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“I can smell your fear. It’s delicious. At least you’re smart enough to recognize when you’re outmatched.”
I didn’t realize it was possible to hate someone so quickly and so completely. Until now. “I’m not afraid of you. You’re nothing but a blow-up doll with fangs for Noah to distract himself with since he can’t have the woman he really wants. Why do you think he came back to find me?”
I kicked out, launching her into the air with all my strength. She hit a tree hard enough to shake loose a few large branches. As they rained down on us, I did my best to dodge them while she let out a low, menacing laugh.
“Oh, good. I was afraid you were going to make this easy on me.”
“You’re the only one who is easy around here.”
“Says the bitch spreading her legs for every wolf, vamp, and Viking she can get her horny little hands on.”
We took up fighting stances, both of us tensed and ready to attack as we circled the clearing under the tree cover. “So is that all you’ve got? One good surprise attack, and you’re done? No wonder Noah is bored with you. I could go all night.”
“It’s no wonder, with all that practice you’re getting. But I’ll tell you one thing, he might be having his fun with you now, but I’m the one he’ll be taking home to his parents. You’ll never be anything more than his dirty little secret.”
Something in me snapped as she spat the words that so closely echoed my own deepest fears. My jaw clenched, my nails sinking into my palms as I balled my hands into even tighter fists, wishing it was Callie’s throat they were closing around. I stalked forward, my energy building, gathering in my center, fueling my strength as I pushed her back. Loose tendrils of hair that had escaped my braid whirled around my face even though there was no wind to move them.
Callie’s eyes widened, fear sparking in them. “What the hell are you?”
“Your worst fucking nightmare.”
Before she could escape, I snagged her throat in one hand, my grip tighter than I thought I was capable of. She panicked, her fingers scraping at mine, desperate to get me to release her because, vampire or not, if I tore her head clean off her body, she’d be nothing but a pile of dust.
“Do you submit?” I snarled, barely recognizing my own voice.
Her face was turning purple, mottled with fear and rage. But I saw my victory in her eyes.
“Y-yes,” she gasped.
“Say. It.”
She closed her eyes and released every ounce of fight left in her. “I submit.”
I squeezed her throat just a bit tighter, not a big enough person to win gracefully, before I flung her to the ground. Callie connected with the forest floor hard enough the ground beneath my feet tremored. Dust and pine needles lifted into a cloud, and when the air cleared, she was there, in a crater made by her own body.
The shock of it was enough to pull me out of whatever dark, unrecognizable fugue I’d been lost to.
The clapping came first, just loud and obnoxious enough to be heard over the roar of my blood through my veins.
“Brava, little wolf. Seems you were right. You didn’t need my help, after all.” Noah smirked. “You certainly put her right where she belongs.”
My gaze snapped to the place where Noah and Kingston stood. Noah barely looked rumpled past the smudge of dirt on his cheek and uncharacteristically tousled hair. Kingston was worse for wear, leaves clinging to his hair and shirt. A dark bruise bloomed across his cheek. Part of me was surprised to learn the Alpha-to-be had submitted to the vampire. The other part wondered if that had more to do with an unlikely truce while they watched the chick fight taking place right beside them.
Callie was alive; I was sure of it. She was bleeding from her mouth but breathing slowly. She remained unconscious as the scene we were immersed in melted away and became nothing more than a cold, sterile space made of four walls and gray paint. Everyone else in the class came into view, all disheveled and many sporting bruises, sweat stains, and torn clothing.
Professor Sanderson appeared in a cloud of purple mist, her gaze trained on me. “Everyone stop. Remove your beacons and place them at your feet at once.”
Oh, no. What had I done to earn that look of reproach?
“Sunday Fallon, shower, collect your belongings, and return to your dormitory. You spilled blood during this exercise even though you were instructed not to. Following instructions is paramount for the safety of all students when we are in mixed-species classes. You’ll attend sessions with Father Gallagher Saturday at sundown. Do you understand?”
Callie sat up and stretched, a saccharine smile on her face as she wiped away the blood that had trickled from the corner of her lips. Lips I never once hit.
“Professor, I didn’t—”
“Don’t argue with me, sugar. You did what you did. Now get out of my sight.”
As I tossed my beacon on the floor, I looked back at the two men I’d been in the middle of before my fight with Callie. They both stood with their arms crossed over their chests, frowns on their faces. I wondered if they knew just how much they resembled a pair of faithful guards.
Callie got to her feet and offered me a little wave. “See you around, Sunday.”
She’d marked me with a target that all but said,watch your back. She might not have said the words, but her message couldn’t have been any clearer.
This wasn’t over, not by a long shot.
