Fuck yeah, she was. She was going to be a great healer, considering how quickly she picked up healing herself and using his shadows. The way she had handled them and fucked herself, and others with them. A natural.
Avery gave him a look, as if she could feel the way his dick was suddenly straining against his pants.
“Can you find a way to nullify the fucking magic bullets they use?” Ciro said.
“I’ve learned about them in class, so I might be able to,” Avery said hopefully. He had full faith in her that she could. The bullets were among the witches’ worst weapons against shifters. If they found a way to nullify the effects of it? They’d be unstoppable.
Ciro took a deep breath in. “Fine, you can stay, but you will be escorted by one of us at all times.”
“Ciro,” Felix warned.
“She is still a witch, mate or not,” he said.
“And the fact I can control my monster form, her being able to use powers no witch should have?” Felix said. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that the sentiment wouldn’t change overnight. He was going to convince them. It was worth it. This was what the goddess wanted. This was how shifters and witches should be. Humans still sucked, though.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said gruffly, still unconvinced.
Felix understood the skepticism. He would’ve been the same in Ciro’s position, would’ve demanded proof before believing in fairy tales about fated mates and goddess-blessed bonds. It stillsounded strange when he thought about it. “The world is going to change, brother, let’s make sure we are on the right side of it.”
Ciro’s arms folded across his chest, a tell Felix had learned to read decades ago, the physical manifestation of knowing his friend was right but being too stubborn to say it aloud. “I will start to contact other dens, see if they know anything.”
Felix started to stand, legs shaking with the effort. “I’ll help.”
Ciro raised an eyebrow at his pathetic display. “Are you incapable of sitting down?”
“Maybe.”
Turning his attention to Avery, Ciro blew a hair away from his face. Felix had gotten under his skin.Hehehe. It was one of his favorite pastimes. Felix had to bite his tongue to stop from grinning.
“Your first order is to make sure he goes to bed and stays there.”
Avery nodded.
The betrayal.
“Fight me bitch,” Felix said to Ciro. He might have nearly died, but he still wasn’t dead.
Rolling his eyes, Ciro started to walk out the door. “I’d burn you to a crisp, you oversized hairball.” Before he left, he stopped behind Avery’s back. “Avery, you have my permission to use the spray bottle on him, but don’t use the laser pointer for a while; he’ll break something.”
“Prick.” Felix’s grumble was halfhearted at best; he was too tired to have a better retort.
A horrified look crossed Avery’s face, but soon after, it dissolved into laughter. Felix couldn’t help but join her.
Watching her laugh, here in the den surrounded by shifters who should be her enemies, Felix could suddenly see it with perfect clarity, a future where this became normal, where Avery belonged here as much as he did. Too bad shifters and witchescouldn’t have children together. Just the thought of it sent a delicious shiver down his spine, not because it could happen, but because his monster didn’t care about biological impossibilities when it came to claiming his mate in every way possible.
Halfway through laughing, he started to cough. The coughing fit doubled him over, each spasm sending fresh agony dancing through his chest. Avery was on her feet instantly, hands steadying him, worry bleeding through the bond. Maybe bed wasn’t the worst idea. Just for Avery, though.
“Felix,” Ciro said, clapping him hard on his good shoulder—still sending a throbbing ache through him. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“Me too,” he said, smiling through the pain.
Thirty-Nine
Avery
Felix’s roomwas a couple of floors up, so they took an elevator. Anelevator.Caerwyn was truly made for torture because nowhere in that goddamn school was a single elevator to be found. The shifters, apparently, believed in basic infrastructure. Point to them.
Whether this would be her new home now, she couldn’t say. The shifters clearly hated her mere presence. But she could never go back to Caerwyn. As much as she fantasized about leaving, she thought she would be sadder, but the only thing she missed was Maya. She didn’t even get to say goodbye. Maya would just think she had disappeared. Or what if they told her she died? The thought of Maya getting that news and believing it made something twist beneath Avery’s ribs.
