Page 63 of Gemini Hunted
Naked.
Mallory has two seconds to look startled and scandalized at the sight of my naked headmaster before Draco covers her eyes with a muttered curse. Jae pulls up in mid-lunge and retracts his fangs with a grimace.
Normally, Lucius does not parade around naked in front of his students (I mean, the ones who aren’t in our polycule and whom he’s therefore not fucking). He’s really modest for a shifter, and very conscious of things like decorum and propriety that the rest of us mostly ignore.
Which is why the sight of our headmaster loping toward us, mother naked with dick dangling, fires me with a spurt of instant alarm.
“Was it truly necessary,” he gasps, coming to a halt directly before me and hunching over to catch his breath, “for you to summon lightning?”
“Yeah, I know.” I heave a sigh. “Might as well hire a blimp to tell the whole islandZara is here.Sorry about that, Lucius.”
Ronin tucks up behind Max and rummages through the pack our dragon is carrying for Lucius’ spare clothes. With an abashed look at Mal and her guys, Lucius plucks his trousers out of Ronin’s hand, exchanges a quick scenting rub with Max to calm our excited dragon, then turns away modestly to button himself into his pants.
Zephyr’s single eye narrows on the door Lucius just ran through. “Lucius Aries. Are you pursued?”
“I don’t believe anyone has spotted me specifically. But the entire island witnessed Zara’s lightning.” Lucius sweeps his wild mane of chestnut curls into a decorous ponytail and turns to face us. Before my eyes, he’s morphing from savage wolf to the sober headmaster who keeps us all safe.
“And now,” Lucius finishes grimly, “they’re coming.”
Max growls and plants himself squarely between me and the door, even as Draco does the same with Mallory. As soon as Lucius zipped his fly, the Icelander stopped trying to cover her eyes.
“Who is coming?” my dragon says fiercely.
Lucius closes his starched shirt over his hairy chest and buttons himself swiftly to the chin. Bemused, I wonder if he’s going to don a tie.
“Either we were seen sailing into the harbor,” Lucius frowns, “or the others picked up your scent in the woods. Either way, the pack was already in the vicinity when Zara summoned lightning.”
“Pack?”My skin prickles with alarm. My voice thickens and goes resonant with electricity.
Lucius locks onto my wide eyes. He’d normally hug me for reassurance, but he’s more reserved in front of other students.
Stiffly, he inclines his head. “I fear a sizable pack of shifters is headed straight for thisdomus, Ms. Gemini.”
“Like,multipleshifters?” Neo pushes his glasses up his nose and frowns. “Would Cleo and her team leave the Vault unguarded?”
“No way.” I’m already shaking my head. “She set that trap and she knows we gotta walk into it. She wouldn’t have any problem waiting to spring it. She’s not the impatient type.”
“Not like some,” Ronin mutters with a sidelong grin at me.
Despite whatever’s headed toward us, the smolder in his amber eyes makes me warm. He’s not one of the guys who’s particularly trying to knock me up. But he was the very first of my warlocks, and we have our own special thing.
I lace a hand through his hot fingers (because, very appropriately, he’s a fire sign) and tug him to my side. Ronin wraps a possessive arm around my waist, claims my mouth with a scorching kiss that tastes like sin and whiskey, and gives me the lick of contact I crave.
Meanwhile, Mallory snatches up her backpack and reactivates her flashlight. The slender cylinder snicks on in a businesslike way.
When my head clears from Ronin’s kiss, my gaze veers back to Lucius. “We don’t have that many shifters on this island, Teach. If that, uh, pack isn’t Cleo’s, then whose are they?”
“Rather unfortunately, your pursuers don’t appear to be students at all.” Lucius does indeed pluck a burgundy silk tie from Max’s pack and deftly knots it around his neck. I guess he wants to be properly attired when we have to fight. (I mean, until he shifts. Then, once again, he’ll be nakey.)
“Not students?” Vasili closes in to straighten Lucius’ tie for him, but his eyes are sharp with what, on anyone else, I wouldlabel alarm. “This island’s sole population consists of students and faculty. Plus the occasional random Fae.” He exchanges a wry look with Zephyr.
“That’s right.” Mallory gives an earnest nod. “No one else is allowed inside the wards, especially during the Dean’s Challenge. That would be against the rules. Right, Master Aries?”
“Be that as it may.” Lucius hastens into his blazer. “We’re currently tracked and hunted by a sizable pack of hyena shifters.”
V’s wary face fires with recognition. His diamond eyes glitter like ice. “Sweet fuck. That’s an AIB kill squad. Undoubtedly deployed by my father.”
Right on cue, a low chuckle floats through the open door. A chorus of distant chortles chases it, rising to a hail of inhuman whoops.
