Page 97 of Harbinger

15

~Vorzyr~

The Unity Council building was a striking sight to behold.

It was an architectural masterpiece, fusing modern design with supernatural grandeur.

Its towering glass façade and arcane symbols pulsed faintly with the magic within its walls, the edges outlined in a luminous blue giving the building an unearthly glow.

Two massive onyx statues with golden veins flanked the grand entrance, their features regal yet unnerving. I knew that they were meant to represent the members upholding the Council’s authority for the good of the supernatural populace.

A set of double doors made from enchanted black steel had no keyhole or handle, only opening for those designated access from the members within.

I sighed as I hovered in dragon form a couple of hundred feet from it out of view of everyone and everything.

Ariana’s words the other night outsidePolarishad been eating me up something fierce. They’d impacted both me and Kai heavily.

For his part, Kai had been disappearing off campus a lot, even missing some classes in the process, which I understoodfrom Nyx was something he never did. He was all about learning and obtaining knowledge. When I’d tried to scent-track him to see where he’d been disappearing to, I’d come up against resistance. After I’d told him that I’d scent-tracked him to the club, he’d obviously taken that to heart and found a spell to put in place in order to block me from doing that again.

I’d taken the pressure off Ariana and stopped pushing her, after hearing her story and what she’d been enduring all this time, things she’d even clearly hidden from Kai, even back when they’d been close friends playing together at the Maven Coven, the home to his parents. I’d been focusing on my studies and contemplating what had happened in class where I’d been too reckless with my abilities,andalso the fact that I’d actually taken the gorgeous goddess that infamous night outsidePolaris.

At first, I’d tried to rise to Kai’s way of doing things with her, because he’d managed to draw close to her, at least physically, and get a hold on her that way. But as it had progressed, I’d felt uncomfortable, felt that it was wrong and against what I wanted to be to her, so I hadn’t been able to commit. And then I’d sank inside her instead.

It had been an experience that I hadn’t been prepared for. She’d welcomed me and met my ferociousness. She hadn’t turned from my animal side either, she’d actually risen to it. I’d been too worked up to stay in the moment as long as I would have liked with her, and Kai being there playing with me had also pushed me into a conflicting headspace at the same time. I wanted to do it again, I wanted to be all over her again. Hell, I wanted to fucking claim her like a beast in a burst of passion that would shake both of us to our cores.

But instead I’d been giving her space. She’d clearly needed it. She’d told us that in no uncertain terms that night. She’d been desperate with it.

And the way she’d been so broken up from the way things were for her had cut into me painfully. It was so much bigger than just repression and fear with her, or worrying about how others saw her. The pressure bearing down on her was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Even for me and with what I’d done that had landed me at Maven Academy, it just couldn’t compare to her situation.

For her part, since that night, she’d taken to basically acting as Nyx’s unofficial bodyguard. The bullshit that had happened in the Cafeteria had impacted her much more than she’d let on at the time. She’d framed helping Nyx out as a way in to ask him and Kai for a favor, but it had actually been personal for her. She’d felt his pain of being feared, called out, and persecuted for abilities that he struggled to control. And she’d taken it to heart. He wasn’t always aware of her watching over him, but she was. I’d seen or scented her close to him when he made his way down the corridors to classes, when he ventured into the Cafeteria again, when he was walking out in the grounds and doing what I’d come to term hisIncubus parkourwhere he’d climb the trees and the building itself, bounce off them, do somersaults, the whole nine. I’d learned that it was one of his stress-relieving hobbies that he enjoyed immensely.

That motherfucker, Sorin, and his misguided sycophants would be dealt with soon enough. Not only was it justice and necessary to establish dominance over himandto send a message to any who dared to even think of coming at Nyx or anyone Kai and I cared about, but it would serve as a major release for Kai and me to take the edge off when it came to the Ariana Martel of it all.

And, fuck, did we need it.

We were going to take care of it when Nyx was away from campus in a few days. He’d accepted an apprenticeship with Warlow Boyd and his hybrid team, so Nyx would be up at theGuardian Compound for most of the day undergoing induction into that.

It had been made clear to us that he hadn’t been on board for Kai and me going after Sorin when we’d been brainstorming various plans and Nyx had come up with very mild and often impractical ideas that stood no chance of being able to transpire in reality. He’d been throwing up roadblocks to it happening.

So we’d take care of it without involving him.

But, for right now, my focus needed to be on the mission that the three of them had set out on tonight—retrieving a copy of Ariana’stestfrom the Unity Council.

I wasn’t supposed to be a part of it, but it wasn’t like I could simply stay in my room worrying about how it was going to pan out for them. Of course, I was here fucking watching, unbeknownst to them.

Just to make sure the three of them were okay.

They’d all gotten inside my head. They’d all managed to get me caring about their wellbeing. I couldn’t just shake that off. Dragons were loyal by nature, and this situation was clearly no exception to that.

I watched as Nyx guided Ariana and Kai, immersing them in hisshadow travel, his Incubus ability to move through and even with the shadows and darkness around him completely undetected.

I saw Ariana emerge from said shadows and conceal herself in the thick forest flanking the building, knowing that it was too dangerous for her to enter herself, as had been discussed in class that day when she’d explained what she’d needed help with.

I saw that it was just about her worrying that her mass power would be detected the moment she made contact with the building, when she raised her palms either side of her, and I watched her silver magic spark into being, two glowing flames materializing.

She brought them together, then created a thick shimmering arc, then she flung it into the air toward the roof of the building.

I swept low and stealthily in my dragon form, as low as I could go before I shifted back into human form and dropped down between the trees, clinging to the dark on the other side of the building.

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