“Yes, sir,” she said instead. Part of him wanted to teach her how to have a backbone, the other part of him wanted to use the professor’s backbone as a ladder to go pick some apples. The only sounds that followed were the silent weight of her disappointment settling over the room and her blood dripping in time with the clock.
“May I be excused to go to the healers?”
“No,” he said coldly. “Miss Alarch, what did I say at the beginning of the class?”
“To help others, you must help yourself.”
“Exactly, and you would only be a burden to the healers with more pressing matters than something that will heal on its own.”
She flinched. Felix’s jaw ticked.
“Let the pain and the scar be a reminder that failure is not tolerated in Caerwyn.”
She swallowed, clearly holding back tears, before she nodded toward the professor. Felix’s shadow cat hissed at him. Good kitty.
There was something about an old man with a superiority complex through the roof that made him want to pummel it back down to the ground, regardless of species. Shifters were brutal, but even they knew you didn’t break someone before they’d learned to stand.
Twenty
Avery
The sun was settingas the dreary day drew to a close. Fog swallowed the spires in the distance, and the lamps created a blurry mirage of light. Felix walked beside her, puddles splashing under their feet as they climbed the long stairs. Halfheartedly, she held a hand above her face to shield herself from the rain, but the drops still battered it. Felix especially had a displeased look on his face, which only brought a smile to hers. A cat that hated water. At least he was consistent. Even his shadow familiars looked unhappy, though she couldn’t help feeling sorry for them and their sad little faces.
Blood still dripped from her jacket, leaving a pitiful trail that washed away with the rain. Only now had she gotten around to the brilliant idea of putting pressure on it. She dropped back a step, carefully placing a hand over her sleeve where the wound was, wincing as she clamped down around it. The sound was enough to stop Felix in his tracks. Hands in his pockets, he turned from a couple of stairs above, looking down.
From down here, he looked almost otherworldly against the darkening sky. Even when he pretended to be normal, his features were unsettling—like those of a deadly yet beautifulpredator. And when he looked at her, she didn’t know whether to run or get on her knees and accept her fate.
Her instinct told her to apologize for the holdup. She told her instinct to shut up. He’d caused the goddess-forsaken wound, so he could wait while she tried to stop it from bleeding. Holding his gaze, she gritted her teeth and clamped tighter.
Rolling his eyes, he descended until he stood one step above her. The rain had drenched him, his white school shirt completely see-through, the fabric clinging to his muscles. Where he had undone some buttons, his bare skin steamed when a drop of rain found itself on his chest. Never in her life had Avery been jealous of a drop of water.
“You need to heal that,” he deadpanned, cocking his head as his pupils constricted to slits. The feline manner of him was something his human form couldn’t shed.
Lips trembling from the cold, she tried to make a sassy retort. “Don’t you think if I could have done that, I would have already?”
The corner of his mouth lifted as he shook his head. “Follow me.”
This wasn’t a brilliant time to refuse help, but somewhere in Avery’s mind, it was the perfect time to throw a tantrum.
“No. I’m sick of following everything you say. I’m not your dog.”
His smile only grew. “Are you disobeying me, pet?”
“Ugh, gross, I’m not your pet.”
“Are you not?”
She took a step closer, the rage building enough to take a daring poke into his chest with her good hand. But being the wall of muscle he was, he didn’t move an inch.
“Listen here, you overgrown furball, I am notyouranything, and I’m not going anywhere with you.” She jabbed his chest again for dramatic effect, but this time he caught it. His largehand wrapped around her finger and pulled her closer. So close that his warm breath fanned her face. The bond purred in her chest. She didn’t dare look up, her sudden confidence already halfway out the window.
A blinding pain overtook her as Felix wrapped his hand around her forearm and squeezed. The pain made her dizzy, but unfortunately for her, her body had other plans. Part of her liked it. Some sick, masochistic side of her sparked to life between her legs.
Felix went still. Without releasing her, he raised his free hand next to Avery’s head. She flinched at the sudden movement, and a flicker of hurt ran down the bond, so quick she thought she might have imagined it. But Felix didn’t stop, eyes darkening as he pushed strands of wet hair out of her face, with such a gentle movement she hadn’t thought him capable of.
Her lips parted at the contact, the touch sending an electrifying ripple through her body, masking the pain he was causing her wounded arm.
“If you won’t follow me, I will take you anyway.” Felix threw her over his shoulder like a sack of kitty litter.
