Page 73 of Blood & Betrayals

I laugh and kiss Connor once more before leaving my room to face whatever carnage is going on next door.

It turns out they only needed some cups and couches, and although I hate to admit it, given how horribly it could have gone, the room looks pretty good. Partygoers flood into the space, filling the hall to the brim. Music, alcohol, and recreational drugs are out in force. The dorm looks normal until you pass through Alice’s door, and then chaos reigns.

“Want a drink, babe?” Connor asks, cupping my elbow. His breath tickles my ear as he leans in to be heard. It is blaringly loud in here, but I know there is no danger of it being heard outside the room. The silencing runes I decorated the wallswith continue to throb in time with the rhythm of the music, containing the sound and adding to the ambiance..

I nod and smile up at him before softly pressing my lips to his. I watch him walk away, my stomach twisting. It was such a familiar and easy kiss. It was the kiss of a couple comfortable within their relationship, with a solid foundation to stand on, not one plagued with insecurities and doubts.

When Connor returns, he is followed by a group of his friends. He hands me my drink and kisses me again before going back to his conversation with a vampire senior I kind of recognize.

“So you’re the infamous Summer?” a small woman asks.

Her black hair looks like liquid silk, and her bright green eyes are jewel-bright. As she tilts her head to look up at me, I catch a flash of spattering embers licking along her lips. The effect is dangerously mesmerizing, and I realize what she is.

This woman is one of the Calamities. She can become a giant black dog and breathe fire from her mouth. Unlike shifters, it isn’t an animal spirit possessing them, but rather a powerful creature pretending to be mortal. The human form is nothing more than a mimicry. They are beings capable of great and devastating destruction, yet no one seems to treat them any differently here.

I keep a kind smile on my face, feeling like a politician’s wife schmoozing the crowd. If I stay with Connor, will this be my future?

“Infamous?”

“Our president hasn’t shut up about you for weeks.” She laughs, the sound like the burble of water over smooth stone. “My name is Yvette, and this is Josie,” she says, motioning to the woman beside her. I’m surprised I didn’t notice her sooner. With her ghostly pale skin and shock of white hair, she should be difficult to overlook. Josie smiles at me, and I notice thethick black stitches marring the perfection of her lips. Miniscule ghostly runes glow on the thread, keeping her mouth sewn shut. The haunting intensity of her eyes captures my gaze, and I feel as if she is peering into my soul.

Connor brushes his lips over my temple, distracting me. “They talking your ear off?” he asks, smiling at the three of us.

I glance up at him as Yvette and Josie step away, pulled into another conversation. “Just telling me how obsessed with me you are.”

“Well, you already knew that.” He chuckles, pulling me against his side.

I glance back at the ghostly girl. She looks even more haunted now as she listens intently to a gorgeous brunette talking animatedly about something. Is she haunted or… forlorn?

“What’s her deal?” I ask Connor, nodding toward Josie.

He follows my gaze. “Oh, she’s a banshee. If she speaks, she foretells death and wails. It’s supposed to be horrifying.” He frowns slightly. “Apparently, their parents sew their mouths shut like that when they are babies.”

I look back at her, but she seems more at ease now, standing with other friends and nodding along with the conversation. Foretell death? And I thought I was cursed.

Alice and the twins suddenly appear with more shots, interrupting our conversation. We each down a few to toast the success of our first dorm party before Connor pulls me onto the dance floor.

“Hi, my big guy,” I say, the alcohol simmering in my veins, lowering my inhibitions. The room seems to spin and sway, but in a pleasant way, making me feel like I am floating. Connor’s large body keeps me steady as we dance to the pounding music, his strong arms keeping me safe. “You’re so sexy…”

“Not as sexy as you,” Connor groans against my lips, his hands cupping my ass.

“I like you.” The admission slips out of me, but my tequila-addled brain likes how the words sound. They don’t scare me as much as they should, and the way Connor’s face lights up makes them worth it. It is so easy to make him happy.

“I like you too. Very much.”

The room melts away, and my eyes trace his features, memorizing him. “You’ve given so much attention to others tonight. Are you trying to make me jealous?”

“My eyes never left you.” Connor bends a little and locks his arms under my ass, picking me up. When he stands, I am above him, looking down at his upturned face. I brace my hands on his shoulders and he smiles up at me. “You want to stay or go?”

I look around, but the room spins. Chaos is happening all around us, and I think I see the twins riding something that vaguely looks like a dinosaur. Surely that can’t be. I have probably just had too much to drink, and it is proof we should go. I smile down at him again. “Let’s go.”

Connor carries me to my room and falls back onto my bed, so I’m straddling him. I smother his face in kisses and nuzzle his nose with mine. He’s just soConnor. Ugh. His stupid face, his stupid Connor face.

“I love this.” Connor grins, glowing.

“What?”

“The affection.”

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