I didn’t get the chance to reply because he blinked into view in front of me, a worried frown marring his handsome face.
“You lied about cock goblins!”
Glynda snorted loudly and disappeared into the hothouse to pick some purple sprouting mushrooms. Thank the goddess Miss Windborne had givenherthe list of ingredients, not me, or we’d have achieved nothing so far.
“I didn’t lie, pet, I merely embellished the facts for your entertainment.” Zane pouted adorably. “Cock goblins exist.”
My eyes narrowed, and he shuffled on the spot while refusing to look directly at me.
“In fiction books.”
As I opened my mouth to tear a strip off him for lying, Fig dropped something at my feet that smelled awful. Slapping a hand over my mouth to stop myself from hurling, I looked down to see a green hand crawling with maggots.
Fig tried to tear a chunk off the rotten hunk of flesh, but Zane kicked it away.
“Damn, I wondered where I’d dropped that thing,” he cursed. “That’ll teach me to drink elkwine on a hit job.”
Vomit worked its way up my throat. I swallowed hard, not wanting to draw attention to the horror show happening in front of me. Zane reached to grab Fig, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Fig the pig scuttled after the grisly hand like he was a star NFL player, snatched it up in his snout, and shot into the hothouse. I heardan almighty scream before Glynda ran out and promptly fainted at my feet.
“Can someone please explain why the pig is chewing on a hand?” Maverick demanded through gritted teeth. A vein throbbed in his temple, and I wondered whether he was in danger of a life-threatening aneurysm.My poor bear.
Rasmus picked up Fig, ignoring the pig’s enraged squeals, and snatched the hand from his mouth.
“It smells like wolf,” he said, not fazed in the slightest by the stomach-churning stench of decay and a few remaining maggots.
Glynda retched again, so I shoved a glass of elkwine under her nose.
“Drink this,” I advised before grabbing the bottle and necking several long mouthfuls.
Kenji trotted in, sniffed, and then licked his lips.
“The pig has gone up in my estimation, if it took down a wolf,”he told me.“I may offer it an internship if it continues showing initiative like this.”
“Fig didn’t kill a wolf shifter! This is Zane’s work! Fig merely exhumed and tried to eat part of the evidence from the compost heap.”
“I suppose destroying incriminating evidence shows a modicum of talent.”
“No, it shows Fig has a cast-iron stomach, rather like you.”
“How rude. I eat only premium meat products.”He turned his beady black eyes on Fig.“Such as freshly roasted free-range pork or the finest cured bacon.”
“If you harm a single wiry hair on that pig’s body,I will…”
Kenji scoffed.“I have better things to do than worry about a dumb pig, witch. Like evading Professor Oakman’s attentions.”
That caught my attention. Oakman had been spamming my school email inbox with requests for a meeting with Kenji and me. He seemed obsessed with studying Kenji, even though I’d told him my familiar wasn’t a research subject.
While Maverick and Zane argued about the hand slash prop from a horror movie, I chewed my lip. I was due at Montgomery’s office in an hour, allegedly for a student review, whatever that entailed. I’d asked Glynda earlier, but she’d had no clue, not having been called for one.
Zane said it was most likely a fact-finding mission now that Montgomery knew I had more than one soul-bonded mate, which didn’t exactly fill me with excitement.
I’d not bothered telling Maverick about the meeting, as I knew he’d worry. Montgomery was apparently angry because Maverick had left campus without notice, even though it was for a legitimate reason, so if my bear tried to intervene this afternoon, there was a risk Montgomery would fire him.
“Could Oakman kidnap you?”I asked Kenji.
“No.”
