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17
Zach
Raven seemedconfident as she led us down the dingy stairs to the dungeon. It was hard to believe that a mage of her abilities had been thrown down here with the shifters. She could have thrown a fit and demanded a different room. But the whole thing made no sense to begin with. Why had they put her down here?
While we'd been with our family, I'd discovered that my mom had been paying her tuition. Something about a favor she owed her parents. I didn't get more details than that from her but I did know she was interested in meeting Raven. How was I supposed to drop that truth-bomb on her? It was bad enough that she was dealing with all of this right now. No magic, dorm in the shifter dungeon. She didn't need the most powerful mage in the supernatural world nagging her about her grades or her life. Though, I knew it was inevitable. My mother got whatever she wanted.
Torches flickered along the stairway and my fingers traced over the damp walls. Nothing about this was what I expected. Sure, it was called the dungeon, but I thought it was a clever nick name since it was in the basement. I'd been in the vampire dorm a few times and theirs was almost as nice as the mage dorms.
We left the stairs and passed through a common room. A couple of students were sprawled out on the couches, but we didn't linger. Ignoring their inquisitive looks, we moved on, following Raven.
Finally, we stopped outside of a door and she used her key card to enter.
She flipped on a light then walked over to a lamp and turned it on. "Can you turn that one off?" She pointed to the light switch by the door. I flipped it down and the blinding fluorescent lights went out leaving us in a dim room lit by her small lamp.
"It's not as nice as the Obscura suite," she said, "but it's far superior to anywhere I've ever lived before."
She picked up some laundry off the floor and tossed it into the bathroom. "Sorry for the mess."
"Don't worry," Matt said. "I'm guessing you don't get maid service down here?"
She lifted an eyebrow and glared at Matt, her green eyes flashing. "Seriously? You need a maid? You can't even take care of your own room?"
"We can, we just don't have to," Matt said with a cocky grin.
I knew that wasn't going to work on her. She wasn't the kind of girl who was impressed by our wealth. In fact, I think it had the opposite effect on her. I tried not to grin too much knowing that all Matt was doing was killing any chance he had of scoring with her.
"Your room is great," I said. "Thanks for letting us use the space to try this."
She turned her gaze on me, her stance tense. She ran a hand through her hair and let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm sorry. I should be thanking you both for helping with this. Professor Halifax said you can probably help bring more of my magic back.
"What have you done so far?" I asked.
"She worked with me to get me to light a candle. Some kind of fae magic involving portals, I think."
"Portals?" Matt asked. "That's dangerous stuff."
"So are magic melds," I reminded him.
"Yeah, but we've already done it once, right?" he asked.
"True," I said, then I turned to Raven. "Where do you want to sit?"
"I guess right here," she pointed to the floor.
I extended my hand, offering it to her. "Ready?"
To my surprise, she took my hand. "I don't really have a choice."
I hated that she viewed us as a necessity. I wondered if I'd ever get a shot at her if not for this. For a brief moment, I was thankful she'd lost her magic. I needed more time with her. Guilt swam through me at the thought. I knew she was going through a terrible time but the selfish part of me that wanted her seemed to take over.
She sat cross-legged on the ground and I followed her lead. Matt sat next to her close enough that his thigh touched hers. Heat filled my chest as jealousy flared. I wanted to be alone with her. I didn't want him here.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed the thoughts away. This wasn't like me at all. I'd never felt this way about a woman. Especially a woman I hardly knew. Sure, she was sexy as hell, and I knew she was a knockout even under her clothes, thanks to her setting herself on fire. But I typically had more self-control than this.
"So last time we did this, we were trying to find out about your magic," Matt said.
"Which we never really did," she responded. "Cause the whole using time magic thing would have been helpful."
