth of corruption and excise it.
I hate that I’m not giving people what I know they deserve, you know? ”
Morgana’s heart isn’t made of stone—not that she wants anyone to know that.
“I do, and you’ll reallocate everything the way it should be once you finish. The Society sent you here to punish you, but look at the good you’re trying to do. It’s slower than you want, but that doesn’t mean getting rid of the shitty workers and the bad professors isn’t helping State U.”
She grins at me, tossing back her espresso quickly. “Thanks, babe. It’s hard to remember that shit when you spend the morning getting your tail stepped on by lawyers and other malcontents. I needed the pick-me-up to help put it into perspective.”
“Anytime.” I look at the clock and sigh. “And now you have to go, right?”
“I do, but I’ll be home for dinner. When do you get off?”
“Five,” I reply. She walks over to gather her things, then comes back. “But don’t forget, I have to do auditions until seven tonight. We had day and night-time slots.”
“Slade Finn, overachiever, strikes again,” she says as she winks. “Behave and don’t be late afterward, okay? We’ve got stuff to debrief on.”
As if I’d miss the opportunity to be in our new bubble for the musical theater geeks—no fucking way.