Page 28 of Baneful Magick

“That’s not good,” I commented. “Those are fighting words.”

Aizel nodded. “I’d have to agree.”

“I think I saw some yesterday,” Echo commented. “Maybe we can find them after lunch?”

“If not, we can order supplies and make it in our suite. We do have that kitchenette thing.” I hummed as I peeled the wrapper off my muffin. They’d had blueberry muffins, and I was excited to actually try it today since bitch Barbie had destroyed mine yesterday.

Zhara rolled her eyes at our conversation. “There is something wrong with all of you.”

“Well, I think that’s true for everyone here. I mean, why else would we be here?” I quipped, dodging when she tossed her muffin wrapper at my head. “But we should probably hurry. We don’t want to be late for our very first class. I don’t want to find out on the first day what they do to students who are late.”

“Probably just magickally lock the door so you can’t get inside like they did with the welcome speech,” Echo guessed, but we all rushed through our breakfast and hurried from the dining hall.

We got to our self-defense class with ten minutes to spare. Plenty of time to find a place to sit. Small favors from fate. I didn't see Barbie or her group anywhere. A few vampires were sitting in the back corner, obviously tired, but they quietly said hello as we slipped by them. After the bullying shit I went through at the academy, I never sat with my back or hair exposed to strangers.

I gave them a small wave before sitting down and found that Echo was right beside me with Zhara and Aizel a seat or two away. They weren’t bothering to be subtle at all, which was kind of ironic considering how she’d reacted to them when we first ran into each other. But there was nothing wrong with a little fun as long as it didn’t mess up our rooming situation.

“Do you think they sat over there to get alone time or to give us alone time?” Echo rasped with a half-smile on his face.

“Probably both.” I snorted. “Your brother warned me about hurting you on the way to breakfast this morning.”

“Nothing to hurt.” Echo shrugged as he glanced away. “We were just hanging out.”

“Exactly what I said,” I replied, taking a long sip of my drink. Sitting this close to him, flashes of the dream came back to me again. I remembered the warm and spicy scent of him from the dream, making my face flush from arousal. The memory of his moans and whimpers had me shifting in my seat, and I desperately needed to think of anything else.

If he had any idea of what I was thinking, he would get the wrong idea. Hell, my body was getting all kinds of bad ideas, or great ideas, depending on how you looked at it. Either way, it shouldn’t happen in my damn class, that was for sure.

Echo shifted beside me then froze.Incubus.Oh fuck.He could probably smell how fucking hot I was getting from recalling a dream. I could use a rescue right about now. Of course, Cassius was nowhere to be found. Asshole was still behind his impenetrable shields after his bullshit comments earlier.

Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention, and relief filled me. I was beyond happy to see Wells walking in. When he searched the room for a place to sit, I waved to get his attention and pointed at the seat beside me. He held up a handin greeting and weaved through people to sit down at the offered seat.

The incubus on one side of me leaned away, sipping some of his coffee, while I said hello to Wells.

“This should be an interesting morning,” Wells muttered.

“Not enough sleep?” I asked, curious to know what he meant.

“Have you met the professor for this class yet?”

“No. Why?” Echo asked, joining in our conversation.

“Heard he was a hard ass, and his personal goal is to run us into the fucking ground.”

Great.

The back doors slammed closed hard enough that everyone jumped, and all conversations ceased. In walked one of the biggest people I’d ever seen. A huge centaur had joined us, so damn tall I couldn’t even fathom how he fit in the normal-sized door.There must be another entrance he used to get in here.

The horse part of his body was lean, stocky, and powerful. I didn’t know much about horses, but he looked like a brickhouse of a beast. The whole class silently watched him maneuver himself around some of the furniture up front. I couldn’t imagine trying to walk through buildings if I was built like that, and he obviously agreed based on his ferocious scowl when he bumped into a chair and kicked it out of the way.

He had an undercut on the left side, while the right side had long hair all the way down to his mid back. He wore a leather vest with weapons strapped to him. The garment clearly displayed the thick muscles of his arms when he crossed them in front of his chest to address the class.

“This fucking lecture hall is ridiculous, and all of you may rest assured we will only be using this room today. Bullshit welcome days… as if we need to do an introduction for self-defense,” the man complained as he paced in front of the room.

“The goal of this class is to have you all be able to defend yourself so you can make it out of this place in one piece. Killing is not the point of this class, and if anyone gets even fucking close to doing it, you will be made an example of,” he growled, glaring at all of us.

“Physical self-defense will be our first concentration. Magick does not always work against every opponent and can leave you weak. We will build up your bodies then use that as a foundation for magickal defense afterwards. Any complaints, put them here.” He snagged a trash can and slammed it on the desk. “Any questions?”

The room was completely silent. There wasn’t even the sound of people moving in their seats.

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