Page 17

It was a subtle pain at my nailbed that made me realize they’d lengthened to points and started to dig into the lab bench. I pulled my hands back and balled them into fists at my side.

“It’s not the only attack in the last few weeks, though,” said Shan. He muttered an incantation, extending his hand to the lid farther down the bench. It drifted toward the pot and settled over it.

I walked over to a cabinet near the sink and lowered myself to tug it open. Pulling out a bottle of nectar, I grabbed a small glass we had set aside specifically for consumable potions and set it on the counter. I filled the small glass to the brim and chugged the contents. Staring at the glass, I internally chided myself for even thinking of pouring another. I had students to teach. I needed to be sober, but gods, I could use another drink to force the restlessness from my body.

So, I took another shot and promptly put the bottle away before I could be tempted to drink more. Slowly, the restlessness subsided, replaced with a numbness that would settle me enough to work on the potions as soon as Shan left.

He didn’t leave for another hour, but when he did, I bottled and packed various potions and powders, restocked my alchemy belt, and slipped the others into my briefcase.

My afternoon classes couldn’t finish fast enough. When I stepped outside, the sun was blotted out by heavy grey clouds, a mist in the air as though it was autumn and not midsummer. It was dark enough for the shadows to partially conceal anyone who dared to step into the tunnels that led to the courtyard. I hoped to get some quiet, fresh air before heading home to face my mother, but the moment I was about to step out of the tunnel, a low voice jump-started my heart.

“What are the odds we’d meet up here?” Someone stepped out from the shadows, and my hand flew to my belt, fingers closing around a vial. I stood at the ready as the beta came into view. “I know I ran off earlier, but⁠—”

I flicked the cork from the vial with my thumb and threw the clear liquid into Sylvan’s face. He lurched back, hands over his eyes as he let out a panicked cry. For an awful moment, I thought that perhaps he was too tall, or too heavy, muscle was denser after all.

“What the f—” he started to say, with one last swipe of his hands over his eyes. He crumpled into a useless heap before he could say anything else.

Relief flooded me at the thud of his body hitting the tunnel floor. I pulled a small blade from my belt as he lay sprawled out on the ground. His limbs were bent awkwardly, eyes wide and mouth struggling to form words. “Wha’di’y …” His tongue rolled around his mouth uselessly as I crouched next to him with a grin.

“It seems your tongue isn’t quite working. Shall I carve out the offending organ?” My knife hovered over his face, and his eyes blew even wider. His heart thudded with each faltering breath. “To answer your question, at least I presume it is your question, it’s a fast-acting poison. One of many on this contraption, as you called it.” I patted my belt.

I thought his heart would surely pound out of his chest, but the panic that had been in his eyes before was gone, replaced with seething incredulity.

“In low dosages, it’s a temporary paralytic.”

His nostrils flared, and the acrid scent of his anger surrounded me.

“Are you trying to say something, Beta? Still feeling smug about threatening me?”

The corded muscles in his neck strained, throat bobbing. He wanted to quip back more than anything.

“Think twice before fucking with me again.” I flicked my wrist, nicking him across his cheek. Bright red blood bloomed, and I stared at it. The smell of it was sweet. Potent. I licked my lips. It was the low growl from him that twisted my hunger into something … ugly. Someone like him made me who I was. My hand trembled as I thought of slicing the blade across his throat and lapping up his blood.

I wiped the tip of my dagger on his shirt and tucked it into my belt. “No one wanders here after hours except for me,” I said as I stood. “Enjoy your solitude, beast. And if you dare to threaten me again, I won’t hesitate to relieve you of your tongue.”

I nudged my boot into his side and dashed off. Thoughts of carving into him filled my mind. So much blood. Would it taste as sweet as it smelled? Fuck.

It was just the moon messing with my mind, I told myself. I wasn’t a monster like those beastly lycans. I had standards.

The dreary city blurred as I raced across the cobblestones, passing small shops, pubs, and clusters of residential dwellings. The houses began to scatter, the city falling behind. I didn’t stop running until tall grass tickled my calves and thick trees on either side of a dirt path invited me into the Unclaimed Territory. It was a welcome change from Aethermore. Fireflies winked in and out of the darkness, a silent symphony along with the chirping of crickets and the hoot of an owl. From somewhere above me, the beat of its wings drifted away.

The night before, I’d raced through here, confused and in tears. Tonight, I wanted blood. I wanted to paint the walls with it—to make a fucking statement. I wanted someone to pay for this endless agony and war with my emotions. Sylvan had been a tempting victim. Far too tempting.

After a while, I veered off onto another pathway and scattered houses came into view. They grew closer together the farther I wandered into the territory. Gertrude Dalbane’s cottage appeared, her front lawn bespeckled with gnomes and other trinkets on either side of the walkway. My gut clenched at the memory of arriving at Magdalena’s after the attack. In fact, she’d been there the first time I fully shifted eleven years ago. I’d woken up completely disoriented in the Unclaimed Territory to find Magdalena throwing a blanket over me.

I’d expected her to report me right away, but instead she’d taken me in, given me clothing and fresh blood. We’d sat in her kitchen and chatted, about her being a denounced heir of House Jurado and my hybrid blood. It was thanks to her I’d been able to get a job at the university. She’d been a professor of Occult history for two decades, teaching night classes only.

Magdalena’s cottage was some hundred paces away. Before I was even close, her red oak door swung open. Candlelight silhouetted her shapely figure as she stood in the doorway. “Aura?” she whispered into the darkness.

I hurried up her walkway, and she stepped aside, allowing me in. The moment the door closed, she turned to me, concern in her violet eyes. The Jurado House members were known to be colder than even the Nygaards. They were even more well-known for their unique eye color, but not for their magic. Magdalena, on the other hand, was the warmest vampire I knew, and her magic enabled her to see through a person to their emotions. Sometimes into their pasts and futures.

As I turned my gaze to her, she gasped and pressed her hand against her lips. I don’t know what she saw, but I didn’t like the horror on her face.

“Let me grab you some chamomile tea,” she rushed to say.

“I don’t need any fucking tea.”

“Alright. What do you want then, Aura? Let me know how to help you and maybe I can, but biting my head off isn’t going to do anything, my friend.”