“Pets are not allowed on campus, Miss Blackstone. Put the pig down before I am forced to remove it from you.”
“There is an exception in the rules for emotional-support pets,” Glynda yelled. Her cheeks flushed pink when everyone stared at her.My friend hated being the center of attention, which was unfortunate given how popular I was.
“Glynda’s right,” Alaric confirmed in a bored voice. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “If you’d like me to check with my father, I can do that.”
Lightfoot recoiled at the thought of drawing the unwanted attention of Vane senior. Maybe he wasn’t so dumb after all.
“Oh, my darling mate, have you made a new friend?” Zane blinked into view behind me and squeezed my butt.
“Sir, if that pig isn’t Demelza, then she has still not returned!” A witch with blue curly hair sobbed in a totally fake way. I’d wager my nonexistent trust fund her tears were mostly for attention-seeking purposes. Probably to encourage Professor Lightfoot to comfort her. In a sexual way, as he was well-known for doing.The filthy pervert.
Ivy’s wails increased, making my headache worse. Had I sustained another traumatic brain injury?
Lightfoot tore his attention away from me and the pig, swearing loudly in a way that was not becoming for a faculty member. I had half a mind to report him for unprofessional conduct in the company of impressionable students but decided it was better to quit while I was ahead.
I cuddled the pig tighter. He didn’t seem to mind. What a cute little pig. So tame. Definitely not a feral hog, as the nasty professor insinuated. More like a pet pig from a petting zoo. The pig had no ugly tusks like wild boars and showed no signs of aggression.
Despite Glynda’s assertion about emotional-support pets, which I was pretty sure she’d made up to save my pig, I would give my life to protect this little oinker. At least the pig deserved my loyalty, unlike Kenji, who’d refused to help when I was dying.
“Someone give that witch an Oscar.”I stuck my tongue out at Kenji, even though he couldn’t see me.
“Wolves assemble!” Alaric rolled his eyes and muttered something about fucking stupid wolves with superhero complexes, whatever that meant.
“Search the forest for Demelza Thorn. The rest of you, return to your dorms until Miss Thorn is found safe and well. Or if she’s not found safe and well, at least verified to be the unfortunate victim of a sad and entirely random accident,” he clarified upon reflection.
Zane snorted. “Now would be a good time to summon a storm, mage.” He winked at Alaric. “I feel like a lightning strike would be very useful if it hit the twisted pine up by the stone circle.”
Alaric’s eyebrow shot up, but he nodded discreetly.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said to Zane under his breath.
Several witches watched with barely concealed longing as the storm mage sauntered away. Damn, the mage was a tasty snack with his artfully tousled blond hair and muscular legs.
But before I could lose myself in a sexy fantasy involving me, the storm mage, and a hot shower, Glynda had teleported me and my pig back to the dorm.
She dropped us on the step outside the scuffed door to our new and aesthetically unpleasing accommodation, and I retched while the pig oinked furiously, apparently not a fan of teleporting. Yet another sign the pig and I were sisters from another mister. Or something.
Kenji popped into view and curled his lip menacingly at the pig.“It’s a boy pig, you dumb witch. It has balls.”He sounded extremely pissed I’d replaced him in my affections, but honestly, what did he expect?
Also, no wonder I had failed my Animal Biology 101 class last semester.
“The only good thing about pigs is they turn into bacon and sausages.”
“Ignore the nasty kitsune, my cute little poppet. He’s just jealous.”
My pig snuffled and then licked my face. It was all kinds of gross, but no worse than Kenji eating bacon in my bed.
“I have to go,” Glynda said while looking super shifty. “But keep me posted on the pig situation!”
Why was my friend in such a rush? I was about to invite her in for hot chocolate and gossip.
“Wait!”
Glynda vanished.Hmm.She’d been rather cagey of late. I had a sneaking suspicion my bestie was hiding something from me. But now was not the time. I had a pig to settle and an incubus to interrogate.
A crack of thunder rattled my bones before a terrifying arc of lightning cleaved open the sky above the distant ridge. I heard a volley of howls and shuddered.
Once the wolves found Demelza’s charred corpse, questions would be asked. And if any of the wolves caught a whiff of my scent on her remains, I might become a murder suspect.
