Page 70 of Wicked Dove
“Students,” the professor hollers, her tight and closed facial expression back in place, and everyone turns to her, the group falling silent. “I’ll call names in pairs. Once your name is spoken, join your opponent for the session and find a space,” she yells, and I gulp as the air seems to shift around us.
One by one, she calls out students’ names, and they do as she asks without complaint. There’s no flow to her pairing; guys are called with other guys, girls with girls, and both combined. “Ocean, you’re with Dominic.” My friend squeezes my arm before striding toward a guy in a pink-stitched uniform. “Kael and Willow,” she hollers next, and my gaze snaps to the vampire in question.
His features give nothing away as always, but he joins the bubbly redhead who beams at him like he hung the moon. A knot forms in my gut and I hate it. That snare of jealousy threatens to consume me. I hated him suffocating me yesterday, and now, I hate him being paired with someone else.
I need to get over myself.
No.
I need to go home and away from this madness.
“Rion and Thorne,” she calls next, and Rion glances in my direction with a half smile that turns into a grimace before he saunters off with Thorne.
My stomach begins to do summersaults now. Despite my frustrating encounter with Thorne this morning, I wouldn’t have been mad at being paired with him, and Rion, well, he’s been the nicest to me out of the three of them.
Get a grip, Elodie.
“Elodie Blackwood and Tiran,” she hollers, and my heart lurches in my chest.
That’s far from what I wanted. Damn, I think I’d rather pair off Willow than him. Sadly, I find him immediately in the crowd, a sinister grin on his lips as he stares at me. When he doesn’t move a single foot, I take the hint and head toward him, instantly feeling uncomfortable in his presence.
He doesn’t utter a word as the professor continues to call out everyone else’s names and I use the silence to commit this man to memory. Everything happened so fast the other day and my defenses kicked in quickly, all but blinding me to the mess before me, but now I see him beyond the stature he holds.
He thinks he’s hot shit, built and muscular, but I can’t help but think he looks like a weasel.
“We will be working on agility training today. All you have to do is touch the other person’s arm. The first to ten wins. No magic allowed,” the professor declares, and everyone falls into a fighting stance as they pair off with their partner.
I gulp, but follow suit, immediately hating the way his eyes narrow and his grin spreads wider.
“Are you Kael’s new pet?” he asks, and I fight back an eye roll. At least he doesn’t recall what happened yesterday so he can’t threaten me with it, but I half consider doing it all over again before I remember it would be impossible right now, with my black leather gloves in place.
“No,” I grunt, and he tilts his head as he stares at me.
“Are you sure? It looks to me like you are. He won’t let anyone near you, won’t let you breathe,” he comments, circling me, and I have to focus to keep in step with him, but it’s futile and his hand connects to my upper arm.
Fuck.
He’s trying to distract me, and it’s working. The touch was a little harder than necessary, but I suck it up.
“That doesn’t make me his pet,” I bite back, shaking my arms out as I face off with him again, but he’s not done.
“Do you want to know what happened to his last pet?” he asks, his voice dropping to a whisper, but when his hand comes toward me this time, I manage to dodge it.
“She chose to sleep with you?” I ask with a raised eyebrow, and I catch him off guard as his jaw falls slack, my palm connecting with his blazer in a light touch, but the intent is there.
His nostrils flare as he looks down at where I touched him before his deathly stare turns back to me. “Willow was never his pet. I wouldn’t allow it,” he grunts, and I shrug, trying my chances again, and I manage to connect my palm with his other arm.
He doesn’t like that, but I’m on a roll now.
“Why? Because she’syourpet?” I move to get him again, but he’s quicker than I anticipate, slamming his hand against my arm with so much force that I tumble back, landing on my ass with a thud.
I glare up at him as tingles of shock coat my skin. I blink, the world stilling for the briefest moment as I decide what my next move will be. I’m reaching for the fingertips of my gloves before I even realize it. No man gets to lay hands on me like that. None. I’m ready to throw it all to Hell and pray my magic pulls through, but I don’t manage to tug the material off before a blur passes before my very eyes.
A scream from somewhere behind me rips through the air, but my gaze is latched onto the wolf before me. Tiran is pinned to the grass, eyes shifted in that vampire kind of way, but the way the wolf has him trapped leaves him helpless.
“Rion! Rion!” the professor yells, cutting through the crowd as I remain seated on the grass right beside them. The entire class pauses, watching as Rion snaps and snarls in Tiran’s face,but as the professor tries to interject, desperate to pull Rion off him, it only seems to make him angrier.
Launching to my feet, I take a step back as Rion kicks the professor back at the same time he brings his huge teeth to Tiran’s throat.
