Page 37 of House of Lilith

“The Level Minus Three classroom,” he starts listing, “which is being purged of Malefica plant, the basement in Ydril Tower that’s still under investigation, and the Sobbing Lake itself — at least past the shallow, right?”

“How do you know all that?” I ask.

He just looks at me for a second, then lets out a little scoff. “Our Academy has bad blood with yours, not a single member of my pack has ever been here, and we’ve committed to spending an entire year with you. You didn’t think I’d do my research?” He pauses for a second, his eyebrows raising at me. “You do know that I’m the Fiainalpha?

And he flashes me this hot, a littleincredulousbut hot smile.

For a moment, I just keep staring back at him, feeling myself starting to blush.

“I do, and point taken,” I say, fighting to keep my voice flat. “But then, I guess you don’t really need me.”

And I prepare to start saying bye, feeling a little relieved at the thought of this being over.

But he just clicks his tongue, shaking his head. “Oh I wouldn’t go that far. There’s still plenty for you to show me.”

“Like what?”

He glances around then turns to lock eyes with me again, the smile back on his face. It’s just that this time, it’s a daring one. “Anything fun.”

The way he says it, it just makes my heart flutter a little.

I guess it can’t hurt, I think to myself.

“Alright,” I reply with a straight face. “Follow me.”

I don’t wait for his reaction. I turn on my heel and I start leading him to the hallways on the other side of the Entrance Hall, where some of the more interesting gyms are located. But now, it’s even harder to pay no attention to the steady, confident sound of his boots hitting the floor, or that skilled, soft whistling behind my back.

Gods, I think as I walk into the first hallway, still feeling that flutter in my chest, he’sseriouslycharming. Like, in a way that’s really hard to ignore.

Player, I remind myself, he’s a player and he’s good because this is the kind of effect he has on people. It’s as simple as that.

I just didn’t think he’d have it onme.

I clear my throat, making myself snap out of it just as we turn the corner and enter the hallway I’m bringing him to. There are sounds of muffled footfalls, blows and cursing echoing against the walls. I turn to face Howe and I gesture for him to take a peek through the first archway.

He walks up to it and looks inside. And he almost instantly turns to beam at me. “Fucking hell.”

I roll my eyes, but there’s a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. He walks through the archway and I follow him, the fading sunlight hitting my face as soon as I step into the room. It’s wide, that’s for sure, but the width is a fifth of its length. And all along its left and right walls, there are tall windows enchanted to show the sky outside, the walls between them hidden from sight by the trees spurting out of the ground.

I turn my eyes back onto Howe, who’s already on his way to the first obstacle in the obstacle course stretching before us — the enchanted climbing wall.

I rush after him, but before I can stop him, he’s already grabbing onto one of the climbing holds and pushing himself up.

I step to the side, opening my mouth to warn him, but before I can say a word, the wall shoots out the first stake. Then another one. And another one. And it’s at random, but it only takes one to hit you.

My eyebrows shooting up, I watch him waste no time in adjusting, seemingly sensing which spot the next stake will shoot out of and letting himself hang using one arm every time the wall attacks again.

Somewhere halfway up the wall, he even takes the time to throw me a grin as he hangs, his shirt riding up to reveal the defined, delicious lines of his abs.

I let out an annoyed scoff, but then something occurs to me. And I have to suppress a smile, but I walk straight up to the wall to my right and I pull on the lever controlling the difficulty level.

And I turn back to His Hotness, seeing his eyebrows shoot up right before he lets himself drop to the ground, a bunch of stakes shooting out at once as soon as his boots hit the floor.

Fuck, maybe I went overboard. Maybe he won’t find it funny.

He pushes himself up, pulls his shirt down and starts walking up to me, but to my surprise, he’s not pissed. He’s grinning.

“Hey,” he starts in a teasing voice as he slows to a stop in front of me, his eyes narrowing, “I see how it is.”

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