Lillabet leans in, giving the odious little shit a long peek down her blouse as she feeds off his lust. “Very good, Mr. Queznar. Now, can someone else tell me five uncommon shifters and mythicals? I want to see how many of you skimmed versus actually read.”
I want to raise my hand, but Idefinitelydo not want her to come up here. In fact, I don’t want that predator within twenty feet of me if possible. So even though I did the reading, and absolutely know this answer, I’m not trying to get noticed.
“Yes! Mr. Aloysius, please show us how closely you read,” the blond Cubi says as she wiggles her way up the stairs. I shudder involuntarily, knowing she’s going to fill up on him next and he’s probably looking forward to it.
But I guess ugly ass pit demons can’t really be choosers, right?
“Uh, so uncommon regular shifters would be, um…”
“For fuck’s sake, he doesn’t know,” Slash mutters. “He just wants a hit of her horny juice.”
“Go ahead; dazzle me and you’ll be rewarded.” Lillabet’s purr is loud enough for everyone to hear, and it makes my skin crawl.
Before I know it, I’ve turned and buried my face in Slash’s shoulder, not wanting to witness this spectacle. It’s just too gross, and it’s too damn early in the morning.
“Don’t worry, little demon. She’ll spoon feed it to him soon enough.” Slash pats my head lightly. “She wants the energy, too.”
“Uh, maybe leopards?”
Lillabet sighs happily. “That’s one. What other ones can you name? Think hard about the answer Mr. Queznar gave.”
“Yeah, like… dogs. Um, hyenas?”
“Very good!”
I groan into the hard muscles I’m pressed against. This dude has the IQ of a donut and there’s no way this is going to go any more quickly unless someone helps him. Unfortunately, all these idiots want their turn on horny-go-round, so they will not help him out. “Slash,” I mumble into his arm. “Just kill me now. I can’t take this. It’s actually worse than Jasper running his mouth, I think.”
The shark shifter chuckles, patting me again and allowing me to continue to cower in his strength. “It won’t last forever, no matter how much it seems like it. Just stay calm and quiet so I can keep you safe from her wrath. I’ll protect you while you bemoan how mono-syllabic my fellow demons can be.”
I think he just made a joke at his own expense… Slash is definitely my favorite today.
Safe
Zavida
“This is interminable,” I whisper to Oriel as he stirs the potion in front of our group. Xerxes gives me a knowing look, but I don’t let it stop me. “I really hate that Kit has classes we’re not in. Every time we discover something new about this conspiracy or his powers, I feel like it gets more dangerous for him to even sit in classes without someone beside him.”
X tuts quietly, putting their hand on my arm. “Zav, you know we can’t get KK moved into our classes; that douche in the admin office won’t approve it. Plus, he doesn’t want us to smother him all the time; it will reinforce the belief that he’s too weak to make it on his own.”
“Ugh, I knowwww.” We both look at the crow shifter as he groans his agreement. “What? I don’t like him being on his own, and though Slash is in this period with him, the next one is uncovered. Alabaster is a dick, but he will not assault the kid—that’s what helps me not molt over it.”
I chuckle, smiling a bit as our brother expresses more concern than normal. Neither X nor I have seen him molt over stress in a long time, so he’s definitely the next in line to fall for the newbie who’s thrown our group into chaos. “Oriel, don’t pick at your feathers; it won’t help. I get it because I struggle to keep my tails from popping out constantly, but at least they don’t hurt me.”
Xerxes sighs, leaning their hip against the counter as they watch the hex potion out of the corner of their eye. “Guys, KK is improving alot,even ifit doesn’t seem like it. The magic is coming slowly, but he’s asking for help, trusting people to protect him, and even trying to snark less with Jas. I see his issues fading bit by bit as he gets more comfortable with us. Just keep showing him we’re safe; isn’t that what we all had to do for each other?”
Thinking about that for a moment, I nod. “You’re right, X. None of us were predisposed to trust one another because of all the court intrigue—other than Slash and Jasper. One by one, those two brought us into the caliphate fold by sharing our struggles and trauma. They didn’tcallit that; they simply said we were bonding by fire or some shit.”
“Maybe we need to work on that with KK, so he gets evenmorecomfortable,” Oriel replies, tapping his lips with his painted fingernails. “Carefully, of course, because he’s still trying to heal properly, and not without asking if he’s cool with it. We don’t want to take away from his ability to cope by dumping on the poor dude.”
Such emotional intelligence today—I’d say I’m shocked, but I actually believe my brothers have more than they show on the daily.
“You want to get Kit on his own and have a guy bonding over the bad stuff?” X says as they wrinkle their nose. “I don’t know about that. Feels like it might go super sideways if he feels pressured to reciprocate. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t repeated his story to anyone outside of his shrink or whoever his fosters were. At least, not in full, you know? That might fuck up his progress.”
“Or help it,” I murmur. “Maybe only talking to adults who likely blamed him and then discarded him is why he can’t heal. He’s been made to feel like he should have known, should have done something different, and that he’s a burden. You can tell by the way he’s constantly explaining his issue and defining his boundaries; he’s had to re-iterate them so many times that it’s a reflex to do it now.”
“Well, fuck,” Oriel says. “I sort of figured that he was just doing that because he’s mouthy. Fuck knows, our prince thinks that, Zav.”
Ducking my head, I whisper, “When Jas and I first… you know… he had to devise ways to get me to actually give him boundaries. My trauma worked theoppositedirection as KK’s, and he was always on me to stop apologizing for having them. I noticed Kit was over explaining and beingnotapologetic about it in the same way I was holding back. It felt familiar, and I’m pretty sure it’s because hehasto in his mind or someone will violate him again.”
