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“I didn’t. What would make you think Casimir would do anything I suggested?”
She nailed me with a stare. “Seriously? The Three Kings have their eyes on you, no matter where we are. You must have noticed.”
I had. No matter where I went on campus, there was a King there. Walking toward me—away from me. On the other side of the common area or the dining hall. But still, I felt their eyes on me. My entire body warmed just thinking about it. “Let’s go eat. No more boy talk. We need to fuel up.”
We had planned to go on an unsanctioned adventure around campus that night. It had been a while since we had ventured beyond the dorms at night, and it was high time for something that gave me a little adrenaline. Because my life and running from having my wolf torn from me wasn’t enough, apparently. It had been a bit since anything weird happened that we needed to be afraid of. Whatever it was, it seemed to be over. Maybe…
We ate quickly, and on our way out, I couldn’t help but pause at the table where the Three Kings sat. I bent down to Cas’s ear level and whispered, “Thanks for watching out for June.”
Cas shuddered. “It was for you.” He leaned into me. “You looked so concerned. I know you can take care of yourself, but you were worried.”
How did he know? A question for another time.
I wanted to touch him and have him touch me again, but it was a crowded dining hall, and I shouldn’t have been leading him on. He didn’t know what I was or the secrets buried deep within me. “Good night.”
He repeated my goodbye and I waved to the others. June and I were about to put ourselves in danger and it might be the last time I saw those three.
Wouldn’t that be a damned shame.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked in a whisper-shout as we beelined for the dorm rooms. Our unsavory plans for the nightincluded unsanctioned traipsing around campus and darting from shadow to shadow, seeing what tales they had to tell, but we also had studying to complete. If we were going to get into trouble, which we were a magnet for, then at least we should have good grades to tug on like a lifesaver.
“Are you chickening out?” she asked with a shit-eating grin on her face. “If we can survive those bullies, then we can get through a night of trouble. Besides, we kind of owe it to ourselves. I, for one, need some fresh air. It’s like they pump dejection and misery through the air flow.”
Huh. I thought I was the only one who smelled that.
We spent the evening alternating between studying and glancing at the clock. About ten minutes before nine, we slammed our books shut and put on our shoes. Running shoes. Because there would certainly be some sort of sprint for our lives. I could feel it in my chest.
A crashing wave of relief hit me as the night air sank into my lungs. I stuffed my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie after pulling up the hood to shield my ears from the biting wind. There was nothing exciting or grandiose about our stroll through campus, other than the adrenaline pumping through my veins at the thought of getting caught, but it was a break from the norm. From feeling confined in the dorm and classrooms.
Once we’d explored around the betweens and dark recesses of the school only to find more air and silence, plus the random couple doing anything but studying in the night, we decided to make our way back to our dorm room. It was sort of disappointing but needed.
We’d cut across the common area when I heard footsteps behind us. My heart stammered underneath my sternum at the thought we’d been caught.
June blew out a long breath and whipped around. “Okay. You caught us.”
When I repeated her actions, wanting to know who had been smart enough to find us, it was to find—nothing and no one. My shifter ears picked up hushed breathing, and Night let out a low rumble in my chest, warning me of danger.
“Let’s go,” I said, tugging on June’s wrist.
“There’s no one. I thought… I swore I heard…”
“I know. Come on. Now.”
We speed-walked through the arched walkways that connected the dining hall to the dorms and classroom buildings, but the footsteps behind us closed in—the breathing more ragged. Night sensed whatever was behind us was hungry. Hungry for what? My stomach tangled in knots. I’d been found. The Light Kingdom loved to play with their victims and those they called “friends.” Control was their game. Manipulation and fear were their tactics. They stalked slowly and methodically, like a demon knocking on a table for a family who just moved into a haunted house and dared a seance. Small ticks that turned into big pushes while you weren’t paying attention.
I’d lived through almost two decades of fear—constant chest-clinging fear, and I refused to live that that any longer. In a surge of bravery, I turned again and demanded, “Who are you?”
The steps stopped, but something flared in the distance.
Lights. Lavender and violet coming from the sky or the ground or out of nowhere. A tingling in my chest reminded me I’d seen these before. The first night Blaze and I made real contact. The night one of the students was murdered. I dug my fingers into June’s wrist. “We have to get to the dorm. Now. Run like your life depends on it.”
“The lights,” June whispered. Her eyes were wide and vacant—her mouth a large O.
“Yeah. Lights. Move your ass, June,” I yelled in her ear and finally gripped her attention fully.
We ran as fast as we could. The steps followed. They grew harder and louder with each stomp. So did the breathing. It grew more harsh, more ragged the more we ran. Whoever was behind us was closing in as I saw our dorm room down the hallway.
“Go in. Go in!”
