By the time the water had cooled and I’d turned into a prune, my mates had washed every inch of me. Well, Zane had while Kai watched, his eyes glowing in the candlelight.
Yes, candlelight.
The power had gone out about ten minutes after we climbed into the tub. Maverick appeared shortly after with a bunch of candles and lit them for us. He blamed his uncle for fucking with the electrics, but I strongly suspected mice had chewed the wires. I’d heard strange noises in the walls a few times, which usually meant mice from my previous experience of living on a farm.
If only the goddess had blessed me with a cute cat instead of a snarky kitsune. At least a cat would have earned its meals by hunting mice. Instead, I had to provide an endless selection of meaty snacks while enduring kitsune hair in my bed.
“I can hunt mice,”Kenji grumbled from his spot by the fire.“I just choose not to demean myself with manual labor.”
He’d appeared not long after we’d all crawled into the giant bed in my room. Only Rasmus had declined to join us. He’d kissed me goodnight and said he planned to read downstairs, as he didn’t need to sleep and would prefer to keep watch for threats to my safety.
Maverick had fallen asleep immediately, his enormous frame wrapped around me like a cuddly teddy bear. Zane lay on my other side, while Kai sprawled across the bottom of the bed, his arm resting on my legs. I’d asked if he was okay with that, and he promised he was.
“If we get overrun with mice, I’ll blame you.”
“You can always ask Professor Oakman to lend us his cat,”Kenji suggested.“I’d chase her while she chased the mice. Sounds like fun.”
“Don’t you dare chase that poor sweet cat!”
Kenji sniffed loudly.“Killjoy.”
My brain reminded me I had news for Kenji.“I got an email from Oakman saying he wanted me to go see him after class on Friday.”
There was a brief pause.“Did he say why?”
“No.”
I waited for Kenji to quiz me some more, but he stayed silent. I had to admit I was curious about what Oakman wanted. No doubt he had more questions about Kenji. He’d seemed very interested when he discovered Kenji was my familiar, and I recalled him saying something about a research project he was working on.
I didn’t have a problem answering questions, but no way was I volunteering Kenji for any tests. Knowing Kenji, he’d refuse to help even if I asked.
A loud crack of thunder rattled the window, followed by a bright flash of lightning. Was it the work of the storm mage?
My heart twinged when I thought about Alar-dick. I prayed to the goddess he was thinking about me and wishing he’d acted less like a complete and utter asshole over the solstice.
He deserved to pine for me.
With a sigh, I closed my eyes and pushed thoughts of Alaric fucking Vane away. He didn’t deserve to take up real estate in my mind. I’d been blessed with four strong, sexy, and most importantly, loving mates. Pining after a fifth was plainly selfish.
And I was not a selfish witch.
33
Raven
Anyone casually glancing my way would assume the incubus lounging in a chair next to me had fallen asleep. His feet rested on the desk, and he’d closed his eyes. But beneath my desk he stroked my thigh, his fingers dancing ever higher as Professor Dunton droned on.
“Stop it,” I hissed. Glynda gave me some side-eye before smirking when she realized who I was mad at.
Zane didn’t need to be here in Dunton’s class with me, but he’d insisted. I couldn’t decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Good, because it stopped Demented,sorry, Demelza, from uttering disgusting slurs about me and my mates, but bad because I was having a really hard time concentrating on anything Dunton said.
“Focus, pet.” Zane smirked before his fingers danced higher and brushed between my thighs.
Professor Dunton scowled at us but kept his nasty mouth shut.
“Today we’re going to be talking about the Vampire Blood Wars of the 1800s. Does anyone know why they started?”
One of Demelza’s witch friends put her hand up. “Because a psychotic, blood-sucking vampire murdered a bunch of poor innocent witches?”
