I look away, unable to hold his gaze.
“You should talk to Mom,” Seth continues. “She’s worried about you. We all are.”
I don’t respond. What would I even say? That I fucked up so monumentally that I might never recover from it? That I did the one thing guaranteed to make my mate walk away?
Seth sighs, waits another moment, then turns and leaves.
“I can help you.”
I haven’t heard it in a year, not since that night by the lake. I close my eyes, willing it away.
“You have the worst fucking timing.”
“You cannot strip a lioness of her primal nature.”
I try to focus on anything else. Anything but the voice haunting me.
“And you took something from her that is part of her identity,” he continues, undeterred. “The lioness is a mother, a nurturer, a protector. She is fierce and territorial and loyal to her pride above all else. She’s spent her whole life learning from her human mother, from the other lionesses in her pride. She knew who she wanted to be in your mate bond before you even knew her name.”
Everything inside me snaps. I stand up so fast my chair topples backward, crashing to the floor. I scan the room, searching for any reflective surface where he might be hiding.
“I haven’t heard from you for a year,” I snarl, stalking around the classroom. “I thought you were dead.”
“And how did that make you feel?” Eric’s voice seems to follow me, shifting from one corner of the room to another.
I say nothing, my hands clenching into fists at my sides.
I stop at one of the student desks, placing my hands flat against the surface, trying to ground myself.
“So let me get this straight,” I say through clenched teeth. “You’ve been missing for a whole year, just watching me. Waiting for me to fuck up so you’d have a reason to speak to me again.”
“I thought you would want space with your lioness,” Eric replies. “She is a very complex woman. I left you alone so you could learn her.”
“And you can leave me alone now.”
“What you’ve done here,” he says, his voice taking on a lecturing tone that makes me want to set something on fire, “it’s going to require you to demonstrate dominance. Her father will never accept you now unless you challenge his lion’s pride.”
I move around the classroom, checking every surface that might hold a reflection. The windows. The glass case of magical artifacts. The small mirror by the door.
Finally, I catch sight of him in the polished surface of a brass telescope on the shelf.
“Looks like we’re back to the same ol’ shit,” I mutter. “Bye, Eric.”
“Wait!” His voice is urgent now. “There’s something you should know?—“
I flick my fingers, blue-gold light flashing from my palm, and his reflection vanishes. The spell is so easy now, like breathing.
I groan, running a hand over my face. I can’t keep doing this on my own. I’ve been trying to figure this out alone for a week, and look where it’s gotten me. Nowhere. I need help.
I walk back around the desk and open a portal with a flick of my wrist. The blue-gold light swirls into existence, and through it, I can see my mother and Jacob’s cabin. They’re in the living room. My mother is pacing, hands on her hips, while Jacob sits on the edge of the sofa, watching her.
“—don’t care what Headmistress Ebony said,” my mother is saying, her voice thick with frustration. “He’s my son. If he’s falling apart, I need to?—“
Jacob looks up, catching sight of me through the portal. His face breaks into a grin.
My mother turns, her frown softening when she sees me. I step through the portal and close it behind me with a snap of my fingers.
“We heard about what happened,” she says, her voice gentle. “We were just deciding if we were going to visit you or not.”
