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I turn around to head for the dining hall and smack into the center of a solid brick wall of a chest.
The wall grabs me by the shoulders to steady me. “You should really watch where you’re going,” he says with a gruff voice.
I look up at the massive demon, smiling down at me so wide, the scar through his eye crinkles.
“You shouldn’t walk so close,” I snap, and step back.
The guy had to be at least six-and-a-half feet tall. Maybe more. With a raised scar going through his left eye and hair so black it seemed more like velvet than hair, he’s the demon I was least looking forward to meeting.
He runs a hand through his hair, tousling it so it covers most of his scar. “They all said you had balls. Not like Olivia and her minions, who think we’re owed to them simply because they’re the only other demons here.”
I’m not interested in being compared to other demons, so I sidestep him and march toward the dining hall.
At least, I try to. The demon steps into my path with a surprising amount of litheness for his size.
“We haven’t yet met properly. I’m Bastian, head of Wrath House.” He takes my hand and kisses the back of it.
Is it just me, or do the houses reflect the different facets of the demonic syndicate? The heir to the enforcers is also the head of Wrath. The sex work heir is also the head of Lust. Pride and Envy are a little bit of a stretch, but…
E is for Enzo and envy. Envy ends in V, and that’s it for vice.
Pride…
Well, that’s easy. When you look like Troyan Axwell, of course you’re the head of a prideful mirrored building. Of course you get top marks. Of course you’re the heir to it all.
I can only imagine the look on my face as Bastian lifts his eyes to me and blushes, dropping my hand. “Apologies, Dove. You’ve got us all worked up into a lather. They won’t admit it, of course, but I’m secure enough to.”
I nod. “And secure enough to announce that you’re secure.” I step around him again, and again, he steps in front of me.
“You know, making it harder on us only makes us want it more.”
“And what exactly isit?”
His answer comes as softly as his movement. “Why, you, of course.”
And those four words wrap me up in a cocoon of tingles. I dart around him and out of there before other parts of my body start to react.
It takes the entire walk to the dining hall to shake off those vibes. I’m still buzzing as I sit down with Stevie and Jess.
“Where’s Austin?” I ask absently.
“He went for an early run with his house. He’ll be back in time for first period.”
“Won’t he be hungry?” I ask.
Stevie and Jess share a glance. “They’re running as a pack,” Jess says, as if that answers my question.
Stevie sees the confusion on my face and expounds on the information. “She means they’re in their wolf form…”
I sigh. “Look, whatever you’re leaving unsaid, you need to say out loud. I don’t have the cultural frame of reference to parse out your subtext.”
Jess throws her hands in the air. “Damnit, Dove. They’re hunting on the grounds. Eating bunnies and squirrels and whatever they can catch.”
“Oh. Well, why didn’t you just say that?”
“I mean, it’s gross. We don’t like to talk about it when we aren’t in our shifted forms.”
“Fair enough.”
