Page 30 of We Hunt the Night

“No, but he is a calculating little shit. He will blackmail us first and I’ll sort him then.” Black confidently shrugs, leaning back in his seat. Headmaster Kim comes in and the room goes silent. He isn’t our potion teacher. My heart freezes in my chest when Lock follows him in—a smug look written over every inch of his face.

Vale leans over. “What the fuck is going on, you two?”

My cheeks brighten as Black looks at him. “I kissed her, and that fucker saw.”

“Why isn’t he dead?” Vale asks with a coldness that I’m not sure I’ve heard from him before. He drags his eyes to me, and for a second, his eyes drop to my lips like he is thinking about Black kissing me. Vale sharply looks away, at the front where headmaster Kim and Lock have stopped. Headmaster Kim clears his throat, and the room goes silent. “Repeat what you told me, Lock.”

He points at Black. “I saw shifter Black Ashveil kissing my fiancé. I believe it was not the first time. They have broken thelaw, and it is not my fiancé’s fault. Her shifters are manipulating the sweet girl I know and love.”

My eyes flicker to Vale, to Black, to Wini and Asher. Everyone knows now. There is only one thing to do.

“Love?” I almost laugh as I stand up, every single one of my classmates looking at me. My legs shake, but I don’t sit back down. “You’re a liar and you have no proof. You’re just mad that I don’t want to be with you.” I turn to headmaster Kim. “He is a liar, sir.”

The class is silent, and I watch as headmaster Kim looks at me, then at Black, and then Vale. He turns to Lock. “As the son of a very well-respected woman, we have to take everything you say very seriously, Lock. There seem to be two truths here and I will get to the bottom of this.”

Black stands next to me. “What she’s saying is true. Lock has been threatening and accusing us since we first bonded. He has been cornering all of us for weeks and casting spells to hurt us, but we have not reacted.”

He what?

“One of them poisoned my food! I was being sick for a week straight!” Lock snarls. “And then my room keeps locking me out, the creatures don’t help me, and so much more shit that I know is because of them and their attraction to my fiancé.”

I almost smile. I’m kinda proud of my bonded right now.

“There is zero proof that any of that is do to with us.” Black looks down his nose at Lock. “You aren’t worth our time. You are a liar and a cheat... and you lost her. Continuing to be dumb isn’t going to win her back. She is not yours.”

“We’ll do truth spells to get to the end of this.” My heart stops in pure fear. No. “With dragon blood, we will be able to use them on witches. It is advanced magic, but we can make it work.”

Lock looks smug again and nods at me. “I’ll keep Juniper with me until this is sorted. I can talk some sense into her.”

“She isn’t going with you,” Vale stands and moves to my other side, Black taking one possessive step closer to my other. A united front. Something I never thought Vale of all people would ever allow.

“This is disgusting behaviour, and I will not accept it within my academy!” Headmaster Kim shouts, waving his hands in the air. “She is a witch, and she will come with us?—”

“I won’t. I know where I belong and I’m standing here with my bonded.” I lift my chin. I can already hear the chatter of other students, the word “Traitor” echoing around.

Headmaster Kim takes a step forward, and a dragon swoops past the castle, a roar echoing that shakes the very walls. Vale smirks. “I would do that. Kane will burn the room down and you’re not fire proof. Witches make the best burnt snacks.”

“Keep them here and I will get help!” Headmaster Kim runs out of the room, and he is followed by the rest of our class. Wini stays for a moment longer, but Aster pulls her out, her worried eyes meeting mine.

Silence echoes as Lock moves to stand in front of the door. I’m not sure if he is brave or stupid. Vale cracks his knuckles. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.”

“You can’t lay one finger on me, or your people will die. My mother would make sure all of them are dead. Kids and all.” Vale flinches, so does Black. Sickness rises in my stomach as Lock looks at me. “You, on the other hand, can come with me and we can just forget all of this. We were good together until Bloodstone. I was coming back for you.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Lock. You’re completely insane. Why would you tell them what you saw?” I hiss. “I never thought of you as a backstabbing, betraying asshole until Bloodstone. But love? Trusting you? You don’t know the meaning of it. You just threatened to kill children!” I shake myhead. “I’ve never been more ashamed of my own race until right now.”

“Because it’s wrong for you to be with them,” he shouts at me. “You know this deep down. You’ve been brought up to know this!” He clenches his fists. “They are animals! Useless except for the war and when we win, there will be no need for any of them to be alive anymore. Witches will rule. We are the superior race.”

I shake my head. “What I’m feeling isn’t wrong, but you are.” I respond coldly. “Get out of our way.”

He takes a step forward. “No.” He is fast, whispering a spell and chains burst out of the wall, plaster and dust blasting into the air. They wrap around Vale, pinning him to the ground as he roars. Black reaches for him, only for another powerful spell to throw him literally through the wall to the other side, like it’s not a wall at all, and I scream.

“I think you need to learn this time because you never fucking change!” He walks towards me through the fog of dust. He is too powerful for his age...how is he doing this? Magic literally hovers in the air around him like black diamonds, glittering in the smog. “You’ve got too many bonded. If we get rid of this one, then the others will step into place just after that.”

“RUN, HEX!” Vale roars, and he is cut off when a chain snaps around his mouth. His eyes are desperate as he looks at me, and I have to rip my eyes away.

“You can’t kill him!” I don’t move. I stay close to Vale, who is fighting the chains, but there are too many of them, covering his arms, legs, and body.

“I know the spell and I think I’d get away with it.” I run to stop Lock, but he is too far, the whisper of a spell already leaving his mouth. I barely make it two steps before magic explodes and the entire room shakes. I slam straight through the door onto the other side, where I roll to a stop, coughing from the impact. Lock walks out and looks for me. My eyes find Black, passed out onthe floor with blood pouring from a nasty cut on his head, back to the open doorway where magic is dancing a death march in the air. Black, swirling magic is in the air, bound to the room, but it’s death magic.

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