“You fucking scared me,” he says, his demon growl evident in his voice. None of us have our human glamours on here and that’s actually something that I really like about this place, we’re not made to keep them on. I feel his magic and open my eyes to see his shadows pulling around us, cloaking us in comforting, smoky darkness. They gently stroke my cheek, and even I can pick up on the worry that they feel.
“I’m sorry, trust me, I didn’t do it intentionally,” I reply.
Levi holds me for a few more moments before he sighs heavily, “Kai’s been tapping my back for the last two minutes.”
My smile is huge as I’m passed to Kai whose smile can’t hide the fear in his eyes, and I squeeze him tightly. One by one I’m passed among them, hugging them all tightly, and sharing kisses and special words, and I know that Erin and Cole are getting exactly the same treatment from their Bonded, so I’m in absolutely no rush to stop this.
Eventually, everyone’s nerves have settled enough that we all let go of each other and take seats on our, thankfully, large couch.
“Alright, start from the beginning and explain what the hell happened and why we couldn’t get hold of you?” Kysen practically demands his arms crossed over his chest.
“The last we heard, there was no teacher,” Nate adds.
The three of us take turns in explaining what happened and what we found out.
“Magistrate Godfrey?” Asher asks, his eyebrows furrowed, “I never fucking liked him. By all outward appearances you would think that he's a nice and upstanding citizen, but something always felt off about him.”
“I know what you mean. I met him once when he had his daughter with him; there are certain things that you can recognise in someone else when you’ve been through it yourself. She was broken,” Kysen adds with a deep frown.
My gut churns, “That evil man has a daughter?”
Kysen nods, “Yeah, but there’s a rumor going around that she’s gotten into Black Onyx Academy and is on an all-male team.”
“Seriously, that’s unheard of, isn’t it?” Dash asks.
Harry nods, “Oh yeah, it’s never happened before. I imagine it’s caused an uproar.”
I smile, something in me settling at the thought that she’s away from that monster and safe. I kind of want to meet her, the first woman on an all-male warrior team; she sounds like a badass.
“That’s pretty awesome,” Kyle replies.
“Good for her,” Erin smiles.
“So, the teachers are under the influence of something then?” Jax asks, getting us back on track.
“To be honest it would explain their complete change in behaviour. The problem is that we have no idea how they’re being controlled. All Godfrey said was that he had it handled and that they didn’t have a choice,” Cole explains.
“Okay, so we need to try and figure out a way that we can find out then,” Damon says with a frown.
“Isn’t there some kind of spell that we can do that could tell us if there is something controlling them?” Kai asks.
“Oh, are you thinking that there’s like an object or something?” Dash asks curiously.
Kai nods, “Well, it would be easier than having a person who had to continuously use their magic in order to stop them from realising themselves that they’re being controlled.”
“We could check in the library to see if there’s some kind of spell?” Cole suggests.
“No!” Practically the whole room shouts.
“I think we’ll be avoiding the library for a while; I don’t think any of us can go through losing you again,” Maverick says.
“Fair enough,” I reply.
“We’ll figure it out, but none of you will be going to the library, at least not without all of us too,” Asher adds firmly.
Cole pats his chest as he says, “Alright, gorgeous, we get it, no library.”
I smirk at the look that he receives from Asher, and I’m pretty sure if we weren’t in the room he would’ve kissed him thoroughly by now.