Page 57 of Blood & Betrayals

Professor Draco purses his lips, no doubt considering my punishment. I wonder if he’s been talking to Headmaster Emrys about it. No doubt if he had, the decision would be expulsion, thanks to my previous faux pas.

“You are aware, Miss Tuatha De Daanan, that using magic against other students outside of class is forbidden?”

“He assaulted her first!” Alice chimes in, coming to my defense. “And he’s a huge, hulking brute! What would you have had her do? Try to punch him?”

“It’s fine, Al. This is strike three,” I say, smiling gratefully at Alice.

Professor Draco’s phone alerts, and he pulls it out of his pocket, reading the message. He doesn’t look up as he addresses us. “You are both on a two-week restriction. No leaving campus. You go to your dorm and to class. Nowhere else.”

“And Fergus?” Alice hisses. “No consequences, I’m guessing.”

I roll my eyes, but honestly, I’m so relieved that I’ve not been expelled that I don’t much care what happens to Fergus.

Professor Draco finally looks up from his phone, his eyebrows drawn. “It is a pack affair. The council will see to it.”

“Unbelievable,” Alice growls.

“Come on, Al,” I say, grabbing her hand.

Professor Draco’s eyes flash as we pass him. “Be grateful it is me handling your punishment and not Emrys. He would not have been as lenient,” he says, his voice low and angry.

I stop in my tracks and meet his gaze, practically able to feel the fury stoking in my gaze. “And you should be grateful,professor, that I saved a young shifter from his asshole alpha who was forcing him into something he didn’t want to do.”

He scowls, and Alice yanks me out of the room before I get us into more trouble. We walk back to the dorm, our phones blowing up with notifications the entire way. I grimace at the sound of each one. No doubt some idiot recorded the whole thing at the shifter house, and now it is all overNexus. I’m really going to get a reputation around here for fighting. Ironically, the only time I seem to be able to throw a punch is outside of combat class.

When we arrive back in the sanctity of our dorm, I finally face my phone. As expected, there are at least a hundred notifications fromNexus. I sigh. Exhaustion has settled into my bones. All I want to do is go to bed and sleep for an eternity, but I open my texts. My eyes go to the one at the top from Connor, and I open the chain, sighing at the number of messages.

Connor

Why did I just hear about your getting into a fight at the pack dorms?

Are you all right?

Summer?

What happened?

I send a quick reply to him.

Summer

I’m fine. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Done with my phone, I chuck it on the couch and walk to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

“Fucking pack affairs. He’ll get a slap on the wrist at most,” I grumble mostly to myself, but Alice nods in agreement. She continues to scroll through her phone, unconcerned with our growing reputation and all the attention.

“I just want to go to bed and forget about today. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Alice nods again, and just as she stands from the couch to head to bed, someone knocks on the door. She looks at me, and I shrug. She opens the door to a panting Connor.

His gaze immediately locks on me. “You’re okay.”

24

Summer

“You’re okay,” Connor says again, looking me over. His gaze snags on the bandage around my thigh. “Shit.”

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