Chapter 53 Raven
Raven
Steam rose from the pool as I peered into the murky depths, trying to find Kai. I knew he was in there because I’d seen him enter the building as I crossed the quad.
Just as I was about to give up and call it a night, Kai popped up at the far end of the pool. He swam to the pool’s edge and rested his forearms on the tiles, which made his biceps pop in a most appealing way. Dammit.
“Why are you here?” The abruptness of the question threw me for a minute.
My magic didn’t like his hostile tone. Small flames flickered along my fingers. Kai stared at them for a moment, curious rather than afraid. Not that he needed to be afraid of me. All he had to do was swim down into the depths of the pool. Fire couldn’t reach him there.
“I need your help,” I admitted eventually.
“Help? With what?”
“There’s a spell I have to cast, and one of the listed ingredients is a scale from a mermaid.” I shuffled awkwardly on the spot. “I’m sorry for asking, but the spell is time-sensitive. Someone’s life is at stake.”
Kai’s blue skin shimmered in the muted light from the windows. I’d been too busy drowning the last time I came here to pay attention to the iridescent scales that covered his chest and arms. And because he’d not left the water this time, he still had his tail.
Could he shift back while still in the water?
My mind drifted off on a tangent as Kai considered my question. I knew from reading a book in the library that many of the merpeople spent much of their lives underwater. Which begged the question, how did they, um, have sex?
Needless to say, the textbook I’d read hadn’t covered that topic.
“What’s the spell for?” Kai asked, interrupting my musings about the sex lives of merpeople.
“Um, to find someone important.” While my instincts told me I could trust Kai, I didn’t feel comfortable telling him who that person was.
He peered up at me through long eyelashes. I tried not to stare at his deliciously muscled shoulders or the tiny shells woven into his braided hair. They were so darn pretty. Like little colorful beads.
Was that a merpeople style aesthetic?
I added it to my list of questions.
“So you want me to pull off a scale for a spell to find someone you refuse to name?”
Well, when he put it like that… yeah.
“Yes?”
He considered my request for a moment before surprising me with his own request.
“You can have a scale if you let me teach you how to swim.”
My jaw dropped. “Swim?” Despite being surrounded by water, my throat dried up. After my last experience in the water, I wasn’t all that keen to dip a toe in again. Or any part of me, for that matter.
“Yes. You nearly drowned the last time you came here. I don’t want to—” He broke off abruptly, giving me the impression he’d said more than he wanted to say.
“I grew up in an arid climate. There was a pond on the farm, but the livestock used it as a water source, and I didn’t like the creatures that lurked in there.
” I shivered at the memory of Willow throwing frogs at me one time.
Horrible creatures. Thanks to her prank, I developed a major phobia of frogs.
“Being able to swim is important.” He made a good point. And besides, even if I didn’t feel any affinity for the water, the thought of getting up close and personal with Kai had my magic sparking with delight in my chest.
Outside, the wind had picked up, and the trees beyond the warm cocoon of the pool building swayed back and forth. I wondered whether Alaric was having a meltdown again. Storms seemed to coincide with his bad moods.
Although he’d been surprisingly pleasant to Glynda and me, it wouldn’t surprise me if the next time we crossed paths, he was back to his usual asshole self.
“Okay, I guess swimming lessons would be a good thing.” I wasn’t sure whether Maverick would like the idea of another male touching me, but surely he’d see it was sensible if I learned how to swim.
I’d run the idea past him later. Although knowing him, he was already waiting outside for me. He always seemed to know exactly where I was.
“In that case, I’ll give you a scale.” Kai pulled himself out of the pool and perched on the tiled edge. I watched with fascination as his long tail dangled in the water, swishing from side to side. “Do you have a blade?”
“Blade?” Stars, did removing a scale require slicing into his flesh? The very idea made me queasy.
Unease slithering through my veins triggered my magic.
Small embers floated up into the air. I looked at Kai and saw a small glowing mark appear on his shoulder.
It looked like a rune, but I couldn’t be certain.
He cringed under the weight of my curious stare before twisting his upper body so I could no longer see it.
The distraction helped calm my magic, allowing me to focus.
“My scales are extremely tough,” he explained while staring at a fixed point over my shoulder. “And it’s difficult to remove one. They’re a defense against predators.”
My heart sank at the idea of hurting the merman. “I didn’t think about that.” More sparks fluttered into life.
“Just as well I came prepared,” Zane announced cheerfully when he blinked into view a foot away from me.
I jumped sideways in shock before falling into the pool with a scream. And for the second time since arriving at this school, I almost drowned.
Maverick patiently combed my wet hair while Zane leaned against the fireplace. It amused me that my grumpy bear had accepted the incubus’ presence in our lives. I still had no clue why Zane continued to stick his nose into everything, but whenever I asked him, he fobbed me off.
I’d placed Kai’s scale in a glass jar, which Maverick then hid under a floorboard. The scale wasn’t valuable as such, but witches and mages coveted rare items like that. The last thing I wanted was for someone to steal it.
Watching Kai slice off one scale had been hard enough. I didn’t think I could stomach a repeat performance.
“You look pale, pet,” Zane commented.
“I feel bad for Kai,” I admitted. “He must hate me for taking one of his pretty scales.”
Zane grinned. “Oh, pet, he doesn’t hate you.”
Maverick growled threateningly. “What are you implying?”
“You know exactly what I’m implying, care bear. Don’t play dumb.”
My nose scrunched in confusion. Yes, I felt drawn to Kai, but I also felt drawn to Alaric and Zane. The goddess had clearly decided I needed multiple men in my life. Who was I to question her? Maverick was my true soul-bonded mate. The others? I was less sure about them.
Only Maverick had accepted the bond without reservation and claimed me as his own. The other idiots would need to do some serious groveling before I took things further.
Even Zane, who’d pushed my boundaries many times.
“Do you think he’s my mate?” I asked Zane.
“Do you think he’s your mate?” The incubus cocked an eyebrow while I chewed my lip, considering the evidence.
Kai had gone to great lengths to avoid me ever since I helped him and his troll friend escape the wolves.
He’d also saved me from drowning twice now.
And donated a scale for the locator spell, which he didn’t need to do, as well as making a big deal about teaching me to swim.
He obviously cared about my safety, but did any of that mean he was my mate?
Alaric might also be my mate, yet he’d behaved like an asshole. Surely a soul-bonded mate wouldn’t treat their goddess-chosen mate like something they’d stepped in while walking through a pigpen?
My head spun like the girl in a movie about a demonic possession Willow had put on for us one weekend when Adam had disappeared on mage business.
Willow truly had terrible taste in movies.
I much preferred series like The Originals, which was way better than The Vampire Diaries.
The humans made great paranormal content, even if they liked to pretend all wolf shifters and vampires were super sexy.
Spoiler alert: in my experience, wolf shifters were assholes and vampires dead.
Except one.
“Maverick is the only mate who wants me, so it doesn’t matter what he is or isn’t.”
Zane seemed pissed about my statement. He ground his teeth and opened his mouth to speak before something outside caught his attention.
“Fucking demon,” he muttered. I tensed at the word demon, but before I could interrogate the incubus about how he knew there was a demon nearby, he’d vanished.
Maverick dragged the brush through my damp hair one last time and then placed it on the table. “Let’s get you to bed, little mate.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer in the dorms?” The thought of a demon attacking us while we slept did nothing to relax me.
“The cabin is safe, Raven. I have it warded against everyone but us.”
“Then how does Zane get in?”
Maverick scowled. “The ward doesn’t work on him. I have no idea why.”
“Then how do you know it will keep a demon out?”
“Because my witch friend is powerful, and I trust her to do a good job.”
“She?” Violet sparks burst into life as jealousy made me want to cut a bitch. I wasn’t dumb. Maverick had probably slept with hundreds of females. Still, hearing him mention a female triggered all kinds of possessive feelings in me. Feelings I hated.
My bear smiled and wrapped his arms around me while nuzzling my neck.
“A colleague. Nothing more.”
Maverick had never talked much about his life before he met me, which made me wonder what he did for a living. His gruff attitude toward the students suggested teaching wasn’t his true calling. So I asked him.
“I worked as an enforcer for the Shifter Council. Tracking down feral shifters and bringing them in if they weren’t too far gone. There’s a team of scientists tasked with trying to figure out the cause of the disease, but they’re not having any success. At least they weren’t when I quit.”
“Why did you quit?” Maverick wasn’t the quitting type, so his admission surprised me.
“Because I didn’t get along with Maximus Lightfoot, the wolf-shifter leader of the council.
Like most wolves, he has a superiority complex and treats other shifter species like dirt.
He talked down to me one time too many, so I told him to shove his job up his ass.
I bummed around for a while, did some security work, and when I met you, I’d just spent a few months working a contract for a human close protection agency down in California. ”
“What’s close protection?”
“Bodyguard services for famous or very rich people, mostly. The sort of people who go to movie premieres and other high-profile events. They hire big, scary dudes like me to keep them safe from the press and overzealous fans.” While the idea of him hanging out with gorgeous actresses and celebrities did not fill me with joy, I reluctantly admitted it sounded like a cool job.
“Did you work for anyone famous?” He chuckled.
“Yeah. A few actresses and a couple of tech billionaires, none of whom had any idea what I was. They just saw a very tall and intimidating guy.”
“So you never had to go all bear on someone?”
Maverick burst out laughing. “No. Mostly I stood around glaring at people so they didn’t get too close.
It was pretty boring, albeit well paid.” He stood, lifting me with zero effort.
“None of that matters, little mate. You’re the only person I care about now.
Once you graduate from Starfall Academy, we can decide where we go next, but you never have to worry about money, sweetheart.
I’ve never had a reason to spend my wages other than on essentials, so I have plenty of money saved.
More than enough to keep us comfortable. ”
Embarrassment hit me hard. I had nothing. Literally nothing to my name. Not a cent. How sad was that?
“I’m not bringing much to this relationship,” I blurted as Maverick carried me into the bedroom.
“You don’t need to, my sweet mate. You’re all I need. Now and forever.”