Page 71 of Blood & Betrayals

The Shifter Council let out early, the heads of the various shifter races filing out. The meeting must not have gone well. Many wore grim and dour expressions. I know what they’d deliberated over. It is the same thing they always deliberated over—the future of their kind.

Their ineffectual little council of elders will always hold Nhang back from being a realm of any particular note. It is why their spawn will never experience any true form of power.

They still think that might is only defined by physical strength. Deviation from their core philosophy of might makes right is brutally culled. It’s a callback to a time before the Grand Arcane and the artificial realm that is the Sorcerer’s Guild. It worked before the gates that connected all the realms, a time many realms left behind in favor of technology and modern advancements.

Nhang’s single bastion connection to the Runic Network only proves how antiquated the realm has become. If anyone in Nhang wants to contact the rest of the realms, they have to travel to the capital of Sevan. It is a very long commute for some because they refuse to invest in the technology needed for modern travel.

Fools.

My gaze focuses on the hulking brute I am here for, and I follow as he struts out of the council room. No doubt, his oppressive strength served him well within. That is the thing about those who rely on their physical power. They build theirown demise with their arrogance. Every being has a weakness, even the strong.

I follow the worn path, stalking the elder along the dirt road. He pauses to scent the air every few steps, sensing the looming threat. He is used to being the predator, and he is in most walks of life. People avoid drawing his gaze, afraid to invoke his ire. I’ve known people like him since I was a child. Some children are allowed to be innocent, at least for a while, but I was never one of them. How could I be? My hands were stained with the blood of many by the time others learned to read. I’ve never been a child or innocent.

I was born a force, and the older I got, the more powerful I became. Magic is not about talent, not at all. Magic is about pain and the ability to turn it into power. No one knows that better than I.

Lowering my shield, I allow the elder to sense me. Just as I expected he would, he spins on his heel. His yellow glowing eyes turn to predatory slits, and his body trembles, close to changing. Another person, any other person, might have retreated. At the very least, they would have hesitated, but I feel nothing.

“You are not welcome here,” the elder snarled. “There is an accord.”

I stalk closer, my steps unhurried. The elder’s eyes become more feline, and I can almost see the massive snow leopard lurking beneath his skin.

“Are you stupid?” he hisses, taking a hesitant step back as I continue moving closer. “You are going against the Grand Arcane.”

He retreats a few more steps before stopping and snarling at me. Snowy fur erupts from his neck and his face contorts, his teeth shifting and lengthening into those of his leopard. In hisburning golden eyes, I can read his thoughts. He’s thinking that he’s the apex predator here. Oh, how wrong he is.

He lets out a mighty roar, the sound stuttering into a gargled gasp when I press my palm to his chest. The white runes on my hand glow, and the shifter freezes.

His heart arrests under my hand. Blood vessels struggle all over his body, bursting in his eyes under the pressure of trying to circulate his blood without the use of his heart. His regeneration is trying to heal the damage, but it can’t, even as an elder, because I won’t let it.

“The sins of the son are paid by the father,” I whisper, the great Elder of Snow Leopards crumpling into a heap at my feet. One by one, I close my fingers into a fist. The white runes on my forearm glow, the corpse turning to dust beneath my power.

Everyone has a weakness. Even me.

31

Summer

Itentatively open the curtains and peer outside. The trees sway gently in the breeze, and there is no evidence of the heavy winds from the previous night. That shadowy figure followed me into my dreams, stalking me and always watching. Within my dreams, it doesn’t feel threatening, but out in the light of the day, I am wrapped in a cape of unease. Even as it lies heavy on my shoulders, a side of me feels likeperformingfor the dark being. That side of me wants to please it.

I, of all people, am aware of the danger, but last night when I was searching the darkness, I was hyper aware of the difference between this feeling and when Torin is chasing me. This is different. I’m almost one hundred percent sure it’s not him lurking in the shadows. It just isn’t his MO. He doesn’t have this kind of patience.

Alice’s eyes are heavy-lidded as she walks into the living room, barely awake and yawning wide. There is a large, angry scratch down her arm. It must have been bad if she is still healing. I grab my bag as I walk to her, giving her an inquisitive look.

“I found what was living in my hall,” she explains dismissively, brushing out of the dorm. Alice doesn’t speak the whole walk to the coffee cart. After her fight with the unidentified creature last night, her black mood practically oozes from her. I hold my phone out to pay for our coffees, but strong arms wrap around me, and another phone taps the payment square. Connor orders his coffee and then nuzzles into my neck, inhaling me. I sigh and lean back against him, not even trying to fight it. Alice grunts a thank you at him before stomping away.

“Hi.” He smiles against my neck, inhaling me again. His cloudy scent has become a source of comfort to me. I know that should scare me, and I should run. I would have been sprinting away from this a couple of months ago. Instead, here I am, leaning into him.

“Hi, big guy.” I take my coffee. “Thanks for the coffee.”

He nips at my neck. “I require payment in the form of affection.”

I roll my eyes and pull him around the corner before turning in his arms and wrapping his tie around my fist. Tugging him down, I kiss him softly, catching his surprised gasp in my mouth. I let my lips linger against his but don’t deepen it.

“I like it when you do that with my tie,” he groans against my lips.

I deepen the kiss, backing us up until I’m pressed against the stone wall, feeling it dig into my back. Connor braces one of his hands beside my head and presses his body against mine. “Succubus needs feeding? Did she starve last night?”

I suck on his bottom lip, the taste of vanilla lingering on my tongue. “We need to get to class.”

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