ASH STARED AT REX and me from across his desk, gently tapping his fingers and waiting on an answer.  How did we rescue Trey and Daniel from Kye?  It was a fair question, one I didn’t want to answer because it could open a truckload of canned worms.

Portia cleared her throat from her position in the corner of the room next to Hunter.  “Well…?”  She motioned a hand for someone to start talking.

Rex shifted.  “I took Kory with me hunting.  Sorry I didn’t clear her first.”

Rex was lying to the headmaster for me.  Again.  I couldn’t let him keep protecting me when it could hurt him.

“I contacted Kye,” I blurted, stopping Rex in his tracks.  I put my hand on his arm when he shot me a wide expression.  “It’s okay,” I whispered.

“You’ve been in contact with this demon already?”  Portia wasn’t even trying to mask the disgust in her tone.

Ash held his hand up.  “Let her speak, Portia, please.”

I took a deep breath and spilled the beans on everything, leaving out that Alec had asked me. No need to get him in trouble.  When did I go from hating his guts to protecting him?  I also left out the steamy kiss with Kye.  I was trying to forget it.

Ash remained surprisingly calm and quiet during my confession.  When I finished, he stared at me with a blank, unreadable expression.

Chills trickled down my spine as his eyes began to cool.  They took on an icier appearance as did his face.  I swallowed hard at his sudden resemblance of Kye, the Kye I’d first met.  The one I was terrified of.

“So this demon just let them go?  For you?”  His voice was cold and sharp as an icicle.

I glanced around.  Did anyone else not notice the change in him?  Did I imagine it like I had before?  Was I seeing Kye in place of him?

“Uh, yeah.” 

Ash blinked several times and then looked down at his desk.  He cleared his throat.  “Well, at least you’re safe.”  He met my eyes again, flashing a warm smile.  The coldness was gone.

Maybe I had imagined it.

“That’s all you’re going to say?” Portia spat.

Man, she really hated me.

“Mom,” Rex said.  “Please let him handle this.”

Ash loosened the dark blue tie around his neck.  “These are extenuating circumstances, Portia.”  He motioned toward me.  “Kory risked her life and saved two students.  I think we can cut her some slack.”

She scoffed.  “Sure, she saved them, but also has endangered my son’s life time and time again.  A team should have been with them.  They shouldn’t have been alone.”

My head tilted back on the seat, and I closed my eyes, imagining how she’d react if she knew her son and I were together.  “I didn’t know Rex was going to follow me,” I muttered.  Technically, I didn’t know he was going to have one of those wacky caetera dreams and see that I was in danger.  I had been in danger.  One, I shouldn’t have let Kye kiss me.  Two, he was about to abduct me.  And three, there had been a shit ton of demons who worked for Lorne.  They could have taken me or even killed me.

It was definitely a stupid move on my part.

Rex and Portia began arguing.

“Dad,” Rex pleaded, motioning to his mother.  “Will you talk to her?  She’s acting like I’m a child and can’t handle my own student.”

“You don’t know how to handle her or she wouldn’t get herself into so much trouble all the time.”  Portia didn’t bullshit around. 

Ash tapped his fist on his desk as if it was a gavel.  “Let’s calm down.”  He looked at me.  “Kory, no more sneaking off alone, especially to meet this demon.  And Rex, there are a few people at Amarose who know about Kory’s situation.  If something comes up, let one of them know.”

Rex gave a curt nod.

Me?  I didn’t agree to shit.

“So it seems Kye is not only obsessed with Kory, but she actually makes him vulnerable.  We’ll just file this bit of information away and figure out where to go from here.” Ash picked up the glass of water sitting on the edge of his desk, taking a sip. 

Portia cleared her throat and set her shoulders back.  “Our next move is to call The Council, which I’ve already done.”

Ash dropped the glass, spilling water all over his desk.  He didn’t seem to care about the drenched papers.  His cheeks were pale and eyes fastened on Rex’s mom.  “Why would you do that?  I thought we decided to wait.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest.  “They need to know what’s going on.  This is a serious situation.  This demon is turning pureblooded ferrums.  I said I’d wait and, after this.”  She motioned toward me.  “I’ve waited long enough.”

Ash tossed a few paper napkins over his flooded desk and slowly took a breath.  “Portia, I don’t think you’ve thought this through.”

She scoffed.  “The Council isn’t bad.  I don’t know what your problem is.”

“I’m trying to protect Kory.  She’s the one in real danger here, and you’ve put her in even more by telling The Council.”

My pulse spiked.

“What are you talking about, Ash?” Rex asked, his body taut.

“The Council will eventually put the lives of many ferrums over one.”  He shook out a wet piece of paper, placing it on the end of his desk.  “If they realize just how much this demon is interested in her, they might want to use her as bait to draw him out.”

My blood turned cold.

I didn’t know jack about the ferrum council, but I didn’t trust any kind of government agency no matter how good they claimed to be.  They were probably a bunch of ruthless militants who would do anything to have a crack at the demon causing so much trouble.  And if they knew he was Cassius, nothing would stop them from trying to kill him.

To them, my life was a small price to pay.

 

Rex’s fists clenched by his sides and his body was rigid as we walked toward the student dorms.  Obviously I wasn’t staying in his room.  I couldn’t blame him.  I had kissed another guy tonight even if it was for a good cause.

“I’m sorry,” I said, hating the softness of my voice.  “I should have told you.”

“Yes, you should have.”  His nostrils flared.  “Instead you decided to go off on your own and meet the demon who wants to turn you.”

“I wasn’t going to let him—”

He cut me off.  “You weren’t going to let him turn you, but you let him kiss you?”

My cheeks flooded with heat.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean for that to happen.  He said he would give Trey and Daniel back if I did.  It was stupid.  I know.”  I shoved my hands in my pockets, clenching my fists.  I’d never felt lower.

Rex shook his head.  “You’re damn right it was stupid.”

Tears burned in the back of my eyes.  I bit my lip hard enough to force them away.  I wasn’t going to cry in front of Rex.  I made a mistake, and now I had to live with it.  “Are you going to break up with me?” I hissed, letting anger overcome my sadness.

Rex yanked me to a stop.  “What?”

“You heard me,” I snapped.  Nothing good ever lasted.  Why should this?

Rex shook his head.  “Are you serious, Kory?  We’re having an argument.  Not breaking up.”

My brows knit.  “But I kissed another guy.”

His lip curled in contempt.  “Kye is a demon, not a guy.  And I’m pretty sure there was some compulsion at work.  You’d never just kiss him.”

Uh… he was still going with that?  “What if there was no compulsion?  What then?”

Rex sighed and tugged my hands from my pockets, pulling me closer.  “I know there was compulsion or him playing on your dark side even if you don’t think that.  Kye isn’t your average demon.  He can get inside your head and twist your thoughts.”

Was Rex right?  Was this just some big mind screw for Kye?

Deep down, I was pretty sure it was something else.

“Even if you did want to kiss him, I still wouldn’t break up with you.”

“Why?”  I deserved it, didn’t I?

Rex scoffed.  “You don’t know anything about caeteras, do you?”

I made a face.  “Obviously not.”

He rested his forehead on mine.  “We’re soulmates, Koralein.  There is no breaking up for soulmates.”  His warm breath blew over my cheeks, and I wanted nothing more than to press my lips to his and erase the kiss with Kye.

“Oh.”

A heavy weight lifted off my shoulders, and I began to smile.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not mad at you,” he said pulling away and motioning me to follow.  “You did something really stupid and reckless, and now The Council is coming.”

I gulped.  “How bad will it be?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m not going to let them throw you to the wolves for anything.”  He spoke with confidence, but a hint of fear riddled every word.   

 

∞∞∞

 

School was canceled again.  It gave me the perfect opportunity to do some more digging about my parents and their mysterious past.  I was feeling slightly guilty about it.  I was already planning to sneak off campus just after last night.  But, where I was going, no demon would set foot inside.  Plus, it was daylight.  Not many would venture out.

I couldn’t just sit around waiting for The Council to arrive.  I had to do something productive with my time.  I just needed something to bargain with.

I stomped down the stairs in the dorm to the first floor common area.  A few students were milling about.  Most of them eyed me with some level of apprehension.  A smile curled my lips.  Their tenuous expressions were much appreciated.

Colby was sandwiched between Kelsey and Braelyn on a couch.  The grin he sported told me how much he enjoyed it.

Braelyn waved me over.  “We’re about to watch a movie in the media room.”  Her aqua eyes flashed.  “That new action one about those two cops.”

Kelsey groaned.  “Brae, I thought we were going to watch that ghost one.  That’s action-y.”

She scoffed.  “People being thrown across the room by something invisible is not action enough for me.”

Colby shrugged.  “I don’t care what we watch as long as I can sit in the middle.”  His grinned deepened.

“I’m good,” I said as the person I needed came into view.  “I’ve got something to do.”  I headed toward Alec who was already walking my way. 

“Kory.”  He bounded over a couch, his long legs easily eating up the distance between us.

“What do you—”  I was suddenly crushed against his chest, his strong arms lifting my feet off the ground.

So much for everyone fearing me.

“What the hell?”  My voice was muffled against his shirt.

“You did it,” he said.  “You actually freaking did it.”  He swung me.  Literally swung me.

I was going to break his neck.

“Put me the hell down.”  I squirmed in his arms, two seconds away from whipping out my hunter moves on his ass.

My feet finally hit the ground, and I came face to face with a grinning Alec.

He’d never looked quite so happy not even when he beat me in The Gauntlet.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was on drugs.

“We’re in public,” I hissed, fixing my sweater.  “Do I need to remind you we sort of hate each other.”

He scoffed.  “I could never hate you.”  He fake punched my shoulder.  “You save Trey and Daniel.”

“No one is supposed to know about that.”  Trey and Daniel had been told to keep their mouths shut.  If asked, which was inevitable, they were to say they managed to escape on their own before the demons killed them.  Ash didn’t want anyone knowing the missing ferrums weren’t dead, but either turned or waiting in the wings.

“If I knew you wouldn’t knock me out, I’d kiss you.”

Ugh.  I didn’t need another guy kissing me.

Alec went in for a hug, and I threw my hand up. 

“Do not even think of doing that.”  I didn’t want to lose all my cool points in one afternoon.

He smirked.  “Too afraid of what everyone will think of big bad Kory Colt?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Alec shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.  “What can I do to thank you?”

A smirk curled my lips.  “Actually there is something you can do for me.”

His brow arched.  “What?”

“I need you to score me some booze.”  There was a certain patient I needed to pay off to get what I wanted.