Page 113 of Gemini Hunted
Mybite.
The bite I never meant to give him.
We’re keeping him, okay?I whisper sheepishly through our mating bond to V and all my guys, eyes closed and head cradled on the kraken’s heaving chest.I guess V had the right idea, biting him in the first place. Sorry I made such a fuss.
Under my cheek, the kraken’s finally cool to the touch.
Thank fuck.
Across the catacomb, I vaguely realize, Jae’s chanting what sounds like a prayer in Cajun French over the sealed vault that holds the werewolf king, while the others attend in respectful silence. Under that singsong murmur, Lucius’ careful reply whispers through our bond.
Zara, my dear, concerning the kraken… we’ll have to see. Let’s revisit the matter after we complete the Dean’s Challenge.
I heave a sigh but don’t press it. Because I know my headmaster is right.
Hidden in the shadows except for a glitter of emerald dragonscale and the gleam of a cold jade eye, Zephyr is watching.
And brooding.
As I struggle to pull my spinning head together and fumble around to find my discarded clothes in the dark, I do my best to convince myself that silent scrutiny from the Dark Fae King is anything but ominous.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Maxim
“They are very late,” I mutter to Ronin in the dark. “Zara and all our mates. We expected them hours ago.”
“Tell me about it,” Ronin mutters back.
It is now past midnight. Something has very clearly gone wrong.
We are huddled in the dark—Ronin, Ash, and myself—in the open tower of the belfry in the gothic cathedral that houses the Icarus Academy. My skull is still ringing from the sonorousbong!of the vast church bell at my back, tolling the witching hour with its deafening peels.
From here, we watched helplessly as a clueless contingent of students from House Hadrian—the ones Vasili calls Hufflepuffs—were caught and captured by Cleo’s house. Those Hufflepuffs are still searching the seas for the Horn, because they do not know Zara has it. They were sneaking off in a borrowed boat from Racetrack’s dive shop in the harbor when they were found and captured.
Cleo’s crew did not even need to bother. These Hufflepuffs are so far behind, they will never win.
But those bullies from our rival house—House Tiberius, Cleo’s bootlickers—they did it for spiteful pleasure.
Simply to shatter the others’ hopes.
And to cause them pain.
Now the victims are in the school infirmary, being treated for second degree burns. All injuries incurred when a Tiberius warlock used his witchcraft to set the dive boat on fire.
This much, Racetrack told us herself, when she and Dez met us at ourrendezvousspot. Then our two housemates hastened to thedomusfor spell ingredients and privacy, where Dez is cobbling together various magics, including a counter curse to block an immolation hex.
I know it is pointless to ask, but my dragon is restless, and I must. “Ronin. Our mates. Can you still not sense them?”
Sprawled on the ledge over a bone-breaking drop to the cobblestone piazza far below, sleek and deadly in his catsuit, with one long leg swinging over the abyss, Ronin levels me with a tawny-eyed look that simmers with impatience.
“Not with that bloody nullifying object in play.” He grimaces. “At this point, I can barely senseyou, love. Tells me either that wanker Xiao or Vasili’s old man—maybe both—must be close. They’re the only ones we know who use that shit.”
Hopefully I emerge from the stairwell where I am lurking.
The choir loft directly below us, which holds the school library with its collection of rare and arcane books, is our blind spot. I am guarding these stairs to keep Ronin safe (and also Ash, because I know Zara loves him and has chosen him for our harem).
“Then our sovereign and our mates must be close now, yes?” I venture, tingling with adrenaline and aggression. “Since Cleo’s men are hunting them, andtheyare close.”
