Page 40 of Shattered Illusion

Axel

You never say shit like that. What the hell are you up to?

With a shit-ass-eating grin on my face, I turn on my camera and snap a picture of the unconscious fucker and shoot it over to him.

Me

This fuck was stalking Bailey as she left the library.

Axel

That’s Hudson. The professor who hurt her. Break a few bones for me.

Me

Will do.

A manic laugh bubbles up my throat as I use my magic to levitate the big fucker off the ground and float his ass into the library. Behind the small couch where Bailey and I were sitting, there is a small room with nothing but a tiny desk and a chair used for private study work. Only that’s the furthest from the truth from what I’ll be using it for.

The fact that the students avoid the library like a plague right now works to my advantage as I easily maneuver him around the main desk and over to the private room. A swipe of my hand and the door opens with a little bit of magic. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have it. It’s hard to imagine myself in Bailey’s position growing up human. All these things I do with ease, she should have grown up doing herself. But she didn’t, and she’s paying for it now by trying to learn so late in life.

With a quick flick of my wrist, the desk in the center of the room screeches across the floor until it slams into the wall, a crack rending the air. Oops. Oh well. Jasper can replace it. My magic falters for a moment, and Hudson drops but I catch him before he hits the ground.

On second thought…

I pull my magic completely, relishing in the way his large body drops like a rock onto the ground. He releases what sounds like a painful groan but otherwise stays unconscious. Just how Iwant him until I have his ass tied to the chair where he can’t get away.

Some may think it’s unfair that I’m tying him down to where he can’t fight back, but neither could Bailey. She’s barely five-foot-something, and this fucker has almost two feet on her. But then again, he was shifted—from what Axel told me—which means he was even larger than his already imposing size.

So fuck him. He can take what I dish out. And he’s doubly lucky that I don’t plan to kill him.

Just a little light maiming.

My magic makes quick work of getting him off the floor and into the chair, restraining him with golden bands of magic. I doubt the full-blooded gods intended for us to use our magic this way, but what they don’t know can’t hurt them.

And this jackass sure as shit ain’t going to say anything.

Jasper’s lucky I don’t go after his ass next for keeping this fuck employed here.

My footsteps are light as I walk around him in a circle, eyeing my prey like the piece of shit he is. His muscles start to twitch as he slowly comes around, and I take a spot on the wall behind him, ready for the show to start. It’s always entertaining to watch the moment they realize how fucked they are.

Just as I suspected, it doesn’t take much longer for my captive to start awakening. Hudson comes to with a groggy moan, shaking his head as he tries to reorient himself.

“What the fuck!” His words leave his lips with a guttural growl that feels like it shakes the very foundation of the academy. He inhales deeply, most likely trying to find the culprit responsible, but my magic is still working overtime to keep me hidden. “Very funny. I know you’re there, even if I can’t fucking smell you.”

I cluck my tongue, watching gleefully as his muscles bunch in anticipation of the hit that won’t come. Not yet.

“You don’t know who you’re messing with, asshole. Let me go, and I’ll let you walk away unharmed.”

My bellowing laugh echoes around the confines of the small room, making the fucker flinch.

“You mean the way Bailey walked away unharmed when you dragged her across the academy?” He stiffens at her name, but doesn’t refute my words. “Or do you mean when she walked away just now while you were being a sick fuck, stalking her in the hall?”

“She’s my mate!” he roars, renewing his fight against my bindings holding him place.

I huff out a breath. “And that makes abusing and stalking her okay?”

“I. Didn’t. Know.” He says each word slowly, like that might earn him a pass on actions. This isn’t news to me, though. I know he couldn’t see through her glamour to know who or what she is, but it still doesn’t make any of it right. And I won’t pass up a chance to test his willingness to keep what she is a secret.

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