Page 6 of Midnight Hunt

"So, you would turn her out into the cold with nowhere else to go and no roof over her head?" I arched a brow.

"No!" She gasped.

"Then what is it you're suggesting?" I cocked my head.

"Well…is our first priority not the safety of The Grove? Bringing her in puts us at risk."

I scowled. And it wasn't because it was Valerie. My budding desires and primal fantasies aside, I was ashamed of Kahrina's answer. I dropped the bear traps onto one of the many tables in the living space with a heavy thunk. Her eyes widened, bodyleaning away from me. I also plopped the boots onto the table with the discarded metal before crossing my arms over my chest.

"I am disappointed in you, Kahrina. She is in need of a good home that will allow her to pursue her classes safely. This Grove was founded on community, acceptance, and selfless acts of kindness. We do not dictate who needs our help nor do we judge those who do. It's not our place to deny someone simply because of rumors or how it will look. We are not harboring a criminal nor are we giving into these baseless mob antics. Do you understand me?"

Her face, usually a golden tan, paled in horror. Eyes immediately angled at the floor, she nodded vigorously. "As you say, Professor."

"Kahrina."

Her gaze shot up from the floor to catch mine. I sighed heavily, "You are not in trouble for having opinions, but please do not forget all the lessons of this Grove. And please, ensure we are snipping off any buds of discontent within our house. It is not good for others to doubt her when she's barely survived the first attack on her life."

"Yes, Professor." She nodded again, slinking off toward her project again. Kahrina would recover once she nursed her ego a bit more. But I wasn't going to allow for doubt when any one of them would receive the same treatment. I collected the boots, then the traps when she spoke up again, "Uh, Professor?"

"The boots or the traps?" I teased.

"Boots I assume are someone here's…the traps?" She grimaced.

"I was the unfortunate recipient of an almost piercing last night," I nodded, hoisting the metal jaws up into the air near my face.

"Who puts out bear traps?" She scoffed, "So archaic and cruel."

"Indeed," I sighed heavily before glancing back at her. "And they were made, not bought."

Kahrina twisted in her seat, staring at me with more worry than when I scolded her. "You don't think it was a student?"

"I am unsure as it was far into the forest, but there is nothing between here and the next kingdom over, so likely wasn't a random hunter happening upon that spot."

She and I shared the same,oh that's not good,expression. I nodded, wishing her a good night as I took my collection with me down the hall. I made sure to dump the metal in the scrap closet. Let someone else melt the iron down into something less offensive to me. I closed the door on the small room full of a random assortment of trinkets, doodads, and fixtures, instead setting my attention on my little witch's room.

I'm just going to drop off the boots, wish her a good night, maybe check in, and then go to bed.It'd been a long night. As I approached her door, I found the lights still on underneath. I rapt my knuckles against the door but received no answer. "Valerie?"

I tentatively opened the door, having learned my lesson with many students in the past. I whispered into her doorway again, "Valerie? It's Professor O'Hare."

Slowly, I inched the door open only to stop in my tracks. Smiling to myself, I found her draped across her bed, unconscious. Books were strewn around, half opened and unpacked bags lay around the room. The light was on, but she was out. I silently dropped her boots down by one of her bags and crept in. Closing all her books around their bookmarks and tucking them onto the desk, I stopped to study her.Only for a moment.I settled for grabbing one of the many throw blankets we left in each room and draped it over her. Leaving quickly after, I made sure to flip off the light before I closed the door behind me.

Chapter Four:

~Valerie Contempt~

Iawoke just before the sun crested over the treetops to my stomach clenching up painfully. It'd been a whole day since I ate anything of substance. Sleep seemed more important, but now my stomach was staging its revenge. I yawned hard to the point my jaw clicked. Climbing up from where I'd passed out, I sat up. Blink after blink, everything slowly came online. Then I realized, my room was distinctly less chaotic as it had been when I went down. My notes, textbooks, and pens were all neatly collected on the bedside table. I wrapped the blanket around me and realized it was one of the few stacked on the dresser. When I moved in, there were three throw blankets of varying fluff and style. In fact, the whole house seemed to be full of comfort. Pillows everywhere, soft carpets, dangling vines and squishy moss.

I climbed to my feet, wiggling my toes in the plush rug. My boots sat next to my duffle bag and a girlish blush crept acrossmy face.Lochlainn.He must have found them while he was out searching for answers.

I furiously rushed to correct my hair, like I was a schoolgirl with a crush.Wasn't I?I peaked in the mirror placed in a carved stone on the wall. My mane was a mess and took several minutes to tame. Then, with another yawn, my priority changed to brushing my teeth. I snatched up the plastic carrier I used at the sorority, escaping into the long hall of the house. While my old sorority was a classical four-story manor with winding halls, The Grove truly was just a giant 'U' shaped compound. One floor, rooms and pockets of things wrapped around a massive tree in the courtyard.

People was already up, barely alive and grumbling as they dragged their corpses across the building. I found the bathroom and joined the handful of other students foaming their teeth and scrubbing their pits. The shower situation wasn't the most private, but it seemed no one had enough consciousness to care yet. I definitely walked past three people, buck-ass naked, just loitering near the towel rack discussing growth patterns of some sort of magic tree.

I got a quick shower and returned to my room. There were classes to get to and breakfast to have; I didn't have time for school yard crushes. But then I glanced down at the boots by my duffle again. I grabbed them by the leather loop on the back only to realize my underwear was stuffed down in one of them.Oh no, he saw them.The only way for them to have ended up inside my boot, folded in half like a sandwich, was for someone to have picked them up.

Heat bloomed around my collar as I set my hiking boots next to my other ones. I chucked my panties in my pile of dirty clothes and tried to forget about it. Tried not to imagine him picking them up, feeling them in his large hands, or worse, peeling them off me.

NO! It's just your breeding season.My brain was already boiling in horny juice, I didn't have to do much to get myself in trouble.Yeah, that's it, it's just your breeding season.And absolutely, totally not because I wanted to climb my professor like a tree.

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