Page 12 of Baneful Magick

She was in a long Journey t-shirt that ended right around mid-thigh. Wild bright red hair curled around her face making it seem like it had a life of its own. She spun around when the door closed behind me, her bright blue eyes glowing in the night.

Wolf shifter.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” I offered before gesturing at the greenhouse. “Just did some exploring before realizing I needed to figure out the dorm situation since I’m out here half dressed.”

“More than I had on,” she growled, though the glow of her eyes dimmed now that she’d realized I wasn’t a threat. “There’s no damn signal here.”

“Figures.” I sighed, remembering my mom saying that staying in touch wouldn’t be easy. “Do you have any idea what we’re supposed to do about the dorms?”

She shook her head, sending her hair flying around her. “The asshole that brought me here said I could figure it out on my own. Your person didn’t say anything?”

“I walked off before he could tell me anything.” I grinned, picturing the way the fae had frozen when I brushed a kiss on his cheek. “If you want, we can try to figure out where we’re supposed to be going together.”

The wolf’s eyes narrowed, studying me as if she were trying to dig under my skin to detect any ulterior motive. I didn’t fidget, content to let her come to her own conclusion. Still, I was shocked when she threaded an arm through mine, taking me along with her.

“I’m Zhara-Rose by the way.”

“Isla,” I replied, looking sideways at the wolf by my side instead of where we were headed. “What brings you to Greywood?”

“Murdered my pack alpha because of a blood rage,” she answered with a feral grin. “You?”

“A fewaccidentalpoisonings. Dangerous plants are my specialty.”

“That explains you exploring the woods.” She barked out a laugh as we walked back into the cleared space that I had first landed in.

The forest was all around, although the trees were tall and large, I could see stone buildings sticking out between some of them. In the light of day, it would be a lot easier to make out our surroundings, but for now, we were stuck with the faint moonlight from a crescent moon.

“In my defense, the plants were more interesting than the fully clothed people watching us newbies stand around half dressed.”

“Speak for yourself, witch.” A smooth voice came from behind us, and when I turned around, there were two incubi there, completely naked. Neither of them moved to cover themselves up.

“We were pulled out of our fucking graduation party to be here,” the other griped as he rolled his head, cracking his neck on both sides.

“Cliché much?” Zhara-Rose complained, gaze bouncing around attempting to look anywhere but them.

“Do you know where the dorms are?” I interrupted before any kind of argument could start. “Or do we all get to sleep outside after being kidnapped from our homes?”

“We tried those buildings,” the first incubi who spoke to us said after a beat of silence. He gestured to the left. “We were just heading across to the other side when we heard you both chatting over here.”

“We can join you if you don’t care about our… state of undress.” The second one shot us a lazy smile as he raised his eyebrows in question. “I know wolves don’t care, but…”

“I have six siblings,” I said. “Your little dicks won’t scare me.”

Both men started to sputter in indignation, but Zhara-Rose threw her head back and laughed, leaning into me so hard we almost fell over.

“Little?!” the quieter one managed.

“You’ll take that back right the fuck now,” the louder first guy demanded.

I couldn’t really see them that well in the darkness of the night, but once the moonlight hit them just right, I could tell both men had flushed cheeks. Mid-length black hair fell across their distinct cheekbones, somehow highlighting their identical five o’clock shadows. Matching gold and green eyes glared at me, waiting for me to apologize. I shot them a grin of my own and tugged Zhara-Rose with me.

“We never said you could come with us. I’ll just let everyone know it’s probably because of the cold, boys. Nothing to be ashamed of. You can’t help it.”

“You’re paying for that!” the first one growled.

The second guy started laughing, and the smooth honeyed sound made me smile and wave back at them as we hurried toward where the dorms had to be located.

Zhara-Rose was in tears by the time we got to three buildings situated by each other. Each had a small sign in front of it, labeling them as first-year dorms.

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