“I’ll help you. What books do you need?”
“There’s one about the vampire royal family, and another about the New Orleans covens.” My vampire frowned.
“Forget the book about my family. It will be full of inaccuracies.”
“Oh, why?”
“Because the mages went to great lengths to eradicate us. I highly doubt they’d have allowed any factually accurate books about us to remain in circulation.”
I blinked in surprise. Glynda had hinted before that she thought the bloodborne virus wasn’t a random event. It was clear Rasmus agreed with her.
“Let’s find your book and leave, my darling. The virus is not something I want to discuss here.”
We’d made it back with minutes to spare. The minute I found the last textbook I needed, stuffed between a filthy monster romance paperback and a witch’s guide to poisonous mushrooms, my vampire whisked me back to the dorm so fast I nearly lost my lunch.
Being caught outside after curfew was a serious offense these days. Maverick had warned us that a wolf shifter had already been kicked off campus for flouting the curfew, and if any of us fell foul of the rule, he’d struggle to save our asses.
I didn’t mind staying in at night, but Maverick hated not being able to run in the forest after his classes ended. It sucked for all the shifters. Not that I cared about the wolves. They could all go fuck a hole in a tree, as Zane claimed they liked to do when horny.
Honestly, I had no clue why anyone would do such a perverse thing. Trees had feelings too. Then again, most of the wolves I’d had the misfortune of meeting were not exactly the brightest stars in the sky, so…
“Little mate. Dinner’s ready. Come and eat.” Maverick’s order interrupted my musings on intellectually challenged wolf shifters. When I looked up, he stood in the doorway wearing a cute little apron decorated with rabbits.Oh my stars. Could my bear be any more adorable?
He watched me make heart eyes at him and smirked. “There will be time after dinner forthat, little mate. First, you need to take your iron supplement and then clear your plate.”
His reminder about the iron supplements he’d bought online prompted a highly inappropriate trip down memory lane to when my vampire drank my blood from my…
Maverick groaned.
Zane blinked into view and smirked. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell, care bear?”
“I’m fine. Now sit, Raven!”
“I’m not a dog,” I muttered crossly but did as I was told. Rasmus and I needed to talk about the virus, but Maverick was right about food. My stomach growled in response to the delicious smell coming from the newly renovated kitchen.
“I’ve made a meat and tomato pasta sauce. Extra meat for me and the incubus, and plain pasta for Kai.”
Kai was sitting at the table when I walked in. He gave me a small smile when he saw me, so I rushed over to hug him. We’d not seeneach other all day, and I’d missed him. Yes, I’d fully intended to go to the pool with him this morning, but of course I fell right back to sleep five seconds after he woke me up.
Early mornings and I didn’t agree.
“What makes you think the mages were behind the virus?” I asked Rasmus once my stomach was fit to burst and I couldn’t eat another mouthful.
Rasmus took a long sip of his synthetic blood and exhaled.
“Because my father had discovered they were conducting inhumane experiments on lesser magicals. He confronted Tiberius about it, and two days later, reports of the first cases of the bloodborne virus went viral on social media.”
The food in my belly turned to lead.
Inhumane experiments?!
I silently resolved then and there that, by the magical power vested in me, Tiberius was a dead mage walking.
35
Raven
Considering Professor Oakman’s class was called Practical Magic, there was remarkably little practicing of magic happening. I’d been excited about taking this class last semester, but so far, we’d done nothing but read dry textbooks and listen to the professor lecture on the perils of casting dangerous spells.
