Completely fucking pathetic.
I paced outside my quarters instead, boots grinding against damp stone while the forest surrounding my isolated little shack whispered with restless magic.
Unlike the other graduate students, I didn’t live inside the main towers of the Asgarheim Runevald Institute.
Professor Kenna had allowed me to take this place. To live separately.
Away from the others.
Away from the Pack-born Monsters whose bloodlines had hunted mine for centuries.
Neutral territory or not, there were some instincts even Runevald couldn’t erase.
Besides, my powers made communal living dangerous.
Moon-shadow cloaked the entire structure now, shifting darkness wrapped around the cottage like a living thing.
The ley lines beneath this part of the forest were quieter, easier to manipulate. Easier to disappear within.
And disappearing was something I excelled at.
Especially last night.
See, I couldn’t let Amrin walk alone under the shadow of night.
So, I’d followed her home.
Gods.
Just thinking it sounded unhinged.
But what was I supposed to do?
Let her walk alone through the forest in my borrowed shorts and her little white t-shirt with all that skin on display? Tempting Monsters and gods knew what else with her sweet innocence and open honesty?
Abso-fucking-lutely not.
The moment she’d left my quarters, something feral and ugly had risen inside me.
What if someone saw her?
What if they looked too long?
What if someone touched her?
No.
No fucking way.
So I’d stepped into the Moon shadows and followed silently behind her.
Invisible.
Watching.
Protecting.
Like a complete psychopath.
