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The completely inappropriate urge to laugh hits me and I bite my lip hard, trying—and failing—to contain it. It bursts from me in sharp slightly hysterical barks, making me curl over as my ribs and bruised body spasm in protest. That sure as hell gets everyone to shut up, even Corin pauses to peer at me with pinched brows. I laugh until tears fall from my eyes and I finally get a handle on it. I’m done, todays been too much. I bite my cheek to distract me from my burning eyes so I don’t cry.Goddess, there is only so much a girl can take in under twenty-four hours.
Letting my head fall back against Corin's broad shoulder, I take another look at the room before scowling down at my palms. “For fucks sake. That’s it, you’re in time out. Enjoy the fucking naughty corner, magic.” It’s then that I also realise Unicorn is beside us, nuzzling at my arm.
I blow out a sighing breath before everyone launches back into whatever it is they’re trying to say to me and I groan again. Their voices are too intermingled to decipher anything and my fingers curl into my palms, anger curling in my gut. “Shut up!” I shout, wincing at the uncomfortable pull it causes in my chest. I wait for the room to go quiet before continuing. “One at a time. You first.” I point to the person I don’t know, the only one who was standing back in silence, waiting for their fucking turn. He appears to be some sort of professor, maybe? He has an authoritative vibe, and feels like an A-class Monster though. His black hair is speckled with grey, hinting at his age despite his supernatural genetics, which means he’s most likely not a student.
He clears his throat, blue eyes kind. “I believe we need to get you to a nurse before we continue on with anything else.”
Some of the tension in my shoulders eases.Yay, someone in this room other than Corin cares about my wellbeing.Almost immediately protests go up around the room and my Mountain Man starts to rumble again. I mean,theMountain Man holding me, starts to rumble again. He’s notmyanything.
The professor and a shorter woman with sharp features glare at the state the classroom is in before focusing on the blue eyed man. “We’ll bring the healer to her while this young woman explains what caused this to happen. We take students using enhancers to fake higher power levels very seriously.”
My eyebrows lower and I blink repeatedly.They think I’m taking enhancers? Are they insane?Only supernaturals with a death wish use enhancers. They’re essentially poison, addictive, and the supernatural rulers' consequences for using them or even carrying them are so severe that you’d have to be extremely desperate to risk something like that. Or very naive. Trying to centre myself, I start petting Unicorn, her little chirps in response settling me some.
A niggling feeling that something strange is going on with the professors pushes to the forefront of my mind and my stomach sinks. I might not actually be doing enhancers, but if the professors plant something it could lead to my expulsion or worse. I’m not quite sure why they would, but with the fishiness surrounding their accusation and my instincts on high alert, anything is possible. I swallow hard and my stomach tightens with anxiety.
I’m mentally and physically exhausted. Today’s just been one hit after another and I have no capacity for more, yet magic is practically humming under my skin, the well inside me swirling dangerously.
My breathing speeds up and spots dance in front of my eyes.Great, just great. This is an awesome time to have a panic attack.Suddenly we’re on the move and I’m briefly distracted as my hands jump out to grip Corin’s shirt as he steps around stuff, walking to the wall where part of the tree trunk is lying horizontally. He takes a seat, careful not to jostle me, and I suck in deep breaths trying to calm myself. My eyes dart around the room, searching for another distraction when a gentle hand touches my forehead.
I tense up, unsure, but Corin leans down and makes a low humming sound in my ear. He splays his fingers on my head, caressing it in a soothing movement. One that he repeats, methodically and I melt after the third pass. My eyelids droop and I curl further into him. He’s… patting me and I like it. If you’d asked me before now, my vehement response would have been no, but this feels fucking amazing. Something in my chest practically glows and I lean in to nuzzle Corin’s throat.
Corin
I curl around my mate, eyes scanning the room, instincts riding me hard as I stroke a hand over her head. The moment the panic in her scent reached me it was pure instinct and I’m grateful for it. The wave of magic she let off when she funnelled it into her seed had supes from around the Academy being drawn to her in droves, including professors and faculty. They portalled in almost immediately and they aren’t helping with how on edge I feel.
Nessa seems to be fairly oblivious to that right now, at least. She’s like a contented kitten in my arms. I risk taking my focus off the people in the room for a second to look down at Nessa and my jaw clenches, teeth grinding. Bruises are already blooming on her pale skin, her uniform also dirty and torn. Despite knowing of the corruption within the academy, it’s hard to believe that they can see the state their student is in and not be jumping to get a healer.
“Someone better be either on the way to retrieve a healer, or have sent for one.” My voice is low so as to not disturb Nessa, but the threat is clear.
One of the female professors clears her throat. “We have sent for one.”
I nod, but otherwise don’t respond. My sensitive ears are bombarded with the whispers of the crowd in the hallway outside the room and I scowl. Goddess, the way gossip travels through the walls of this academy is worse than highschool. It reminds me of another potential issue though.Did the professors see me magically command Nessa to do as I asked?It’s a power I rarely use and at a way higher level than that of what they believe I’m capable of. Not that I regret doing it, but if they did notice, then it could draw me into the spotlight, which could blow my cover or force my boss Ezra’s hand and make him withdraw me from the academy.
I swallow hard and refocus on the woman in my arms.I’d never let that happen. But apparently we’re going to need to work on her magic. I cock my head, scanning her face.I don’t understand, it seemed like she was doing fairly well with her control. This seems very out of the blue. Our growing connection wouldn’t cause anything like this. Those golden eyes meet mine and flash red as her power flares for a moment before receding and it hits me like a freight train. The cloaked section of the forest. Where she interacted with the Ghost woman–Aurora’s–magic. It must have unlocked something within Nessa’s magic.
My chest tightens and an icky feeling hits my stomach.This is my fault. My gaze flits around the room. I should have checked in with her to make sure she wasn’t feeling any different. I stupidly figured that because our practise went fine after I took her there, that nothing had changed. Clearly not.
And now look at her. My thoughts and emotions rise and swirl until it’s like I’ve got a tornado in my head. I swallow hard and my arms tighten around the woman in my arms. My shift tries to overtake me, but I force it back. Where the fuck is that healer? I snarl and some of my features slip to that of my Lycan and everyone scurries back. My face tightens, teeth sharpening as fur sprouts on my shoulders and down the backs of my arms. The faculty are aware of my supernatural species, but they believe that I’m a mindless beast when I shift, because I’m not very powerful, when really it’s the opposite and Iamaware in my other form. I am merely more ruled by my instincts than in my human skin, but am still mentally there. I’m comforted by the fact that Unicorn is here though. She’s an added layer of protection for Nessa should it come to it.
Finally, the healer hurries into the room, only pausing briefly when she realises the state it’s in, then her eyes zero in on us and she forgets the rest of the room. She doesn’t seem worried about my partially shifted state and goes straight for Nessa.
I lean back to give her room when she places a hand on Nessa’s forehead, but I don’t let her go. The lemon-y scent of the woman’s healing magic floods the room and Nessa lets out a groan of protest. It has me tensing and fighting the urge to shove the healer away, but I know that she’s helping her. First she’ll scan her body, sort of like a magical X-ray, then she’ll send her magic to the parts of Nessa that are the most injured or potentially life threatening and heal them. If she’s too badly hurt then she may have to spend the night in the infirmary and take a few potions to speed up her healing.
The fact that the healer is still working on her isn’t helping my anxiety and I fight the urge to growl again. My protective instincts are riding me hard and Nessa is the only thing stopping me from losing control right now. After about a minute of silence, a rumble rises in my chest. “Is… Is she going to be alright?”
The healer looks up at me sharply, her brown eyes narrowing before they take in the room again. “Yes, but she needs rest. Time to recover from expelling this amount of power. From what I can tell, she’s had a massive power jump and this could be the first of many outbursts like this. It may take her a while to figure out how to control them.” I know she’s saying this as much to the gallery of professors as she is to me, making it clear this is not the result of an enhancer, like Nessa was accused of using, and my jaw clenches when I take in the greedy glint that’s appeared in several of their eyes. Unicorn lets out a little growl and shifts to be the size of a large dog, opposed to her usual cat size, and stands in front of us, making the group take a few steps back.
It’s now that I have a chance to process who is actually in the room, and it isn’t good. Several of the professors that I know for a fact are corrupt, hover around the room including the Headmaster Rudd himself. His excited scent has my jaw clenching. No one is getting my fucking mate and if they think that she’s a good target after this then they have another think coming. The other few are school faculty and a couple other professors who seem unaware of the corrupt nature of their coworkers. This is a fucking clusterfuck if I’ve ever seen one. Goddess, I need to get her back to her dorm and keep an eye on her until she’s back to full strength.
Clearing my throat, I shift my focus to the healer. “Thank you. May I take her back to her dorm now?” She gives me a nod then follows us out as we leave, following Unicorn as she creates a barrier between the professors and us.
As we step into the hallway I spot Oscar and Dylan hovering a few paces back, their eyes widening on us. They head straight for us, but I wave for them to wait as the healer stops and turns back to me. She grabs my elbow and I freeze, having to consciously stop myself from shaking her off. “I wouldn’t leave her alone, she’s not fully healed and quite vulnerable at the moment. Her magic will be focusing on healing her body, and it’s highly likely that her magic will force her into a recovery sleep which will leave her unconscious.” She pauses, eyes flicking towards the classroom we just left, before returning to me. “Keep her safe and don’t leave her alone,” she repeats, before returning her voice to a normal volume, eyes flicking to Oscar and Dylan before returning to me. “If she hasn’t recovered enough for classes tomorrow then come see me and I’ll excuse her.”
I thank her, eyebrows drawn down in thought. It seems that not all the faculty are as oblivious as they seem. We part ways and I turn to the guys who are now peering into the destroyed classroom. Oscar opens his mouth clearly about to pepper me with questions, but I cut him off with a shake of my head. “I’ll fill you guys in when we get back to her dorm.”
They both nod and Oscar leans down to hold out a hand for Unicorn and she climbs up his arm to perch on his shoulder, then we head back to the dorm.
Chapter Seventeen
