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“And you’re a student?” I asked, though I already knew that. I tried to be casual and drink as I listened.
She nodded. “My major is English literature.” She took a few bites of food.
“So you actually understood what Alistair’s, er, Professor Killian was going on about,” I said, my gaze following her every move. I wished we were sitting on the same side of the table, so I could be closer to her. My mating instincts were in overdrive, but I didn’t want to scare her.
“Yeah, I hope someday to be a professor like him,” she said, then looked up at me through her lashes. “Although I admit I was distracted this morning.”
I leaned my arm on the table, letting my fingers brush just above her elbow. The sweater was thin, and she leaned into my touch.
“I’m not sure I could pay attention in a class you taught,” I said. I drew in her licorice scent, clear and sharp, despite the varied smells of beer, sweat, and food around us.
Heat colored her cheeks again.
She finished off the chicken tenders before I even tasted one, and I found that I didn’t mind. I wasn’t hungry for food and I liked that she enjoyed her meal. I’d seen too many women just pick at salads and worry about their figures. My mate.
I sipped my beer and pushed my feelings to the side. I’d come here on a mission and I needed to see it through. I focused my senses on the wrongness I’d felt around her. It still edged around her, like some smokey darkness, and I wondered if I could bring it up. I hadn’t seen anything in her personality that would attract something like that, and I didn’t know enough about spell work to know if it was one.
“So you’re a witch?” I asked as casually as I could.
Her face tensed, but then she visibly took a breath. “Yeah, is that a problem?”
“No, of course not,” I said with an overly casual shrug. I was really not good at this. Especially with my heart thudding against my chest. “Just conversation.”
“Sorry,” she said with a sigh. “Witches have just been giving me a headache lately, and I just want to forget about all that for a night.” Then she downed the rest of her drink in one gulp. “I just want to live my own life and not play their games, ya know?”
“I can understand that,” I said. “I have some family problems as well.”
“Oh?” she asked, leaning forward. Her breasts pressed against her arm and her heart shaped cleavage showed through the neck of her sweater.
I shifted in my seat, trying to mentally give myself a cold shower. It’d been a while since I’d reacted to a woman like this, but I definitely wanted Toni. But I also wanted to find out what was going on with her, and part of that was this sharing.
I closed my eyes and took a breath, then opened them again. “I was exiled from my family, from my whole tribe really.”
Toni chewed on her lip. “Can I ask what for?”
“They have a very strict code of conduct and what we were allowed to do and be.” I ran a hand through my hair. “My little brother stepped outside of that, and I supported him.”
“So you were both kicked out?”
My chest ached at the memory. “No, he killed himself.”
She reached out and grabbed my arm, squeezing lightly. “Oh,” she said, her voice breaking. “That’s awful.”
Warmth spread through me at her touch, and my heart beat faster. “I miss him every day.”
She nodded. “I can imagine.”
I blinked, surprised at the emotion welling and tried to shove it down. “You don’t have any siblings?”
“No.” She bit her lip. “And that means the whole parental pressure is aimed at me.”
I laid my hand over hers and squeezed. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It is what it is.” Her eyes lit on something in the mirror above me and fear crept in. A fierce defensiveness rose up in me, and I wanted to wipe out whoever frightened her like that.
“Hey,” I said, pulling her attention back to me. “Do you want to get out of here?”
Toni nodded, her eyes glowing.
