Page 87 of Cruel Destinies

“Why do you ask?”

He sighed softly, his eyes sliding down my body. “Because I guess I want to know just how fucked I am.” He lifted his hand and gently caressed his fingers over my cheeks, trailing a line of ice in their wake.

Rainbow jumped onto the book, breaking whatever spell had been cast. Julian grabbed the cat and stalked away from the bed, the cool emptiness warming beside me.

I shook my head, focusing once more on the book. The sticky pages—the ones where I couldn’t read the spells caught between—annoyed me enough that I almost wanted to rip them out.

Overwhelmed with frustration, I slammed the book closed. “We’re not going to find anything powerful without unlocking this thing. And I should get home anyway.”

He looked up at me while he stroked the vampire cat in his arms. “I’m sorry.”

I snorted. “For what?”

Julian didn’t elaborate, but the look in his eyes said everything. So I just nodded with a pouty smile.

I threw the grimoire into my bag and grabbed my winter gear to suit back up. Then I slung the bag over my shoulder and headed for the door. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

He smiled, a truly brilliant and beautiful smile. “Thank you, Shea. For everything.”

Chapter 28

Tobias

I was excellent at compartmentalizing my thoughts and feelings—most of the time. I was so adept at it that I’d been accused more than once of being coldand unfeeling. That I was closer to something ofartificial intelligence, a robot, rather than a living, breathing dragon.

I often blamed it on my father because my mother was the direct opposite. And Tamara, my sister, didn’t seem to have the same issues, either.

But when the image ofher—of Arya—entered my thoughts, I lost all control, no matter which direction I wanted my thoughts to go. Glancing at my bed, I couldn’t help but picture her lying there naked like she had yesterday, playing with herself while she compelled me to jerk off in front of her.

Fuck that had been the sexiest thing I had ever seen and also the cruelest torture I’d ever endured. She was nothing short of amazing.

And she was my girlfriend.

No girl had ever owned that label. I tried not to think about the fact that no oneshouldown that label. And though I hadn’t consciously intended to ask her for that, I was glad ithappened. I just needed a little more practice compartmentalizing with her, I supposed.

I tried and failed to write the English essay that was due last Thursday. I’d never asked for an extension before, but with everything that had happened the past several weeks—and being that I was aprince—I got a pass. I’d never used the Dracul card before and cringed a little that my grade demanded it.

What was a few more hours? I’d write the damned essay later.

This wholegirlfriendbusiness made me uneasy, so I pulled out the history book about that first shifter school I borrowed from the library:Skye Boarding House - The Original Shifter School: A History.There had to be a way to break the curse. It pained me, more than I’d even admit to myself, to know that the instant I let myself fall completely in love with Arya, I’d lose her.

The fact she actually wanted to be with me advertised that my feelings hadn’t deepened past infatuation just yet. The curse wasn’t triggered. But I knew it was only a matter of time.

Flipping through the first few pages, I discovered the one I’d found in the library. The picture of my relative Claudette Elana Dracul, the person who caused the Dracul curse. Studying her picture, I was surprised at how Claudette’s nose—large and Roman—was near-identical to my sister’s.

The book listed the background history of Claudette. It said she fled her family in New Orleans for unknown reasons to find solitude and sanctuary in Washington state, and was taken in by a human family,the Skyes. It said Claudette and her bodyguard, a phoenix named Evandrus Summers, spent a year helping convert the once human-only boarding house into a safe house for shifters, and then a makeshift school where she and Mr. Summers assisted in helping shifters control their powers and defend themselves.

Summers.I wondered if this Evandrus was any relation to Igneaus, the phoenix teacher at the Dome, and Ashlyn’s dad.

Ashlyn, who was Arya’s friend.

Arya.

And there she was again, intruding on my thoughts.

I imagined running my fingers through her silky hair, exploring her pretty mouth with my tongue, feeling the press of her body against mine...

I slammed the book closed and bounded from my bed. Throwing on my gray wool overcoat and the red scarf Tamara had sent to me as an early Christmas present, I marched out of my bedroom. Before I realized where I was going, I found myself out of the Dome and on the sub heading into the city.

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