Beaming, I walk over and kiss my reserved mate’s cheek lightly. That’s practically a declaration from him, and I’m probably the only one who realizes it. “I think Kit will appreciate your help with his research very much.”
“Anyone have a clue what the fuck Jasper or Slash will contribute?” Oriel says wryly. “I mean, besides Jas causing chaos since he’s gonna be in amoodover this.”
I frown, then I look at Zavida curiously. “Do you think he’s going to be violently furious? Because that’s definitely going to harsh the vibe, man.”
“No,” the Kitsuné says softly. “He’s going to be furious and silent and ashamed. Remember the time the king crashed his birthday party when he was fifteen and we all ended up being sent to survive for a week in the Wastes alone? That Jasper is who will show up tonight, for certain. His guilt about not being able to stop this is going to strangle him.”
Sighing, I gesture to the tunnel leading out of the arena. “Then we need to get moving and get back to the dorm. If we can set up the room with all that shit and maybe some stuff to comfort Jasper, too, we can avoid an uglyunnecessary confrontation. Slash will probably help keep the prince level as long as the training session didn’t go poorly.”
Of course, with our current luck, it will have gone so badly that the shark and our newbie will come back in the pissiest moods ever and peace will fly out the window.
My Turn
Kit/Kat
“You know, you didn’t answer my question.”
Slash looks at me, his brow cocked up as I hide behind the second row of lockers in the pool area. My head is peeping around the corner of the bank of them as I change the soaked clothes from my jump into the spring. “I didn’t answer what?”
I squint at him, raking my lower lip between my teeth as he gives me the toothy grin that makes my insides flutter a bit. “Do you think I have more than that, um, lion form? Like really? Because that shifting stuff is hard, and I don’t think I’m good at it. But then… I don’t think I’m good at the demon stuff, either.”
His chuckle is fond as he pulls a tee shirt over his head, covering the immense chest littered with beautiful ink, and it feels sad as I lose my view. “I think you expect everything to come easily because so many things having to do with school have always been that way for you. Zavida says it’s because humans would call you gifted? I believe it’s that you have so many hidden powers that have not yet emerged, but that is not what you asked.”
“It is not, and my stupid ‘giftedness’ is more of a curse than a blessing. It hasn’t helped me with anything besides being alienated most places, so fuck that,” I grumble as I duck back behind the lockers and head for my clothes pileto pull them on.
My current companion is very literal, and he’s definitely the best person to ask if the ‘multiple species’ thing is likely because he won’t cushion his response.
“Whatever went on up there is now history, little demon. Consider yourself… leveled up?” My lips curve as he attempts gamer speak, but I wait for him to finish before I respond. “Yes, that’s what the others call it. You have ‘leveled up’ and since we’ve seen traces of the demonic magic and now this shifter side, but you arenotfully free? I believe the theories are correct—though I do not know what other things you’ll manifest. It could be so many things, and we have no new leads about your provenance, only the proof from the tree.”
Once I’ve covered myself, I shove my wet clothes into one of the plastic bags in the dispenser on the wall. It will keep my stuff from getting soaked by the wet things, and I can toss it in the laundry when we get back to the dorm. “Dottie? Dottie? Where are you?”
My kinkajou did not follow us into the pool area, and I guess that should have clued me in about what it was going to be like in there. But I didn’t really think much of it when I was preparing for Slash to turn into a big ass shark, and definitely not once we were knee-deep in the ‘Kit isn’t a boy’ conversation. However, now that we’ve spent the past two hours trying to teach me how to call the animal inside of me on command with minimal success, I’m missing her support.
“She is probably still in the outer area,” Slash rumbles from the other side of the lockers. “The smell of this spring is difficult for anyone without demonic blood. The sulfur in the water is part of it, but also I believe there’s hex work in the tiles surrounding it. Hellspring water is quite valuable to magic users, I’ve been told, though it’s common and plentiful for us in this realm.”
Picking up my bag, I walk around the row to give him a baleful expression. “Demons are that worried about people stealing something you call ‘common’ that they protect it from their trusted familiars? Man, you guys arereallyparanoid, and coming from me, that’s saying a lot.”
The shark shifter sighs, shaking his head as he stuffs his things in his bag. “Don’t be obtuse, little demon. We simply don’t want people getting it forfree, and familiars can be duplicated by various magics and powers. Beings are welcome to buy it at a premium in all the places where it is sold.”
I laugh softly as he grins again, enjoying his playful response. This really is a side of the serious man that I don’t think anyone else sees. “Yes, I forgot demons will part with anything for the right price. My bad.”
Slash arches a brow. “Not everything, and that is very good for you, Kat Camponella.”
“I knew telling you my real name was a bad idea,” I mutter. “You’re going to fuck that up in public one day; I can feel it.”
“But I won’t sell you out to Darkstar for a guaranteed Games win to piss off my father so…”
My nose wrinkles, and I stomp over to smack him in the abdomen—which hurts my hand more than him. “Mutually assured destruction secrets, remember?”
He flashes even more teeth. “For now, little demon, but not forever.”
I had to say it out loud, didn’t I?
By the timewe find Dottie perched on top of the pull-up machine and head out of the building, it’s getting late. We probably won’t be late for dinner because some of the guys have one more class before they’re off, but the quad is much less crowded than earlier. I’d be surprised if a lot of the demons here aren’t packed into theTriclinium, fighting for a place in line for whatever the special of the night is. I’m thankful Jasper only insists on lunchtime meals mostly—the food isn’t terrible, but Ihatebeing surrounded by all those enemies.
Of course, I’d feel that way even without the massive cabal plotting against the rulers of Hell, but that’s not the point.
“I think the others believe you were going to, like… beat me into submission or something,” I say as we get closer to the dorm. “They were all kind of weird about you teaching me to shift.”
